Gold, Silver, and Guns

About the Book

Life isn't easy in the 1860s on the western frontier as the discovery of gold and silver beckons prospectors, and the promise of cheap land attracts ranchers and farmers from the East Coast. It is a time of greed, lawlessness, self-preservation, and opportunity.

The wayward Tom Lawson seizes the moment when he discovers a cache of silver near the town of Ribera in southern Arizona, between El Paso and Tucson. When the Lawson family receives word of Tom's silver strike, his brother Ben must decide whether to begin his medical career as planned or assist his brother. Reluctant but enticed, Ben moves from Colorado to Arizona to help his sibling. On the stagecoach ride from El Paso to Ribera, he and the other passengers are robbed. It becomes all too evident that the territory is under constant threat by Indians, renegade discharged Confederate soldiers, and disenfranchised Mexicans.

Gold, Silver, and Guns follows the stories of Ben and five others who migrate to Ribera seeking adventure and fortune. As they discover that life in this agitated small town may pose challenges and risks far greater than the rewards, they each must weigh the price of what it takes to survive and prosper.

About the Author

George E. Smith has worked in South Africa, Chile, and the western United States as a mining technologist and advisor. This is his debut novel.