Caroline Cameron Lockhart was born in Eagle Point, Illinois on February 24, 1871. She was the oldest daughter and second child of Joseph Cameron Lockhart, a rancher, and Sarah Woodruff. After spending her early years on the family ranch, Lockhart attended Bethany College in Kansas and the Moravian Seminary in Pennsylvania. After an unsuccessful attempt to establish herself as an actress she found employment with the Boston Post as reporter. She also began publishing short stories.

Successful in her new field of endeavor, by 1900 she had moved to Philadelphia, where she accepted a position with the Bulletin , eventually receiving her own column under the moniker of Suzette. In 1904, Lockhart’s paper assigned her to do a feature on the Blackfoot Indians. As a result she came to Cody, Wyoming for a stay of several weeks and, with the exceptions of travel and a stay in Denver, Colorado, remained in the area for the rest of her life.

Between 1904 and 1914 Lockhart focused on her writing. While continuing to contribute articles to various newspapers, she published several short stories, and her first novel. Me-Smith, hailed as a true western, brought her national recognition. In 1912 she published a thinly veiled portrait of her friends and neighbors. The Lady Doc was well received, except within the town of Cody, whose residents were generally unhappy with how they were depicted. Lockhart’s third novel, The Full of the Moon , was published two years later. Lockhart’s The Man From Bitter Roots (1915) was her first Hollywood success and was made into a moving picture, starring William Farnham. The Fighting Shepherdess ( 1919), was loosely based on the life of sheepherder Lucy Morrison Moore, and was her most successful novel since Me-Smith .

In December of 1918, Lockhart left Cody to take up residence in Denver, accepting a reporting job with the Post . Lockhart returned to Cody in 1919, where she was hailed as a local celebrity in conjunction with the premiere of the movie based on The Fighting Shepherdess . From this point on Lockhart dedicated herself to two causes, opposing Prohibition and preserving the old west. From 1920 to 1925 she owned the weekly Park County Enterprise , which was renamed the Cody Enterprise in 1921. She did not hesitate to use this venue to publicize her anti-Prohibition sentiments or promote her interest in the area and its culture. The resulting controversy and libel suits resulting from her strong political views were inevitable. The publication of the Dude Wrangler in 1921 was Lockhart’s acknowledgment that the west she loved was in transition.

In 1920 Lockhart was elected first President of the Cody Stampede Board, a post she held for the next six years. Drawing on the area’s tradition of summer celebrations, Lockhart saw the promotion of the festivities as a way to preserve the region’s culture while honoring its founding father, William Cody. In 1926, after consenting to the consolidation of the Enterprise with another paper, Lockhart fulfilled a lifelong ambition and purchased the L / Ranch near Dryhead, Montana. Lockhart loved her cattle ranch but most winters she returned to Cody. Lockhart owned the ranch until 1950 when ill health forced her to retire permanently to Cody. Caroline Lockhart died on July 25, 1962. Colorful and independent, Lockhart, personified the individualism of the west, which she interpreted through her writings. A lifelong promoter of the region she loved and sought to preserve, Lockhart was truly a citizen of Wyoming.