Author
Alida Malkus
1888-1976
Alida Malkus (1888-1976) is a public-domain author available on Rivro. Read free books, explore subjects, and discover related classics.
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Books by Alida Malkus
Caravans to Santa Fe
"Caravans to Santa Fe" by Alida Malkus is a historical novel written in the early 20th century. It evokes the Santa Fe Trail era, following spirited Santa Fe heiress Consuelo Lopez and adventure-seeking New Orleanian Steven Mercer as trade caravans knit together Mexican New Mexico and the American frontier. Expect frontier perils, commercial rivalries, and cross-cultural encounters, with figures like the suave Don Tiburcio and trader-leader Ceran St. Vrain shaping the journey. The opening of the novel contrasts two worlds: a siesta-stilled Spanish Santa Fe where restless Consuelo longs for excitement, and bustling New Orleans where Steven is drawn to the river trade and overland commerce. In Santa Fe, Consuelo bristles at stifling courtship from cousin Manuel, thrills at the American caravans, and is captivated—despite herself—by the return of the aristocratic merchant Don Tiburcio, whose train arrives to great fanfare. Meanwhile in New Orleans, Steven is inspired by tales of the Trail, secures an introduction to St. Vrain, and accepts a secret dispatch from the deposed Mexican president Gómez Pedraza before running away to join a westbound caravan. Reaching Independence, he equips himself, joins St. Vrain’s column, endures storms and night guard, survives a deadly grapple with a scouting warrior, and witnesses a buffalo stampede and tense but bloodless contact with Plains Indians. The train pushes past Pawnee Rock, fights thirst and insects, fords rivers by moonlight, and makes desperate water runs as it turns onto the harsher Cimarron route. Early in the desert stretch they discover a besieged, muleless party—including a pale young woman and her brother—whom they fold into their own train and lead back toward water, rationing the last canteens as the noon heat bears down.
Raquel of the ranch country
"Raquel of the ranch country" by Alida Malkus is a novel written in the early 20th century. It follows Raquel Daniels, a capable Texas ranch girl sent to a fashionable Hudson River boarding school, where she collides with class snobbery yet finds a true friend in Anne Marvin. As the Great War intrudes, Raquel is called home to manage the Lazy L ranch, shifting from social unease to frontier responsibility. The tale promises an East–West contrast and a coming-of-age story about grit, loyalty, and leadership. The opening of the novel finds Raquel arriving at The Towers, where she is coolly rebuffed by the glamorous Lois Wainwright but rescued by the independent Anne, who becomes her roommate and ally. Raquel struggles with manners and cliques, is slighted over a Red Cross fair, yet shows her poise and skill on horseback and enjoys a transformative Thanksgiving with Anne’s family. A telegram ends her school stay: her father enlists in wartime animal transport and summons her to run the ranch, while Lois leaves to accompany her ill father west. Home again, Raquel is warmly welcomed and hears her father’s sober briefing—ship a thousand head, meet pressing bank notes, avoid dubious commission men, and beware rival cattleman A. B. Meyers. After he departs, she starts taking charge, correcting a reckless hand, finding supplies run down, and facing early signs of missing calves that may mean rustling. The section closes with her bracing for these first tests to keep the Lazy L solvent through a hard season.
Timber line
"Timber line" by Alida Malkus is a novel written in the early 20th century. Set high in the Rockies, it follows Dawn O’Neill, a forest ranger’s daughter, as she defends meadows, wildlife, and water sources against trappers, overgrazing stockmen, and political schemers. Threaded through the conservation battles is a quest for the legendary Silverstake Pine, a boundary blaze tied to Pueblo rights and a rumored silver vein, and a budding alliance with an irrigation engineer who shares her reverence for water. The opening of the story paints a vivid mountain world: a lobo escapes a trap at the cost of a paw; Dawn discovers and springs other traps, then returns to the cabin where she and her father debate predator control, overstocked ranges, and the disputed reservation boundary marked by the lost “Silverstake” pine. We meet Hinray Dorsay and hear of trespassing goats and careless grazing that scar the meadows. Dawn drives a large herd of goats back into their pasture, locks the gate, and escapes two angry herders by swimming her pony across a cold mountain lake, where she encounters irrigation engineer Garen Shepherd; they quickly bond as she shows him a hidden waterfall and a subterranean stream, and points out the distant giant pine she suspects is the old witness tree. A struggling rancher named James seeks fair range help, which Dawn offers, while a wealthy banker, Perry, and a smooth lobbyist, Gershwin, arrive intent on “opening” the reservation and expanding range. Guiding them, Dawn explains the science of deferred grazing and watershed protection; they witness a government hunt that flushes a lion and the fabled lobo through the trees. The section closes with Gershwin probing for rumors of silver as the political and environmental stakes sharpen.