An economic and social history of South Dakota s west river country in the 1920s and 1930s is told largely through the settlers own words. Reprint.

With intelligence and growing passion, Alice Bower of Vermillion and Joseph Gossage of Rapid City corresponded with each other during their 16-month-long courtship. Though they did not meet in person until late 1881, 29-year-old Gossage, publisher of a small newspaper, had been introduced to 20-year-old Bower, an experienced typesetter, several years earlier by a mutual acquaintance who had encouraged him to hire her to set type for his new Black Hills Weekly Journal . Their letters and Bower's journal offer a window, not only on their hearts, but also on that particular time and place on the...