Debra Gwartney knows a few tough women in her own family. And that's probably why she's been drawn to the story of Narcissa Whitman, the first white woman known to cross the Rocky Mountains.
Whitman died in a battle with Native Americans in 1845; her story and Debra Gwartney's story are intertwined in Gwartney's bookI Am a Stranger Here Myself. The author visits with details of of her project.