Trail Drive Books
Former Texas Rangers Benton McCaleb, Will Elliot, and Brazos Gifford ride with Charles Goodnight as he rounds up thousands of ornery, unbranded cattle for the long drive to Colorado. From the Trinity River brakes to Denver, they'll battle endless miles of flooded rivers, parched desert, and whiskey-crazed Comanches. And come face-to-face with Judge Roy Bean and legendary gunslingers like Clay Allison. For McCaleb and his hard-riding crew, the drive is a fierce struggle against the perils of an untamed land. A fight to the finish where the brave reach glory―or die hard.
From bestselling author Ralph Compton-an extraordinary saga of the hard-driving Texans who locked horns with a ruthless railroad baron in a bloody battle for an untamed land. In the aftermath of the Civil War, cash-starved Texans turned to the only resource they possessed in abundance: longhorn cows. Despite the hazards of trailing longhorns across some three hundred miles of Indian Territory, this was the only way to access the railroad... THE WESTERN TRAIL Benton McCaleb and his band of bold-spirited cowboys traveled long and hard to drive thousands of ornery cattle into Wyoming's Sweetwater Valley. They're in the midst of setting up a ranch just north of Cheyenne when a ruthless railroad baron and his hired killers try to force them off the land. Now, with the help of the Shoshoni Indian tribe and a man named Buffalo Bill Cody, McCaleb and his men must vow to stand and fight. Outgunned and outmanned, they will wage the most ferocious battle of their lives-to win the right to call the land their own. "Very seldom in literature have the legends of the Old West been so vividly painted." - Tombstone Epitaph
Armed with only a Colt rifle, a Bowie knife, and courage as big as the West, Ten Chisholm―the bold, illegitimate son of frontier scout and plains ambassador Jesse Chisholm and a Cherokee woman―arrives in the heart of Comanche country with a price on his head. His only crime: loving the beautiful daughter of a powerful New Orleans gambler who has promised her to a wealthy man she hates. Now that Ten has returned to the harsh Texas brakes with a team of battle-toughened cowboys and ex-soldiers―and a vow to return to Priscilla and make her his wife―he must round up wild longhorns, ward off angry Comanches, and survive treacherous outlaw attacks as he crosses the Red River and sets off on a brazen quest to open a new trail to Kansas on the savage frontier.
From bestselling author Ralph Compton―the extraordinary saga of a death-defying mission across the Texas border into the blazing heart of the Mexican war… There are a thousand ways to die on a trail drive through Mexico. But a pair of bold Texans are willing to risk their lives, even take on Santa Anna’s army, to lead a herd of wild longhorns northward―and save a convicted man’s life... Set on rescuing a friend trapped inside war-torn Mexico, Gild and Van Austin, nephews of Texas founder Stephen Austin, cross the border and soon discover half of Mexico’s army wants them dead. Taken prisoner by Santa Anna’s soldiers, the brothers make a daring escape and head into Durango county, where they stumble upon a valley full of longhorns―and a chance to build a future north of the border. All they have to do now is break their friend out of prison and drive their cattle to safety. But faced with outlaws, soldiers, and one dangerous woman, the Austins are finding out that this isn’t a trail drive, it’s a battle to reach the Bandera Range alive. And the only way to do it is the Texan way―fighting every bloody, dusty mile ahead…
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!
Stampedes, rustlers, and hostile Indians wouldn't slow them down. They were bound for Kansas, and a Texas-sized fight! The only riches Texans had left after the Civil War were five million maerick longhorns and the brains, brown and boldness to drive them north where the money was. Now, Ralph Compton brings this violent and magnificent time to life in an extraordinary epic series based on the history-blazing trail drives. The Shawnee Trail Long John Coons, the Cajun son of a conjuring woman, was driving 2,000 head of cattle north from Texas to the railroad in Kansas--through Indian Territory and outlaw strongholds. At his side was a beautiful woman with a sordid past, three ex-cattle rustlers, some renegate Indians, Mexican vanqueros and a straight-laced young trail boss. And while Long John tried to keep his hot headed crew from killing each other before they reached the end of the line, the biggest dangers was waiting up ahead--where an all-out war in Kansas make the Texas fight together, or die at the same time.
