O. Crum Harper wrote and illustrated this historical novel about the early miners of the Santa Fe and Chihuahua trails, and the note on the back cover says he based it on his own experience and on research along the same trails. The same note sketches his life: born in Caldwell, Kansas, in 1903, raised from 1906 on an Estancia Valley homestead near Moriarty, then work in the coal mines of Madrid and at a gold, silver and base metal mine at San Pedro, three years with the 1st Cavalry Division in the southwest Pacific in World War II, and eighteen years with the Albuquerque Public Schools before fifteen years of prospecting.
Harper published the book himself in Albuquerque in 1981, and Adobe Press printed it. He dedicated it to a prospecting partner he met on the trail of the lost Adams Diggings, and this copy is signed on the title page.
First edition, signed, 1981
The copyright page reads 'Copyright © 1981 by O. Crum Harper,' published by the author in Albuquerque and printed by Adobe Press, Albuquerque, with no later printing noted. The title page is signed by the author.
| Author | O. Crum Harper |
| Publisher | Published by the author, Albuquerque |
| Year | 1981 |
| Edition | First edition, signed, 1981 |
| Signed | Yes. Signed by the author on the title page. |
| Condition | Softcover, clean. |
| Topic | New Mexico mining and prospecting |
Photographs © New Mexico Literacy Project. Licensed under CC BY 4.0; reuse with attribution. This is an identification and provenance record of a real donation; no appraisal or valuation is offered.
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