Sole Survivor

This anthology includes the story of the original painting of the "Sole Survivor" and where it was discovered 90 years later. McShane watched as the "Marguerite" went down stern first in turbulent waves with all hands aboard. He was shanghaied on the Bering Sea whaler "Northern Light" in 1901, recounted through his short stories and poems. He heard the call of the Yukon to search for gold and later choked on the ochre dust of an Arizona cattle ranch starved for water; more precious than gold. Relive the frenzy of the penny mining stocks of the 1920's or '30's and the chalk board that trumpets those impassionate, impersonal announcements of the failure of yet another bonanza mine. Would they all fail or reward his tinselled certificates with a fortune? Is life worth living without a Hupmobile? In an era when change exploded in this country from old western to the industrial age, survival required vigor and adaptation. Life then, as now, wasn't easy.