In The Iron Trail, released in 1913, Rex Beach weaves a tale of romance and courage in the early 1900s as men struggled to build the Copper River and Northwestern Railway through the rugged wilderness from Cordova to the Kennecott Copper Mines.

Beach closely followed actual events in this page-turning tale, including fierce gun battles, rights-of-way battles and battles against Mother Nature to lay 196 miles of track to the largest copper deposit known in the world at the time.

BONUS: Laurel Downing Bill shares the real story in “Cordova to Kennecott” and captures the determination of railroad engineer, William J. Heney, upon whom Beach based his lead character, in “Alaska’s Irish Prince.” The rich, full life of Beach unfolds in “The Man Behind the Words.”