In this true story, Mary Matilda McNair Mathews tells the tale of going west for no other reason than to get the facts on her brother's murder. With her small son, she braves what was in 1869, a wild and lawless country.

For ten years she made her way as a businesswoman and investor. Observing all that went on around her, she relates a life long since disappeared.

The book is fascinating not only for Mathews' story but for the time she describes. Her concern with commerce led her to leave us a great record of prices of common every-day things, services, real estate, and investments.

Matthews returned east but eventually went back to the west, settling in California to be near her son. Though she seems to have had some admiration for the Native Americans, her views on the Chinese and Jews was unfortunately typical for its time.