Gold Dust: Mining Tales from the Old West

In these seven tales, Dan De Quille, miner-poet of the Utah Territory, follows the exploits of miners, fools and cut-throats. This collection of De Quille's writing from the "Overland Monthly" takes the reader back to the time of gaslight and has them meet a cast of characters who lived on the edge of wilderness. Included in the volume: De Quille's profile of Snow-shoe Thompson, a tale of trekking across the Sierras as winter begins, the comical story of seven friends who end up chasing phantom thieves after a potato-heist goes south, and a long piece on an American setting up a mine in Mexico. Filled with humor and humanity, 'Gold Rush" gives the reader a different look at the people who tamed the Wild West.