For a brave band of Texas pioneers, new enemies awaited on the thundering trail. But old enemies were the deadliest of all. 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 Dodge City Trail Dodge City was a businessman's dream. And a cattle drive north-with thousands of unbranded longhorns and a remuda of stolen Mexican horses-was a dream of Texans like Dan Ember, who'd come home from the war to find a rich man's hired guns living on his land. Now Dan and his neighbors would risk everything on a drive across the Llano. Along the way, two bands of killers would fight over them, the gunslinger Clay Allison would join up with them, and Quanah Parker's Comanches would try to thwart them-in a bold adventure fueled by the courage to face death, the pride to keep going, and the knowledge that now, there was no turning back.
They Risked Their Lives To Bring Cattle to Missouri. Now They Faced A Journey Twics As Dangerous... 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 Oregon Trail Lou Spencer, Dill Summer, and their fourteen Texas cowboys briught a herd up to Independence, Missouri, and sold half to a wagon train heading West. Then the Texans hired on, leading the battling greenhorn pioneers across the Missouri River, across Nebraska Territory, and into the wilds past Forts Laramie and Bridger. With winter closing in, Spencer's men were running out of time to reach the wide-open land of Oregon. And with a fortune in gold hidden in one of the pilgrims' wooden wagons-and outlaws circling like wolves-there were miles of shooting and dying still ahead.
An extraordinary saga of the trail-blazing cowboys who made their fortune driving cattle from Texas to the Great Frontier. They left Missouri and were headed to Santa Fe. Standing in their way was a parched desert, a land of outlaws and enemies-and one man's dangerous past. He was a wealthy englishman with two beautiful daughters. They were five dusty texans and a gambling man. And they were all on the ride of their lives. 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 Santa Fe Trail Gavin McCord and his brawling cowboys came to Missouri with a problem: 3,500 longhorns and not one buyer. That's where Gladstone Pitkin came in. A man with money and a dream of ranching in New Mexico, Pitkin bought McCord's cattle and hired his Texans for a trail drive from Independence to Santa Fe. But with an ill-fated gambler on the drive, the courageous, hardened riders weren't just a thousand brutal miles from Santa Fe-they were heading into a death trap.
An extraordinary saga of the trail-blazing cowboys who made their fortune driving cattle from Texas to the great frontier. Hard-riding Texans were braving mountains, desert and Indian war-- for the promise of a golden land called California... Over one million copies of Ralph Compton's Trail Drive novels in print! Missouri was closed to Texas cattle. Santa Fe was closed by murder. Now, they had one choice: cross desert mountains and hostile Indian land-- to a place called California... 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-blazing trail drives. For the ranchers riding with Rand Hayes, things had gone from bad to worse. The Santa Fe man who'd contracted five thousand head of cattle was dead-- murdered by renegades. Now the Texans had a herd of longhorns and only one choice: cross two mountain ranges and the Mojave Desert to the gold-fevered market at Los Angeles. A trail blazed by ancient Spaniards, this was a route that would lead through a brutal, wondrous land, where a hostile Ute nation was only one danger the cattle drive faced, and California was a shooting war away...
The year was 1853. For handful of cowboys turned California Gold Rushers, it was time to go home. Then Lonnie Kilgore and his fellow Texans met Western legend and former mountain man Jim Bridger, who told them of a lush range waiting to be claimed in northern Utah. Now, the Texans have purchased land on the Green river and come to San Antonio to gather up some longhorns. But with Indian trouble, law trouble, and woman trouble along for the ride, the cowboys are finding out the truth about this paradise: to live on land you bought and paid for, you have to be willing to die...
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...
Hoping to save his destitute hometown of Wisdom, Texas, Dick Hodson returns from the Civil War and plans a cattle drive run by greenhorn children, but a ruthless gang of cutthroats, hired by the evil Bryan Phelps, will do anything to stop them. Original.
Hired by gunslinger Clay Allison to bring a herd up from Mexico into Colorado across the dangerous Alamosa Trail, the cowboys of the Trailback Ranch must deal with a blizzard and a gang of slave-selling outlaws.
Three daring individuals--James Cason, son of the owner of the Long Shadow ranch; vigilante Duke Faglier; and Revelation Scattergood, a suspected rustler out to build a new life for herself--brave the perils of the trail to drive a herd of cattle from San Antonio, Texas, to the Dakota Territory. Original.
While driving cattle up north, former Confederate Army officer-turned-rancher Ben McCullough and his ex-sergeant Hap encounter such perils as stampedes, raging waters, nature's fury, and a gang of vicious rustlers. Original.
