The Sheridan County Land Trust and the Clearmont Historical Group will present a program titled, Explore History: Women Who Influenced Southeastern Sheridan County at The Tongue River Valley Community Center, on April 19 at 10:30 a.m. The program focuses on women who were homesteaders; who owned businesses, treated the sick, and taught the children.

This program will explore the lives of 12 women in the Clear Creek Valley, including Melva Cummings Westbrook, who later wrote the book, Mom and Me; Sarah Pattengell; Clarissa Pattengel Huson, who ran the stage stop at Huson; Nellie Smith Rasmussen; Grace Kennedy Foster and Cora Lang, who was a Clearmont business owner.

After the program there will be time for questions, and for the audience to share their memories and historic knowledge of historic women in Sheridan County.

Although the program concentrates on South East Sheridan County, the experiences of these women was universal throughout Wyoming. Women were an essential part of the homesteading era, and without their contributions Wyoming’s history would have been much different.