The First Transcontinental Railroad is stopped dead near its starting point, both in the East and in the West. Repeated injunctions from the president of the “Transcontinental Railroad” are having no effect: His workers are constantly prevented from working by agents of a mysterious traitor. But Lucky Luke witnesses one of the acts of sabotage and stops it. Soon, he is in charge of security for the entire westward push—and he will have his work cut out for him!

Gold has been found in the Klondike, a remote region in the Canadian far north! Jasper, the manservant of ‘Tenderfoot’ Waldo, went to try his luck ... and vanished. Worried about his man, Waldo calls upon his old friend Lucky Luke. The two men will have to make the dangerous trip to the Klondike, only to face all those who, in that desolate, inhospitable land, will stop at nothing in order to fleece their fellow man.

Marcel Dalton is the Dalton Brothers’ Swiss uncle. He is not only honest, but a banker to boot. Having purchased a small bank in the US, he decides to hire his nephews to force them to make a honest living. Although he’s assisted by Lucky Luke, they have their work cut out for them. Especially since – as if the ingrained instincts of the four dumbest bandits in the West weren’t enough – there’s also the small matter of the competition: a very unscrupulous banker ...

Passing through the quiet little town of Rattlesnake, Luke exposes a Mexican gambler as a cheat and runs him out of town. Unfortunately, the hustler ends up in the hands of the Bluefeet Indians and manages to convince them to attack Rattlesnake. A siege begins, during which Luke will have to use all his guile and courage to keep the Bluefeet at bay until the Cavalry arrives.

After a fellow inmate, having received a blow to the head, forgets his own name and is freed as a brand new man, the Daltons start pretending to be amnesiac in order to escape the prison. So as to test their supposed amnesia – and hopefully allow them to retrieve their memories should it be real – they are put in familiar situations: bank hold-ups, train robberies ... under Lucky Luke’s supervision, of course.

This third volume in the collection brings us to the very edge of absolute greatness, with two later, far more mature solo outings – Doc Doxey’s Elixir (including Manhunt) and Phil Wire (including Lucky Luke and Pill) were first published in 1955 and 1956, and already Luke was much closer to the cowboy that we now have in mind – followed by Rails on the Prairie, the first collaboration between Morris and Goscinny, that would usher in 30 years of a legendary collaboration. These stories are prefaced by a staggering 46 pages of extra material – biographies, essays, interviews, illustrations – that will delight every fan.

Having accepted the sheriff’s job in Red City, Lucky Luke arrives to find a town entirely under the control of Pat Poker, a ruthless gambler, cheat and saloon owner, and his henchmen. His horse, clothes and revolver stolen, Luke decides to pass himself off as a harmless, bumbling tenderfoot, all the better to study his opponents and catch them unaware. Still, Pat won’t give up easily, and keeping him behind bars might require some additional work...