Skookum

"'Skookum' is the startlingly original narrative rendering of the experiences of a prominent westering family from 1843 to the present. The remarkable story of the Applegate family encompasses many of the predominant themes of the early American West: the overland crossing via the old Oregon Tail in 1843, the quirky restlessness of Applegate men who, after reaching the 'promised land,' permitted their travel- worn families to rest only for a while, the effects of the intermit- tent gold rushes that continued to upset family lifre long after 1849, the troubled relations between the settler and…