The Huge Hunter Or, the Steam Man of the Prairies

This is a science fiction dime novel; sf critic John Clute considers it the first "edisonade," which is a tale of an Edison-like inventor figure who comes up with a piece of technology that allows him to travel into unknown territory, beat up some natives, and generally strike it rich. This one in specific is about Johnny Brainerd, a young boy from St. Louis who possesses both dwarfism and a keen technical mind, and who builds a steam-powered automaton and then heads West to help a couple prospectors find gold and defend themselves from Indians. This is, of course, the "real" version of the thing we now call "steampunk," but the premise is the most engaging part; the bulk of the novel consists of finding different ways to escape from show more Indians, and it quickly becomes dull. (That said, compared to later edisonades like the Frank Reade Jr. ones, it's a work of art.) show less

Western/Edisonian adventure story about genius inventor and his steam powered machine. I didn't think the writing was very good.