Alberta's ranching heritage occupies an important place in the province's historical consciousness. Trails and Trials: Markets and Land Use in the Alberta Beef Cattle Industry, 1881-1948 documents the development of the beef cattle industry in Alberta from its open-range ranching phase to the beginnings of the modern era. This narrative history documents how the beef cattle industry responded to the challenges following the end of the open-range era through two world wars and the Great Depression.

Trails and Trials: Markets and Land Use in the Alberta Beef Cattle Industry, 1881-1948 is a story of struggle, victories, and defeats, as a romanticized industry struggled to survive and mature in the real world. It provides a new case study of Canada's economic development and settlement history.