The Octopus: A Story of California is a 1901 novel by Frank Norris and was the first part of an uncompleted trilogy, The Epic of the Wheat.

Norris was inspired to write the novel by the Mussel Slough Tragedy involving the Southern Pacific Railroad.

Within a few weeks he had formulated his idea for a trilogy of novels on the topic of wheat, his 'Epic of the Wheat', from its growth in California (which would be the basis of The Octopus), to its distribution in Chicago (The Pit, published posthumously in 1903), to its consumption in a famished region of Europe or Asia (intended to be titled The Wolf, although never begun before his death).

The Octopus itself was based on the Mussel Slough Tragedy of 1880, which involved a bloody conflict between ranchers and law agents defending the Southern Pacific Railroad.

The central issue was over the ownership of the ranches, which the farmers had leased from the railroad nearly ten years earlier with intentions of eventually purchasing the land.

Over the following months, he visited the locations of the incident and worked on nearby farms, gaining firsthand knowledge of the wheat farmer’s life.

He returned to New York that fall, and between January and December 1900 wrote the manuscript for The Octopus, which was published the following April with substantial success.

[1] The Octopus depicts the conflict between wheat farmers in the southern San Joaquin Valley and the fictional Pacific and Southwestern railroad (P&SW).

In the gunfight that ensues, Osterman, Broderson, Harran Derrick (Magnus' son), Hooven, and Annixter are all instantly killed or mortally wounded.

Cedarquist's wife, moved by Presley's poem 'The Toilers,' raises money to send a shipload of wheat for famine relief to India.

Presley later discards his grand ideas and publishes 'The Toilers', a poem about the farmer’s plight which stirs up public interest in the issue.

Lyman is contracted by the League to represent the farmers on the state Railroad Commission, which decides on transport rates.

In the novel he works on different ranches and spends a great deal of time at the Mission San Juan de Guadalajara, where Angele had been murdered.

Other important characters include Hilma Tree, Hooven, Broderson, Osterman, Dyke, Cedarquist, Delaney, Annie Derrick, and Father Sarria.