Our American West

"Our American West, Volume 4" completes this collection of stories written by master storyteller and national award-winning author Gary McCarthy, and after reading it you might well decide that he has saved his best and favorites for last. "The Lewis and Clark Expedition" proved once and for all that the storied and hoped for ?River across America? didn?t exist. And did you know that, if the Russians had held on a little longer at Fort Ross, California might have been their greatest prize? 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, but they couldn?t have peddled their elixirs and cures without liberal doses of pure-grain alcohol. "The First Hollywood Cowboys" takes us back to the B-grade movies and great cowboy stars like 'William S. Hart', 'Bob Steel', 'Hoot Gibson', 'Hopalong Cassidy', 'Roy Rogers' and 'Gene Autry', while a visit to the "Custer Battlefield" reminds us that foolish pride and ambition can lead to tragedy. Outlaws like "Jesse James" and "Sam Bass" feared the famed "Texas Rangers" while "Wyatt Earp and His Deadly Brothers" had a well deserved reputation for being lightning fast and deadly accurate with a sixgun. From the "First Mountain Men" to the great "Texas Longhorn" drives and on to the visionary naturalist "John Muir" who passionately advocated for our wonderful National Park system after falling in love with Yosemite?it?s all written on these pages in a highly entertaining style. This collection of fast-reading and well-researched stories about our early western people, places and events will linger with you long after you?ve turned the last page of "Our American West, Volume 4."