During the settling of the American West, often the land was bare from horizon to horizon. 

Beside her man, the woman of the house built the house, she nursed the babies, reared the kids, plus splitting chores with her spouse.  From time to time the man, necessarily, had to be away from home without her.  All the chores were hers; milk, gather eggs, feed all the animals, make the clothes, wash the clothes, haul the water, chop the wood, and all that was “normal”. 

Besides being a doctor, dentist, and teacher, she had to be the “law” – the protector.  She had to be familiar with firearms.  She had to be able to use the weapons like her man and she would be alert all  of the time during his absence. 

He may be gone an hour or two, a day or two, or for whatever reason gone, never to return.  She was the “rock”.   She was “The Rock Of America’s Frontier”.  Without her, the west might be a great deal different.