Signed by the author! This volume tells many stories in one: the epic tale of men and women (some of them famous trailbreakers, some little known); the lures that attracted these pragmatic dreamers to the West; and the ordeals and disappointments they overcame along the way. Illustrated with archival photographs, paintings, maps and documents, the book offers the general reader an overview of the western trail network that bound an immature nation together and provided an armature for later development.