Hamp comes to the aid of his hot-tempered friend, Clint, after he is jailed for killing a cheating gambler, bribing the guards to let him go, but no sooner is Clint free than he kills a local rancher with vengeful friends who will do anything to see Clint hanged. Original.
A thousand-mile journey begins with a single step in this Ralph Compton western... Some think he’s crazy. But Felix Dagstaff has signed on to drive 4,000 head of wild longhorns from his ranch near Quitaque, Texas, up the Palo Duro Canyon to Cheyenne, more than a thousand miles away. Even if the passage were flat, you couldn’t pay most men enough to take on such a job. But poor odds have never stopped Dag before… He’ll have to drive his cattle through blinding storms and swollen rivers. But the setbacks of Mother Nature pale in comparison to the sedition of his own men: one drover’s not who he claims to be; another tries to make off with part of the herd. With months of heat and hardship stretching before him like the treacherous but impossibly beautiful canyon, the chances of getting ahead are slim. But if he fails, Dag will lose everything he has fought for… More Than Six Million Ralph Compton Books In Print!
Despite his reluctance and still haunted by the events of his last drive, Sam Ketchum takes on the difficult challenge of bringing the cattle from Frio Springs to the markets of Nebraska, dealing with the hardships of the trail, renegade Comanche, and rustlers along with way, but now his task is further complicated when he finds himself in the middle of a deadly Texas feud. Original.
Bad blood runs deep in this Ralph Compton western... Jock Kane would do anything for his buddy Chad Becker—except drive the rancher’s longhorns to the Ellsworth railhead in Kansas. Having lost his fortune and his faith on the last trail, and his beloved wife, Twyla, to a killer, Jock’s not looking for adventure. What gets him off his tail is finding out who’s vying with Chad for the Kansas sale. It’s none other than Twyla’s cold-blooded killer himself—Jock’s own brother, Abel, now in cahoots with a Yankee carpetbagger. Now there’s no hailstorm violent enough, no Apache savage enough, and no trail-drive turncoat dirty enough to stop Jock from redefining justice and revenge… More Than Six Million Ralph Compton Books In Print!
Pursued by the law, vigilantes, and bounty hunters, Luke Garrett, framed for a murder he did not commit and saddled with five mail-order brides, must drive his cattle herd through Whoop-Up Trail, a land rife with hostile Indians and other dangers, which is his only hope for survival. Original.
Ed Wright, once a legendary cattle driver and ranger who now has a penchant for whiskey, gets one last chance to prove himself when he is hired by Unita Nance to drive her stock from Texas to Kansas where his enemies lie in wait to keep him off the trail permanently. Original.
A family fights their demons on a dangerous cattle drive in this action-packed Ralph Compton western. Doc Blaine has signed a big contract with a cattle buyer up in Kansas. After a couple more good springs, Doc might finally be able to retire, but for now he’ll have to contend with a band of marauding brothers who are out for vengeance against the Blaines. Another set of brothers might prove to be the bigger liability—his own sons. Doc needs sizeable herds from each, but Miles and Jared Blaine have been feuding for years over the same woman—even after Miles married her. And Jared once vowed that someday he would kill his younger brother—a threat he never took back… But Doc believes he can get both sons to Kansas—as long as one doesn’t know the other is making the same drive… More Than Six Million Ralph Compton Books In Print!
Two old ranch hands lead one last trail drive but they can't escape death along the way in a brand new thrilling western in Ralph Compton's trail drive series. Big Jake Motley had been running the Big M spread in Texas for over 30 years. In that time, he's driven thousands of head of cattle to market in Kansas. Now, while both the Nineteenth century and the era of trail drive are coming to an end, Big Jake is determined to make one last drive to Kansas. The only thing is, he doesn't have the cowhands to move that much beef. He drafts his old friend, Chance McCandles, into service, and together, the two aging cowboys put together a crew. The trail to Kansas is fraught with dangers both natural and man made, but when Chance is killed by rustlers, Big Jake has one more task in before him, extract vengeance for his old friend.
In this brand-new Ralph Compton Western, the drovers of the Bar X ranch will face sandstorms, renegades, and outlaws along the historic Cimarron trail. After a child is accidentally killed in a shootout, Art Catlin decides to give up his life of bounty hunting and finds a new career as a drover, working for the Bar X ranch. The trail is 770 miles from Santa Fe to Independence, Missouri, and Art isn't fool enough to think it'll be an easy journey. As they head east, they seem to come upon countless threats, from environmental to personal. If they're to make it all the way with the herd intact, Catlin will need to use all of the skill and knowledge he's acquired over his long and violent career.
