Crossing Niobrara

About the Book

Western Heart Series:
Marrying Tree Stories
Crossing Niobrara

Twenty-four more stories about the scramble to find wives and create western families. From after the Civil War and up into the 1890's America had more unmarried men and women than at any other time in its history, and a large number of war widows. More men went west than women did. Men went west for a chance to start a new business, timber, mining, gold, silver, land, and adventure. When established, a man wanted a wife and family. However, unmarried women out in the West were scrarce.

These stories go up to World War I era. However, in some areas of the West, men still scramble to find a bride. Western women in large numbers go off to college and to find work elsewhere.

About the Author

A land rush lottery created Tripp Country, South Dakota. My Grandfather was one of the lucky ones. My father was the first settler child born in Tripp County. He told me this parents talked about the difficulty unmarried neighbors had trying to find wives.