"That's the sorriest river in America. You've heard all the jokes about the Platte. 'Too thick to drink, too thin to plow.'" Chapter 1, Page 6

"But if any decision of moment were required, she would again step forth and assert herself, and when she grew too old to assume this task the responsibility would pass to some other strongly opinionated cow, for the leadership of a large group was too important to be left to the males." Chapter 3, Page 82

"There, high above the plains he had loved and the river he had so often followed, Lame Beaver, the man of many coups, found his rest. He died at the end of an epoch, the grandest the western Indians were to know." Chapter 5, Page 182

"The rivers were turbulent: Sweetwater, Green, Snake, Yellowstone, but the hills were rolling and much less severe than the Rockies. It was an amiable land...