A miniseries that aired in 1978-1979, based on James Michener's novel, about a region of Colorado that goes from frontier to trading post to Western town to modern city over the course of two centuries.Tropes included in the series are:
- All Star Cast
- Big "NO!": Levi, on being told that he will be shunned
- Cattle Drive
- Dead Hat Shot Levi's hat as he slips under the train
- Fate Worse than Death Amish shunning
- Generational Saga
- Gold Fever: Larkin in his obsessive search for the "Lost Indian Gold Mine"
- Good Scars, Evil Scars: Sam Purchase and arguably Jaques Pasquinel
- The Great Depression
- The Gunslinger averted as the hired killers prefer long range assassination
- Half Breed Jake and Mike Pasquinel
- Hollywood Homely: Elly Zendt, told by her best friend that "pretty isn't everything"
- Meaningful Name: Colorado is the Centennial State, having been granted statehood in 1876.
- Mountain Man
- Noble Savage: Played straight, lampshaded, averted... the Native Americans in the story are shown to be complex individuals
- The Sheriff
- Tearjerker: As the story takes place over many decades, new characters are introduced, become beloved, and eventually die.
- Also, anything having to do with the fate of the Native Americans.
- Shown Their Work: To the point that the book has an appendix at the end of each chapter just to show off the facts that wouldn't fit into the main body of the narrative.
- Too Happy to Live Elly Zendt
- Villain with Good Publicity: Frank Skimmerhorn's vicious campaign against the defenseless Arapaho is initially celebrated until the grisly details come to light; also Mervin Wendell gets rich by taking advantage of naive homesteaders and is regarded as a pillar of the community
- The Western: especially the episode The Longhorns
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