The Last Trail Drive (Gunsmith, No. 342)

Clint agrees to join his old friend Hank Flood on what he expects to be his last cattle drive from Doan's Crossing in the Texas Panhandle, all the way to Fort Laramie.Thees drives are coming to an end with all the fences being put up and defended,range wars and all, now that the railroads are replacing drives of thousands of cattle over thousands of miles to get the beeves to markets in the East.Doan's Crossing,Dodge City,Ellsworth and places like this are slowly beginning to fold up and disappear. However;a rival cattleman Morgan,turned outlaw,has different ideas.He has hired Santiago Jones and a gang of owlhoots to rub out Flood and steal his herd.Jones is all too willing to take on the famous Gunsmith and make a name for himself. This story reads well,has a lot of colorful characters and gives a pretty fair idea of what it was like to put together a good crew,and tackle the job of getting the herd to market;with all the trials and tribulations involved. No doubt at all as to who the good and bad guys are;but be prepared for an unexpeted twist at the end.