The secret in The Secret of Kansas Gulch is that in a half-mile-long, 200-yard-wide stretch, wherever a man touches gravel, there is gold! Only Jay Meade knows of Kansas Gulch, but Ben Mercer has his suspicions. The year is 1859 in Colorado Territory. The tensions dividing the country are reflected in Poverty Gulch with factions of men who are Free Staters and men who are pro-slavery. The explosive situation is further complicated by four ex-slaves who were declared freed men by their former owners but who garner resentment because of the efficiency with which they have worked their claims. Mercer plans to use all this unrest to obtain greater wealth for himself.