Daniel Boone's spelling of Missouri reflects this rampaging river and the violent years of the 19th century's final half. Steamboats brave its currents and John Brown and Southern belle Susan McCausland are caught in up the Kansas border wars. A black freedman, a half-blood Indian teacher and Hutterite immigrants all wrestle with forces they scarcely understand. Good-seeker Fannie Kelly meets Sitting Bull and Chief Joseph''s story comes to a close. Teddy Roosevelt builds a ranch, James J. Hill builds a railroad, and a New England poet tries to rebuild shattered relationships after Wounded Knee. South Dakota History said the author "writes eloquently".