John Rayburn
SETTLING THE WEST POST CIVIL WAR TOOK GUTS … AND LUCK! In 1866 Matt Draper is full of ambition but without money or family to help him succeed. On the western frontier of an ever-expanding America, toiling as a riverboat gambler seems like the best option to raise enough capital to realize his dream of opening a small-town bank. Though gambling is lucrative for Matt, it is also an unsavory enterprise fraught with danger. Fortuitously, before any harm befalls him, Matt and his friend Charlie discover an abandoned Confederate gold cache in a fake grave, which gives him the stake he needs to leave the treacherous gambling world behind. From then onward his life’s purpose becomes evident as all roads lead to Neosho, Missouri, where he opens The Bank and becomes a major influence on its growth and prosperity. Matt’s exciting and uplifting saga captures the day-to-day reality of life in the tumultuous post-Civil War era, including the hardships, relative lawlessness, and indomitable spirit of settlers bent on creating a good life for themselves and their neighbors.
