THEIR DREAM HOUSE – THE MARTIN RANCH

Why did families migrate to the American West? All our lives we've heard answers like, "to find better lives," "to claim a section of our country," "to prosper," "to flee the consequences of their misdeeds," and such like, and one wonders how many succeeded.

Some were murdered on the way by unneighborly Native Americans or predatory brigands, others grew rich on gold finds, still others became wealthy land owners, and there were those that settled into the sorts of ordinary lives they thought they had left behind. It would be fascinating to have some measure of the extent to which the average,...