Della Gould Emmons is a member of the Gould family who pioneered in the
jewelry and theatrical businesses in Glencoe, Minnesota. A University
of Minnesota graduate, she taught in high school at Sisseton, South
Dakota. Marrying a train dispatcher, Allen B. Emmons, she went westward
until finally Seattle and Tacoma became her home. She satisfied her
urge for theatrical work by writing plays and pageants for radio,
schools and churches. This led to her novel, "Sacajawea of the
Shoshones," which was filmed as "The Far Horizons" by Paramount.
Della's brother, showman Jay Gould and his family of nine performing
children traveled summers in mid-America with a fleet of white buses as
the Jay Gould Million-Dollar Circus, which is described in her fourth
book, "Jay Gould's Million-Dollar Gems." As a young man in the early
1900s, Jay bought a motion-picture projector for two gold watches and
five dollars, started the Crystal Theatre in 1909, then traveled to
small towns playing films, selling musical instruments and giving music
lessons to mid-western schoolchildren. It is believed Jay may have
inspired Meredith Willson's character, "The Music Man."
In her second book, "Nothing in Life is Free," an Indiana couple join
the famous Naches Pass wagon train lured by the offer of free land in
Washington Territory. Her third book "Leschi of the Nisquallies" served
as the source for the Indian fishing rights in their court trials.
Della was adopted by the Lummi tribe and given the name "Selequal"
(Maiden of the Great Calm). She served as curator for the Washington
State Historical Society and was an International Honorary member of
Beta Sigma Phi.
