The Trail Driver

Pan Handle Smith Trilogy #2

by Zane Grey

paperback western

Genres: Westerns, Fiction, Romance, Adventure, Historical Fiction

218 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1931

About the author

Pearl Zane Grey was an American author best known for his popular adventure novels and stories that presented an idealized image of the rugged Old West. As of June 2007, the Internet Movie Database credits Grey with 110 films, one TV episode, and a series, Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theater based loosely on his novels and short stories.

Reviews

[Laur]

Lol...wow...my first experience with a Zane Grey western. The constant cowboy thick drawl was a challenge from page one to end of book, but I couldn’t help but realize I was reading an author from another place and time. A very successful and famous author even of today. It reminded me of going to a Country that I’ve never been to before and experiencing it’s culture and diversity for the first time. Different. Not bad, just different, and now I’m intrigued. This particular story wasn’t exactly a barn burner for thrills and excitement, but it had it’s charming moments. Will probably continue the journey and seek other works from his collection. “The hell you say!” Yep, that was one of the sayings in the book when they were loose tongued. ☺️😉

[Clayton Roach]

Never a dull moment with Brite’s band of drivers! One thing that set this book apart from some of his others was the abundance of characters within the story. Not only that, but they were more than just present in the story, each attributing to the obstacle or problem at hand. Things started to ramp up towards the end, which I didn’t care much for, and the last few pages ended too fast. There needed to be a more gradual ending for me to feel at peace with the story that took place on the Chisholm Trail.

[John]

Today, driving from San Antonio to Dodge City takes about ten and a half hours to traverse highways requiring an approximate 660 mile journey. An energetic driver can, more or less, accomplish this journey in a day. In the time of the Chisolm and Western trail cattle drives during the 1860's and 1870's which Zane Grey describes in The Trail driver, the nine hundred mile trek required about three months of riding horseback in the dust and heat with no modern comforts. Not only did this odyssey take much longer than it does for us today, but it was only accomplished by the burdensome crossing of several rivers; and the withstanding of bandits, hostile American Indian tribes, miles of buffalo herds, and diverse and treacherous weather. All of these trials are detailed in Zane Grey's novel.

In many ways, I found the book to be somewhat lacking in comparison to some of his other novels in that it didn't seem he had, to me, shaped his characters in the way I was previously accustomed. However, in arriving at the end of the novel, I believe the lack of character definition was almost intentional as he described the slurry of humanity that occupied Dodge City. "Saddle horses lined the hitching-rails as far as Brite could see. Canvas-covered wagons, chuck-wagons, buckboards, vehicles of all Western types, stood outside the saddle horses. And up one side and down the other a procession ambled in the dust. On the wide sidewalk a throng of booted, belted, spurred men wended their way up or down. The saloons roared. Black-sombreroed, pale-faced, tight-lipped men stood beside the wide portals of the gaming-dens. Beautiful wrecks of womanhood, girls with havoc in their faces and the look of birds of prey in their eyes, waited in bare-armed splendor to be accosted. Laughter without mirth ran down the walk. The stores were full. Cowboys in twos and threes and sixes trooped by, young, lithe, keen of eye, bold of aspect, gay and reckless. Hundreds of cowboys passed Brite in that long block from the hotel to the intersecting street. And every boy gave him a pang. These were the toll of the trail and of Dodge. It might have been the march of empire, the tragedy of progress..."

Then I could see why he intentionally failed to distinctly shape each of the cattle drivers on the trail.
I guess it all came down to the survivors, the cowboys who eventually arrived at their highly anticipated destination, and, sadly, one didn't differ significantly from the other, which was a noteworthy observation of humanity as a whole, and the destination which we are all going. And maybe, it was a statement of the futility of it all. On the other hand, for the hopeful reader, it may be a message of the unending fortitude and determination of the American cowboy as a whole. Thank you Zane Grey for your insight on this amazing time in our history of western America.

[Emily Arrowood]

This was one of my favorite Zane Grey’s so far! Loved the adventure, romance, and cowboys. The “pretend you don’t love him until he almost dies” trope is one of my favorites, haha, so this really came through for me. Plenty of gunfights and stampedes to go around!

Didn’t love that pretty much everyone died (spoiler). The main characters prevailed, but my goodness! I felt like crying every few pages. Plus the Texas accents that were phonetic were difficult to work through at times.

[Elliot]

Really outside of my usual genres, but was quite surprised by how much I enjoyed it. There were definitely some moments that read problematic, which didn't sit well, but it's a reminder of the time and place in which the novel was written.

[Katrina Swartzentruber]

Fantastic

[Milt Jacobs]

I enjoyed this book more that most of his books.

