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 Peddler...

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 ranc...

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 tha...

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...

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 Ma...

Here is the bold adventure story of William Dunn, an educated man yet an accomplished mountain man. His life becomes forever entwined with the wild, unforgettable, Grand Canyon.

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 ...

The Gila River flows gently through the parched Sonoran Desert and along its banks fierce Apaches, Pima farmers, Spaniards and brash Americans all vie for control in a harsh and unforgiving land: Miguel Santana a young Spaniard abandoned by his comrades; his Pima son Vitorio; Jacova, a woman whose indomitable spirit tamed a mighty Apache warrior; and the "man of three bloods," belonging to all, and to none. On the banks of the Gila their lives all came together - in love and in war - as th...

For young Quinn Wallace, reaching the land called Yellowstone was a quest he would rather die for than abandon. For the courageous woman who fell in love with him, it was a reason to surrender everything she once held dear.

Two Colorado cowboys searching for strayed cattle during a harsh snow storm discover the remains of an ancient city built into the side of a huge cliff. It is the ruined city of the Anasazi Indians, a civilization lost for over a thousand years. This is the story of how Mesa Verde, the cliff city, came to be. It is 400 A.D. at the Animus river Valley in what is now Northwestern New Mexico, and Echata, the leader of the Raven Clan, was concerned for his people. They were starving because of...

On their way to Colorado, Ruff and Dixie Ballou drive their horses through New Mexico. Their intention to quietly drive the horses on through goes well until they find themselves inadvertently involved in a shootout with four outlaws who robbed the banks of a small town in New Mexico. An edgy sheriff and angry townspeople get the Ballou’s involved in a situation they would be more happy to do without. Even more so when they are arrested by the sheriff as robbery suspects.

Irish immigrant Michael Callahan gets the gold fever and stakes a claim in California. Just when persistence and ingenuity finally payoff, he is jumped by thieves intent upon taking his gold and his life.