1916年，兩個來自紐約州奧本富裕家庭的女孩，好朋友——多蘿西·伍德拉夫和羅莎蒙德·安德伍德來到落基山脈的壹個定居點，在只有壹間教室的校舍裏教書。女孩們畢業於史密斯學院，服飾昂貴。因此，對她們來說，搬到科羅拉多州埃爾克黑德教那些用繩子將鞋綁在壹起的孩子們讓人驚訝。她們在埃爾克黑德的逗留是《無所畏懼：兩個社會女孩在西部的意外教育》壹書的主題，作者多蘿西·威肯登是壹名雜誌編輯，也是多蘿西·伍德拉夫的孫女。
Why did they go then? Well, they wanted to do something useful. Soon, however, they realized what they had undertaken.
她們為什麽要去？她們想做些有意義的事。然而，她們很快意識到了要承擔的責任。
They moved in with a local family, the Harrisons, and, like them, had little privacy, rare baths, and a blanket of snow on their quilt when they woke up in the morning. Some mornings, Rosamond and Dorothy would arrive at the schoolhouse to find the children weeping from the cold. In spring, the snow was replaced by mud over ice.
她們搬進了當地的哈裏森壹家，和他們壹樣，幾乎沒有隱私，很少洗澡，早上醒來時被子上覆蓋著壹層雪。有幾個早上，羅莎蒙德和多蘿西來到學校，發現孩子們因寒冷而哭泣。春天，雪成了混著冰水的泥。
In Wickenden's book, she expanded on the history of the West and also on feminism, which of course influenced the girls' decision to go to Elkhead. A hair-raising section concerns the building of the railroads, which entailed drilling through the Rockies, often in blinding snowstorms. The book ends with Rosamond and Dorothy's return to Auburn.
在威肯登的書中，她提及了西部歷史和女權主義，這些影響了女孩們去埃爾克黑德的決定。令人恐懼的壹部分涉及到鐵路建設，需要在落基山脈鉆探，常常是在暴風雪中。這本書以羅莎蒙德和多蘿西回到奧本結束。
Wickenden is a very good storyteller. The sweep of the land and the stoicism of the people move her to some beautiful writing. Here is a picture of Dorothy Woodruff, on her horse, looking down from a hill top: "When the sun slipped behind the mountains, it shed a rosy glow all around them. Then a full moon rose. The snow was marked only by small animals: foxes, coyotes, mice, and varying hares, which turned white in the winter."
威肯登很會講故事，大地的遼闊和人們的堅忍讓她寫出了壹些美麗的作品。這是壹張多蘿西·伍德拉夫騎著馬從山頂往下看的照片：“當太陽下山後，它的周圍發出玫瑰色的光芒。然後，滿月升起。雪地上只有小動物：狐貍、郊狼、老鼠和各種各樣的野兔，冬天壹片白色