The California Trail - (Trail Drive) by Ralph Compton (Paperback)

About the Book

The fifth book in the exciting Trail Drivers series--a sweeping, historically accurate epic set against the backdrop of the great cattle drives of the Old West. Gil and Van Austin have been raising longhorn in Texas with only one problem--no buyers. But when gold is discovered in California, they prepare for a perilous drive.

Book Synopsis

An extraordinary saga of the trail-blazing cowboys who made their fortune
driving cattle from Texas to the Great Frontier.

Across the Pecos, the Rio Colorado and La Panza mountains, the Texans and their longhorns kept charging-all the way to California gold!

Between The Bandera Range And California, They Faced All The Challenges Of Man And God, But Nothing Could Ever Make Them Quit.

The only riches Texans had left after the Civil War were five million
maverick longhorns and the brains, brawn and boldness to drive them
north to where the money was. Now, Ralph Compton brings this violent and magnificent time to life in an extraordinary epic series based on the history-making trail drives.

The California Trail

Gold fever had hit California, and suddenly, the land was full of hungry pioneers. For Gil and Van Austin, two Texas brothers, it meant the chance to sell well-grazed longhorns after years of hard ranching and a treacherous cattle drive up through Mexico. The only trouble was that California was on the other side of a searing desert, swollen rivers, a barrage of Indian attacks, and a whole passel of outlaw trouble. And while the Texans and their men were ready and willing to take it all on, there was one thing they weren't prepared for: the ultimate act of treachery and deceit in a land of schemers, dreamers and gold!

From the Back Cover

From bestselling author Ralph Compton comes the bold and breathtaking saga of a trail-blazing cattle drive in the blistering heat of the California gold rush...

The only riches Texans had left after the Civil War were five million maverick longhorns--and the brains, brawn, and boldness to drive them north where the money was. But it all took a wild and dangerous turn in 1849, as the trail was overrun with dreamers, schemers, and gold...

THE CALIFORNIA TRAIL

Gold fever has hit California, and suddenly the land is full of hungry pioneers. For Texas brothers Gil and Van Austin, it means a chance to sell their well-grazed longhorns after years of hard ranching and a death-defying cattle drive up through Mexico. The only thing that stands between them and California is a scorching desert, swollen rivers, a barrage of Indian attacks, and a passel of outlaws. And while the Texans are ready and willing to take it all on, there's one thing they're not prepared for: the ultimate act of treachery, greed, and back-stabbing deceit...

"Very seldom in literature have the legends of the Old West been so vividly painted."

--Tombstone Epitaph

Review Quotes

"Very seldom in literature have the legends of the Old West been so vividly painted." --Tombstone Epitaph

"Lovers of Louis L'Amour-type Westerns will welcome [this] series." --Nashville Banner

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.