Wayne D Overholser

Central Oregon-the last frontier. Transportation is still by stagecoach and freight wagon. There is a movement afoot for a people's railroad, paid for by the state, to bring the benefits of rails to the area, to make it easier to ship livestock and produce, and to encourage settlement. For years, the competing railroad barons, James J. Hill and Edward H. Harriman, have done nothing toward building a line in central Oregon, but now, under the impetus...

From a three-time Spur Award-winner comes the tale of an orphaned boy who is forced to become a man. Mark Kelton is eighteen years old-part boy, part man. On the trail to set up a ranch in eastern Oregon, his parents are killed by an unknown assailant and their strongbox containing $8,000 is stolen. Mark heads out onto the empty plain where he encounters Bronco Curtis, a man who knows what he wants, and Curtis befriends the young orphan. When Curtis...

It was while Neal Clark was in the gunsmith's shop that the Shelly gang attempted to hold up the bank. Neal rushed out of the shop with his rifle, took aim, and fired, repeatedly, killing Buck Shelly and his son Luke Shelly. He may also have wounded Ed Shelly, a teenage boy, who was holding the horses. Ed Shelly made good his escape, but was believed to be mortally wounded. That's what Neal thought until he received a letter from Ed Shelly, declaring...