Before his death on the Santa Fe Trail at the hands of the Comanches, Jed Smith and his partners had drawn the map of the west on a beaver skin.

    state of Montana. By late 1863 the remote gold fields and transportation links were rife with outlaws threatening and killing at will. At the end of the year it was estimated that 102 travellers had been murdered. As this became a more frequent occurrence locals began suspecting that these crimes were being carried out by a single group of outlaws, known as "road agents", under the control of Bannack sheriff Henry Plummer. With law enforcement unable to cope or even actively joining the outlaw gang, citizens of this remote part of Montana took the law into their own hands and formed the Vigilance Committee. Between January 4 and February 3, 1864, the vigilantes arrested and summarily executed at least 20 alleged members of Plummer's gang. Thomas Dimsdale was there to witness it all. Read here the gripping true account of popular justice in the Rocky Mountains. His The Vigilantes of Montana first appeared as a series of articles in 1865 editions of the Montana Post, Virginia City's and Montana's first newspaper. Thomas J. Dimsdale who died in 1866 was a member of the Alder Gulch Vigilance Committee and editor of the Montana Post. His early accounts of the Alder Gulch vigilante events are widely cited and the book version of his articles was published in Montana Territory in 1866. Albion Press is an imprint of Endeavour Press, the UK's leading independent digital publisher. For more information on our titles please sign up to our newsletter at www.endeavourpress.com. Each week you will receive updates on free and discounted ebooks. Follow us on Twitter: @EndeavourPress and on Facebook via http://on.fb.me/1HweQV7. We are always interested in hearing from our readers. Endeavour Press believes that the future is now.

    Once the old, cantankerous Sam Clevenger and his wife, Charlotte, hired Frank Willson and John Johnson to help with the move, their fate took a dark turn. These true events were documented by journalists through the 1887 trial and well into the 1900s, and stories have been told of Sam’s unfound treasure for nearly 130 years. But, this is the first detailed, documented, and vetted account of their bizarre and fascinating tale.

    She speaks with authority because she arrived there as a child in 1892, and with wide-eyed wonder saw the whole place turn to gold.With his divining rod, Mabel's father tapped gold ore on Beacon Hill but missed becoming a millionaire by selling his claim short. Nonetheless, life was rich for young Mabel in a booming town with points of interest like Poverty Gulch, the Continental Hotel, and a fantastic house called Finn's Folly; with characters around like the promoter Windy Joe and (seen from a distance) the madam Pearl De Vere; with something always going on, whether a celebration or a disastrous fire or train wreck or a no-nonsense miners' strike.Mabel Lee's book brings back a time and place with affection. The foreword is by Lowell Thomas, who was her pupil when she was a young schoolmarm in Cripple Creek.

    This revelatory volume tells for the first time Earp’s entire astonishing story.

    Now, he proves that truth can be even more exciting than fiction. Known for his ability to make history come vividly to life, Reasoner strips away the dime novel legends and Hollywood myths to show us how the gunfighters of the Old West really lived, killed-and were killed. Among the true stories he brings us: € Doc Holliday's Last Gunfight € The Last Dalton Raid € The End of the Notorious John Wesley Hardin € Wild Bill's Tragic Mistake € The End of an Earp € Gunfight at Stone Corral € The Doolin Bunch vs. the U.S. Marshals € Rourke's Bad Luck Robbery € Shoot-out at the Tuttle Dance Hall € Wichita's New Year's Day Gunfight € Bat Masterson and the Battle of the Plaza € The Sam Bass Gang's Luck Runs Out € The Long Branch Saloon's Spectacular Fray € Ben Thompson and the Vaudeville Ambush € The Man Who Killed the Man Who Killed Jesse James These are the shootouts and showdowns that gave the Wild West its name...recounted here with gritty accuracy, colorful detail, and all the drama of life-and death-on the frontier.

    You may find it for free on the web. Purchase of the Kindle edition includes wireless delivery.

