Recap / Bonanza

These are the stories of Bonanza, the second-longest running scripted western and one of the most successful. Airing in color on NBC from the very start — few regular series were in full color in 1959 — the show lasted some 428 episodes (two two-part episodes included, both written as one episode).

This guide includes links to all episodes. The two episodes that originally aired in two parts — "Ride the Wind" and "The Pursued" — are treated as a single episode as they deal with a single plotline; a third episode, "Forever" (the 1972-1973 season premiere) originally aired as a two-hour episode. All three of those episodes are syndicated, either as individual one-hour episodes or in feature-length two-hour programs.

Season One (1959-60)

• A Rose for Lotta: In the premiere episode — where Ponderosa owner Ben invites viewers to "feast thine eyes" on the Ponderosa, in all its colorful glory — the Cartwrights deal with a ruthless mining baron who wants to strip the Ponderosa for its timber. They use voluptuous actress Lotta Crabtree to lure Ben's youngest son, Joe, into their trap, but she soon learns that Joe is quite feisty himself.
• Death on Sun Mountain: Committed to caring for Native Americans, the Cartwrights (also big-time cattle barons) are confused when cattle start disappearing from the Ponderosa. They soon learn the Paiute tribe is using them for food, instead of their customary antelope, and it isn't long before Ben realizes that two ruthless, Indian-hating meat salesmen are behind killing off the antelope herds and selling the meat to the Virginia City gold mining camps.
• The Newcomers: Hoss falls in love with the fiancee of John Pennington, who wants to strip mine the Ponderosa for gold.
• The Paiute War: In one of the most violent episodes in the show's short history thus far, racist fur trader and rapist Michael Wilson starts a war with the Paiute tribe when he frames Adam for his crimes.
• Enter Mark Twain: In the first of his three trips to Virginia City, young writer Samuel Clemens creates a fanatical story about monsters and fights a corrupt judge.
• The Julia Bulette Story: The first of many lost loves for Little Joe, when he falls in love with a woman stricken with fever.
• The Saga of Annie O'Toole: The Cartwrights protect Annie O'Toole and her father from greedy opportunists who seek the deed to their silver mine.
• The Philip Deidesheimer Story: Adam and Hoss work with Dutch immigrant Philop Diesesheimer, who is trying to sell Nevada Territory on his new square-set mining system for its safety features.
• Mr. Henry Comstock: All about how Virginia City got its nickname, and the Cartwrights efforts to deal with Henry Comstock, the swindler.
• The Magnificent Adah: Could Adah Isaacs Menken become the fourth Mrs. Ben Cartwright? Or does she, as his sons suspect, have ulterior motives?
• The Truckee Strip: An opportunist looks to rekindle a simmering feud between Ben and a neighbor over the Truckee Strip.
• The Hanging Posse: Adam and Joe try to stop a forming lynch mob from hanging the only suspect in a murder spurred by a failed sexual assault.
• Vendetta: Ben and a member of the Morgan gang are shot during a bank robbery. When the gang member dies, his brothers vow to avenge his death by going after Ben.
• The Sisters: Adam finds himself fighting an unjust murder charge after the saloon girl he was dating is found dead.
• The Last Hunt: Joe and Hoss protect a pregnant Shoeshone maiden stricken with (what today would be called) pre-eclampsia from both a blizzard and a greedy trader looking to kill off the tribe.
• El Toro Grande: All about the adventures Joe and Hoss have in Mexico on their business trip to buy the El Toro Grande bull.
• The Outcast: The Cartwrights come to the aid of a woman whose brother and father were hanged for murder.
• A House Divided: Can war divide a household? A Confederate sympathizer named Frederick Kyle tries to pit brother vs. brother and prove that water is thicker than blood when he riles up Virginia City and the Cartwrights, and lures Joe to his side.
• The Gunmen: In Keowa Flats, Texas, Joe and Hoss are drawn into a broiling family feud when they are mistaken for the nefarious Slade brothers.
• The Fear Merchants: The Cartwrights and Hop Sing help celebrate the birthday of Chinese immigrant Jimmy Chang, but the celebration devolves into violence when a racist mayor tries to frame Jimmy for murder.
• The Spanish Grant: The Cartwrights fight forfeiture of a large swath of the Ponderosa under the Spanish Land Grant, but Adam — suspecting there may be a way to avoid legal action — decides to infiltrate a family who is laying claim to the vast spread.
• Blood On the Land: Sheepherder Everett Sloane is trespassing on Ponderosa land with his sheep herds, hoping to fatten his animals. Ben and Adam disagree on how to foil Sloane and make him leave.
• Desert Justice: All is not as it seems when a thug of a U.S. marshal arrives at the Ponderosa, assaults a ranch hand and takes him into custody as a murder suspect. Concerned at the marshal's strongarm tactics, Adam and Hoss offer to travel to make sure the ranch hand arrives alive ... and in the process learn some things about both the marshal and their friend.
• The Stranger: A vengeful police inspector from New Orleans is convinced Ben is guilty of a murder in Louisiana.
• Escape To the Ponderosa: The Cartwrights get mixed up with three Army deserters and the Army captain who wants Ben to help pursue them.
• The Avenger: Hoss and Joe frantically search out witnesses in a trial where Ben and Adam were unjustly convicted for murder and sentenced to hang. A drifter offers to help the younger two Cartwrights, but they all must fight bureaucracy, three drifters who were involved in the lynching of an innocent man years earleir, and a rival rancher who wants Ben dead.
• The Last Trophy: The Dunsfords, British royals and friends of the Cartwrights, stay at the Ponderosa. Adam finds himself fighting off a lovestruck Lady Dunsford, who thinks the eldest, handsomest Cartwright is braver than her "coward" of a husband.
• San Francisco: The Cartwrights are shanghaied in San Francisco on a cattle-purchasing trip,
• Bitter Water: A neighbor of the Cartwrights wants to sell his land to a strip miner who plans to destroy the Ponderosa by polluting its water.
• Feet Of Clay: Hoss takes young Billy Allen under his wing after the death of his mother, knowing his outlaw (and abusive) father is soon set to be released from prison and will be coming to reclaim custody.
• Dark Star: Joe deals with prejudice when he falls in love with a woman who is a gypsy.
• Death At Dawn: A criminal gang terrorizes Virginia City and kill a prominent businessman for refusing to give in to a Protection Racket. When Ben tries to bring the man responsible to justice, he is taken prisoner by the gang's leader.

