The Story
Owen Buchanan, along with his brother, Philo, his cousin, Willis, and a neighbor, Lucas, leave farming behind and rush west, enticed by the news of gold in the Black Hills. It’s a long walk with a bull train from Fort Pierre on the Missouri River to Deadwood. Near the end they rescue Dr. Hiram Gruenhagen, his wife Willemina, and their beautiful daughter Josephine from the Sioux.
Owen and his companions join Everett Miller, Lucas’s uncle, on his placer mining claim. Everett is their guide to bold, bustling Deadwood at the height of its wild, giddy, boomtown days in July 1876, when the only law was the pistol a man carried. They meet Wild Bill Hickok and Calamity Jane and others, including the notorious Stark brothers and their outlaw gang.
Owen soon realizes that mining the miners is a faster, easier path to wealth than mining itself. He and Philo quickly establish the primitive Hotel Deadwood and bill it as the cheapest hotel in town.
And, of course, they compete for the affections of alluring Josephine. But the Buchanans clash with the Starks, which leads to deadly violence. And maybe this story tells the real reason Jack McCall shot Bill Hickok.
Read Chapter One
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Amazon reviews:
This is an Old West tale that opens your eyes to what life was like during the 1876 gold rush in the Black Hills, centered in the boomtown of Deadwood. Owen Buchanan and his companions set out to help a relative, Everett Miller, with his placer mining claim. But after exposure to the Deadwood town weekend events, they soon realize there may be other profitable adventures.
The most memorable and insightful parts of this novel were the numerous in depth conversions between Owen, the town’s doctor (Dr Hiram Gruenhagen), and the doctor’s daughter (Jo). Owen was continually intrigued by their vast knowledge of enterprise, current events, and their thoughts on civilization. Those conversations drove Owen to impress Jo and her father, resulting in the development of his entrepreneurial skills in Deadwood. Owen’s character development and an unspoken attraction to Jo became evident and were ingenuous, right from the start. Owen, easily and quickly, became my favorite character.
One of the best lines in this novel is with the use of the statement, “To see the elephant”. This line is repeatedly used when there was talk of wanting to be in one of the many battles.
An added plus was the inclusion of a great portrayal of Calamity Jane and Wild Bill Hickok. An interesting unexpected ending with Wild Bill Hickok brought to life the difficulty of living in a town where lawmen don’t exist.
I have read all of the novels by this author. This storyline is now my personal favorite and I consider it a must read.
Excellent read! James Janke has truly done his research and has woven it into an intriguing and very pleasant novel. I am a retired graduate school instructor of history of the Black Hills and Deadwood, so I was extremely pleased with the depth of true history that the author entwined into this non-fiction tale. From the young men’s trip across Minnesota, the wide-open plains of Dakota and then to their final destination of Deadwood Gulch, the story draws you in, befriends you with the characters, and drops you into the sights, the sounds and the smells of the wildest gold rush town in the Wild West- Deadwood, D.T.
Great story with lots of history infused throughout. Good amount of dialogue and vivid descriptions! An easy yet enjoyable read.
