A Lady's Life in the Rocky Mountains (1879)

A Lady's Life in the Rocky Mountains is a travel book by British explorer Isabella Bird, describing her 1873 trip to the Rocky Mountains of Colorado, then on the frontier of the United States. The book is a compilation of letters that Bird wrote to her sister, Henrietta, and was published in October 1879 by John Murray.

Summary

In 1872, Isabella Bird left Britain, going first to Australia, then to Hawaii, then known as the Sandwich Islands. After some time there, she sailed for the United States, docking at San Francisco. She passed the area of Lake Tahoe, to Cheyenne, Wyoming, Estes Park, Colorado, and elsewhere in and near the Rocky Mountains of the Colorado Territory.

Her guide was Rocky Mountain Jim, described as a desperado, but with whom she got along quite well. She was the first white woman to stand atop Longs Peak, Colorado, pointing out that Jim "dragged me up, like a bale of goods, by sheer force of muscle." He treated her well, and she acknowledged that "He is a man whom any woman might love but no sane woman would marry." He was shot to death, seven months later.

After many other adventures, Isabella Bird ultimately took a train east.

Reception

A Lady's Life in the Rocky Mountains was an "instant bestseller". It contributed to Bird being distinguished by being the first woman to become a member of the Royal Geographical Society, in 1892.