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The Best Episodes of Bonanza Season 1

Every episode of Bonanza Season 1 ranked from best to worst. Discover the Best Episodes of Bonanza Season 1!

Binge this in 20h 25m•Peaking at 7.8/10

The High-Sierra adventures of Ben Cartwright and his sons as they run and defend their ranch while helping the surrounding community.

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Episode Rankings

  1. #1 Fan Favorite
    Bonanza Season 1 Episode 1 - A Rose for Lotta
    7.1/10(363 votes)

    #1 - A Rose for Lotta

    S1:E1

    Lotta Crabtree is hired by mining tycoon Alpheus Troy to lure one of the Cartwrights into town and hold him for ransom in exchange for Ponderosa timber rights.

    Director:Edward Ludwig
    Writers:Fred Hamilton, David Dortort

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  2. Bonanza Season 1 Episode 2 - Death on Sun Mountain
    7.0/10(254 votes)

    #2 - Death on Sun Mountain

    S1:E2

    Greedy opportunist Mark Burdette and his accomplice Early Thorne stir up trouble between the Paiute tribe and the citizens of Virginia City. Ben discovers Burdette and Thorne are selling antelope beef to the miners and finds the price too high. He offers the miners beef at a more reasonable price. Burdette and Thorne retaliate by framing the Paiute's for attacks, by dressing as them and killing ranchers. Based on a factual accounting. Lorne Greene's first voice-over narration, and no landing constructed yet for the Ponderosa stairway.

    Director:Paul Landres
    Writer:Unknown

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  3. Bonanza Season 1 Episode 3 - The Newcomers
    7.2/10(229 votes)

    #3 - The Newcomers

    S1:E3

    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.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  4. Bonanza Season 1 Episode 4 - The Paiute War
    7.2/10(222 votes)

    #4 - The Paiute War

    S1:E4

    Trader Mike Wilson attempts to escape punishment by the Paiute Indians after mistreating two of their women, by placing the blame on Adam. A fierce war between the Paiutes and the California militia follows, and the Paiutes seize Adam as hostage. Very impressive battle scenes in the this first mini-epic of the series. This episode did all it could to stage the real thing; 50 Indians were used and 50 cavalry actors and extras were used, and the production involved three days of shooting on location. This episode encompassed both the biggest cast and most costly stunts. This episode is based on the factual accounting that occured in May and June of 1860.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  5. Bonanza Season 1 Episode 5 - Enter Mark Twain
    7.3/10(216 votes)

    #5 - Enter Mark Twain

    S1:E5

    Samuel Clemens arrives in Virginia City to write for the Territorial Enterprise at the same time a crooked politician tries to lay claim on the Ponderosa.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  6. Bonanza Season 1 Episode 6 - The Julia Bulette Story
    6.9/10(230 votes)

    #6 - The Julia Bulette Story

    S1:E6

    Little Joe is infatuated wih saloon owner Julia Bulette, whom he imagines is like his late mother. First episode to reveal backround details concerning Marie Cartwright, and inspired by the true story of a Virginia City madam. Also, the first episode to showcase Michael Landon.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  7. Bonanza Season 1 Episode 7 - The Saga of Annie O'Toole
    7.3/10(216 votes)

    #7 - The Saga of Annie O'Toole

    S1:E7

    Adam defends the mining claim of Annie O' Toole in a court presided over by Judge Ben Cartwright. Annie comes to the Washoe Diggings with a claim to a mine filed by her beau, Swede Lundberg. Swede has two claims and sold one to an acquaintance of theirs named Gregory Spain, creating confusion, that only Judge Ben Cartwright can make a ruling on.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  8. Bonanza Season 1 Episode 8 - The Phillip Diedesheimer Story
    7.5/10(200 votes)

    #8 - The Phillip Diedesheimer Story

    S1:E8

    Adam and Hoss assist a German engineer in developing the concept of "square set timbering" in the mines. Based on fact, and the first episode not to include all four Cartwrights. Hoss refers to the character, Emily, with whom he was in love with in, "The Newcomers".

