Will Bagley has written or edited 25 books on overland emigration, frontier violence, railroads, mining and the Mormons. He rafted down the Mississippi River in 1969, performed country music from Wyoming to Nevada, and has forgotten everything he learned as journeyman carpenter. Between 2000 and 2004, the Salt Lake Tribune published about 225 of his columns and articles. Bagley has won too many prizes to list here, but his favorite is Western Writers of America’s Owen Wister Award.