Deadwood Dick Library, Vol. III, No. 30

This issue of the Half-Dime Library (October 4, 1899) features Edward L. Wheeler's "Deadwood Dick's Double; or, The Ghost of Gorgon's Gulch," a Western adventure tale. A band of colonists—headed by Judson Elliott with his daughter Ethel and suitor Alf Montague—journey from Virginia to Wild-Cat City in Colorado, expecting a developed settlement. They discover instead a desolate mountain valley basin with only a crude log casino operated by a Californian named Bill Myers and his Chinese assistant. Duped by land agents who promised productive farmland, the colonists learn that another figure, the outlaw Deadwood Dick, claims ownership and creates trouble for settlers attempting to establish themselves. The narrative blends frontier settlement drama with hints of conflict ahead involving rival territorial claims.