 Frontier Town, the saga of the Roaring West. Frontier Town, El Paso, Cheyenne, Calgary, Tombstone. Frontier Town, here is the adventurous story of the early West. The tamed and the untamed. From the Pekos to Powder River, Dodge City to Poker Flat. These are the towns they fought to live in and lived to fight for. Teaming crucibles of pioneer freedom. Frontier Town. Howdy there. This is yours truly, Chad Remington. Frontier lawyer from the little frontier town called Dothreals. Well, I guess I've probably said this before, but, well, maybe it won't hurt if I say it again. The raw bone frontier has attracted all kinds and classes of people. Rough and tough, humble and God-fearing. Somehow or other it seems that the best in folks and the worst in folks is brought out in the day-to-day battle for just raw existence out in our country. And this brings our frontier doctors, a few undertakers and a frontier lawyer, the stuff out of which a lifetime's made. I guess you've all heard that old expression, it takes fire to fight fire, but something happened to me recently which makes me want to rewrite that old adage. You see, it wasn't too long ago that my partner, the next medicine man, Cherokee O'Bannon, was with me riding up through the blue spruce and jackpines, taking a shortcut from the county seat back to our little hometown, Dothreals. Counselor, you'll pardon my saying so. You've got an expression on your face that makes you look like a squirrel. Maybe I am a squirrel. Oh? Well, I'm a bond of nuts, else I wouldn't be riding around with you. Sir, that is a vicious and underhanded canard. There's nothing nutty about me. I don't know. You've always been interested in the shell game, haven't you? And as I recall you said, your grandfather was a colonel. I guess that's right. My mother had an uncle whose name was Philbert. And he was a hard shell Baptist. The only actual difference is that real nuts get their nourishment from the soil while you get most of yours from the free lunch counter at a bar. And actually, being a man of fiery disposition, I require certain quantities of firewater to keep my... Chad, there you go again, sniffing like a squirrel. What are you wrinkling up your nose about? Unless I'm mistaken, I smell smoke. Wood smoke. Hmm. Do you believe you're right? Certainly a smell of wood smoke in the air. Whoa, boy. Whoa. Is that someone shooting at us? I don't know, but I'm sure gonna find out. Well, I'll be a sinner. Chad, do you see now where those shots came from? Yeah, I sure do, Cherokee, dear hunters. Hey, you! You fellas in there are those rifles. Hold that fire, you almost winged us. Hold up, boys! Come on, Cherokee. Might as well meet them halfway and see what this is all about. Now I see why we both smelled smoke. Over there, campfire. I wonder who the lame brains could be who'd build a campfire up here in the woods where everything is as dry as tinder. What was that you caught us? Now if you built that fire, I called you a lame brain. And if you had any brains at all, you won't say that again. I'm not gonna take time to say it again. What are you looking to do, burn out this whole valley? Now either build a trench around this fire and leave someone here to watch it or put it out. Yeah. Well, for your information, if we do dig a trench, we're gonna make it big enough to bury both of you in. If you don't beat it. I don't suppose you've got brains enough to realize it, but you're so full of hot air that if you even open your mouth, you're apt to start a forest fire. Well, just for that, I think I'll close you worse. Yeah. Now, if there's anyone else who wants to try his luck... All right then. Put those hunting rifles down and start stomping out that fire. If you're not quick about it, the smoke around this place isn't coming from a campfire, but out of the muzzle of a pair of 45s. With the woods so dry that if you rubbed two sticks together, an acre had burst into flame. When Cherokee and I got back to Dos Rios, we headed straight for the Marshal's office to tell him what we'd encountered on Mount Blanco. And I can tell you this much. I was as hot under the color as I'd ever been. Chad, you'd better calm down. After all, this is hunting season. And those men are gonna cook to eat. Well, eating is a vulgar habit. Besides, in this weather, no one should build a fire and leave it unattended, Marshal. Perhaps not. But there's nothing the Marshal can do about that. Well, I thought you issued the hunting licenses. Chad, you ought to know there's nothing in the hunting license law that says anything about building campfires. All I can do is... Hey, Chad, look who just rode up outside, Bill Crane. Crane? Well, then, that's who those hunters were. You didn't recognize, Chad. Bill Crane came in just yesterday and got six hunting licenses. Howdy, Marshal. I thought it... Well, well, this is gonna save me a heap of trouble with you here at Remington. What are you trying to do? Get the Marshal to appoint you Game Warden or something? Crane, I have no interest in how many deer you are, man slaughter. But I'm not gonna sit by while they light campfires up there which might burn out this whole