Beadle's Dime Novels No. 49: The Gold Hunters

About this issue

This issue of Beadle's Dime Novels presents two serialized works. "The Gold Hunters: A Romance of Pike's Peak and New York" by Mrs. M. V. Victor follows Nat Wolfe, a frontier scout and buffalo hunter, as he encounters an emigrant train bound for Pike's Peak during the gold rush. Among the travelers is Elizabeth, a refined seventeen-year-old niece of the struggling family head Timothy Wright. When Wright's wagon breaks an axle, Elizabeth runs ahead to alert the party, only to face a stampeding bison herd. Wolfe heroically rescues her by sweeping her onto his horse and galloping to safety ahead of the crushing animals. The narrative emphasizes the hardships of western emigration, the contrast between Elizabeth's cultured background and frontier conditions, and the danger of the prairies. A separate announcement advertises the forthcoming No. 78: "The Rival Scouts: The Forest Garrison" by Edward S. Ellis, describing the siege and fall of Fort Presqu'Isle during Pontiac's uprising, featuring forest scouts and a young Native American woman.