The  octopus
Subtitle: a story of California
By: by Frank Norris
Publisher: Doubleday, Page & Co.
Published: 1901
Place of publication: New York
Language: eng
Number of pages: 652
Subjects: Wheat -- California -- San Joaquin Valley -- Fiction; Railroads -- California -- Fiction; Farmers -- California -- San Joaquin Valley -- Fiction; San Joaquin Valley (Calif.) -- Fiction; California -- Fiction
Other titles: Epic of the wheat
Description: "Deals with the war between the wheat grower and the railroad trust."

"First novel in 'The Epic of Wheat,' a projected trilogy. Set mostly in the San Joaquin Valley and San Francisco, it shows the conflict between wheat ranchers and the railroad ('The Octopus') that is the lifeline of trading and shipping. The bloody encounter at the climax of the novel is based on the 'Mussel Slough Tragedy' of May, 1880. The novel roughly covers the period of the late 1870s."--Baird & Greenwood.