Crossing the Yellowstone

Based on diary entries, news articles, published sources, interviews, and personal memories from the author and other family members, Crossing the Yellowstone: The Saga of a Montana Ranch Family is a classic American drama of challenges met and legacies left. In 1894, Andy Mercer journeyed on horseback from Missouri to the Great Plains, with plans to homestead in the West. Crossing the Yellowstone is a love story of land, family, and one man’s dream. This narrative tells a true story set in the American West in the early 20th century, illustrating the core values of the settlers: independence, determination, and respect for the land.

Andy’s love for Florrie, an English nurse, turns tragic when she dies, leaving him alone with a motherless infant, Russell. The child grows from a lonely schoolboy to a reluctant cowboy and eventually must choose whether to stay on the family ranch or strike out in search of a different life. Despite the challenges of the drought during the Dirty Thirties and the Great Depression, Andy’s legacy has endured for three generations on the Montana ranch near the Yellowstone River.

Mary Anne Mercer spent her early years on the family ranch in eastern Montana with her parents and six siblings. During her youth, her grandfather and great-aunt lived nearby in the original 1906 ranch house on the homestead. Crossing the Yellowstone: The Saga of a Montana Ranch Family aims to bring to life the tale of her paternal grandparents and parents, spanning the period from 1894 to the 1940s.

With an academic career in international health, Mary Anne worked in many countries in Africa and Asia, focusing on strategies to improve the health and survival of pregnant women and their children. She has published on a wide range of topics related to social justice, global health, and globalization, as well as academic topics. Her previous book was Beyond the Next Village: A Year of Magic and Medicine in Nepal. The book describes her experience as a nurse practitioner in 1978, when she spent a year trekking from village to village in rural Nepal with a local health team.

An emeritus faculty member in public health at the University of Washington, she and her husband divide their time between their Seattle home overlooking the Salish Sea and a small ranch near Red Lodge, Montana.