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  9. Bonanza Season 1 Episode 9 - Mr. Henry Comstock
    6.7/10(204 votes)

    #9 - Mr. Henry Comstock

    S1:E9

    In a flashback, the legendary prospector arrives on the Ponderosa and participates in the founding of Virginia City. Coincidentally, guest star Jack Carson played a teller at the Comstock Bank and Trust in the 1942 film, "Gentleman Jim". This early classic was the second episode filmed.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  10. Bonanza Season 1 Episode 10 - The Magnificent Adah
    6.9/10(200 votes)

    #10 - The Magnificent Adah

    S1:E10

    Virginia City is visited by actress Adah Issacs Menken, who happens to be an old acquaintance of Ben's. Joe is badly beaten by Adah's jealous suitor, John C. Regan, who is bested in a fight with an enraged Hoss.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  11. Bonanza Season 1 Episode 11 - The Truckee Strip
    7.1/10(210 votes)

    #11 - The Truckee Strip

    S1:E11

    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.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  12. Bonanza Season 1 Episode 12 - The Hanging Posse
    7.5/10(194 votes)

    #12 - The Hanging Posse

    S1:E12

    Adam and Joe reluctantly join a group of vengeful townsmen, who are out to lynch the three men who supposedly killed Vannie Johnson. The posse is run by Paiute Scroggs and Flint Johnson, the dead woman's husband. When Adam and Joe clash with them, they both separate and try to reach the three men before the posse does. This episode's storyline is a variation of the 1943 film "The Ox-Bow Incident".

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  13. Bonanza Season 1 Episode 13 - Vendetta
    7.8/10(193 votes)

    #13 - Vendetta

    S1:E13

    In a variation of "High Noon", Ben and Hoss must face a gang of outlaws practically all alone when most of Virginia City's citizens go into hiding. The most action-filled episode since "The Paiute War".

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  14. Bonanza Season 1 Episode 14 - The Sisters
    7.0/10(175 votes)

    #14 - The Sisters

    S1:E14

    This episode begins with Adam defending the honor of Sue Ellen Terry in a duel. No one gets shot because the other man misses Adam and Adam generously shoots in the air to end the duel. Sue Ellen lives with her sister, who seems nice but turns out to be fairly evil, consumed with jealousy because she's getting older and her sister is a young beauty. When Adam drops Sue Ellen off after a date one night, half way through this episode, someone shoots her dead, and Adam becomes a suspect and is thrown in jail. When the sheriff suggests that Adam escape, he does it, but when he walks out, someone tries to shoot him. He chases after them but doesn't find them, and soon after hears Sue Ellen's sister scream. He runs up the stairs to find her dead, and of course, is then suspected of that murder as well. Of course, his family helps him during the last half hour, and it all turns out that someone we should not have suspected did all the murders, but that he actually wasn't trying to hit

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  15. Bonanza Season 1 Episode 15 - The Last Hunt
    7.1/10(180 votes)

    #15 - The Last Hunt

    S1:E15

    Hoss and Joe come across a pregnant Indian woman while hunting bighorn sheep and must deliver her baby. Despite touches of humor, including a scene in which Joe refers to a meal as "cattle fodder", the story does not have an altogether happy ending.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  16. Bonanza Season 1 Episode 16 - El Toro Grande
    6.8/10(173 votes)

    #16 - El Toro Grande

    S1:E16

    Ben sends Hoss and Joe to Monterey to purchase an expensive seed bull. The first of Blocker and Landon's many comic misadventures, although the casual use of violence, as in the rapier fight, is oddly uncharacteristic for the series. Hoss reveals his real name to be Eric for the first time.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  17. Bonanza Season 1 Episode 17 - The Outcast
    7.4/10(184 votes)

    #17 - The Outcast

    S1:E17

    Because she is related to criminals, a young woman is ostracized by everyone but the the Cartwrights. She unwisely seeks solace with an ex-con friend of Joe's, Clay Renton, and it's up to Ben to straighten everything out. First episode to have a chapter title after the cast credits.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  18. Bonanza Season 1 Episode 18 - A House Divided
    7.1/10(188 votes)

