This book tells the story Oliver Roberts de La Fontaine, who was one of the last Wells Fargo shotgun messengers in California. His frontier experience at railroading; his daring attempt to walk across Death Valley alone, as a mere boy; his life in the gold mining camps amidst the roughest and toughest of the frontier bad men; his death defying experiences with hostile Indians; his almost miraculous escape from death in Death Valley; his various experiences as local constable; his experience with stage robbers as a Wells Fargo Shotgun Express Messenger; his change of heart to become a mining engineer; his experience with Christian Science, and his subsequent confusion and utter helplessness, and finally his success with the Walter Method. A life story so exceptional, so fascinating, so thrilling and so enlightening, that to start reading it is to be spellbound to the finish.