Hundreds of leading ladies have appeared in the thousands of Westerns produced since 1903's The Great Train Robbery, riding in and out, never to be heard of again. A relative few of the women stayed around to make a name for themselves.

This comprehensive biographical reference book of those rangeland queens is divided into four parts: "Path Finders," active before 1920; "Trail Blazers," whose heyday was in the 1920s; "Pioneers," the 1930s and 1940s; and "Homesteaders," primarily post-1940. If an actress appeared in at least eight Westerns, or a lesser number of significant oaters, she is in this book. Generously illustrated.