Beadle's Half Dime Library, Vol. 1, No. 2

This issue of Beadle's Half-Dime Library (No. 98, 1877) contains "Yellowstone Jack; or, Trappers of the Enchanted Ground" by Joseph E. Badger. The opening chapters depict an emigrant wagon train caught in a catastrophic mountain storm—the "pouderee"—in Shicha-chetish Pass. A hurricane with snow, sleet, and hailstones destroys wagons, kills animals, and injures travelers. Young Frank Maynard pursues a runaway spring wagon carrying women including Ada Dixon and Minnie Warren through the tempest in a desperate rescue attempt. The chase leads into a narrower pass where Maynard discovers the wagon approaching a ravine with felled tree-tops concealing a precipice. Unable to stop the terror-stricken horses, Maynard's rescue effort appears to end in disaster as the animals plunge toward death. The narrative combines frontier adventure with melodramatic peril and romance elements.