Seven Hours till Dawn — Carson McCloud

A cowboy discovers gold in California and fights outlaws threatening his family in this western adventure from Carson McCloud.

With nothing keeping Jim Heston tied to Texas, he treks northwest to California, determined to carve a life out of the untamed and often brutal wilderness. In the shadow of the Sierra Mountains, he builds a ranch, until an unforgiving winter wipes out his stock. With jobs sparse in the small nearby town, Jim turns to hunting to keep fed, only to stumble upon an even more elusive prey: gold.
 
Cord Bannen makes his living parting miners from their hard-earned gold, hoping to find a motherlode instead of the small, scattered nuggets he and his gang steal. And when he spies Jim exchanging gold at Bidwell's Bar on more than one occasion, Cord believes he's finally struck it rich.
But when Cord threatens Jim's family, he learns the hard way that all that glitters isn't gold. For Jim Heston depends on another type of metal to protect those he loves -- the double-barreled kind that spits lead with bad intentions . . .