The gals and I did a night out at the Dangberg Home Historic Ranch for an evening with Calamity Jane.
We were sold... "Chautauquan Kim Harris will present Calamity Jane: Heroine of the Plains."“Perhaps no woman embodies the spirit of the Western expansion more than Martha Jane Canary better known as "’Calamity Jane,’” Harris said. “She challenged society's standards of behavior for women, and at the same time was admired for her generosity, honesty and lack of pretentiousness.”Known for dressing in men’s clothing, riotous behavior, and tall tales larger than the dime novels could convey, Calamity became a woman shrouded in mystery. Curious seekers looking back try to sort out the truth from fiction about her life. Was she Wild Bill’s one true love? Did she kill as many Indians as any man ever had? Did she scout for the ill-fated General Custer?Kim spent the evening explaining the legend and answers those questions and so many more.We all sat in awe, learning Calamity Jane's story and understanding more of what life was like for a woman like her, in her time. Captain Jack Crawford, a friend of hers wrote after her death, “Calamity Jane was a good-hearted woman and under different environments would have made a good wife and mother, but she was born in the wilds of a mining camp with not a hand raised to protect her, until too late. Her father was a dissipated soldier and her mother careless, allowing Martha to grow up in a wild, unnatural manner, which we wonder did not quench out every spark of womanhood in her, and it is to her credit that she did retain a kind and generous heart even while following in the footsteps of her dissolute father and careless mother.”What a night of history, understanding, friendship and fun on the Ranch.In 2009, we traveled to Deadwood, Calamity Jane's final stage stop. Knowing all that I now know, thanks to Kim, we want to return and retrace the steps that led to the legend.
"I figure if a girl wants to be a legend,
she should go ahead and be one.
-Calamity Jane
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