The Silver Colt: A Tale of Old Wyoming

Wyoming Territory in 1883 is the American West in its most basic and raw form. Riding into Casper is Ben Johnson, sometimes lawman, cowboy and poker player. He is the epitome of the man the West; hard, fair, and honest. Ben has no way of knowing he is riding into the middle of a war. The days of cattle barons and open range are giving way to smaller ranches, barbed wire and sheep. On one side are Paul Lassiter and his Lazy Y ranch, the largest ranch in Natrona County. On the other are the small ranchers and the sheep men. In the middle are the citizens of Casper and the lawmen paid to protect them. No one can foresee the storm that is sweeping down from the Big Horn Mountains. Not a storm of snow and cold, these people of Wyoming Territory are used to those. This is a storm of six guns and death. Ben comes to Casper looking for some poker and a little peace and quiet. Instead he finds the same; the same killing, shooting and the need for skill with a six gun that has plagued his life up to this point. The beautiful ivory handled, silver Colt nestled in the holster at his side has become his best friend and his nemesis. It has earned him fame, completely unwanted. It has saved his life more than once. Now he will be asked to use it again and this time the stakes couldn't be higher. Across the sweeping plains and rugged mountain tops of Wyoming, this story tells the tale of a Territory in the violent and troubled days before it became a state. The people of Casper, and Natrona County, will live or die because Ben Johnson carries a Silver Colt.

Gary R Reed was born and raised in Colorado. He has traveled widely throughout the West and is a student of Western History. He likes to weave historical fact into his Westerns and brings real characters from the old west to life.