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The Cartwrights have to protect their land from ruthless mine owners who want the Ponderosa for its timber. They enlist the aid of actress Lotta Crabtree to carry out their plans but she soon finds out that she gets more than she bargained for.

Antelopes are being slaughtered which violates the Cartwright's agreement with the Paiutes. To stop the Antelope killings , Ben offers to sell beef to the miners at reasonable prices. When innocent miners are killed bringing their beef in from the Ponderosa, the deaths are wrongly blamed on the Paiutes, threatening to set off an Indian war.

John Pennington and his crew want to mine the Ponderosa land by hydraulic means. Ben is totally against this method and evicts them in short order. Hoss is given the task of telling Pennington's men to leave, but soon has a moral dilemma on his hands when he meets Pennington's beautiful sister, Emily. He soon discovers a heartbreaking secret...she's terminally ill; but their relationship soon leads to plenty of trouble for the Cartwrights.

How do you defer responsibility for sexually assaulting someone? If you're an underhanded trader named Mike Wilson, you simply place the blame on Adam Cartwright, that's how. Mr. Wilson decides to have fun by assaulting two Paiute maidens and tells the Indian chief that Adam did the dastardly deed. Appalled, the Paiutes take the eldest Cartwright hostage, and before he has a chance to defend his innocence, an all-out war breaks out between the Native American tribe and the California militia.

Sam Clemens (Mark Twain) arrives in Virginia City and takes up a job as a reporter at the Territorial Enterprise. In order to sell newspapers, Clemens creates a fantastic story about a monster roaming the Ponderosa. The story angers the Cartwrights and they set out to get an extraction from Clemens. However, both the Cartwrights and Sam soon discover that they will have to work as a team in order to stop a crooked politician and a corrupt businessman.

Joe falls for Julia Bulette much to the chagrin of his father and Jean Millain. Millain believes that Julia is his and his alone, making the Cartwrights even more worried about Joe. However, things come to a head when a fever breaks out in Virginia City.

Annie O'Toole and her father head out to the Washoe Diggings after her boyfriend, Swede Lundberg, returns with the deeds to two mines. Annie takes one of the deeds in return for the grub stake she gave Swede. Upon her arrival in Nevada, her father dies and she meets up with the Cartwrights. Against Adam's advice (and with his help), Annie decides to open up a restaurant to supply meals to the hungry miners. Things seem to be going well until Swede shows up with another man who claims that Annie's mine is his.

Adam and Hoss meet Philip Diedesheimer, a Dutch immigrant who is trying to convince the silver mine owners in Virginia City that his square set mine system works. The owner of one mine is determined to see that Deidesheimer's idea is not accepted. However, when a friend of Adam gets killed in a mine collapse, the Cartwright boys set about making sure that Deidesheimer is given the chance he deserves.

The Cartwrights meet a miner, who has been swindled by Henry T.P. Comstock. They then tell the story of how they meet Comstock, how silver was discovered and how Virginia City got its name.

Famous actress, Adah Isaacs Menken, pays a visit to Virginia City. She is an old friend of Ben's and the two begin to renew their friendship much to the chagrin of Adam, Hoss and Joe. Ben's sons believe that Adah has plans to become the next Mrs. Ben Cartwright and so they set out to stop her. However, Menken's boyfriend, John Regan, a professional fighter, has plans of his own for the beautiful actress.

Luther Bishop and Ben Cartwright have had an ongoing land dispute for a number of years, over a small tract called the Truckee Strip. One of Bishop's employee's has a grudge against the Cartwrights and wants to stir up the feud again, while also harboring designs on Bishop's pretty daughter, Amy. Joe meets and falls in love with Amy, in spite of the family differences and the two want to marry. Just when it looks like the feud will end with the union of the two young people, Bishop's man attacks Amy and Joe must come to the rescue.

The episode starts out with three men on the run stopping at a cabin, where a woman is home alone. While two of the men who didn't want any trouble are watering horses, the third man attempts to rape the woman in the house. He ends up shooting and killing her and the three men run. A posse is organized in town, led by an old tracker who incites the men for a hanging. He leads the posse out with no intention of bringing the men back alive, but Adam and Joe ride along to make sure they do.

While in the bank arranging for a letter of credit, Ben and Hoss encounter the bank robbing Morgan gang. Both Ben and one of Morgan's men get shot. When Billy Morgan dies, his brothers promise to avenge his death by going after Ben. In town, all of Ben's friends are too afraid to help. Hoss and the drunk district attorney Pryor are the only ones willing to defend the town against the Morgans.

Adam is seeing a young woman, Sue-Ellen Terry. He seems to be serious about her until after a sudden turn of events, he finds himself defending a murder charge.

