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The Best Episodes of Bonanza Season 10

Every episode of Bonanza Season 10 ranked from best to worst. Discover the Best Episodes of Bonanza Season 10!

Binge this in 20h 25m•Peaking at 8.4/10

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 10 Episode 1 - Different Pines, Same Wind
    7.8/10(117 votes)

    #1 - Different Pines, Same Wind

    S10:E1

    The 10th season opens as Joe helps a widowed mountain woman, a recluse who is suffering from an infection that has become serious, in a battle to save her land from an unscrupulous timber baron.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  2. Bonanza Season 10 Episode 2 - Child
    7.5/10(113 votes)

    #2 - Child

    S10:E2

    While Hoss is in a remote town on business, he is arrested for murder and robbery. The town's richest man has just been killed, and the townspeople are less concerned with justice, rather the old man's money. They are convinced that if they threaten Hoss, he'll break down and tell them where he hid the fortune. A few of the town's top citizens, including the mayor, form a lynch mob, but only hang Hoss "part of the way". But when cowboy Child Barnett sees the lynch mob coming, he breaks Hoss out of jail, and the two men form a friendship on the run.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  3. Bonanza Season 10 Episode 3 - Salute to Yesterday
    7.7/10(104 votes)

    #3 - Salute to Yesterday

    S10:E3

    When on a cattle drive on Ponderosa land, the Cartwrights and Candy find a dying cavalry officer on the trail. With his last breath, he asks them to go help his commanding officer, Captain Harris. Riding atop a slope, they see Captain Harris and his soldiers fighting off Mexican bandits who are trying to steal the four kegs of gold hidden in the Army ambulance. The Cartwrights and Candy cut right between the soldiers and the Mexican bandits, in a spectacular chase through a little valley and wind up at a high and rocky outcrop, taking cover and assisting the soldiers.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  4. Bonanza Season 10 Episode 4 - The Real People of Muddy Creek
    7.6/10(124 votes)

    #4 - The Real People of Muddy Creek

    S10:E4

    Ben is in charge of a vicious prisoner and gets virtually no help from the cowardly citizens of the town where he is holding him from the law.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  5. Bonanza Season 10 Episode 5 - The Passing of a King
    7.9/10(109 votes)

    #5 - The Passing of a King

    S10:E5

    The son of a rancher to whom the Cartwrights are selling a prize bull is trying to get his father ruled mentally incompetant, and will let no one stand in his way.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  6. Bonanza Season 10 Episode 6 - The Last Vote
    7.3/10(107 votes)

    #6 - The Last Vote

    S10:E6

    Hoss and Joe's bickering leads them into taking opposite sides in the Virginia City mayoral race. Their zealous actions leads into dividing Virginia City's citizens into 2 factions that causes nothing but arguments, fights and havoc in town.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  7. Bonanza Season 10 Episode 7 - Catch as Catch Can
    7.4/10(112 votes)

    #7 - Catch as Catch Can

    S10:E7

    The residents of Tin Bucket claim the Cartwrights and Candy are dealing in stolen cattle hides. With most of the town accusing Joe, Hoss and Candy of various crimes, it is Ben who faces the most serious trouble when he determines who is actually responsible for the hide thefts.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  8. Bonanza Season 10 Episode 8 - Little Girl Lost
    7.3/10(115 votes)

    #8 - Little Girl Lost

    S10:E8

    A bratty 10-year-old girl named Samantha, whose mother is Ben's cousin and is a third cousin of Hoss and Little Joe, comes to the Ponderosa. While she proves to be a handful, Ben (who tracks down the girl's mother) really has his hands full when her grandfather comes to the Ponderosa demanding custody.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  9. Bonanza Season 10 Episode 9 - The Survivors
    7.5/10(102 votes)

    #9 - The Survivors

    S10:E9

    A white woman abducted years before by the Paiutes is reunited with her husband, who is less than pleased to learn she has given birth to an Indian baby.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  10. Bonanza Season 10 Episode 10 - The Sound of Drums
    6.4/10(112 votes)

    #10 - The Sound of Drums

    S10:E10

    In the third and final installment of the Rossi family, Georgio Rossi doesn't understand why he cannot allow Indians who have left the reservation to live on his land.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  11. Bonanza Season 10 Episode 11 - Queen High
    7.0/10(98 votes)

    #11 - Queen High

    S10:E11

    Joe and Candy win a stamping mill in a poker game, but the fact of them not knowing how to run it, is the least of their worries.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  12. Bonanza Season 10 Episode 12 - Yonder Man
    7.2/10(110 votes)

    #12 - Yonder Man

    S10:E12

    An army scout Ben once knew comes to the Ponderosa and asks Ben to stake a cattle ranch in Mira Flores, Mexico.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  13. Bonanza Season 10 Episode 13 - Mark of Guilt
    8.3/10(125 votes)