country. Oh, that's all. Why a man alive, Crane? If a fire were to start on Mont Blanco, the first ranch to be burned out would be yours. Look, I know this will be a lot of trouble for both of you, but why don't you just for once try mine in your own business? This is our business, Crane. And it's yours in the business of everyone whose home is within 100 miles of here. Forest fire can be a terrible thing. That's why I came down to see the Marshal. I'm afraid if they're building their fumes to start a fire, there's nothing in the law that says we've got the right to stop them. Well, there's a law of common sense. Well, Chad, since we make the laws, why not call a meeting and see what we can do about passing a new law? Well, Cherokee, it's a blame-good idea. This is a situation that affects all the people. They all had a say so in the common defense of their homes. You'd better come to the meeting, too, Crane. Maybe you can explain to everybody just why you think you're the one man around here with the right to burn us out. Why don't you folks listen instead of yelling? That's better. I know we can't pass a law that'll do any good this season, but that's no reason why a law shouldn't be drafted and passed to protect us from now on. Man, what are we going to do now? As long as it's legal to build a fire up in the Timberland, it's your job, every last one of you, to volunteer to help guard against a conflagration should one break out. I suppose you'd like me to shut up my store just so as I could sit around some campfire and watch it. Mr. Kenny, I don't want you to do anything you don't feel you should do. But if you don't help, maybe you won't have a store left to shut. When you're fighting fire, you're fighting an enemy a thousand times stronger than... Crane, what's happened? The blasted wind shifted. And while my hunters weren't looking, the sparks spread to the Timber. Good grief. What are we going to do now? Maybe Chad was right. Chad, I know this is an awful time to apologize, but you've got to do what you're supposed to do. You may not have got to help me. If we don't stop that fire in another hour, there'll be nothing left in my ranch, but ashes. Don't worry about apologizing, Billy. If we can all get together and work like friends and neighbors, we ought to be able to put that fire out. Kenny, if you'll open up your store and get out what dynamite you have in stock, we should be able to blast a path and build a backfire. Well, you ain't got much dynamite in stock. And when this is gone, I'm not too sure I can buy anymore. For the lover, Pete will pay you for that. For the lover, Pete will pay you for the dynamite. Let's not haggle over it here. Let's get it and get up in those mountains where there's still something left worth saving. With all our good intentions, it was almost two hours before we were organized and up to where the blazers at its worst. It was bad, real bad. Mike, look! You got that dynamite burning up yet? Well, I've got six sticks here, Chad. Oh, it's great, Cherokee. Now, on a pinch, you'll really help. Chad, Chad, can't you do something? What's the matter? Look at that fire. It's right down to my stables. Philip, I'm afraid we're too late to save your place. What little dynamite we have to work with? Well, we'd be better off using it to blast out the timber east of your ranch. All right. Just because I didn't happen to agree with you this morning, you're going to take it out on me, huh? Crane, isn't it better to sacrifice your place and save a hundred families? You hypocritical... Here, give me that dynamite. You're not going to burn me out. Crane, stop acting like a fool. I tell you, I'm going to save my place. Stop it! That rascal knocked you down and ran off with the dynamite. You must be local. The wind shifts an inch. You'll never live to reach his ranch through those explosives. How can a man be that selfish? Hey, look. Look, the wind is shifting. The flames are right at it. The only is at the end of the plane. With that much dynamite blown up and wasted, that may mean the end of everything in this valley. We'll return to the second act of forest fire, our thrill-packed Frontier Town adventure in just a few moments. Oh, Frontier Town. Despite the pitiful end that Bill Crane selfishness brought him to, the shock of his death and the dwindling supply of blasting powder did seem to bring everyone closer to their senses. We soon realized it was foolhardy for all of us to stay up on the mountain fighting against flames which wouldn't be pushed back, so we divided into three groups. One to actually fight the fire, one which should rest when they came back from the front line, and the third to handle organizational and supply work in town. With danger and death lurking outside our very doors, it wasn't too hard to organize another meeting and back in those reels. Our neighbors, neighbors, will you quiet down and listen to me, please? All right. Holy now. I know how you feel, but we all can't be up there actually fighting the flames. We'd get very little accomplished if all of us were up on the mountain. However, there's a chance of beating this fire, and it lies in providing the