After his first successful venture of moving 2,500 cattle along the infamous Chisholm Trail, Adam Brite couldn't resist the allure of a second drive. To prepare for his greatest and most dangerous prospect yet, Brite begins purchasing cattle at every possible opportunity he gets and searching for an able crew to aid him in the arduous journey from San Antonio to Dodge City. He recruits a diverse cast of characters all left penniless after the Civil War: Trail boss and veteran driver Joe Shipman; Alabama Moze, the cook; Hal ...
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After his first successful venture of moving 2,500 cattle along the infamous Chisholm Trail, Adam Brite couldn't resist the allure of a second drive. To prepare for his greatest and most dangerous prospect yet, Brite begins purchasing cattle at every possible opportunity he gets and searching for an able crew to aid him in the arduous journey from San Antonio to Dodge City. He recruits a diverse cast of characters all left penniless after the Civil War: Trail boss and veteran driver Joe Shipman; Alabama Moze, the cook; Hal Bender, a friendly brute; The Uvalde quintet, a strapping group all under the age of twenty; and Pan Handle Smith, a striking Texas outlaw who never sleeps.
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This is the story of the cattle drive. From Texas they came, where cattle had little value except for their hides, to Kansas and the railroad where each head was worth about twenty dollars. So a herd of 3000 was worth upwards of sixty thousand dollars--quite a sum back then, and even yet today. In this novel Zane Grey relates to the reader just what it was like for a group of cow punchers to drive a herd up the Chisolm Trail--the dangers, the rivers, the storms, the stampedes, the Indians. Yet, this is also the personal story of love, commitment, honesty, fortitude, and how each of us must face up to these obstacles. The character, Pan Handle Smith, shows up in this one--one of Zane Grey's great heroes--to help deliver the cattle and use his guns. If you have ever seen the old TV show, Rawhide, this novels tells it like it really was. Of course, there is the romantic element, without which it would not be Zane Grey. A solid novel, well worth reading more than once.
FanOfTimeLifeBooks
Feb 14, 2014
Adventure on the Chisholm Trail
Zane Grey's The Trail Driver is a historical novel set on the Chisholm Trail in the 1870s. Adam Brite, Texas Joe Shipman, Panhandle Smith, and the other cowboys in the outfit encounter quicksand, stampeders, swollen rivers, treachery, hail storms, electrical storms, outlaws, and stampedes as they drive cattle from San Antonio, Texas to Dodge City, Kansas. And, to make things interesting, one of the cowboys turns out to be a girl. This is the first Zane Grey book I have read and I thoroughly enjoyed it. If you are wanting to start reading Zane Grey books and do not know where to begin you cannot go wrong with The Trail Driver.
