Frontier Footprints: A True History of the Rocky Mountains by Amy Kathryn Allen

Previously

…He remembered the bitter taste of betrayal, the phantom grip of a comrade’s hand as he’d wrested away a promising claim years ago, a memory that surfaced in the quiet hours, a chilling reminder of the cost of his ambition. His relentless pursuit was a microcosm of a larger hunger, a desire to conquer and extract, a force that would leave indelible scars upon the mountains. The boomtowns, those fleeting empires built on the promise of quick riches, continued to draw a restless populace. They were chaotic, vibrant, and often dangerous places, where fortunes were made and lost with dizzying speed. The railroad