shifts of firefighters with the tools they need to fight with and the food they need to fight on. You can have every blasted thing I got, Chad. Freight wagons, mules, feeding the teens. All right, now you're talking, Bertha, and we'll need everything you have got to haul equipment up to the mountain. Now, what's the sense of getting the women folks all along mixed up in this? I've tried to explain to all of you that this fight doesn't concern any one man or any single group of us. This is everyone's battle, man, woman, and child alike. Yeah, you're a dog gone right. I reckon I'm speaking for every woman in Dos Rios. We've all got a battle on our hands. What about the rest of us? What can we do? All right, I'll tell you. Those of us who went up originally had better get some rest. The others can start out by getting together buckets, sand, fixing pales of coffee and sandwiches, getting blankets, anything and everything that we'll need, and that'll help. How about money? I'll be glad you're right to check for 100 to help pay expenses. And I'll max that offer and give you the use of every horse in my livery stable. That's more like it, yeah. And now you're talking. All right, friends, friends, I realize that all of this should have been done at the meeting we had yesterday, but now that we've got the spirit, let's get into the fight. Let's go, Chad. I'm going into Ate Kenny's store to see about buying some more buckets of the money you and the others put up. Remington, I thought you were taking charge of fighting the fire. I am, Kenny. That's why I came in. Let's see, we... Well, we need every bucket and pad you've got in your store. Oh, no, I can't, Chad. First you cleaned me out of dynamite, and now you want buckets. Well, if that fire ever gets down in town, you won't have any business left to worry about. Yeah, Cherokee's right. Now, we intend to pay for the buckets. All we have to find out is how many you've got. Well, let me see. The last time the drummer from the wholesale hardware house was through here, he said buckets was going up. What? I reckon I'll have to get four bits of peace for him. Four bits? I guess I've got a right to charge whatever I want. And I see the price, four bits. Look, I'm not questioning your normal right to charge whatever you can get, but look, this is a disaster. You can blab all you want from him, but you're not going to spook me into losing my shirt when there are other stores in this town. If it's Patrick and Lee, you didn't wait to find out if there was enough money to pay for what they had. They sent everything from their stores up to the mountain last night. They're my buckets, and if you want them, you'll just pay my price. You'll be paid a fair price if there is ever licked. But we're taking the buckets now. Cherokee, go back into the store. Blast you, you stand right where you are. I've got something to say about this. Kenny, you better put that gun back in its holster and put it back fast. Remington, no, no, no. Now, you come any closer to me. You scared a brain, did you? Now, come on. All right. Wasted enough time already. Now, you get every shovel, pick, and bucket in the place and help Cherokee and me get them over to Bertha's Frayton office. These tools aren't going to do any of us a bit of good here in Dos Rios. Or if they are needed here, then we're just too dug on late. Now, even at the price of a neighbor's misfortune, some folks will become so ornery that all they can see is the opportunity not to serve but to feather their own nests, no matter what the cost. Well, we got the buckets and everything else we needed from the aide Kenny, and we proceeded to haul him down to the loading dock at Bertha O'Melveny's freight line, where a high-wheel freighter stood ready to carry the tools that were so necessary up to the men on the firefighting line. But like so many other people in town, Bertha's mule skinners couldn't see the forest for the trees. I'd sure like to know what's gotten through you mule skinners. With a fire like we got raging up in the mountains, how can you even dare to stop and argue about higher wages? Well, what are you talking about anyhow, Mrs. O'Melveny? Okay, here, when we hired on for these jobs and all you told us was that we were supposed to drive freight wagons, now going up in their mountains into a forest fire is taking extra risks, and if we're going to take them, you can bet your boots someone's gonna pay us. Why, you not-headed bunch of low-code idiots. You think someone's paying me to send my wagons up there? I'll say they ain't. Yeah, well, how about the money everybody chipped in at that meeting that was for fighting the fire? Now you can pay us out of that. Not just a minute, Boots. Would you rather drive those wagons up there with the supplies we need, or would you rather have the sheriff draft the lot of you and send you up there to fight the fire? Well, the sheriff's got the power to do that too. What are you talking about? You've got enough men up there right now, without us. Admitted. What good are the men if you don't see that they get the tools they need? I've got a good mind to thrash the lot of you. Oh, you have, have