Shadows of the Mine ~ Paperback ~ Kay Hall Beckman

Edward came over to the United States from Ireland due to much famine and to start a new life. He shared a cabin with several other men who, like himself, who desired to explore the new country. While on the ship he met the beautiful Catherine also en-route to America with her family. He was finally able to meet her as she stood by the railing looking back toward her homeland. They immediately connected and Edward asked her father if he could call on them. Her father was impressed with this determined young man and agreed to allow him to court his daughter. When the ship docked in New York, Catherine and Edward became an item. Before long Edward proposed to Catherine and she accepted. He had planned on leaving for the west and the gold mines to make his fortune. With the families best wishes they joined a wagon train headed west. They stopped in Arizona and fell in love with its beauty. Deciding to settle near the small town of Aqua Fria they purchased a large ranch. Soon the children came and Edward's ranch prospered. The ranch had a mine on the property that was worked at some time. Edward wanted to re-open the mine to see how much gold he could fine there. An assessor came from Phoenix to test the mine to see if there was still gold there. He became enamored by Kora and wanted to court her. Things went wrong at the ranch and Kora was kidnapped by rustlers. It seemed that suddenly the ranch was under siege with accidents and cattle rustling. But this event brought many people to the ranch that seemed to find romance there among the chaos.