Beadle's Half Dime Library No. 676

Catalog Note *The Tussle at the Big Bonanza: A Romance of the San Juan Silver Region* by Lieutenant A. K. Sims appears as the lead serial in this 1890 issue of Beadle and Adams's publication. Chapter I introduces Signal Sam (Sam Holcomb), a resolute leader who has guided a mining expedition into Colorado's San Juan mountains during a brutal winter. Starving and demoralized miners initially blame him, but when he signals the long-awaited supply burro train from his mountain watch-post, they reconcile. Major John Glenwood arrives leading the train, accompanied by his daughter Grace and her Irish companion Peggy Shields. Chapter II, set six weeks later, depicts the camp's transformation into "Silverton," now plagued by gamblers and saloon-keepers like Kid Adair. Glenwood opposes this corruption while Signal Sam monitors Adair's activities. A mysterious diminutive figure—Baldor, described as a dwarfish man with a wrinkled, old face—is discovered eavesdropping.