A cattle drive faces long odds in this exciting new installment in Ralph Compton’s Trail Drive series. An outbreak of hostilities with Comanches has disrupted the usual trail routes. But Mase Durst must get his cows from his Texas ranch to the railway up in Wichita, Kansas, or face losing his land, which the bank is fixing to foreclose on. He's forced to take his herd on a little-used route called the Red Trail—little used for good reasons. It’s a tough trek: dangerous, narrow, and fraught with banditry. Along the way, Durst and his men face numerous obstacles thrown up by Mother Nature, cattle rustlers and crooked lawmen. But even their safe arrival in Wichita will offer no relief if he can’t make it home in time to save his ranch from the bank—and his wife from the predations of their rapacious neighbor. . .
In this thrilling installment in bestseller Ralph Compton’s Trail Drive series, a small ranch owner drives his herd into Mexico and is startled to find that human life comes cheaper than beef on the hoof. Andrew Buchanan has a problem. His modest ranch in Southern California is being pressured by an unscrupulous competitor and the encroaching wave of the future—orange growers. The only chance he has to sell his cattle for real money is to take them south into Mexico. The Empire Trail is five hundred miles of misery that crosses scorching deserts and clings to treacherous cliffs—and it's Andrew's job to find the best way across. But physical barriers are not the only thing he must contend with. A group of dangerous men are trailing the herd, determined to take the cattle or die trying. But this is Andrew's livelihood that hangs in the balance, and he won't go down without a fight.
Western Writers of America 2022 Spur Award Finalist A rancher discovers just how many times a man's luck can hold out in this thrilling novel in the bestselling Trail Drive Series After struggling for years to work a raw-patch ranch in the arid flatlands of Texas, young Mitchell Newland learns that his herd of scrubby range cattle will fetch ten times their local price if they're driven to Montana. He strikes a one-sided deal with the devil, neighboring rancher Corliss Bilks, to back his play with cattle, men, and horses. The trail brims with hellish hardship: prairie fire, stampede, flooded rivers, hailstorms, rattlers, sickness, long, broiling days and frigid nights. Halfway to Montana, range pirates and a rogue Apache war party close in. Mitch and the boys fight, grim and helpless, watching as their herd is driven westward in a cloud of dust and cackling laughter. Cut down to two bloodied men, Mitch collapses, far too late, and admits the old man has won the bet. But salvation in the form of a Basque sheepherder revives Mitch and his pal, Drover Joe, and Mitch realizes he isn't done. Not by a long shot. And now he has nothing to lose.
The daughters of a New Mexican rancher must help their father recover a stolen herd in this thrilling new novel in the bestselling Trail Drive series. In the early days of the Mexican Revolution guerrillas led by Francisco "Pancho" Villa raid a ranch in Doña Ana County, New Mexico Territory. They abscond with a herd of saddle horses earmarked for sale to the U.S. Army, wounding rancher Alejandro Aguirre and killing his only son, Eduardo, in the process. When the army commander and his superiors in Washington, D.C. refuse to violate Mexican sovereignty with a punitive raid, Alejandro's twin daughters, Dolores and Yolanda, must step up. Together they lead a crew of ranch hands and friendly members of the Mescalaro Apache tribe to recover the herd. A perilous road lies ahead, but the sisters will stop at nothing to find justice for their fallen brother and reclaim what was stolen.
When the money dries up, a wrangler looks toward the Pacific for new opportunity in the latest installment of Ralph Compton's bestselling Trail Drive series. Clay Forsythe never even knew there was such a thing as a paniolo—a Hawaiian cowboy—before two of them save his life. But when he meets Jose Vasquez and Leo Suarez he quickly realizes two things: they're talented and worldly—Clay's never even seen the ocean. With no job offers on the horizon, things aren't going as well for Clay as they are for the paniolo. So when the pair offer him a job helping them drive new breeding stock to the coast, he sees no reason to decline. But there is a long way to go before they hit the saltwater trail to Hawaii. And not everyone wants the to see Barker Ranch prosper; in fact, they'll do almost anything to stop the trio. But Clay and the paniolos aren't to be trifled with. If they can get the herd to their safe patch of land along the coast, it'll be smooth sailing after—and Clay vows that he'll get them there, come hell or high water.