Bonanza: Season 12

1970 · 28 episodes

Season12

What Season 12 of Bonanza

The twelfth season of Bonanza keeps the Cartwrights on the Ponderosa, the ranch on the east shore of Lake Tahoe in Nevada, during the 1860s. Ben, the patriarch who has been widowed three times, makes tough decisions alongside his sons Hoss and Little Joe. The early episodes kick off with nighttime fires in Virginia City, which lead to suspicion of deputy Clem and his circle. Later, an orphan determined to follow in his father's footsteps arrives in a drought-stricken town, and a group of wandering veterans settles on the ranch despite protests from neighbors. Hoss, meanwhile, ends up in jail and must escape from a prison wagon.

28episodes

Sep 13, 1970premiered

Apr 11, 1971Latest episode

22.9 hrtotal runtime

Season 12 Episodes

12x01 The Night Virginia City Died
Sep 13, 1970 · 49 min
In the 12th season premiere, a series of destructive fires strike Virginia City, and always late at night. Is it the work of a ruthless arsonist, or someone very close to Deputy Clem?
Starring: Jon Shank, Ray Teal, Edith Atwater, Mark Tapscott
12x02 A Matter of Faith
Sep 20, 1970 · 49 min
Dusty takes in orphaned Jamie Hunter, the son of a recently-deceased rainmaker. Jamie is determined to carry on his father's tradition by using drought-stricken Virginia City to prove his talents.
Starring: Lou Frizzell, Dabbs Greer, Bruce Gordon
12x03 The Weary Willies
Sep 27, 1970 · 49 min
The Weary Willies are hippie-like former Civil War veterans who are now drifters and live off the land. Despite protests from fellow ranchers and the people of Virginia City, Ben allows the traveling band to stay at the Ponderosa. The real trouble begins when a teen-aged girl is raped and the Willies are blamed.
Starring: Victor Sen Yung, Ray Teal, Richard Thomas, Kevin Tighe
12x04 The Wagon
Oct 4, 1970 · 49 min
After being taken into custody by a sheriff who does not care if he is guilty or innocent of a crime, Hoss escapes from the prison wagon with a woman he is convinced got a raw deal.
Starring: Denver Pyle, Jonathan Goldsmith, George Murdock, Jack Gordon
12x05 The Power of Life and Death
Oct 11, 1970 · 49 min
A man called Davis has shot Colonel Clayton and escapes on horseback. Joe and Ben join the posse that sets out to find Davis. Ben and Joe volunteer to cross the desert. Ben and Joe find Davis hold up at a water hole, when Indians attack and Ben is wounded in the leg, and steal the horses. Joe unties Davis, who tends to a wounded Ben, who is suspicious that Davis will try to escape. After playing a game of cat and mouse, Ben and Davis come to an agreement: survival. Joe makes the decision to cross the desert on foot, while Ben and Davis are at the water hole, both men in need of medical help and justice.
Starring: Lou Frizzell, Rupert Crosse
12x06 Gideon, the Good
Oct 18, 1970 · 49 min
On the trail, Joe witnesses a woman kill a man, but the woman rides away before he can positively identify her. He rides into the nearest town, Black River and reports the crime to Sheriff Gideon Yates, and the two ride out to find clues. They find a handkerchief embroidered with the letter "L". Sheriff Yates knows who the killer is, his wife Lydia. She married him before she got a legal divorce from her first husband, Loomis, and killed him to silence him.Gideon tries to coax Joe out of town, but he recognizes Lydia's picture in a photographer's window. When Joe refuses to leave, Gideon tries to shoot him down in cold blood and orders a manhunt against him. Joe's only hope is a Mexican stable boy, who saw Gideon shoot him, and ultimately Joe and Gideon have one of the most memorable confrontations in the series' history.
Starring: Terry Moore, Richard Kiley, Carmen Zapata
