Carrie's Gold — Cheryl Zach

Carrie Benson's life is not the fairytale existence she always dreamed of. She works in her uncle's mercantile, stocking shelves, and wears her beautiful cousin's cast offs. Carrie longs for something more than the poverty she lives in with her dreamer of a father, so, when he finds a new dream, the California Gold Rush, Carrie eagerly makes it a dream of her own and boldly begins the journey west with him.

The hardships of the trail are more than she bargained for. Dangers are around every bend: snakes, contaminated water, river crossings, quicksand, stampedes, and, certainly not least of all, a young medical student who makes Carrie doubt her golden dreams. But the journey there is only the beginning. The search for gold is back breaking and dangerous work and not nearly as profitable as they had hoped. But Carrie is consumed with her search for gold and security...to the point that her dream of riches may cost her her dream of love...