Season Two (1960-61)

• Showdown
• The Mission
• Badge Without Honor
• The Mill
• The Hopefuls
• Denver McKee
• Day Of Reckoning
• The Abduction
• Breed Of Violence
• The Last Viking
• The Trail Gang
• The Savage
• Silent Thunder
• The Ape
• Blood Line
• The Courtship
• The Spitfire
• The Bride
• Bank Run
• The Fugitive
• Vengeance
• Tax Collector
• The Rescue
• The Dark Gate
• The Duke
• Cutthroat Junction
• The Gift
• The Rival
• The Infernal Machine
• The Thunderhead Swindle
• The Secret
• The Dream Riders
• Elizabeth, My Love
• Sam Hill

Season Three (1961-62)

• The Smiler
• Springtime
• The Honor of Cochise
• The Lonely House
• The Burma Rarity
• Broken Ballad
• The Many Faces of Gideon Finch
• The Friendship
• The Countess
• The Horse Breaker
• Day Of the Dragon
• The Frenchman
• The Tin Badge
• Gabrielle
• Land Grab
• The Tall Stranger
• The Lady From Baltimore
• The Ride
• The Storm
• The Auld Sod
• Gift Of Water
• The Jackknife
• The Guilty
• The Wooing Of Abigail Jones
• The Lawmaker
• Look To the Stars
• The Gamble
• The Crucible
• Inger, My Love
• Blessed Are They
• The Dowry
• The Long Night
• The Mountain Girl
• The Miracle Maker

Season Four (1962-63)