Hoss and Joe are out on a hunting trip when they come across a pregnant Indian woman. Hoss and Joe look after the woman and end up delivering her baby. They decide to take her back to the ranch house but they soon find out that someone is following them.

Ben sends Hoss and Little Joe down to Mexico to purchase the bull known as El Toro Grande. While down there, Joe gets involved with the beautiful daughter of El Toro's owner and Hoss finds out that the son of one of the ranch hands has formed a very deep attachment to the bull.

A young woman's life is ruined by her relation to criminals. Only the Cartwrights treat her differently, but she turns to Clay Renton, an ex-con, and Ben must help her out of a bad situation.

Frederick Kyle arrives in Virginia City on a mission for the Confederacy. Kyle is also looking for Joe Cartwright. After they meet, Joe starts warming to the idea of helping Kyle out, much to the disappointment of his family. Joe's decision to side with Kyle affects Adam the most and soon the two are at odds. Ben soon realizes that it is up to him to bring his family back together again.

Joe and Hoss arrive in the town of Keowa Flats, Texas. They are immediately mistaken for two gunslinging brothers - the Slades. Joe and Hoss soon find themselves involved in a feud. They soon realize that they are the only ones who are in a position to stop the fighting before it gets any worse.

The Cartwrights are in Virginia City to celebrate the birthday of Jimmy Chang. They soon find out, much to their distaste, that there are a number of people who don't like the Chinese. However, when Jimmy is accused of murdering the daughter of his employer, the Cartwrights have to battle a racist lawyer up for mayoral election in order to prove Jimmy innocent.

When the Cartwrights find out that some of the Ponderosa may be forfeited under the Spanish Land Grant, they decide to take legal action in order to stop it. Adam, however, takes another plan of action, which involves getting to know the beautiful heiress who is claiming the land under the grant.

A sheepherder and his men try to drive their sheep across the Ponderosa. Ben and Adam disagree about how to stop them. Ben wants the Cartwrights to handle their own matters, Adam wants to let the law handle the situation. After Adam is taken hostage, Ben starts to see things Adam's way.

U.S. Marshal Emmett Dowd arrives at the Ponderosa to take back ranch hand Dave Walker to face trial in Los Angeles. Concerned by the way Dowd treats Walker and believing the man to be innocent, Adam and Hoss decide to go along to make sure that Walker reaches Los Angeles alive.

Ben's past catches up with him, when an inspector from New Orleans arrives in Virginia City. It seems Ben is wanted in New Orleans for murder and must go back to face trial. This puts an end to Ben's run to become governor. Joe decides that it's up to him to set the inspector straight and to make sure that his father doesn't go back to New Orleans.

Adam is bushwhacked by three men, who turn out to have deserted from the army. When Ben pursues them, he is hindered by a Captain Bolton, who is also after the three men.

Ben and Adam are in the Virginia City jail waiting to be hanged. Last minute bids by Joe and Hoss to get them out are hindered by another rancher who wants to see Ben dead. A stranger arrives in town looking for his father's murderer, but is he a help or a hinderance in Joe and Hoss's quest to set their father and brother free?

Lord and Lady Dunsford arrive at the Ponderosa to visit their old friend Ben. Adam finds himself the object of Lady Dunsford's attentions when she deems him to be a braver man than her husband. Adam then takes the couple on a hunting trip, where Lord Dunsford freezes while attempting to shoot a cougar. The hunting party is then captured by a band of renegades and Lady Dunsford begins to wonder if her husband will ever be the man he used to be.

In this episode Ben, Hoss, Joe, and Hop-Sing go to San Francisco to sell their cattle, get shanghai'd, and break up the racket with the help of some of Hop-Sing's many cousins.

The Cartwrights find themselves involved in a fight over water rights, when the son of one of their neighbours is influenced by the father of his fiancee. Lem Keith wants to destroy the Ponderosa and will stop at nothing including infecting Ponderosa cattle with his own diseased cattle. This leads the Cartwrights to take measures that they never thought they would use.

The Cartwrights take young Billy Allen to the Ponderosa, following the death of his mother. The sheriff needs someone to care for Billy until his uncle comes to take custody. Bitter and with a major league bad attitude, Hoss seems to be the only one that is able to penetrate the boy's hostility. When Billy finally starts to open up and trust Hoss, his father Vance breaks out of prison and comes for the boy. Hoss has come to love Billy as a son and does what is necessary to protect him.

Joe is about to shoot what he thinks is a wolf and discovers it is a woman. The woman turns out to be a gypsy, who her people think is possessed by the devil. Joe falls in love and she is taken in by the Cartwrights, after her family shuns her. Joe is determined to find out what is really going on behind the strange happenings that are blamed on the woman.