Tag: Gold Country women’s history

What if the true story of the American West wasn’t just about cowboys, outlaws, and lawmen — but about the women who outsmarted, outlasted, and outperformed them all?

This February, join us in historic Colfax, California, for an unforgettable live event that brings those untold stories front and center. On Wednesday, February 21st at 11:00 AM, the Historic Colfax Downtown Association, in proud partnership with the Colfax Museum, presents a powerful, eye-opening discussion with New York Times bestselling author Chris Enss — as part of her acclaimed “Women Who Refused to Behave” Book Tour.

This isn’t just a reading. It’s a riveting, in-depth conversation about the fearless, fiery, and too-often-forgotten women who helped blaze the trail through the Old West — and rewrote history along the way.

Hear the Voices History Tried to Erase

For generations, history books painted the Wild West as a man’s world. But Chris Enss has spent the last thirty years rewriting that narrative — and she’s done it one woman’s story at a time.

Through more than fifty books and countless hours of research, Enss has unearthed the raw, real accounts of women who refused to sit quietly on the sidelines. They didn’t just raise families and tend homesteads — they built railroads, ran mining operations, performed death-defying stunts, solved crimes, rode into battle, and often paid the price for defying convention.

At this event, you’ll experience the vivid, uncensored voices of some of the most extraordinary women of the 19th century — brought to life by the woman who’s spent her career rescuing them from the footnotes of history.

You will also learn about women who walked our hills. Who braved our rails. Who stood at the edge of the frontier and said, “I’m going anyway.”

Women like:

• Stagecoach Mary Fields, the first Black woman to work as a U.S. mail carrier, who rode through snowstorms and gunfights across the Montana frontier—packing heat and never missing a delivery.
• Eleanor Dumont, a trailblazing gambling hall queen known as “Madame Moustache,” who dealt blackjack better than any man in town. She made and lost fortunes in mining camps across California, including Grass Valley and Nevada City—holding her own in a world that gave women no room to win.
• Kate Warne, the first female detective with the legendary Pinkerton Agency. She operated undercover in a man’s world, cracked high-profile cases, and helped foil an assassination plot against Abraham Lincoln—decades before women had the right to vote or serve in law enforcement.
• Lola Montez, the scandalous international sensation who performed across Europe before bringing her fiery fan dances and fearless opinions to the American stage. She eventually settled in Grass Valley, where she hosted literary salons and defied Victorian expectations until her final days. She lived by her own rules—and never apologized for it.
• And these are just a few.

These are not sanitized tales. These are women with grit, edge, and enormous courage — women who navigated brutal terrain, social scorn, and impossible odds, and still made their mark. They didn’t just endure the West — they helped build it, one railroad tie, one performance, one fearless choice at a time.

Chris Enss delivers these stories with the precision of a historian and the spirit of a campfire storyteller — witty, honest, and fiercely human. She reminds us that the history of the West isn’t complete until we tell the other half — the women’s half.

And now, those voices are coming to life — right here in Colfax.

Event Details:

📍 Location: Historic Colfax Train Depot
📅 Date: Wednesday, February 21st
⏰ Time: 11:00 AM
🎤 Hosted by: Historic Colfax Downtown Association & the Colfax Museum

Whether you’re a lover of history, a fan of powerful storytelling, or simply curious about the women who dared to live loudly in a world that tried to silence them — this is an event you do not want to miss.

Admission is free, but seating is limited. Please register in advance to reserve your spot.
👉 Click here to register now

Presented with Purpose

This special program is part of an ongoing mission by the Historic Colfax Downtown Association and the Colfax Museum — to preserve, celebrate, and breathe new life into our community’s heritage.

We believe in honoring every voice that built this region — and we’re proud to help share the bold, brilliant voices of women who dared to define their own destiny. Chris Enss has spent her life making sure those stories are told. Now, she’s bringing them to Colfax.

Come walk through history with us — and meet the women who refused to behave.

We’ll see you at the depot.