    This book, Christopher Carson - The Pioneer of the West by John S.C. Abbott tells the story in wonderful detail. You'll meet other well known Americans such as John C. Fremont, but mostly, you'll thrill to the adventures of Kit Carson. Carson was a mild mannered man who didn't drink alcohol and never used foul language, but when danger threatened him or any of his companions, he stepped forward without a hint of fear. He grew to manhood in some of the most exciting times the new American nation ever experienced, and was instrumental in extending the boundaries of this new nation from sea to shining sea. This isn't a novel, but the true story of the life of Kit Carson. Once you start reading you'll find that this is a book you won't want to put down until the end. This edition of CHRISTOPHER CARSON; Familiarly Known As Kit Carson The Pioneer of the West includes the original images from the book plus historical and newly painted images of Kit Carson. This is the ebook of the Bottom of the Hill Publishing print edition of CHRISTOPHER CARSON; Familiarly Known As Kit Carson The Pioneer of the West. If you would like a printed book look on Amazon for ISBN 978-1-61203-731-8

     Lavinia writes: "It WAS in the fall and winter of eighteen fifty-nine that my husband and I decided to emigrate to the far West. Imprudent speculations and other misfortunes had embarrassed us financially to such an extent that our prospects for the future looked dark and forbidding; we then determined to use the small remnant of our fortune to provide a suitable outfit for a lengthy journey toward the setting sun. We were both young and inexperienced, my husband still in his twenties, and I a young and immature girl scarce twenty years of age. "A journey across the plains of the West was considered a great event in those early days. It was long thought of and planned seriously with and among the various members of the family to which the would be traveler belonged. Whoever had the temerity to propose turning their backs on civilized life and their faces toward the far-off Rocky mountains were supposed to be daring with a boldness bordering on recklessness. Emigration then meant the facing of unknown dangers in a half-savage country. "After many lengthy debates over the manner of transportation, and a diversified quantity of advice from our numerous friends, as to the merits of horses, mules or oxen, we at last decided (and it proved to be a wise decision) to purchase three yoke of strong, sturdy oxen and a large well-built emigrant wagon; roomy enough to hold all we wanted to take with us, and in which we might travel with some degree of comfort." CONTENTS CHAPTER I. Preparations For A Journey—Bidding Farewell—The Start CHAPTER II. Camping In Kansas— A Novice With Camp Fires —Marching On Foot CHAPTER III. Fire And Fuel—Storm Bound—Fellow Emigrants—Settlers In Nebraska CHAPTER IV. Buffalo Country—Returning Gold Seekers—Our Whiskey Barrel CHAPTER V. Indians CHAPTER VI. Trials Of The Spirit —Thirsting For Water—Gathering Buffalo Chips—Sick On The Desert—Bay Rum, Bergamont, And Castor Oil—Mirage CHAPTER VII. Infant Denver—Hanging By The Vigilance Committee—An Indian And His Scalps—The Parting With My Brother—A Sale Of Glassware—On To California CHAPTER VIII Toward Laramie—Fording A Dangerous Stream—celebrating The Fourth Of July—Entertaining Strangers—An Indian Village On The Move CHAPTER IX. The Rocky Mountains—Cheyenne Pass—Lost Cattle Restored—Crossing The Chugwater—Shoeing Lame Oxen—Arriving At Fort Laramie CHAPTER X. The Overland Road—Joining Company With A Band Of Emigrants—A Threatened Attack Of Indians—A Night Of Storm And Suspense Deserting The Company Of Emigrants—Independence Rock—Mormon Emigrants—Meeting Fellow Travelers Who Passed On To Destruction—Money Giving Out—Philip CHAPTER XI. In Mormon Land—The Trading Post—Discarded Possessions—The Pony Express—Our Indian Protector—Amusing The Children . CHAPTER XII. Salt Lake City—Disappointment At Fort Bridger—Letters From Home—An Old Acquaintance;—Mormon Women CHAPTER XIII. The Deserts—Indescribable Sunsets—Alkau Dust—Chance Acquaintances—The Welcome Sunday Morning Flap-jack—Salt Well—Fish Springs—Willow Springs—T

    

    Explore the lives of the pistol-packing, hell-raising, high-spirited gals who hung out with Butch Cassidy's Wild Bunch outlaw gang.

    

    With the Gilded Age in full swing and the Industrial Revolution reshaping the American landscape, “the Kid,” who was gunned down by Sheriff Pat Garrett in the New Mexico Territory at the age of twenty-one, became a new breed of celebrity outlaw. He arose amid the mystery and myth of the swiftly vanishing frontier and, sensationalized beyond recognition by the tabloids and dime-store romances of the day, emerged as one of the most enduring icons of the American West—not to mention one of Hollywood’s most misrepresented characters. This new biography, filled with dozens of rare images and period photographs, separates myth from reality and presents an unforgettable portrait of this brief and violent life.

    "As for the general reader, he'll eat this up and beg for more."-San Francisco Chronicle.

    Bock