1844. The Stevens-Murphy company left Missouri to be the first wagons into California through the Sierra Nevada Mountains. Mostly Irish Catholics, the party sought religious freedom and education in the mission-dominated land. When a heavy snowstorm hits in October, the party separates in three directions. Now young Mary Sullivan, newlywed Sarah Montgomery, widowed Ellen Murphy, and her pregnant sister-in-law Maolisa each risks losing those they loved....

"During the fur-trapping era of the early 1800s, with two rambunctious young sons to raise, Marie Dorion refuses to be left behind in St. Louis when her husband heads west. Faced with hostile landscapes, an untried expedition leader, and her volatile husband, Marie finds that the daring act she hoped would bind her family together may in the end tear them apart."--Page 4 of cover.

"Westward journey is the story of Will Barlow's overland trek from Michigan Territory to the California gold country in 1849. When his father and mother die within a few weeks of one another, young Will must make a choice--try to work the family farm alone, or sell out and travel to California with the Wades, a struggling family who have been forced to abandon their own home and land. Opting to leave Michigan, Will begins his cross-country journey...

"No one had seen the innocuous rock on the long climb to the pass on the Oregon Trail, and when the last covered wagon in the long line rolled onto the lump of granite, it shouldn't have made much of a difference, but it caused almost instant tragedy. Just seconds later, the wagon plunged over the edge of the narrow trail, then began its deadly, tumbling roll into the abyss, spewing its contents as it fell to its destruction. Her precious children...

Unforgettable Courage and Romance From Lauraine Snelling Warming countless hearts and bringing history to life, Lauraine Snelling's Sisters of the Confederacy is an exciting tale of courage, adventure, and romance. After finding her expected safe haven destroyed, Jesselyn Highwood must decide where to turn next. With no place left to go, Jesselyn decides to head west on the Oregon Trail. Here she encounters hardship, danger on the journey--and love....

Marjory is faced with some difficult decisions when her mother dies, and she must find a new destiny for herself and her family. With the help of Walter Wilkins, the young man assigned to drive their team, Marjory must find a courage equal to the task ahead of her and the strength to accept what may be the hardest thing of all-true love.

A fictional journal recounting the travels--from 1803 to 1806--of eighteen-year-old George Shannon, the youngest member of Lewis and Clark's Corps of Discovery as they explored the west and sought a water route to the Pacific Ocean.

"In powerful, vivid verse, the master behind The Watch That Ends the Night recounts one of history's most harrowing--and chilling--tales of survival. In 1846, a group of emigrants bound for California face a choice: continue on their planned route or take a shortcut into the wilderness. Eighty-nine of them opt for the untested trail, a decision that plunges them into danger and desperation and, finally, the unthinkable. From extraordinary poet and...