Introduction
Principal
Characters in the Novel
CURTIS JADWIN,
capitalist and speculator.
SHELDON CORTHELL, an artist.
LANDRY COURT, broker's clerk.
SAMUEL GRETRY, a broker.
CHARLES CRESSLER, a dealer in grain.
MRS. CRESSLER, his wife.
LAURA DEARBORN, protege of Mrs. Cressler.
PAGE DEARBORN, her sister.
MRS. EMILY WESSELS, aunt of Laura and Page.
The Trilogy of The Epic of the Wheat includes the
following novels:
THE OCTOPUS, a Story of California.
THE PIT, a Story of Chicago.
THE WOLF, a Story of Europe.
These novels, while forming a series, will be in no way
connected with each other save only in their relation to (1) the
production, (2) the distribution, (3) the consumption of American
wheat. When complete, they will form the story of a crop of wheat
from the time o
