[from the dust jacket]
All of his life A. Hyatt Verrill has been interested in picturesque phases of America's past. Now in a colorful novel, reflecting this interest and set against an authentic historical background, he deals with the rise and fall of a backwoods settlement in Maine. Here in the North, as well as in the West, was a frontier that challenged the pioneers of America. One of these pioneers was David Barton, who with his courageous wife, set off into the vast wild forest to establish a home. Coming upon a promising sight, the Bartons cleared the ground, and, having erected a rough log cabin, dug themselves in for a hard winter. Gradually other families followed on their trail and an ambitious community sprang into being. This is the story of its hardy inhabitants and their descendants, of life, death, romance, trials and conquest within their restricted sphere of existence. It is a story which extends from Colonial days to the present, as Barton's Mills slowly develops, has its heyday, and then disintegrates, but not until its pioneer blood had been infused into the body of the nation, and it had sent lawyers, merchants, artists, and business men to succeed in other parts of the country.
[originally sold for $2.00]