[Richard Guerrero]

Another good typical western read. I know they say this is a panhandle Smith trilogy but I do not remember Panhandle Smith at all in the first book.

[Ashley]

Cheesy, and fraught with flashes of sexism and racism, this is classic Zane Grey, and still my greatest guilty pleasure as far as reading is concerned.

I love the way Grey writes about the geography of the land, and how connected his characters are to their natural environments. In this book, I appreciated the writing on buffalo hunters, and his description of the vast herds of Texas, Oklahoma, and Kansas. This is a piece of history that is often underemphasized, as the decimation of North American buffalo populations was one of the most horrible and destructive settler policies of colonization and cultural genocide.

[Sara]

I'm participating in a reading challenge & one of the categories is "A book in a genre you have never read before" & while I think I read Lonesome Dove years ago, I'm considering this Zane Grey Western new to me.
It's easy to see why his books were so popular, the descriptions of the Chisolm Trail, cattle stampedes, storms & the majesty of nature were enthralling.
On the flip side, it's important to remember that he wrote this in 1931 so some of the language he uses when talking about Native Americans, Mexicans, Black people and women is super problematic by modern standards.

[Daniel]

While the romance aspect of the story is more than a bit corny, the actual trail driving, the Chisholm Trail and several thousand cattle and a few cowboys and obstacles with robbers and tribes and hundreds of thousand of bisons, stampedes and storm (incl. an electrical storm) are described in great detail and thus downright riveting. Another thing that I could have done without were the accents, the southern drawls, written out in every aspect, sometimes made it constant guessing what they were on about. It didn't add, at all - would have been better without leaning into that aspect.

[Jane]

I've read and enjoyed a number of Zane Grey novels, but this one is especially dated and problematic. Lots of encounters with "red devils" aka Native Americans who say things like "How." When the young heroine shoots an Indian, she says "I - I feel like a murderer." Well yeah, because you are one!

Three of the characters also suffer unnecessarily grim and pointless deaths a few pages before the end. Definitely not one I'll read again.

[Scout the Pages]

This is an interesting book for study, but I personally did not enjoy any second of it. I had to read this for a class project, and it felt like it took ages. The author's voice is not for me, the descriptions are pretty lacking, and the characters are the embodiment of sexism. This is a very good book for gender studies and history, but I rate based on enjoyment and quality in my opinion. I also do not personally like most westerns... so there's that.

[Patrick E]

A Great Read!

With out any doubt, this Zane Grey story is the best of all that I’ve read so far. Great character development; I felt at the conclusion of the book that I knew each person and cared about what happen to them.
The estimated time indicated to read this book was approximately 28 hours; for me it was time well spent.

[Sharon]

Rip Roarin good fun

This is the first Zane Greg book I have ever read. I was very favorably impressed and looked forward to each chapter. The slang took a bit of getting used to, but after a while I was not even conscious of it. I will read more of his work.

[David C. Martin]

How It Was in the West

The author described the situations and the characters vividly. You had to decide on everybody whether you liked them or not. Some were lovable, some were not. A plot typical of the times.

[Hamish Rennie]

Slightly unexpected (and good) ending, somewhat surprised by the premise as had assumptions about how classic westerns might treat female characters. Again a lot to learn here about that life and times. Finally rad in 2023.

[Susan]

Excellent story! Great descriptions.
Great action and characters.

[John Shearer]

The Trail Driver

This story was a good read that has all the features of the old west,and then some. The author created a good look at what could happen on a trail drive.

[Helen Hoover]

Many unknown and unnamed heroes

Hard lives taken as a matter of course. Men and women who never knew that they would be the raw material of legand.

[Janet Dalton]

To be a cpwboy.

I have never read such a detailed story of a cattle drive. I felt as if I was there and could see the action. Very good, enjoyed ot.

[kathy nashif]

Once you get used to the language of the old West this story is very good. Plus fairly happy endings are a plus. Pretty brutal times back then.

[Nick Vanderwal]

I like keeping a western tale in the queue. Zane Grey never disappoints.

[Katie]

Enjoyed this so much. Great Cowboys! Great Texas history.

[Larry West]

Classic Zane Grey. Great story.

[Sue]

I liked this reading this western - nostalgic, read. Amusing the description of the chivalrous cowboys in tough situation. Don't take too seriously.

[Robert Whelan]

After having read Lonesome Dove a year or so ago, this seems but a pale shadow.

[James]

I like this book. It gave me a good idea of how hard it was to be on a cattle drive.
I like Zane Grey's stories. I would recommend his stories to everyone.

[Janeen Miklos]

Great story!

[Jack]

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