    #13 - Mark of Guilt

    S10:E13

    Hop Sing tells Hoss and Candy they can use the ancient Chinese art of fingerprinting to prove Joe is innocent of murder.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  14. Bonanza Season 10 Episode 14 - A World Full of Cannibals
    7.4/10(94 votes)

    #14 - A World Full of Cannibals

    S10:E14

    Ben agrees to hide a government witness in a land fraud case at the Ponderosa as part of the witness protection program. However, the witness - who along with eight men committed various crimes in connection with the case - is in constant danger, as his co-defendants ruthlessly track him down in an attempt to seal his silence.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  15. Bonanza Season 10 Episode 15 - Sweet Annie Laurie
    7.2/10(110 votes)

    #15 - Sweet Annie Laurie

    S10:E15

    Hoss offers to help Annie Laurie, a beautiful young woman who is running away from her abusive husband, a career criminal who is determined to keep his wife under his control and travel with her throughout the southwest, any which way he can.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  16. Bonanza Season 10 Episode 16 - My Friend, My Enemy
    8.1/10(114 votes)

    #16 - My Friend, My Enemy

    S10:E16

    Only the testimony of an Indian wanted for horse theft can clear Candy of murder.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  17. Bonanza Season 10 Episode 17 - Mrs. Wharton and the Lesser Breeds
    7.7/10(114 votes)

    #17 - Mrs. Wharton and the Lesser Breeds

    S10:E17

    Candy sets out to help a feisty and elderly British woman recover the jewels stolen from her in a stage holdup.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  18. Bonanza Season 10 Episode 18 - Erin
    7.5/10(120 votes)

    #18 - Erin

    S10:E18

    A neighbor of the Cartwrights threatens Hoss' fiancé, Erin - a beautiful young woman who has been raised by Indians since her childhood - when Ben allows the Paiutes to camp on Ponderosa land.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  19. Bonanza Season 10 Episode 19 - Company of Forgotten Men
    7.5/10(98 votes)

    #19 - Company of Forgotten Men

    S10:E19

    A retired Army sergeant, bitter that he never received his pension from the government, kidnaps one-time friend Candy and forces him to go along with a daring plan to blow up the U.S. mint in Carson City and hold the gold and silver for ransom.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  20. Bonanza Season 10 Episode 20 - The Clarion
    7.7/10(108 votes)

    #20 - The Clarion

    S10:E20

    Ben's friend is struggling to keep her newspaper going in the face of harrassment by the town boss of Gunlock, so without telling her, Ben buys the business.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  21. Bonanza Season 10 Episode 21 - The Lady and the Mountain Lion
    6.9/10(112 votes)

    #21 - The Lady and the Mountain Lion

    S10:E21

    A shady magician, with his twin daughters, comes to Virginia City and there is a lot of confusion with the daughters of the magician, twin confusion!

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Larry Markes

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  22. Bonanza Season 10 Episode 22 - Five Candles
    7.9/10(102 votes)

    #22 - Five Candles

    S10:E22

    The floor of the Virginia City courthouse collapses, trapping Ben in the basement with three other people, one of whom may or may not be guilty of murder.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  23. Bonanza Season 10 Episode 23 - The Wish
    8.4/10(137 votes)

    #23 - The Wish

    S10:E23

    Hoss spends his two-month vacation helping a black family get their farm in shape, and dealing with racism in the neighboring town.

    Director:Michael Landon
    Writer:Michael Landon

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  24. Bonanza Season 10 Episode 24 - The Deserter
    7.8/10(104 votes)

    #24 - The Deserter

    S10:E24

    Candy comes upon a soldier who is running from charges of desertion, and with Joe's help they foil a plan to sell rapid-fire rifles to the Indians.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  25. Bonanza Season 10 Episode 25 - Emily
    7.0/10(105 votes)

    #25 - Emily

    S10:E25

    Joe is shocked to see his ex-fiancee, Emily Anderson, in Virginia City. He had met her in Monterey five years earlier, and they had planned to get married. But her strict father thought Joe was too wild, and he burned all of Joe's letters before Emily saw them. Emily and Joe are still in love with each other, but Emily conveniently forgets to tell Joe that she is now Emily McPhail, the wife of Deputy Marshal Wade McPhail. Wade is on assignment with Marshal Calhoun to help guard a $90,000 currency shipment. Emily tells Wade they have to leave Virginia City immediately, since Joe's presence might interfere with their marriage, but he refuses to leave. He finds Joe and Emily embracing and engages with Joe in a savage fight, almost killing him at gunpoint. That is the first Joe hears of Emily's marriage. That is by no means the end of her lies, which eventually get Joe shot and nearly framed for murder.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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Season 10 Ratings Summary

"Different Pines, Same Wind" is the best rated episode of "Bonanza" season 10. It scored 7.8/10 based on 117 votes. Directed by Unknown and written by Unknown, it aired on 9/15/1968. This episode is rated 0.3 points higher than the second-best, "Child".