Sentence:  Men who made it a custom to travel the trail to Dawson, likened him to a <WSD>robber baron</WSD>, perched in his fortress and exacting toll from the caravans that used his ill-kept roads. 
Meaning of the word marked with <WSD> tags:  In Europe, an aristocrat who charged exorbitant fees or otherwise exacted money from people who journeyed across land or waterways which he controlled.