*When America was young, wild and free* Anyone foolhardy enough to venture into the vast, unexplored regions beyond the Mississippi ran the risk of being attacked by hostile Indians or wild beasts or of starving to death in the Great American Desert. Those threats didn't hinder young Nathaniel King. Leaving New York City in 1828, he headed west because his uncle had promised to share with him the greatest treasure in the world. Nathaniel's trail led him from danger to danger, and into the wild, uninhabited Rocky Mountains. There, life was a neverending struggle to survive from one day to the next. If Nathaniel lived, he would unearth a treasure far more valuable than he had ever imagined.