The Virginia City Solution

Although not a “western” in that classical sense of the genre, “The Virginia City Solution” is a novel that has its setting in the west—Lake Tahoe, Carson City, Virginia City. It contains a quest for justice, combined with a time-travel element, and is intended to be of interest to an audience who appreciates the Poor Man vs. Rich Man angle along with those who enjoy having their imaginations tweaked.
The central character, Mark Nolan, is a craps dealer who, recently divorced, is focused on his love for his son. He works at the Tahoe casino of Harry's Hideaway Hotels and Casinos, Reno and Lake Tahoe. When the owner of this enterprise, Cyrus Harry—while driving drunk—is involved in an accident that takes the life of Nolan's ex-wife and child, and, due to his status in the area, is penalized with a mere slap-on-the-wrist, Nolan is incensed and vows to enhance that penalty with a punishment of his own devise.

Mark was so outraged that, at the end of the trial, he'd forced his way through the crowd up behind Harry and quietly said in his ear, “That's  just your judge's penalty. I'll have one of my own for you. Look forward to it!” Then he turned and left the courtroom.

But after two failed attempts combined with his now unemployed poverty status, Nolan is forced to wait through the winter before trying again. In the spring, a neighbor offers Nolan an opportunity that will result in enough cash to at least get his old pickup truck into proper operating order again. This temporary job involves a trek on a mule from the outskirts of Carson City over a segment of the Virginia Range to near Virginia City where Nolan comes across a remote, hidden time portal that delivers him to the Comstock Lode area of 1859 just prior to the big strike.

      That haze. It couldn't possibly have been some kind of time portal, could it? Although he still didn't believe it, he finally had to ask Virginny. “OK, Virginny, just play along with me here for a minute, will you? What's today's date?”
     “Today's date?” Virginny looked puzzled. “Well, I don't know exactly. Near the end of April, but I don't know the exact date.”
     “Well,” Mark knew it would sound weird, but he had to continue. “What is the year?”
     “The year?!, ha, ha. Where the hell you been all this ti...” And then it dawned on him what Mark was getting at. “Ya mean... uh... well, it's 1859, o'course.”
Mark shook his head, reached over and picked up the bottle of whiskey and took a long pull. He handed it back to Virginny saying, “Here, finish it off. You're gonna need it.”

Nolan discovers a potential opportunity that could conceivably make him wealthy enough that, along with a disguise, could put him into a class which, back in his own time, would allow him access to his former boss. In the end, however, it is not Nolan's new-found wealth that provides this access, but Cyrus Harry's own addiction to exotic automobiles.

The chauffeur-disguised Mark Nolan offered the casino owner, “Would you like to take a turn at the wheel?”
Once again Harry was stunned. “Would I?! You might as well ask me if I'd like to die happy.”
“Hmm.”