At the dawn of the 19th century, the country was awakening to its enormous scope and variety.

In 2003 Lavender's health began to fail. Prescott. But in One Man's West Lavender remembered "not the cold and the cruel fatigue but rather the multitude of tiny things which in their sum make up the elemental poetry of rock and ice and snow.

He based much of his writing on first-hand practical knowledge of the American west traveling to the sites of his historical accounts and experiencing the historical realities directly—in the mines on the trails in the mountains or on the rivers. David Lavender was a two-time nominee for the Pulitzer Prize and was widely admired by scholars for his accuracy and objectivity.