The first half of this novel ends with a duel between Delaney and (*)
A speech given in this novel repeatedly references Moses shouting, "Let my people go!" and the speaker later concludes the speech was too literary for his audience. That man fails to kill this novel's villain after throwing a pipe bomb obtained from the saloon-keeper Caraher through a window. One chapter of this work cuts back and forth between a lavish dinner party thrown by the Gerards and scenes of Mrs. Hooven starving to death on the streets. The first half of this novel ends with a duel between Delaney and (*) Annixter, who hosts a dance in his barn in the hopes of wooing Hilma Tree. An epic poem called the "Song of the West" is abandoned in favor of a socialistic poem called "The Toilers" by Presley, arguably this work's protagonist. Much of this novel is set on the Quien Sabe and Los Muertos ranches, where Magnus Derrick leads a league of ranchers against the title entity. For10 points, name this first novel in the planned Epic of the Wheat trilogy, a work by Frank Norris about railroads. 
A speech given in this novel repeatedly references Moses shouting, "Let my people go!" and the speaker later concludes the speech was too literary for his audience.
The  Octopus: A Story of California