Cornelius Kogelschitz lives in the slums of New York City. All his young life he has lived and worked in the dirty, smoke-filled part of the city, slaving long hours for meager wages in one of the many factories. His parents die of typhus and Corny moves in with his uncle, aunt, and eleven cousins. One Sunday afternoon, while on the roof capturing birds for the stew pot, he overhears an argument. His aunt complains about the added expense of caring for the boy. Deciding not to take food from his cousins, Corny bundles up his few possessions and leaves the tenement apartment and the only world he knows. Near the train station he jumps onto a moving freight train heading west. Now on his own, fourteen-year old-Cornelius rides the rails and crosses the Mississippi River into an unknown future.
Word Count 14,000
The discovery of gold in California launched a stampede of fortune-seekers across the continent in search of wealth. Willing to face any hardship – outlaws, hostile Indians, bad weather, thirst, starvation, and the horrors of disease – they battled fiercely to overcome these challenges and seize their destiny. But sometimes the treasures they found were not the ones they were expecting . . .
THE FORTY-NINERS is the fifth novel in the exciting West of the Big River series from the Western Fictioneers. Charlie Steel’s story of courage, romance, and danger is based on historical incidents and vividly illustrates a compelling chapter in American history, recreating a lawless era that exemplifies both the best and the worst in a vital young nation!