• The First Born
• The Quest
• The Artist
• Hot Day For a Hanging
• The Deserter
• The Way Station
• The War Comes to Washoe
• Knight Errant
• The Beginning
• The Deadly Ones
• Gallagher's Sons
• The Decision
• The Good Samaritan
• The Jury
• The Colonel
• Song In the Dark
• Elegy For a Hangman
• Half a Rouge
• The Last Haircut
• Marie, My Love
• The Hayburner
• The Actress
• A Stranger Passed This Way
• The Way Of Aaron
• A Woman Lost
• Any Friend of Walter's
• Mirror Of a Man
• My Brother's Keeper
• Five Into the Wind
• The Saga Of Whizzer McGee
• Thunder Man
• Rich Man, Poor Man
• The Boss
• Little Man - ten Feet Tall

Season Five (1963-64)

• She Walks In Beauty
• A Passion for Justice
• Rain From Heaven
• Twilight Town
• A Toy Soldier
• A Question of Strength
• Calamity Over Comstock
• Journey Remembered
• The Quality of Mercy
• The Waiting Game
• The Legacy
• Hoss and the Leprechauns
• The Prime Of Life
• The Lila Conrad Story
• Ponderosa Matador
• My Son, My Son
• Alias Joe Cartwright
• The Gentleman From New Orleans
• The Cheating Game
• Bullet For a Bride
• King Of the Mountain
• Love Me Not
• The Pure Truth
• No Less a Man
• Return To Honor
• The Saga Of Muley Jones
• The Roper
• A Pink Cloud Comes From Old Cathay
• The Companeros
• Enter Thomas Bowers
• The Dark Past
• The Pressure Game
• Triangle
• Walter and the Outlaws

Season Six (1964-65)

• Invention Of a Gunfighter
• The Hostage
• The Wild One
• Thanks For Everything, Friend
• Logan's Treasure
• Scapegoat
• A Dime's Worth Of Glory
• Square Deal Sam
• Between Heaven and Earth
• Old Shelba
• A Man To Admire
• The Underdog
• A Knight To Remember
• The Saga Of Squaw Charlie
• The Flapjack Contest
• The Far, Far Better Thing
• Woman Of Fire
• The Ballerina
• The Flannel-Mouth Gun
• Ponderosa Birdman
• The Search
• The Deadliest Game
• Once a Doctor
• Right Is the Fourth R
• Hound Dog
• The Trap
• Dead and Gone
• A Good Night's Rest
• To Own the World
• Lorthario Larkin
• The Return
• The Jonah
• The Spotlight
• Patchwork Man

Season Seven (1965-66)

• The Debt
• The Dilemma
• The Brass Box
• The Other Son
• The Lonely Runner
• Devil On Her Shoulder
• Found Child
• The Meredith Smith
• Mighty Is the Word
• The Strange One
• The Reluctant Rebel
• Five Sundowns To Sunup
• A Natural Wizard
• All Ye Saints
• The Dublin Lad
• To Kill a Buffalo
• Ride the Wind
• Destiny's Child
• Peace Officer
• The Code
• Three Brides For Hoss
• The Emporer Norton
• Her Brother's Keeper
• The Trouble With Jamie
• Shining In Spain
• The Genius
• The Unwritten Commandment
• Big Shadow On the Land
• The Fighters
• Home From the Sea
• The Last Mission
• A Dollar's Worth Of Trouble

Season Eight (1966-67)

• Something Hurt, Something Wild
• A Horse Of a Different Hue
• A Time To Step Down
• The Pursued
• To Bloom For Thee
• Credit For a Kill
• Four Sisters From Boston
• Old Charlie
• Ballad Of the Ponderosa
• The Oah
• A Real Nice, Friendly Little Town
• The Bridegroom
• Tommy
• A Christmas Story
• Ponderosa Explosion
• Justice
• A Bride For Buford
• Black Friday
• The Unseen Wound
• Journey Into Terror
• Amigo
• A Woman In the House
• Judgement At Red Creek
• Joe Cartwright, Detective
• Dark Enough To See the Stars
• The Deed and the Dilemman
• The Prince
• A Man Without Land
• Napoleon's Children
• The Wormwood Cup
• Clarisa
• Maestro Hoss
• The Greedy Ones

Season Nine (1967-68)

