"In 1890s Montana, a daughter who has moved from one mining camp to the next desires stability and love, not the blue stones her father brings home; when a handsome geologist arrives, he offers her new insight and hope"--1890s. Emily Carver is tired of following her gold-hunting father from one mining camp to another: she wants a home where she can put down roots. When she realizes she's losing her heart to the intriguing new man in their Montana...

Some came to Colorado for freedom, while others to build a new life. But in 1858, when gold is discovered in the Colorado region, thousands descend on Denver like a hungry swarm. General Lee Burke, an original pioneer of the Oregon Trail, must take on the greatest challengeof all. Under orders from U.S. President James Buchanan, he must gain the support of Colorado, to forge the fate of a nation. With tensions between the North and South heating up,...

Gold fever swept the country from coast to coast, luring more than a hundred thousand seekers to the untamed territory of California. For them, the Gold Rush of 1848 represented the American Dream come true. But for the settlers who lived there, it was an all-out assault on the homes they'd struggled so hard to build. In Sacramento Valley, former Texas Ranger Rick Miller struggles to keep the peace with nothing more than a six shooter and guts.

"In the depths of a cruel High Lonesome winter comes a cryptic message for Smoke Jensen. The letter tells of skullduggery by gold barons, railroad magnates and Chinese tongs in San Francisco. Smoke knows only one person in San Francisco, Francie, mistress of one of the town's most notorious pleasure palaces. Smoke once rescued her from raiding Cheyenne, but now Madame Francie is mysteriously dead ... and Smoke's arrival in San Francisco is less than...

"It is 1866, and Walter Moody has come to stake his claim in New Zealand's booming gold rush. On the stormy night of his arrival, he stumbles across a tense gathering of 12 local men who have met in secret to discuss a series of unexplained events: a wealthy man has vanished, a prostitute has tried to end her life, and an enormous cache of gold has been discovered in the home of a luckless drunk. Moody is soon drawn into a network of fates and fortunes...

While spending their summer vacation with Uncle Frank and Uncle Bill, two city children discover and begin to explore what seems to be an old gold mine shaft, but find that it is guarded by mountain lions.

The prospecting past of Arizona has been kept alive through the notorious tales included here.