Like the tentacles of an octopus, the railroad in California reached out across the state, grasping everything of value in the state. Based on the bloody Mussel Slough Tragedy-a conflict between wheat farmers and the Southern Pacific Railroad-The Octopus is a stunning novel chronicling the twilight of the frontier West, a depiction of the tensions between the railroad, the ranchers, and the ranchers' League. The book emphasizes the control of "forces"-such as the power of railroad monopolies-over individuals. No one was truly innocent, as the farmers employed the same if not similar tactics as the monopolistic railroad companies, such as subversion, coercion, and violence.
