Colter's journey
(Book)

"The year is 1845. Leaving their Pennsylvania home to forge a new life in the untamed Oregon Territory, the Colter family is ambushed by a kill crazy gang of cutthroats on the Oregon Trail. Fifteen-year-old Tim Colter manages to escape and hide--only to return and find his parents butchered, his sisters Nancy and Margaret missing, and one last killer waiting for his return. Forced to fight for his life, the young Colter embarks on a perilous journey across a lawless wilderness, hoping to save his sisters and salvage the dream they lived for. But first, Tim has to figure out how to survive. Luckily, he finds a new friend in Jed Reno, a grizzled one-eyed trapper who's lived in the Rockies since the 1820s--and who was attacked by the same gang that ambushed Tim's family. Together, the mountain man and the greenhorn set out after the marauders, blazing a trail of vengeance that leads them to one of the deadliest men in the territory: the deranged half-breed Louis Jackatar who's hellbent on igniting a war between the white man and every Indian tribe in the west..." -- From dust jacket.