Liza Jane, the Girl Miner; or, The Iron-Nerved Sport

This 1883 dime novel by Edward L. Wheeler features "Liza Jane, the Girl Miner," a frontier adventure tale. Parson Jim Priggins, traveling eastward to visit his Uncle Colonel Wetherill, encounters the young, independent "Liza Jane working a gold claim in isolated Dragon Gulch. She lives alone, operates mining equipment, and carries revolvers. Learning that Priggins's uncle is hosting a wedding that evening for his daughter Theo to California suitor Clinton Carmen, "Liza Jane agrees to guide him there under two conditions: she'll explore the Wetherill mansion during the ceremony, and Priggins must perform the marriage rite himself. The narrative establishes "Liza Jane's reputation as an expert marksman and introduces the supernatural element of "Don Dragon"—a mysterious winged creature resembling a scaled crocodile bearing a ghostly white-robed rider that allegedly haunts the gulch. The story combines western mining-camp realism with gothic mystery.