Preface: Legendary Men

                                                                                                  Preface



         It was a time of transformation.  A fractious young country entered adolescence; struggling to form an identity; filled with conflicting ideas and values as diverse as the people found within her borders.  It was a time marked by rapid expansion, conflict at every juncture, and turmoil within.  Yet, it was also a time of ingenuity and invention; prosperity and fraternity; filled with men who would become legends.



         Thirty-four years after the ratification of the U.S. Constitution, the United Mexican States established itself as an independent country, laying claim to the expanses of land South and West of the United State territories.  Borders were ill-defined; and the territories were vast and unknown, with little more than words and promises binding land to the countries claiming ownership.  The older superpowers of the world had been humbled, and were giving way to the young emerging countries of North America.



         The people of this burgeoning new world found before them a boundless frontier; as of yet occupied only by the most audacious of civilized men, and savages.  Pioneers pushed West, as if called into the unforgiving wilderness by sirens audible to only themselves.  Along with their families, if they had any, they pushed across the Mississippi, into new and unknown territories acquired through a controversial negotiation with France's emperor, Napoleon.  Many of these industrious explorers were attempting to travel across an entire continent, armed with little more than confidence, ingenuity, and resolve.  The hardships of the journey would claim the lives of many, with only a small percentage reaching as far west as the Oregon territory.  Others would choose to veer off the path with aspirations of carving out home for themselves among the plains, prairies, and mountains along the way.