Lee Hart: Book One: The Buffalo Hunter

Do you know how the West was really won? Not by gunslingers and outlaws, cattle barons and lone sheriffs. No, the West was won by the Railroad. The real heroes are the men and women who braved hardship and danger - including the distinct possibility of a scalping from hostile Indians - to build the Transcontinental Railroad all the way from Nebraska to California. One such man was good-hearted Lee Hart, the great-grandson of Pierre, a swashbuckling voyageur from whom Lee inherits not only his love of adventure, but also his love of horses: When Lee is ten years old his French family emigrate from Quebec to Illinois. Heart-broken at having to leave his beloved pony behind, Lee vows to save up and buy a real horse of his own. His resolve is strengthened when he sees a beautiful and spirited Palomino - that's the kind of horse he wants! On the long boat journey across the Great Lakes, Lee makes iced cream (from a recipe handed down from his great-grandmother) and sells this novelty to his fellow passengers. It's a huge success - especially with fresh-baked juneberry pie! Lee is well on the way to his goal. Lee eventually buys a colt and they grow up together. It's not long before both Lee and his steed crave adventure and head West... Lee's skill as a marksman makes him a good living hunting the buffalo that are essential to feed the workers building the railroad. Lee confronts hostile Indians with a strength they admire, so that rather than losing his scalp, he gains some valuable trading partners… and Major Dodge and his men feast on delicious buffalo-meat stew and biscuits! When the railroad is finished, a journey that once took weeks or months can be accomplished in just days. That's progress. That's how “the West was Won”! When Lee is ambushed by Cree Indians and in danger of losing everything, he instead finds the love of his life. Incorporating events from the lives of the author's own ancestors, this is the twenty-eighth book in the Our Family Series.