Like many Americans, Civil War widow Katie Rose Kelly was determined to build a new life for herself after the devastation of war. She was drawn to the Dakota frontier, where she claimed 160 acres and became a sheepherder.

But that was just the beginning of her journey.

As a woman alone on the wide-open Dakota frontier, she fought nature as well as powerful cattle ranchers who saw sheep as competition for valuable grazing lands. With grit and determination, Katie built a new life, fostered new friendships, and kindled new love.

CK Van Dam paints a vivid picture of Dakota Territory's lush, beautiful prairies and nature's frightful fury. Lone Tree Claim is the second story in the sweeping saga, On the Dakota Frontier.