"As we dig, drill, and excavate to unearth the planet's mineral bounty, the resources we exploit from ores, veins, seams, and wells are gradually becoming exhausted. Mineral treasures that took millions, or even billions, of years to form are now being squandered in just centuries--or sometimes just decades. Will there come a time when we actually run out of minerals? Debates already soar over how we are going to obtain energy without oil, coal, and...

"No sooner has Montana become a state than Zimmerman launches a diabolical campaign to turn a remote swath of land into an outlaw kingdom. Some of the richest mines in the West are in Zimmerman's sights, and he's rallied allies on both sides of the law to stake his claim. The corpses are piled high in Deputy U.S. Marshal Jeremiah Halstead's war with the vicious outlaw, but now Zimmerman proves himself as cunning with a pen as he is deadly with a six-gun....

Go west seeking your fortune with those who came because of the land's rich natural resources. "News stories" reveal the hard lives of miners in the Rockies and the desperation of prospectors searching for riches in the gold rushes in California, Alaska, and on the Klondike River in the Yukon. Find out which was the wealthiest occupation--trapping for furs, logging in the forests of the northwest, or mining borax in Death Valley.