Long Rider Alberta Claire
What would you do for a thousand dollars and 3800 acres in Wyoming? I’d done exactly what Alberta Claire did. Alberta Claire was a spitfire, the daughter of an English sea captain who settled in the Wyoming wilds she claimed to have graduated from an English college and it was said the twenty –two year old could talk a brass man tired. In 1912 Alberta made one of the most amazing rides of the early 20th century when she embarked on a PR campaign to promote the state of Wyoming. In two years she traveled 8000 miles from Wyoming, to Oregon, South to California and across the Arizona deserts to arrive in New York City on February 1912 . Dressed in cow girl style, mounted on Bud her cow pony and followed by her large faithful dog (reputed to be half wolf, ) Claire was greeted by Teddy Roosevelt who not only praised the young girl’s courage but urged women be granted the right to vote. Claire had paid her own expenses for the trip and after the tour was complete would receive $1000 plus a Wyoming ranch, but she had more adventures up her sleeve. Upon receiving news of the ongoing Mexican revolution, Alberta headed across the border where she interviewed and filmed the famous guerrilla leader, Pancho Villa in his battles. A 2003 film starring Antonio Banderos as Pancho Villa, recounted the making of her movie, but failed to recognize the importance of Alberta Claire whom history will remember as “The Girl From Wyoming” I’m Susan Allen
