JACKSON, Wyo. — In recognition of Women’s History Month, Buckrail remembers Jackson’s pioneering women.
Wyoming earned its nickname “The Equality State” by being the first to grant women the right to vote in 1869. On the morning of Sept. 6, 1870, in Laramie, Wyo., Louisa Swain made history by becoming the first woman to cast an electoral ballot under laws giving women full civil and political equality with men.
Then, in 1920, residents elected an all-female town government, including a mayor, town council, town clerk, town treasurer, health officer and marshal. The “Petticoat Rulers” were Mayor Grace Miller and Councilmen (as titled in the official proceedings) Rose Crabtree, Mae Deloney, Genevieve Van Vleck and Faustina Haight, according to History Jackson Hole. The council then appointed women to hold the other municipal positions, including Marta Winger as Clerk, Viola Lunbeck as Treasurer, Edna Huff as Health Officer and 22-year-old Pearl Williams as Marshal.
The Petticoat Rulers were re-elected for a second term, serving until 1923. They were credited with improving a town with a reputation for harboring “bad men.”
According to Atlas Obscura, the election of the Petticoat Rulers made international headlines. The New York Evening Herald’s headline read, “Women Rule Western City; Gun Play Thru,” and the L.A. Times’ headline read, “Woman Mayor Running Former Bad-Man Rendezvous.” London’s Daily Chronicle reported, “Town Ruled by Women, Would-Be Counciller [sic] Defeated by His Own Wife.”
Women have blazed trails in Wyoming outside of the political sphere, too. For the past century, women athletes have pushed boundaries in the Teton range and beyond.
- Aug. 23, 1923: Eleanor Davis becomes first woman to summit the Grand Teton with Albert Ellingwood.
- 1926: Davis becomes the first woman to climb Mount Moran.
- 1930s: Irene Ayres completes first ascents with brother Fred Ayres of Traverse Peak, Rock of Ages, Bivouac Peak’s West Ridge and West Horn; as well as first female ascents of Disappointment Peak, Mount Owen and Mount Moran’s Skillet Glacier.
- Aug. 3, 1939: Margaret Smith (now Smith Craighead), Margaret Bedell, Ann Sharples and Mary Whittemore complete the first “manless” ascent of the Grand Teton.
- 1940s: Elizabeth Cowles does the first female ascents of Buck Mountain and Veiled Peak, and first ascents of Mount Moran and Grand Teton via the north ridges.
- Early 1940s: Betty Woolsey skis Teton Pass and opens many of the runs, shuttling and guiding ski clients through her outfit Trail Creek Ranch.
- 1965: Irene Beardsley (who was pregnant at the time) and Sue Swedlund complete first all-female ascent of the North Face of the Grand Teton.
- 1970s: Jane Baldwin becomes first backcountry ranger for Grand Teton National Park in 1974; Patty McDonald becomes second in 1975; Anne-Marie Rizzie becomes first Jenny Lake climbing ranger in 1977; Jean Dempsey becomes the second in 1978.
- 1980: Barb Eastman and Anne Macquarie complete the first all-female ascent of Mount Moran’s Direct South Buttress, becoming Jenny Lake climbing rangers the same year.
- 1981: Catherine Cullinane (now Cullinane Jackson) becomes the first female Exum guide and the first female guide in the Tetons.
- 1997: Kristen Ulmer makes first female ski descent of the Grand Teton.
- 1999: Georgie Stanley and Supy Bullard lead an all-women’s team from the Tetons to climb Cho Oyu, becoming the first American women’s team to climb an 8,000-meter peak without supplemental oxygen or Sherpa support.
- 2004: A.J. Cargill makes the first female telemark ski descent of the Grand Teton.
- March 7, 2007: Julia Niles and Lisa Van Sciver make the first all-female ski descent of the Grand Teton.
- 2010: Dani DeRuyter makes first female snowboard descent of the Grand Teton.
This story runs annually.
