In a period when"The West" pretty much finishes in Texas and just California is being populated with the white men, there is a severe absence of women one of the workers around Roy Whitman's plantation at the California Valley. He goes back east to Chicago to amuse 150 women keen to become blessed to get his or her employees. From the candidates he chooses 138 who seem able to survive a few months journey round"The fantastic American Desert" and the Rocky Mountains. Compiled by Tom Zoerner