Katherine McHale Slaughterback was born on July 25, 1893 (or 1894[1]) in a log cabin near Longmont, Colorado.

[3] Of her ordeal, Slaughterback later said: I fought them with a club not more than 3 feet long, whirling constantly for over two hours before I could kill my way out of them and get back to my faithful horse and Ernie, who were staring at me during my terrible battle not more than 60 feet away[2]She was "frantic that [the snakes] would frighten the horse, and cause him to rear up and throw Ernie into the snakes.

"[5] After she returned to her farm, a neighbor learned of what had happened, which eventually led to a reporter coming to photograph and interview her.

News of her exploits was reported as far away as Germany, Belgium, Scotland, France, England, Mexico, and Canada.

[1] Former member of The Lumineers and Colorado native Neyla Pekarek wrote a folk opera about Slaughterback called Rattlesnake Kate.

Pekarek was then commissioned by the Denver Center for the Performing Arts to create a full musical from the subject matter.