THEY HAD BEATEN THE HARSH ODDS OF THE FRONTIER, BUT FOR TWO POWERFUL RANCHERS, THE MOST FORMIDABLE TRAIL LAY AHEAD, THERE HAD NEVER BEEN A TAIL LIKE THIS BEFORE...

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

THE DEADWOOD TRAIL

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 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....