Claim Number One

Comanche sits on the white plain like the edge of creation itself, where the railroad ends and the wilderness begins. Beyond the town lies two hundred square miles of former reservation land, recently opened by the government and about to be parceled out by lottery. Whoever draws Claim Number One gets the choicest parcel, the one that could transform a life of struggle into something approaching prosperity. The miller's wife and her daughter June arrive seeking a fresh start. Dr. Warren Slavens brings his own ambitions to the dusty streets. Gamblers, dreamers, and honest settlers flood into Comanche, each clutching their own vision of what this land might offer. George W. Ogden captures the raw energy of frontier ambition in this vivid snapshot of the American West at a turning point, where the old ways are dying and something new is being born from hope and desperation alike. It's a story about the lottery of life and what people will risk for a chance at something better.