"Stories of the Rocky Mountain West are filled with heroes and outlaws, miners, cowboys, soldiers, and lawman. But many popular histories of this fascinating period gloss over the impact that pioneer preachers had on the settling of the West. A western town wasn't considered a fit place for women and children to live until it had at least one church, but preachers were needed even in the most remote areas to lay the foundations for a civilized society. Using primary sources and firsthand accounts, this unique book allows legends such as John Dyer, Daniel Tuttle, and Sheldon Jackson to step back into the light and relate their adventures to a new generation ... This volume revives their real-life accounts of service and ministry, as it follows the itinerant preachers who helped settle the vast landscape of the Great Plains and Rocky Mountains. The preachers whose experiences are recorded here represent a small fraction of the hundreds of such men who served the needs of an ever-expanding population of the West."--Page 4 of cover.