westward

This 180-page book is written for older children. The book tracks the adventures of an Irish American family, the Cullens, who were caught up in a competition between two railroad companies vying for government funding in the 1860s. Union Pacific was laying track westward from Omaha, Nebraska, while Central Pacific was laying track eastward from Sacramento, California. This work of historical fiction for young readers includes authentic details from the period.

Beginning in late 1863, author J. Ross Browne accompanied Charles D. Poston on his tour of Arizona as the territory’s Superintendent of Indian Affairs. This book recounts their adventure, presenting a vivid, colorful description of the area and of the terrors which then attended border life in Arizona, where one-twentieth of the population had been swept away by the attacks of the Apaches in three years. Browne's travelogue also contains details on early mining in addition to observations of the lands and people he encountered.