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YANKEE GOLD
Fiction Based on the Life of Steve Elkins

Union General James H. Carleton and the California Column guard New Mexico and Arizona while the eastern war rages. Martial law controls the territory and two Indian tribes have been removed from the gold districts to enable the resumption of mining.

 Superintendent of Indian Affairs, Dr. Michael Steck, aided by new arrival, attorney Steve Elkins, support U. S. District Judge Joseph Knapp in a dispute with the General over martial law. Local residents, angered by military confiscations and food shortages, elect Elkins to the legislature. As the war draws near its close, the Indians at the Bosque Redondo reservation are starving. Dr. Steck's effort to relieve the Indians' plight causes the loss of his appointment.

The judge's public complaints, aired in regional newspapers, have cost Elkins his job at the fort. Elkins and Steck are given compensating management of New Mexico's highest profile mine, a political plum in the territory. The two survivors tackle the mining business in a territory where water shortages are legendary.

As General Carleton's role in the territory ebbs, his subordinate and mining expert, Captain Will Rynerson, assumes control of former Army mines. Rynerson challenges a Rebel sympathizer in the southern district for a council seat and the political temperature rises. The Council of the Legislature resents the new Chief Justice's stern courtroom practices and rulings on anti-peonage. A trade-off which allows the challenger for the southern district Council seat election, leads to a duel and assassination of the Chief Justice. Elkins, as a new and proven attorney, steps into the fray. He moves the subsequent trial from Santa Fe to the distant town of Las Vegas.

Indian affairs continue to plague New Mexico and focus on the hardships of the Bosque Redondo. Lucien Maxwell, with Elkins as attorney, offers his two million acre grant to the Interior Department's Indian Office. Ignored by the federal agency, he and his associates go abroad for bids. Successful gold and copper mining enhance the property's value.

A British investment group, also involved in an approaching railroad, purchases the land grant. Millions are sought in a mortgage to be obtained in Holland. Settlers on the grant, led to believe they have claimed homesteads on public land under an 1864 Congressional act, are displaced. Riots and general mayhem follow.

Steve Elkins desperately seeks election to Congress, promising statehood and resolution for dispossessed settlers. A conflict arises between New Mexico and Colorado, both determined to win the route of the southwestern railroad.   

Union General James H. Carleton and the California Column guard New Mexico and Arizona while the eastern war rages. Martial law controls the territory and two Indian tribes have been removed from the gold districts to enable the resumption of mining. Superintendent of Indian Affairs, Dr. Michael Steck, aided by new arrival, attorney Steve Elkins, support U. S. District Judge Joseph Knapp in a dispute with the General over martial law. Local residents, angered by military confiscations and food shortages, elect Elkins to the legislature. As the war draws near its close, the Indians at the Bosque Redondo reservation are starving. Dr. Steck's effort to relieve the Indians' plight causes the loss of his appointment.The judge's public complaints, aired in regional newspapers, have cost Elkins his job at the fort. Elkins and Steck are given compensating management of New Mexico's highest profile mine, a political plum in the territory. The two survivors tackle the mining business in a territory where water shortages are legendary.As General Carleton's role in the territory ebbs, his subordinate and mining expert, Captain Will Rynerson, assumes control of former Army mines. Rynerson challenges a Rebel sympathizer in the southern district for a council seat and the political temperature rises. The Council of the Legislature resents the new Chief Justice's stern courtroom practices and rulings on anti-peonage. A trade-off which allows the challenger for the southern district Council seat election, leads to a duel and assassination of the Chief Justice. Elkins, as a new and proven attorney, steps into the fray. He moves the subsequent trial from Santa Fe to the distant town of Las Vegas.Indian affairs continue to plague New Mexico and focus on the hardships of the Bosque Redondo. Lucien Maxwell, with Elkins as attorney, offers his two million acre grant to the Interior Department's Indian Office. Ignored by the federal agency, he and his associates go abroad for bids. Successful gold and copper mining enhance the property's value.A British investment group, also involved in an approaching railroad, purchases the land grant. Millions are sought in a mortgage to be obtained in Holland. Settlers on the grant, led to believe they have claimed homesteads on public land under an 1864 Congressional act, are displaced. Riots and general mayhem follow.Steve Elkins desperately seeks election to Congress, promising statehood and resolution for dispossessed settlers. A conflict arises between New Mexico and Colorado, both determined to win the route of the southwestern railroad.