After the loss of his parents, sixteen-year-old Tom is uncertain how to make his way in the world, especially since he wishes to provide for his two sisters. Tom, an Englishman, decides that it would be best for him to leave for America where he hopes to join his uncle. Once in America, Tom heads to the rustic Wild-West city of Denver in hopes of locating his uncle who was prospecting for gold. Tom soon finds his uncle and some new friends as well, including two Native Americans. Together they brave a bitter Rocky Mountain winter, thwart attacks by hostile Native Americans, and are eventually forced to navigate the wild and dangerous white-waters of the Colorado River through the uncharted Grand Canyon Will Tom and his friends survive the treacherous journey? Will they find gold and be rich? Will Tom ever see his sisters again? These questions and more will be answered in G. A. Henty's In the Heart of the Rockies. Set in the mid-nineteenth century, this book includes more than eighty geographical, historical, and explanatory footnotes to aid the modern reader.