He watched as the "Marguerite" went down stern first in turbulent waves with all hands aboard. Shanghaied on the Bering Sea whaler "Northern Light" in 1901, recounted through his short stories and poems the memory of the icy northern waters and the intrepid seamen who fought the treacherous sailing conditions and behemoths of the ocean on frigates, schooners, and barques. Hear the call to the Yukon to search for gold or choke on the ochre dust of an Arizona cattle ranch starved for water; more precious than gold. Relive the frenzy of the penny mining stocks of the 1920's or '30's and the chalk board that trumpets those impassionate, impersonal announcements of the failure of yet another bonanza mine. Would they all fail or reward his tinselled certificates with a fortune? Is life worth living without a Hupmobile? In an era when change exploded in this country, survival required vigor and adaptation. Life then, as now, wasn't easy.