Idaho News 8

Idaho News 8

Idaho News 8

Posted on: February 20, 2012 - 11:04 pm
by Admin

With her new marriage to Levi Hutton underway May had the difficult challenge of reconciling the identity of married woman and passionate independent pioneer. The couple moved to Wallace and with Levi’s steady work as a railroad engineer May had the opportunity to reevaluate her life choices. She still very much wanted to be even more financially secure and she deeply cared for others wanting to ease the suffering of those who were downtrodden.

For a time she worked in a hotel as the manager of a dining room and she continued to read more material on subjects near to her heart. She may have left school when she was ten but May was determined to be knowledgeable about the variety of issues that impacted the region she now called home. Her early days in the mining camps of Idaho left a dramatic impression and she emerged with new opinions on social rights, labor, and women’s suffrage. All these would continue to color her activities as she climbed the rungs of society’s ladder.

The conditions of the mines in Idaho and many other western states were dangerous and worsening. Some of the mines had formed unions in response and with their arrival came an increase in discussions related to the merit or detriment of the organizations. May was a proponent of the unionization of the mines. She had seen the abuses of the corporate owners of the mines and the conditions that the workers had to perform in everyday. Her readings and relative social stability allowed her the opportunity to participate in the debate. Her strong opinions only increased the distain held by the elite element in Wallace for the newly arrived Mrs. Hutton.