• Second Chance
• Sense Of Duty
• The Conquistadors
• Judgement At Olympus
• Night Of Reckoning
• False Witness
• The Gentle Ones
• Desperate Passage
• The Sure Thing
• Showdown At Tahoe
• Six Black Horses
• Check Rein
• Justice Deferred
• The Gold Detector
• The Trackers
• A Girl Named George
• The Thirteenth Man
• The Burning Sky
• The Price Of Salt
• Blood Tie
• The Crime Of Johnny Mule
• The Late Ben Cartwright
• Star Crossed
• Trouble Town
• Commitment At Angelus
• A Dream To Dream
• In Defense Of Honor
• To Die In Darkness
• The Bottle Fighter
• The Arrival Of Eddie
• The Stronghold
• Pride Of A Man
• A Severe Case Of Matrimony
• Stage Door Johnnies

Season Ten (1968-69)

• Different Pines, Same Wind
• Child
• Salute To Yesterday
• The Real People Of Muddy Creek
• The Passing Of a King
• The Last Vote
• Catch As Catch Can
• Little Girl Lost
• The Survivors
• The Sound Of Drums
• Queen High
• Yonder Man
• Mark Of Guilt
• A World Full Of Cannibals
• Sweet Annie Laurie
• My Friend, My Enemy
• Mrs. Wharton and the Lesser Breeds
• Erin
• Company Of Forgotten Men
• The Clarion
• The Lady and the Mountain Lion
• Five Candles
• The Wish
• The Deserter
• Emily
• The Running Man
• The Unwanted
• Speak No Evil
• The Fence
• A Ride In the Sun

Season Eleven (1969-70)

• Another Windmill To Go
• The Witness
• The Silence At Stillwater
• A Lawman's Lot Is Not a Happy One
• Anatomy Of a Lynching
• To Stop a War
• The Medal
• The Stalker
• Meena
• A Darker Shadow
• Dead Wrong
• Old Friends
• Abner Willoughby's Return
• It's a Small World
• Danger Road
• The Big Jackpot
• The Trouble With Amy
• The Lady and the Mark
• Is There Any Man Here
• The Law and Billy Burgess
• The Long Way To Ogden
• Return Engagement
• The Gold Mine
• Decision At Los Robles
• Caution: Easter Bunny Crossing
• The Horse Traders
• What Are Pardners For
• A Matter Of Circumstance

Season Twelve (1970-71)

• The Night Virginia City Died
• A Matter Of Faith
• The Weary Willies
• The Wagon
• The Power Of Life and Death
• Gideon the Good
• The Trouble With Trouble
• Thornton's Account
• The Love Child
• El Jefe
• The Luck Of Pepper Shannon
• The Imposters
• Honest John
• For a Young Lady
• A Single Pilgrim
• The Gold-Plated Rifle
• Top Hand
• A Deck Of Aces
• The Desperado
• The Reluctant American
• Shadow Of a Hero
• The Silent Killer
• Terror At 2:00
• The Stillness Within
• A Time To Die
• Winter Kill
• Kingdom Of Fear
• An Earthquake Called Callahan

Season Thirteen (1971-72)

• The Grand Swing
• Fallen Woman
• Bushwhacked
• Rock-a-Bye, Hoss
• The Prisoners
• Cassie
• Don't Cry, My Son
• Face Of Fear
• Blind Hunch
• The Iron Butterfly
• The Rattlesnake Brigade
• Easy Come, Easy Go
• A Home For Jamie
• Warbonnet
• A Lonely Man
• Second Sight
• The Saddle Stiff
• Frenzy
• Customs Of the Country
• Shanklin
• Search In Limbo
• He Was Only Seven
• The Younger Brothers' Younger Brother
• A Place To Hide
• A Visit To Upright
• One Ace Too Many

Season Fourteen (1972-73)

• Forever
• Heritage Of Anger
• The Initiation
• Riot!
• New Man
• Ambush At Rio Lobo
• The 26th Grave
• Stallion
• The Hidden Enemy
• The Sound Of Sadness
• The Bucket Dog
• First Love
• The Witness
• The Marriage Of Theodora Duffy
• The Hunter