Zane Grey and the Historic Trails of the Great Plains

Abstract

Zane Grey was fascinated with historic trails. Some of his most memorable books feature “trail” in the title, and his best-known epics, The U. P. Trail and Western Union, focus on historic trails. On March 20, 2021, I made a presentation to the Colorado-Cherokee Trail Chapter of the Oregon and California Trails Association about how Zane Grey’s books portray the national historic trails. This essay is a revision and expansion of that presentation.