An adventurous single woman who knew how to cook, twenty-three-year-old May Arkwright moved -- alone -- to the remote valleys of northern Idaho in 1883. She opened a one-table restaurant for the silver prospectors near Wallace, serving her homemade berry pies and hot dishes. Before long, she was a well-known part of the fledgling mining district.
May, a large, outspoken woman who favored low-cut, brightly colored dresses, scandalized the "proper"...