This isn't a story about a woman history ignored or forgot nor diminished. That wouldn't be news.
This is a story about a woman history tried to erase. Her enemies wanted to be sure she was buried-without a gravestone. And they almost got away with it.
I stumbled on Laura Nihell while visiting friends in Jerome, Arizona, on March 28, 2014. I picked up a book in their library written in 1964 by Herbert Young titled Ghosts of Cleopatra Hill: The Men Who Built Jerome.
Luckily, this wasn't an original copy, but one issued 37 years later, in 2001, when Alene Alder added her chapter on "Women of Cleopatra Hill." It was, of course, at the back of the book.
That's where I found Laura Nihell, described in 131 words.
Bells and whistles started going off. As a journalist, why didn't I already know about this woman, who had owned and edited a newspaper in Jerome in the early 1900s? Why wasn't she in the centennial book just published on the history of female journalists in Arizona? Even I'm in that book.
When I got back to Phoenix, my first stop was the Arizona Archives, one of the state's true treasures. They have everything you want to know about territorial days in that wonderful library-but not one word about Laura Nihell. They've never heard of her.
She wasn't in the Arizona Women's Hall of Fame. Or in the Arizona Room at the Phoenix Public Library. Or mentioned in any of the state's three university libraries.
Nothing.
I even found a publication of the Jerome Historical Society titled "Herstory of Jerome." There's not a hint about Laura Nihell.
So, 131 words was all she gets? I already knew that wasn't fair.
Because those 131 words had grabbed ahold of me and yelled, "Hi there, honey. Meet a bona fide Western heroine.
They told me Laura Nihell, a 52-year-old former teacher and married-into-a-goodfamily-mother-of-two-sons, had done something brave.
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Esta historia es de la edición September 2022 de True West.
Comience su prueba gratuita de Magzter GOLD de 7 días para acceder a miles de historias premium seleccionadas y a más de 9,000 revistas y periódicos.
Ya eres suscriptor? Conectar
Where Did the Loot Go? - This is one of those find the money stories. And it's one that has attracted treasure hunters for more than 150 years.
Whatever happened to the $97,000 from the Reno Gang's last heist? Up to a dozen members of the Reno Gang stopped a Jeffersonville, Madison and Indianapolis train at a watering station in southern Indiana. The outlaws had prior intelligence about its main load: express car safes held about $97,000 in government bonds and notes. In the process of the job, one of the crew was killed and two others hurt. The gang made a clean getaway with the loot.
Hero of Horsepower - Los Angeles lawman William Hammel tamed one of the West's wildest towns with hard work and horseless carriages.
Los Angeles lawman William Hammel tamed one of the West's wildest towns with hard work and horseless carriages.
From the Basin to the Plains
Discover Wyoming on a road trip to Cody, Casper and Cheyenne.
COLLECTING AMERICAN OUTLAWS
Wilbur Zink has preserved the Younger Gang's history in more ways than one.
Spencer's West
After the Civil War, savvy frontiersmen chose the Spencer repeating carbine.
Firearms With a Storied Past
Rock Island gavels off high profits from historic firearms.
She Means Business!
An energetic and ambitious woman has come to Lincoln, New Mexico, to restore the town's legendary Ellis Store.
Ride that Train!
HERITAGE RAILROADS KEEP THE OLD WEST ALIVE ACROSS THE UNITED STATES.
Saddle Up with a Western
Old West fiction and nonfiction are the perfect genres to fill your summer reading list.
RENEGADES OF THE RAILS
RAILROADS WERE OPEN SEASON FOR OKLAHOMA AND INDIAN TERRITORY OUTLAW GANGS.
