When Washington Territory was created, the narrow, isolated Okanogan
River Valley was considered a wasteland and an Indian reservation, the
Chief Joseph Reserve, was established there. But when silver was
discovered near what became Ruby City, the land was re-appropriated, and
the Native Americans were moved to a more confined area. The Okanogan
was then opened up to white homesteaders, with the hope of making the
area more attractive to miners.
The interconnected dramatic monologues in Oh How Can I Keep On
Singing? are the stories of the forgotten women who settled the
Okanogan in the late nineteenth century, arriving by horse-drawn cart to
a place that purported to have such fine weather that a barn was
unnecessary for raising livestock. Not all of the newcomers survived the
cattle-killing winter of 1893. Of those who did, some would not have
survived if the indigenous people had not helped them.