Deadwood Dick Library, Vol. 1, No. 12

This issue of M. J. Ivers & Co.'s Half-Dime Library (May 31, 1899) features Edward L. Wheeler's "Deadwood Dick's Eagles: The Pards of Flood Bar," the opening installment of a serialized novel. Wheeler's prolific Deadwood Dick series spans numerous volumes listed in the catalog. The narrative introduces five miners at Flood Bar in the Black Hills: James Belmont (a quiet Virginian), Old Buzzard (the scout and discoverer), the silent and mysterious Squirrel Sam (a young dead-shot), the pious Hooper Vandegrift (a Quaker), and Miaco, a dwarf rescued from the creek. During heavy spring rains, with Squirrel Creek swollen into torrents, an armed horseman—identified as Flying Floyd, associated with Deadwood Dick—passes through the camp. The miners then discover the flooding bar threatens their position, while simultaneously Gray Wolf's Indigenous "Vagabonds" surround the bluffs, cutting off their retreat. The installment establishes the dangerous wilderness setting, ensemble cast, and escalating perils characteristic of the pulp adventure genre.