RAILHEAD

About the Book

“In his time, Robert Riordan was called a ‘Lincoln Man’ and a ‘Railroad Man’ but these terms attested more to his politics than to his character. He was a gentleman who clearly saw the line between good and evil…” So writes his biographer Pete Hammond, many years later, as he recollects the man who set out to tame the ‘Hell on Wheels’ town of Goshen, Wyoming. In 1869, Goshen is a wide-open town at war with itself. Gambling halls and brothels are big business yet the town is bankrupt, and murder and graft are common place. Can the young railroad town become a place where law-abiding folks can raise their families, or will it end up a shot up, gambled-out ghost town like Julesburg, ‘The Wickedest City in the West’? The fate of the town rests with one man—‘Butch’ Riordan—and all his grit and savvy may not be enough to check the forces seeking to destroy it. Railhead is an authentically detailed story of the post-Civil War West set against the backdrop of the lawless towns created by the building of the Union Pacific Railroad. Meet the special breed of men and women who civilized the wind-swept plains of Wyoming, along with the man Robert Riordan, who should seem very familiar to the readers of America.

About the Author

Guy Franks grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area and is a graduate of Cal Berkeley. He is married with two children and four grandchildren. A writer most of his life, he is the author of Beggar King and A Midsummer Madness. Each of his books reflects his deep interest in myth-making and the enduring truths contained within them. In Railhead, his love of myths and poetic fables is combined with his passion for the American West.