The search results directed me to Amazon & Barnes & Nobel, both electronic versions were priced the same. A couple months ago I web-searched the novel's title to see if I could obtain a copy. Some parts of the story stuck with me through the years. I first read this novel forty-five years ago. If you are looking for something that you may never have heard of before and want a good read, then you can't really go wrong with this. There are a few typos in this edition, and on a couple of pages there is a formatting problem, where in places only a word appears on a line, also the titles for the illustrations are still included (though there are no illustrations), but to be honest, this isn't going to cost you anything, and despite these problems it is still quite readable. I think a lot of people are familiar with the song of the same name, especially as it is sung in Laurel & Hardy Volume 3 - Way Out West/Shorts by Laurel and Hardy, so why not make yourself acquainted with the book that inspired the song. With action from the feud, a jealous suitor also after young June, and other incidents, there is a lot to keep you interested in this book, which is still as readable as when it was first published. And as is shown here, the main town starts to grow on the boom of coal, but being fully dependant on that coal such places can also go bust. For places like where this is set there was the problem of mountain people who had lived more or less undisturbed for generations having to adapt to a newer world and the law and order that that brought. This was the author's most popular novel and it is easy to see why, as it takes in quite a few different issues. As the modern world encroaches can the two families still keep their feuding ways, especially as Hale with others have started a police force and are out to keep the peace? With the families fighting either side of the State line, in Virginia and Kentucky, things are going to be tough. At the same time unknown to Hale he has walked in on a feud between two families, the Tollivers and the Falins. This story follows their relationship over a period of years as it shifts through different phases. June is younger than Hale, she is still in her teens, but she is instantly in love.
Whilst fishing he comes across June Tolliver, and is a little smitten.
In the Alleghenies engineer John 'Jack' Hale is on the look out for coal streams. This is a wonderful tale set at the beginning of the Twentieth Century.