    #18 - A House Divided

    S1:E18

    As the Civil War approaches, Adam and Joe clash over which side to support. The situation is complicated by the arrival of Frederick Kyle, a Southern sympathizer. He was an old friend of Joe's mother and viewers also discover that Joe's middle name is Francis.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  19. Bonanza Season 1 Episode 19 - The Gunmen
    6.8/10(290 votes)

    #19 - The Gunmen

    S1:E19

    In the first all-out comic episode of the series, Hoss and Joe travel to Kiowa Flats, Texas, where they are mistaken for the notorious Slade Brothers, also played by Blocker and Landon.

    Director:Christian Nyby
    Writer:Unknown

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  20. Bonanza Season 1 Episode 20 - The Fear Merchants
    7.2/10(248 votes)

    #20 - The Fear Merchants

    S1:E20

    The Cartwrights encounter racial bigotry in Virginia City and end up protecting a Chinese boy from mob violence. Victor Sen Yung, in his largest role to date, speaks normally in the presence of his fellow countrymen, but reverts to broken English when with the Cartwrights.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  21. Bonanza Season 1 Episode 21 - The Spanish Grant
    7.0/10(246 votes)

    #21 - The Spanish Grant

    S1:E21

    In "The Spanish Grant", a young bargirl, Rosita Morales is pretending to be a Spanish noblewoman named Isabella Marie Inez de la Cuesta and at the end of the story, it's revealed she is really Rosita Morales, but on the other hand, is she really Rosita Morales? This little twist at the end is simply entertaining everytime it's viewed, with the viewer able to determine the young woman's real identity at the end of act four.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  22. Bonanza Season 1 Episode 22 - Blood on the Land
    7.0/10(248 votes)

    #22 - Blood on the Land

    S1:E22

    A shiftless sheepherder, Jeb Drummond, encroaches his herd of sheep on the Ponderosa and refuses to budge. He resists all of Ben's attempts to throw him off his land and finally resorts to taking Adam prisoner in exchange for ownership of the ranch.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  23. Bonanza Season 1 Episode 23 - Desert Justice
    7.4/10(271 votes)

    #23 - Desert Justice

    S1:E23

    When a tough U.S. Marshal from California arrests a Ponderosa hand, Dave Walker, for murder, Adam and Hoss go along to make sure their employee reaches Los Angeles alive. In one scene, Adam is dressed in black for the first time. In another, Hoss, upon seeing Southern California for the first time, remarks, "It sure ain't never gonna amount to much". Later, Adam makes an amusing reference to the chow Joe says he was forced to eat in "The Last Hunt".

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  24. Bonanza Season 1 Episode 24 - The Stranger
    7.4/10(218 votes)

    #24 - The Stranger

    S1:E24

    Nevada Territory is awaiting statehood, and Ben considers running for governor until he learns he is wanted for murder in New Orleans. Inspector Charles Leduque arrives and says Ben is wanted for commiting the murder 20 years earlier, and after Joe kills his bodyguard in self-defense, Inspector Leduque makes it appear the other way around. Ben has no choice but go with Leduque, to clear his name in a very suspense-filled episode. Once again, there are several references to Joe's mother, and viewers are shown Marie's grave near the shore of Lake Tahoe.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  25. Bonanza Season 1 Episode 25 - Escape to Ponderosa
    7.1/10(235 votes)

    #25 - Escape to Ponderosa

    S1:E25

    After Adam is bushwhacked by three army deserters, Ben tracks them down, and tackles the brutal Captain Bolton who is pursuing them.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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Season 1 Ratings Summary

"A Rose for Lotta" is the best rated episode of "Bonanza" season 1. It scored 7.1/10 based on 363 votes. Directed by Edward Ludwig and written by Fred Hamilton, David Dortort, it aired on 9/12/1959. This episode is rated 0.1 points higher than the second-best, "Death on Sun Mountain".