Tom Norton

Hard Times 1867 Tom Norton

The Civil War had just recently concluded and because of the war a poor southern Family lived in a coal mining town in Illinois. Even with no education and the harsh and destitute conditions of the coal mine town and no hope, things got worse for the family. A recent widow due to desperation, the mother and two young sons with nothing, were forced west to Saint Louis to try to survive. The story follows the youngest boy Abel, who finds himself alone and to deal with the violent death of his mother and the older son that was responsible for it. This required traveling by horseback to gold country and Denver in the Territory Of Colorado. Abel's life from Coalville to Denver took many years and involved several different life styles as well as the harsh conditions of what was then considered out west.