pioneer

“Hi, friends! It’s Ree, also known as The Pioneer Woman! Ladd and I are gearing up to open The Boarding House, our eight-room “Cowboy Luxury” hotel just down the block from The Merc. We will be announcing the opening date (and opening up reservations) very soon, so visit PWBoardingHouse.com to sign up for updates! Can’t...

By: Chris Enss On March 22, 1851, the steamship the Empire City arrived at the Isthmus of Panama.  The sun was hanging low below a bank of clouds and the busy seaport lay in purplish twilight.  Five ambitious school teachers stood on the deck of the vessel watching the crewmen weigh anchor.  Elizabeth Miller, Sarah...

Pioneer woman and early entrepreneur, Luzena Stanley Wilson   Frontier pioneer Eliza Inman wrote in her journal in 1843, “If Hell laid to the west, Americans would cross Heaven to reach it.” Luzena Stanley Wilson, mother of three and wife of aspiring gold miner, Mason Wilson, wholeheartedly agreed with the sentiment. In 1849, news of the Gold Rush captivated...