'The Gold Trail', by Harold Bindloss begins with the story of Stirling, a contractor who undertakes the challenging railroad work in Western Canada. When he receives a message that the construction crew is stopping because there is no bottom to the swamp, he is outraged and decides to go there himself. Along with his daughter and her English friends, they take a private car on the Pacific express and head west. Meanwhile, construction foreman Cassidy and his team are struggling to build the railroad through the giant ranges and muskegs of British Columbia. The work is tough and tempers are short.