When America Was The Land of the Free In 1828, although the United States had only been in existence for fifty years, some cities were already bustling, overcrowded metropolises. Beyond the Mississippi River, however, lay a vast region unexplored by white men. There, nineteen-year-old Nathaniel King and a rugged mountain man named Shakespeare McNair headed for a rendezvous of trappers and fur traders in the Rocky Mountains. But hostile utes and Blackfeet Indians pursued them relentlessly, determined to have their scalps. Despite the protection of a friendly band of Shoshone, Nathaniel and his companion faced a peril that might mean not only the end of their quest for freedom, but the end of their lives.