Order of Trail Drive Books
The Trail Drive series is a series of western novels created by American author Ralph Compton and later written by other authors. Following the Civil War, all Texas had left were longhorn cattle. In order to get them to the railroad, they must travel across 300 miles of Indian land.
Ralph Compton began his Trail Drive series in 1992 with the novel The Goodnight Trail. The series is currently ongoing. Below is a list of Ralph Compton’s Trail Drive books in order of when they were first released (which is the same as their chronological order):
Publication Order of Trail Drive Books
| The Goodnight Trail | (1992) |    |
| The Western Trail | (1992) | |
| The Chisholm Trail | (1993) | |
| The Bandera Trail | (1993) | |
| The California Trail | (1994) | |
| The Shawnee Trail | (1994) | |
| The Virginia City Trail | (1994) | |
| The Dodge City Trail | (1995) | |
| The Oregon Trail | (1995) | |
| The Santa Fe Trail | (1997) | |
| The Old Spanish Trail | (1998) | |
| The Green River Trail | (1999) | |
| The Deadwood Trail | (1999) | |
| The Dakota Trail | (2001) | |
| The Alamosa Trail | (2002) | |
| The Bozeman Trail | (2002) | |
| The Abilene Trail | (2003) | |
| Trail To Fort Smith | (2004) | |
| The Palo Duro Trail | (2004) | |
| The Ogallala Trail | (2005) | |
| The Ellsworth Trail | (2005) | |
| The Tenderfoot Trail | (2006) | |
| Trail to Cottonwood Falls | (2007) | |
| The Amarillo Trail | (2011) | |
| Big Jake's Last Drive | (2020) | |
| The Kelly Trail | (2020) | |
| Drive for Independence | (2020) | |
| Red Trail | (2020) | |
| The Empire Trail | (2021) | |
| The Too-Late Trail | (2021) | |
| Red Trail | (2021) | |
| Terror Trail | (2021) | |
| The Saltwater Trail | (2022) | |
Notes: The Dakota Trail, The Alamosa Trail and The Bozeman Trail were written by Robert Vaughn based on the work of Ralph Compton. The Abilene Trail, Trail to Fort Smith, The Ogallala Trail and Trail to Cottonwood Falls were written by Dusty Richards. The Palo Duro Trail, The Ellsworth Trail, The Amarillo Trail and The Omaha Trail were written by Jory Sherman. The Tenderfoot Trail were written by Joseph A. West.
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Trail Drive Synopsis: In The Goodnight Trail by Ralph Compton, Benton McCaleb, Will Elliot and Brazos Gifford are three former Texas Rangers who are riding with Charles Goodnight, who is rounding up thousands of cattle all the way to Colorado. From the Trinity River to Denver, Colorado, they must navigate flooded rivers, desert land and drunken Comanches. They will also have face-to-face meetings with Judge Roy Bean and gunslinger Clay Allison. They will either reach the finish line or die trying.
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