you? Well, maybe I can save you the trouble. Stop it, would you? Come on, cut it out, cut it out. Can't we stop fighting amongst ourselves long enough to get the one job done that has to be done? Oh, you're just wasting your breath on this bunch of saddle stiffs. A lot of them ain't worth a pot of to blow them up. All right, now let me tell you something, Boots. I'm getting sick and tired of some of the folks around here who feel this fire was started for their personal benefits. And let me tell you something else. That fire's gonna be whipped if it takes every man, woman, and... Hello? Who's that coming? Looks like Stur. Thought he was supposed to be up by the fire. Jack! Yeah? Fire's burned right down to the edge of Jack Pine Canyon. Oh, no. Half the families in the valley are cut off. We don't get more men and equipment up there. We're all burned out complete by nightfall. Oh, what happened? Did the wind shift? No, no. We just ain't got enough shovels and buckets and blankets to do any real good. Well, there you are, friends. All the time you were standing around here arguing about what you were gonna sacrifice, you didn't realize you're proud to be sacrificing your homes and stores and everything you've got. Say, see, I just heard that and you've got to do something. My whole family's pinned in there next to Jack Pine Canyon. There. Now are you convinced? Now am I gonna have to ask you again? Or are you gonna act like real men and haul everything you can lay hands to up that mountain before it's too late? The Blasters! What in the name of all get-outs come over you going in there? That fire's no place for a woman? Well, no place for a man, another. They ask me. Well, we didn't ask you. But if we had, I'm afraid it wouldn't have made any difference. Chad, what are we gonna do? This fire's getting worse every minute. I have more hurt, too. Two of them hurt, man. Yeah, I know, I know. We can't stop to worry about it now. Hey, Kenny. Kenny, you got that dynamite set yet? It's all set, Chad. We're ready to blow. All right, everybody. Now watch it, stand back now. Well, that's the last of the dynamite, isn't it, Chad? Sure is, Cherokee. If this doesn't do any good, I'm... well, I'm afraid nothing will. I bet, see, if this blast doesn't do any good into something else we can do. That's what I know of, brother. Well, at least we're doing all we can. Yeah, I guess that's right. You know, man, woman, their child and the whole valley isn't helping to fight that fire. Well, I watch it, brother. Watch out, here goes the last charge. That blast made as much a dent on that fire as a Jersey mosquito on a boulder. Why doesn't a good lord make it rain? That's the only way this fire can be stopped. Chad? Chad, I've done a lot of ordinary things in my days. Chad, my wife and my two babies are trapped behind that canyon. I know it, ain't it? Like Bertha says, only the Providence can stop it. I've been to church in many a year, but I don't mean it. I don't believe in Providence. Now, mister, this is one time you've got to believe. My blessed son who died for the sins of man have mercy on us now on this purgatory of our own making. Help us, there, brother. About the only time I've moved God's name in the ladies and the customs. Well, getting down on my knees, too. Well, I haven't prayed since I was a boy. I guess I can manage. Hey, nothing else this fire has purified our hearts. What is that? Would that possibly be thunder? It sure sounds like a storm coming up Bertha, but none of us had better stop praying. Dear God, dear God, beloved father, don't stop now. Make that rain come. Amen. He just saw the doctor coming out of the church. He says a million, the kids are going to be all right. Yes, sir, Chad. Folks around DOSRIUS can't thank you enough for all you've done. Well, Chad's down, right? He didn't do a thing. I just started something which everyone in DOSRIUS finished. For a change, Cherokee's right. If nothing else was accomplished, oh, just look at the crowd that's been to church today. First time I come to church since my old man died. And I suspect it's the first time Cherokee ever attended church. Oh, that isn't so. That's a contemptible conard. I attended church in my boyhood. What? Oh, only once? What happened? Well, in the callowness of my youth, church was a big disappointment to me. I went to be baptized, but I guess it was a mighty, impecunious congregation. Well, now, what has a poverty-stricken congregation got to do with your disappointment, Cherokee? They were so poor that when they baptized me, they couldn't afford wine. They had to douse me with a chaser, water. With an iron man like you, water is quite suitable for a religious ceremony. That way, they can always inscribe your headstone rust in peace. Frontier Town, starring Tex Chandler and featuring Wade Crosby, is a Brucell's production. Story and direction by Paul Franklin. Music written and played by Ivan Dittmar. Be sure to be with us again same time next week for another fine action-adventure story with your favorite young western star, Tex Chandler. And now, this is Bill Foreman to tell you that Frontier Town came to you from Hollywood.