Clay Rogers travels to Syracuse with Hunt to a livestock auction to ask his childhood sweetheart, Adelia Walker, to marry him and come to Topeka to live the life of a rancher’s wife. River, and live the winter while his home and ranch buildings are being built in Topeka. Beth’s healing is progressing, and a friendship has grown with the caretakers of the new home, James and Emma Duckworth. Hunt gets word of a livestock auction at Salisbury Township near Allentown, Pennsylvania, and 150 Clydesdale horses are being auctioned along with mules, military wagons, and tons of miscellaneous hardware. Hunt thought the Clydesdale horses could be used to start a Clydesdale breeding ranch in Topeka.