Season 1
(1959)
Cast
as Ben Cartwright
as Adam Cartwright
as Hoss Cartwright
as Joe Cartwright
Episodes
A Rose for Lotta 0.0
September 12, 1959
Lotta Crabtree is hired by mining tycoon Alpheus Troy to lure one of the Cartwrights into town and hold him for ransom …
Death on Sun Mountain 8.0
September 19, 1959
Greedy opportunist Mark Burdette and his accomplice Early Thorne stir up trouble between the Paiute tribe and the citiz…
The Newcomers 0.0
September 26, 1959
John Pennington and his crew want to mine the Ponderosa land by hydraulic means. Ben is totally against this method and…
The Paiute War 0.0
October 3, 1959
Trader Mike Wilson attempts to escape punishment by the Paiute Indians after mistreating two of their women, by placing…
Enter Mark Twain 0.0
October 10, 1959
Samuel Clemens arrives in Virginia City to write for the Territorial Enterprise at the same time a crooked politician t…
The Julia Bulette Story 0.0
October 17, 1959
Little Joe is infatuated wih saloon owner Julia Bulette, whom he imagines is like his late mother. First episode to re…
The Saga of Annie O'Toole 0.0
October 24, 1959
Adam defends the mining claim of Annie O' Toole in a court presided over by Judge Ben Cartwright. Annie comes to the W…
The Phillip Diedesheimer Story 0.0
October 31, 1959
Adam and Hoss assist a German engineer in developing the concept of "square set timbering" in the mines. Based on fact…
Mr. Henry Comstock 0.0
November 7, 1959
In a flashback, the legendary prospector arrives on the Ponderosa and participates in the founding of Virginia City. C…
The Magnificent Adah 0.0
November 14, 1959
Virginia City is visited by actress Adah Issacs Menken, who happens to be an old acquaintance of Ben's. Joe is badly b…
The Truckee Strip 0.0
November 21, 1959
Luther Bishop and Ben Cartwright have had an ongoing land dispute for a number of years, over a small tract called the …
The Hanging Posse 0.0
November 28, 1959
Adam and Joe reluctantly join a group of vengeful townsmen, who are out to lynch the three men who supposedly killed Va…
Vendetta 0.0
December 5, 1959
In a variation of "High Noon", Ben and Hoss must face a gang of outlaws practically all alone when most of Virginia Cit…
The Sisters 0.0
December 12, 1959
This episode begins with Adam defending the honor of Sue Ellen Terry in a duel. No one gets shot because the other man…
The Last Hunt 0.0
December 19, 1959
Hoss and Joe come across a pregnant Indian woman while hunting bighorn sheep and must deliver her baby. Despite touche…
El Toro Grande 0.0
January 2, 1960
Ben sends Hoss and Joe to Monterey to purchase an expensive seed bull. The first of Blocker and Landon's many comic mi…
The Outcast 0.0
January 9, 1960
Because she is related to criminals, a young woman is ostracized by everyone but the the Cartwrights. She unwisely see…
A House Divided 0.0
January 16, 1960
As the Civil War approaches, Adam and Joe clash over which side to support. The situation is complicated by the arriva…
The Gunmen 0.0
January 23, 1960
In the first all-out comic episode of the series, Hoss and Joe travel to Kiowa Flats, Texas, where they are mistaken fo…
The Fear Merchants 0.0
January 30, 1960
The Cartwrights encounter racial bigotry in Virginia City and end up protecting a Chinese boy from mob violence. Victo…
The Spanish Grant 0.0
February 6, 1960
In "The Spanish Grant", a young bargirl, Rosita Morales is pretending to be a Spanish noblewoman named Isabella Marie I…
Blood on the Land 0.0
February 13, 1960
A shiftless sheepherder, Jeb Drummond, encroaches his herd of sheep on the Ponderosa and refuses to budge. He resists …
Desert Justice 0.0
February 20, 1960
When a tough U.S. Marshal from California arrests a Ponderosa hand, Dave Walker, for murder, Adam and Hoss go along to …
The Stranger 0.0
February 27, 1960
Nevada Territory is awaiting statehood, and Ben considers running for governor until he learns he is wanted for murder …
Escape to Ponderosa 0.0
March 5, 1960
After Adam is bushwhacked by three army deserters, Ben tracks them down, and tackles the brutal Captain Bolton who is p…
The Avenger 0.0
March 19, 1960
A restaurant owner whom Ben and Adam have confronted over stolen Ponderosa beef ends up dead one night. His daughter, …
The Last Trophy 0.0
March 26, 1960
Adam takes Ben's friends, Lord Marion Dunsworth and Lady Beatrice, on a hunting expedition, and they are captured by a …
San Francisco 0.0
April 2, 1960
In this comic episode, the first to take place far from the ranch, Ben, Hoss, and Joe deliver a herd to San Francisco. …
Bitter Water 0.0
April 9, 1960
Len Keith, a miner, wants to purchase some land adjacent to the Ponderosa from rancher Andy McKaren. Andy's son, Tod, …
Feet of Clay 6.0
April 16, 1960
Hoss takes Billy Allen, the young son of a convicted felon under his wing, then is forced to kill his father and Billy …
Dark Star 0.0
April 23, 1960
Joe falls in love with Tirza, an undeniably strange gypsy girl who says she is cursed and never does seem to "snap out …
Death at Dawn 0.0
April 30, 1960
Virginia City is plagued by organized crime, Sam Bryant and his gang. One of his men, Farmer Perkins, kills a storekee…