Book Description

This story takes place in south eastern Alberta about nineteen fifteen (1915), along the western edge of the Cypress hills. Shorty Stout, a drifting cowboy arrives at the A-X ranch, (the AXE), and is given a meal and a bunk. The ranch belongs to Xavier Forrest and his wife Angela, hence the name, A-X. Shorty isnt the kind to lie around so the next morning he is out working and fixing. The first thing he does is to fix the windmill which has been making a racket for weeks. Because he is such a handy person with tools and can do almost any work, he is given a job on the ranch. When spring comes he attends a dance in town with the other hands and on the way back to the ranch he meets up with a widow and her son, Dawn and Matt Ryan. He stops to help them cut some firewood and soon he is working for them every weekend. He fixes fences, builds a log bunkhouse, puts running water in the house and many other jobs that have been neglected because there was no one to do them. When the bunkhouse is completed, a dance is held to show how much everyones help has been appreciated. Meanwhile, out on the range, Shorty and his riding partner Gus, find a hidden valley in the hills, filled with Dawn Ryans cattle. The valley is believed to be the floor of an ancient lake which drained out through the dry gully that is the only entrance. The cattle are separated and some are sold, bringing them some sorely needed cash to help keep the ranch going. Shorty, Dawn and Matt do some exploring and discover a small inner valley that is a small corner of paradise. This small valley is so beautiful that anyone entering it find it hard to even speak until they are back in the main valley. Matt discovers there is fish in the lake in the large valley, and he uses some improvised gear to catch a trout and cook it in the fire after coating it with clay. He and the school teacher, Karen Carter, take a group of students on a survival trip to teach them how to survive if they got lost, and to live off the land. Dawn and Shorty eventually realize they were meant for each other; a fact known to Matt and Angela, Dawns older sister, for some time. Dawn asks Shorty to marry her and he agrees, but before getting married, they ride north to Medicine Hat to file for a homestead, taking in the Lost Valley. The day of the wedding arrives and afterwards, a huge reception and dance is held at the schoolhouse just outside town. About midnight, Matt and the school teacher help the newlyweds escape the party and go off by themselves. The weekend after the wedding, the three homesteaders head for Lost Valley, to get an idea of the land surrounding the valley. This valley has the richest soil and the best grass in Alberta and covers an estimated three hundred acres. Normally, a person is allowed to file on one hundred and sixty acres, but this area , being in the hills is described as waste land and they are allowed to file on a half section , or three hundred and twenty acres each. The government will pay to have the land surveyed, so a surveyor is found to do the job for them. When the land is surveyed and registered in their name, they need to find a way to make a wagon road to the valley, as the only way in is the dry watercourse that had drained the former lake in times long past. Many friends arrive to help with this task, which has to be done before building materials can be hauled into the valley. With much work over a long weekend, a road is made to the valley and the first wagon to ever enter the valley rolls over the newly constructed road. They are now ready to find a site to build a home on the Lost Valley Ranch. Shorty and Dawn spend a night in the Heavenly inner valley and in the morning she tells him he is to be a daddy and that nine months down the road a little girl named Allie will be born, because of one night spent in this enchanted valley.