[2] Madge Morris was born April 25, 1862, in Oregon,[1] on the plains when her parents were en route to California.

Here, unfazed by the dizzy height, she wrote:[5] "I stood on the topmost tower, And never again till I die, Shall I glimpse such a wondrous dower As came in that vision high."

[3] With this, Wagner reached the acme of her notability when, in 1893, because of her poem, she and William Osborne McDowell, who conceived a great bell for the World's Columbian Exposition, were voted by the Chicago authorities the freedom of the city.

[5] Wagner's husband received a letter from McDowell, stating that his wife was appointed honorary member of the committee to create and direct the use of the Columbian Liberty Bell to be rung at the World's Fair.

The bell was to be made up of slaves' chains from all parts of the world and contributions of silver, gold and copper money.

The idea, expressed in one of Wagner's poems, was adopted as the fundamental motive in the casting of the bell, hence her appointment to an honorary position on the committee having the work in charge.

[6] From 1885 to 1895, she was the editor of The Golden Era, to which Bret Harte, Joaquin Miller, and Mark Twain were constant contributors.

[8] While serving as editor of The Golden Era, every edition contained some felicitous quatrain or longer poem, or entertaining story written by her.

Her shorter stories were intense and strong in local color, such as "Buzzard's Roost" and a "Memory of Adamsville".

[3] A quest to improve her health and a love for western arid lands took Wagner to the Colorado desert where she wrote deeply emotional songs.

[1] George Wharton James, in his Course of Lectures on California Literature and its Spirit included Wagner with the "Poets of San Jose", for it was there that she first became known as a contributor to the press.