Megen O'Neal Mechem's early goal in life was to be a good ranch wife to Bit Mechem and a mother to their son, Big Thang. That changed. She found herself a widow running a large ranch and coping with the challenges of the time in what was essentially a man's world. She did obtain justice for her husband's murder. Miz Megen brought eight families of Comanches from the reservation to provide ranch hands for her Black foreman, and essentially built a Comanche village, establishing Swift Eagle as the village chief. They defended the ranch from fence cutters, and an attack on her sheep herd. She publicly challenged both men responsible for these actions. The railroad came close by, and she took action to move the Canyon Ranch toward the 20th century.