by Joann Chartier

Luzena Stanley Wilson became a gold rush banker, storing gold dust in bread pans in her camp oven. Mary Graves survived cannibalism in the Sierras. Madame Moustache lost the love of her life, and her fortune, in a silver camp in Nevada. A storyteller wrote about the West to feed her children. With Great Hope tells the fascinating stories of twelve uncommon women, the significant events of the times, and the everyday occurrences of life in the gold camps. JoAnn Chartier is a thirty-five year resident of the