The story begins in Harshaw, a tough Arizona territorial mining town in the desert mountains near the Mexican border. The year is 1887, a time when the U.S. Army cavalry is finally getting control of the feared Apaches, who for the previous 200 years had terrorized the Spanish, Mexicans and gringos who dared to enter their land. The last of the renegade Apaches are being killed, or captured and placed on reservations by the soldiers. A crusty old prospector-Jack McAllister-shows up in town. He appears to be just another drunk and desperate fellow paying for his next meal by panning for gold in the Patagonia Mountains. But Jack McAllister is not who he seems to be. He is a flawed soul with a mysterious past, which is the focus of the story. The Prospector's Secret-Treasures of the Pimeria Alta deals with the first part of Jack McAllister's life. It takes the reader from Mexico to England and to the Southern states during the 1850's. The fast moving story uses lost treasures, intrigue at the highest level, Indian raids, Santa Ana, brewing Civil War, glued together with humor, tragedy and unexpected events which ultimately brings Jack McAllister to Harshaw.