THE CHALLENGERS

The author's Tillamook County background prepares her for an adventure story built around the development of the first provisional government in Oregon. 1841 is the time and young Tackett Brandt and the Chinook Indian girl Keetow, the central characters. Their lives are governed by the many sided controversy between settlers, the Hudson's Bay Company and our own apathetic Congress. Keetow, who has run away from her mission school for fear of being sent East, finds asylum with the Brandts. Then she flees again, with Tackett's younger sister, to save her from the same fate now deemed necessary because of the brewing trouble. After Tackett finds them, the settlers are victorious in their conferences with the Canadians and Congress recognizes the territory's importance.