The American West of the nineteenth century was not so much a place, nor the direction of the setting sun, but a state of mind. It was on epoch of adventure, and of larger than life characters, but more than that it was an idea intertwined within an ideal.
The idea of this book is to view the epoch of the opening of the American West, that seminal experience of the American adventure, as it was seen by those who were there. There are things that should not be forgotten – not just dates and facts, but perceptions and ideas that have disappeared into the sands of time.
These are the stories of pioneers and gold-seekers, of settlers and railroaders, of cowboys and criminals, as they were remembered when memories were still fresh. These are the stories of the Santa Fe, Oregon and Chisholm Trails, and of the iron roads of rails and of the first paved roads that marked the end of the American West – all of it remembered when memories were still fresh.
Enjoy this look back through the eyes of those who never knew the Hollywood desecration, nor the academically revised half-truths of the late twentieth century, nor an image viewed imperfectly through the murky prism that has distorted a reality which once was a clear as a cold autumn day on the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains.
