Amidst the Gold Dust is a colorful collection of individual biographies about five women who braved the Western frontier. The style and flavor of this book engages young readers in grades 3 through 7 and helps them grasp Western history. Vastly different at first glance, these women have much to teach us about surviving hardship and living courageously. The reader gets to know these women through their actions and thoughts, as well as through the observations and opinions of those who knew them.
Numerous sidebars link the fictional narrative to documented historical events and facts.
A bibliography offers further research on each woman. From Yuma I continued on to Tucson. Not much more there than a fort. The pace of Tucson was as slow as molasses in January. I opened a restaurant, called Delmonicos, and was making a success of it too.