«The Devil's Playground» by Robert C. Bartsch

From tyrannized foreign lands, broken armies, ruined dreams and religious persecution they came, allured by the freedom of an untrammeled land and gold in the gulches. Here a man could strike it rich, then lose it all to murdering highwaymen or find his scalp decorating a warrior’s shield. Follow this group, almost a family, in their quests for fame and fortune over a decade long quest to explore the trapper’s world of boiling rivers and glass mountains—the world of the great Jim Bridger that finally led to the quest to preserve its wonders for unborn generations. Historical novels generally herald the lives of heroes with superhuman feats and success beyond wildest imagination. The characters of this novel came early to the goldfields, led danger-filled, extraordinary lives on the frontier, but only Jake Smith and Jay Cooke attained the gold ring of Eldorado. Even Bill Fairweather, the snake charmer and discoverer of Alder Gulch had empty pockets when he was found shot to death in his San Francisco hotel room. But these courageous pioneers left future generations something of immense value: Yellowstone National Park. This debut work is a historically authentic storyline brought to life and instilled with the atmosphere and geography of old Montana. Relive those freewheeling days in this last vast wilderness and the most harrowing survival ordeal of the Great American West.