Riding on a Train Goin' West

R. Smith's graphic novel, Riding on a Train Goin' West, knits together three true Western tales from 100 years ago-including local Montana and Idaho lore about murder, wildfires, and desolation.

It recalls to modern memory the thousand Eastern European immigrants who toiled to dig a railroad tunnel through the Bitterroot Mountains in the early 1900's. A bygone era when small towns like Taft, Wallace, and Avery prospered and let loose-before they fell off the map again.

The first tale, set in 1907, follows the lawless, booming railroad town of Taft, Montana, dubbed "the wickedest city in America." A Montenegrin immigrant leader (known as "The King") is murdered by a railroad foreman, which sparks a deadly ethnic feud.

The second story is set in Wallace, Idaho in 1910. It documents a massive wildfire event known as the Big Burn. It chronicles the efforts of early U.S. Forest Service rangers and immigrant firefighters to survive the huge, multi-state inferno.

The final story, set in Avery, Idaho in 1971, describes the struggles and misadventures of a later generation of wildland firefighters living and working in an Idaho backcountry that has seen better days.

R. Smith worked for five years as a firefighter himself before forging a career in journalism covering Silicon Valley. This is his first historical graphic novel.