The Deadwood Trail (Trail Drive) [Mass Market Paperback]

Ralph Compton (Author)

Book Description

Series: Trail Drive | Publication Date: March 2, 2004

They had beaten the harsh odds of the frontier. But for the two powerful ranchers, the most formidable trail lay ahead. There had never been a trail drive like this before...

The only riches Texans had left after the Civil War were five million maverick longhorns and the brains, brawn, and boldness to drive them to market along treacherous trails. Now, Ralph Compton brings this violent and magnificent time to life in an extraordinary series based on the history-blazing trail drives.

For veteran ranchers Nelson Story of Montana, and Benton McCaleb of Wyoming, it was an opportunity a man didn't pass up. In gold camps of the Black Hills, miners were hungry for beef, at boomtown prices. But within the two outfits were Indians, gunmen, Texans, lovesick cowboys, and high-spirited women. Worse, the drive would pass through Crow and Sioux territory, when Custer's defeat at the Little Big Horn was just hours away. The drives were tangled by violent grudges, stampeding herds, and dangerous deception. The two brawling outfits had one thing in common: a deadly surprise awaiting them at the end of the trail...

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Compton may very well turn out to be the greatest Western writer of them all...Very seldom in literature have the legends of the Old West been so vividly painted."--Robert Dyer, The Tombstone Epitaph

"Compton has hit the bull's eye."--The Birmingham News

About the Author

Ralph Compton stood six-foot-eight without his boots. His first novel in the Trail Drive series, The Goodnight Trail, was a finalist for the Western Writers of America Medicine Pipe Bearer Award for best debut novel. He was also the author of the Sundown Rider series and the Border Empire series. A native of St. Clair County, Alabama, Compton worked as a musician, a radio announcer, a songwriter, and a newspaper columnist before turning to writing westerns. He died in Nashville, Tennessee, in 1998.

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Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 304 pages
• Publisher: St. Martin's Paperbacks (March 2, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312968167
• ISBN-13: 978-0312968168
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 4.2 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #446,099 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Outstanding!! Great feel of the Old West..., December 27, 1998

By 

[e-mail] (Chicago,IL Rapid City, SD) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Deadwood Trail (Trail Drive) (Mass Market Paperback)

This rendition of the old west, the "cowboy life", and the genre of the era is well defined in this novel. This is the first book that I have read by Ralph Compton and I cannot wait to start from the beginning of the Trail Series. After reading this, I only wish there was still a time and place where ranchers, cowboys, and trail riding were of common place. It makes you wish you were a part of it.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Another great one by Ralph Compton, November 8, 2003

By 

S. Felix "Momma Stacey" (Oklahoma City, ok United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Deadwood Trail (The Trail Drive Series, Book 12) (Audio Cassette)

I started listening to these audiobooks a few years ago. I love themall, you really do feel like you are there.

The characters are great! Jim Gough really brings them to life.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Dangerous Trail, February 23, 2003

By 

Max Inman (holland, mi. U.S.A) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Deadwood Trail (Trail Drive) (Mass Market Paperback)

Ralph Compton does a very nice job telling the stories of the old cattle drives. I have read them all. It is tough to keep writing again and again using the same plot. This is compton's 14th. trail dr. book and there are 3 more as I count. All of these drives are inner twined with violant grudges, stampeds, rustlers and all the other unforseen haps. Buy them all, and buy all of the Compton stories written by Robert Vaughan, some of which are The Dakota Trail, The Alamosa Trail, and The Bozman Trail. There are other Compton books by Robrt Vaughan to and they are all excellant.