Sodbusters are about equal to farm animals on the social scale of the ranching community of Wyoming in the 1870's. Zach and Carrie Bennett, teen-aged children of that wretched class, are determined to escape the scorn. They resolve to trek to Texas on foot. They are babes on the prairie, ignorant of the geography and hostility. This incredible journey through the lawless West reveals human nature at its most base, and unveils a capacity for violence the brother and sister never believed possible in themselves. But they also discover the other side of humanity.
Mando Killion's world was shattered by Santa Anna's brutal invasion of Texas. Scion of a wealthy ranching dynasty, he saw his father die at the Alamo, his mother and brothers murdered, and his beautiful sister taken hostage by a debauched Mexican General. Mando came of age during the most violent days of Texas history, as a hearty band of patriots led by Sam Houston fought a bloody revolution for freedom from tyranny. But Mando had his own personal war to wage, he must free his sister and reclaim his family's legacy or die in the process...
They were on their way to the richest silver strike in human history. Six people who met in a Sierra blizzard enroute to the infamous Comstock Lode. Prim wallflower Holly York, and beautiful Julia Matson with a secret no one could forgive. Clayton James, hopelessly caught between the world of whites and Indians, and brilliant thwarted inventor Glenn Donovan. Fay Taylor, with a singing voice from heaven, and her brother Dade, evil enough to send them all straight to hell. Who among them could survive the failures, successes and the dangers that lay ahead...
In a land where justice was found in the barrel of a gun and the line between outlaw and citizen was thinly drawn, two women struggled, fought, and won. Rebecca, the elder, beautiful and defiant, found herself in the majestic mountains of Utah, forced to marry a brutal polygamist. All she wanted was to become a physician - and a free woman. Katie, younger, innocent, passionate, risked her life so her sister might have a chance for freedom. She risked all to establish a sprawling sheep ranch and prove that a woman could do it all - on her own.
Ruff Ballou and his sister Dixie journeyed west with trouble at their heels. But luck is on their side in Rum River, New Mexico, where they race one of their champion thoroughbreds to victory. A rich mans greed pits their good fortune against Ruffs life
In the wake of disaster, the surviving members of the Ballou family sought a new beginning on the Texas Frontier. A minister and his family become their traveling companions. Tragedy strikes when the minister and his young daughter are attacked by rattlesnakes and severely bitten. Their lives depend on the only medical attention available, that of a Comanche medicine man. And it is up to Ruff to persuade the reluctant Comanches to give them aid.
Haunted by the blood and bitterness of the Civil War, Houston Ballou escaped from Tennessee on the proud stallion High Fire, followed by his brother Ruff, his sister Dixie, and the last four mares from the Ballou farm, one of them heavy with foal. Threatened with extreme danger from either army, they head west to start a new life. Adding to their peril are deserters that stalk the roads. These men would kill for a few coins, more so for valuable horseflesh.
THE HORSEMEN, is the story of the Ballou family\'s brave struggle to fulfill a dream. The Ballous were the finest horsemen in the South, a courageous Tennessee family famous for the training and breeding of glorious thoroughbreds. When the Civil War devastated their home and their lives, they headed west into the heart of Indian territory. As horsemen, they triumphed. As a family, they endured. But as pioneers in a new land, they faced unimaginable hardship, danger and ruthless enemies...
Our American West, Volume 4 completes this collection of stories written by Gary McCarthy. The Lewis and Clark Expedition proved once and for all that the storied and hoped for "River across America" didn't exist. Long before the Forty-Niner Gold Rush a diminutive but courageous priest named Fr. Junipero Serra sacrificed everything to bring Christianity to the gentle coastal Native Americans while faithfully establishing a string of beautiful California missions. Old Time Snake Oil Peddlers and Con Men were artists of deceit, trying to peddle elixirs and cures without liberal doses of alcohol. The First Hollywood Cowboys takes us back to B-grade movies and stars like William S. Hart, Bob Steel, Hoot Gibson, Hopalong Cassidy, Roy Rogers and Gene Autry. Visit the Custer Battlefield, which reminds us that foolish pride and ambition can lead to tragedy. Jesse James and Sam Bass fear the famed Texas Rangers while Wyatt Earp and His Deadly Brothers had a reputation for being fast and deadly with a sixgun. From the First Mountain Men to the great Texas Longhorn drives and on to the visionary naturalist John Muir who advocated the National Park system after falling in love with Yosemite.
Our American West, Volume 3 is filled with western frontier stories you'll find entertaining. The Roadrunner - Our Sagebrush Clowns reflects on the speedy and often comical bird of our southwestern deserts. Wild and wicked Calamity Jane lived up to her reputation as the West's most infamous outlaw woman. "The Donner Party - Frozen Horror" describes the horror that led to cannibalism. The 49er Gold Rush ruined the lives of two ambitious and well-intentioned men, John Augustus Sutter and John Marshal and then the Big Bonanza took place under Nevada's mighty Sun Mountain. Cynthia Ann Parker watched Comanche slaughter her family and was taken captive; thus became so loyal to her new culture that she did not want to return to the white culture. Was John Wesley Hardin the most dangerous gunman on the western Frontier? Geronimo was a great Apache chief who sought vengeance and not without good reason while the People of the Shining Mountains wanted only peace and to remain in their hunting grounds. Camels - A Really Bad Experiment will make you laugh as the cowboys try to introduce the camel into the West.
Our American West, Volume 2 begins with America's first colonizers, the prairie dogs, and how out on the ranges they were so hated by ranchers that they were almost made extinct. Conestoga Wagons were once called "prairie schooners" crossing America long before the famed Pony Express. The indomitable courage of Sarah Winnemucca, the "Prairie Princess" rivals that of a tall Swede named Showshoe Thompson who skied the snowy river passes of the Sierra Nevadas for over twenty years packing the mail and saving lives. Almost no one knows of Esther Hobart Morris, but Wyoming proudly claims her as its Mother of Women's Suffrage. Marvel at the transcontinental railroad race between the Union Pacific's Chinese laborers and the predominately Irish Central Pacific Railroad crews and about how a one-armed Civil War hero named John Wesley Powell was the first explorer to run the mighty Grand Canyon deep within its corridors of stone. Doctors called "sawbones" struggled to save their patients with little more than poultices and prayers. Tom Horn was a tall, handsome hired gun but did he hang for a crime he did commit? Are mules smarter than horses? Clay Allison was every bit as deadly as Billy the Kid. Native American stories featuring Chief Sitting Bull. Buffalo Soldiers, The Ghost Dancers and Mark Twain, Frederick Remington and The Infamous Bandit Queens round out Our American West, Volume 2.
In Our American West, Volume 1, discover humor, tragedy and courage in every one of these delightful stories. Gary McCarthy has been writing about the American West for thirty years and these are some of his favorite topics written - not for the expert or scholar - but for all the armchair admirers of thing historically written. Some of these exciting subjects are fairly well known such as Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, but even here you will discover things about these daring outlaws that you probably didn't know. Stories of coyotes, burros, jackrabbits and mustangs - the "untamed ones" that are oh so very important threads in the rich and textured tapestry of our western heritage. Black Bart, the gentle stagecoach robber, Lola Montez, the famous "Spider Dancer," Charles Russell was famous for his art, but one of his dearest friends, Will Rogers thought of him as an equally gifted storyteller. "Bet A Million" Gates whose bold Texas wager transformed the entire face and future of the American West. In this fascinating listen, you will learn about explorers, adventurers, the famous and almost famous, and about legends like Joaquin Murieta.
