"When young Clancy Bender went into the Idaho woods to work for the summer, he expected hand-blistering labor and knew he had much to learn about mining and horse packing. But Clancy could have never guessed what adventures lay ahead. Nor could he have predicted that through his friendship with a Chinaman, he would witness first hand what it meant to be a non-white in the American West of 1932."

Larry N. Gwartney lives in Salmon, Idaho, and is a retired teacher, coach, and whitewater guide.