Demon Canyon — Del Dowdell

Western Wyoming. Demon Canyon. The French called it the Canyon of Devils, and steered clear of it. Lewis and Clark heard about it and made an entry in their journals but never went near it. Hearty and fearless fur trappers shuddered at the mere thought of it. And the mysterious and unseen Sheep Eater Indian tribe worshipped it, willing to kill to keep it hidden. Early historical reports buried in Canadian Eyes-Only vaults label it the greatest gold find in the history of the nation, containing solid gold quartz worth billions, yet it has never been mined. Today satellite-mapping instruments have measured it and evaluated its worth, butmining patents have not been sought. Not until the Freedom of Information Act has it even been possible for the average citizen to learn of the existence of Demon Canyon-and the obscurestory that has caused its burial among the unsolved mysteries of the early western frontier. In the early 1870s, after most mining efforts had played out across the mountains in Western Wyoming, an eastern adventurer casts his fortune and fame on the fates of a soiled map that claims to show the only entrance to the Canyon of Demons and the solid gold veins along its steep, hidden walls. He forces his beautiful, yet vulnerable estranged wife to join him and she attracts the eye of a down-and-out western man in Larame named Bryce Taggert. Haunted by the woman's beauty, and knowing the easterner will lead her to her death on the dry, Indian-infested plains, Taggert turns away from a job offer that would put him back in business, to trail the small party. An Indian fighter, army scout, and teamster, Taggert is forced to use all his knowledge and skill to keep himself and the woman alive, not just from Indians, but from hard cases hired to make sure the easterner doesn't return to New York to upset the empire of the Combine he is out to destroy. Drawn by the possibilities of gold, intrigue, and getting even with a man