The Louisiana Territory, purchased for less than 5¢ an acre, was one of Thomas Jefferson's greatest contributions to his country. It doubled the size of the United States literally overnight, without a war or the loss of a single American life. Dakota presents a bird’s eye view of the transition of a segment of the Louisiana Purchase into the states of Montana, North Dakota, and Wyoming. Dakota offers historical data meshed with Western poetry, with each one of the book’s twenty-three poems contributing a relevant insight. Topics covered include subjects ranging from the Civil War in Montana, to the "Big Die-Up"of 1886-1887, to the myth and reality of the American West, to the end of the homesteading era. According to the author, Dakota is more than a collection of Western verse- it is a raft with twenty-three supporting logs that has skimmed o’er the river of Western history. Dakota paints a picture of the real west and some of its magnificent people.