Guns of the Timberlands

by Louis L’Amour

First published 1955

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2.5(5)

Clay Bell has built the Bar-B into a successful ranch, but the timber on the surrounding land attracts Eastern financier Jud Devitt, who intends to take control of the country for his own development scheme. Devitt has money, hired men and political influence behind him; Bell has local knowledge, loyal hands and no intention of being driven from land on which his livelihood depends.

The dispute turns a commercial contest into a struggle over who will control the timberlands and the communities growing around them. Bell must judge whom he can trust as intimidation gives way to violence. The novel places its range conflict in a West being transformed by outside capital, where ranching, logging and speculation bring new pressures to territory in which formal authority remains limited.