12x07 The Trouble with Trouble
Oct 25, 1970 · 49 min
When Hoss volunteers to be Sheriff of a town called Trouble, he soon finds out that the town had correctly been named. Hoss almost manages to arrest the whole town, and captures the Clanton gang all by himself.
Starring: G.D. Spradlin, Chanin Hale, E.J. André
12x08 Thornton's Account
Nov 1, 1970 · 49 min
Ben's new horse throws him down a steep slope, injuring his back. Joe tries to round up some help, but the settlers in the valley live in fear of the devious owner and his hired help. Joe goes for help from a man named Thornton, but he is wounded by the lowlife cowboys, and has no choice but to ask them for help. A very imaginitive and visually creative dream Ben has of Joe calling out to him and falling beside him, before waking up and realizes he has just had a terrifying nightmare.
Starring: Heather Menzies, Gregory Walcott, Carl Reindel, Chick Chandler
12x09 The Love Child
Nov 8, 1970 · 49 min
A dying woman and her son are rejected by her father because she had a child out of wedlock.
Starring: Victor Sen Yung, Carol Locatell, Will Geer, Josephine Hutchinson
12x10 El Jefe
Nov 15, 1970 · 49 min
Ben and Hoss come to the rescue of Mexican farmers who are forced off their land by the greedy mine owner who runs the town of Prince River.
Starring: Victor Sen Yung, Warren Stevens, Anna Navarro, Rodolfo Acosta
12x11 The Luck of Pepper Shannon
Nov 22, 1970 · 49 min
Pepper Shannon is a dime novel hero and outlaw. Ben gives a job to Pepper Shannon on the condition the one-time outlaw stays away from Jamie, who happens to admire him.
Starring: Neville Brand, Bing Russell, Victor Sen Yung, Ray Teal
12x12 The Impostors
Dec 13, 1970 · 49 min
Hoss and Joe pretend to be stage robbers' partners in order to recover stolen Cartwright money. All goes well until the wife of one of the thieves shows up.
Starring: Strother Martin, Diane Shalet, Anthony James, Bing Russell
12x13 Honest John
Dec 20, 1970 · 49 min
Jamie forms a bond with a bum and his tame crow. Before long, Jamie suggests they repair an old wagon and leave the Ponderosa.
Starring: Jack Elam, Bing Russell, Victor Sen Yung
12x14 For a Young Lady
Dec 27, 1970 · 49 min
A girl's uncle and aunt want custody of her only because they believe she has the rights to her late grandfather's mine.
Starring: Madeleine Sherwood, Bing Russell, Victor Sen Yung, Paul Fix
12x15 A Single Pilgrim
Jan 3, 1971 · 49 min
Settlers from Virginia argue over Hoss' fate after one of them accidentally shoots him.
Starring: Beth Brickell, Jeff Corey, John Schuck
12x16 The Gold-Plated Rifle
Jan 10, 1971 · 49 min
An insecure Jamie is unsure of his place in the family, having trouble adjusting at his new school and keeps getting harassed by a bully. When he takes Ben's prized gold-plated rifle and breaks it, he runs away, sending Ben to go looking for him.
Starring: Victor Sen Yung, Ray Teal, Lou Frizzell, Jessica Myerson
12x17 Top Hand
Jan 17, 1971 · 49 min
The Cartwrights are about to start a major cattle drive with other ranchers. It has been decided that Ben's foreman will be trail boss on the drive. Weatherby, a fellow rancher who is also with Ben, has agreed to have Kelly as trail boss, until he finds out that Kelly was previously on a cattle drive with him, and fired him for drinking.Weatherby also suggests that his younger wrangler take the job as trail boss, and a conflict is started between both Ben's foreman and Weatherby's wrangler.
Starring: Ben Johnson
12x18 A Deck of Aces
Jan 31, 1971 · 49 min
Bradley Meredith, a Ben Cartwright look-a-like, causes trouble when he sells land to the railroad. Ben has already turned down the deal, but Meredith, acting as Ben, accepts the deal, which stirs up all kinds of trouble.
Starring: Linda Gaye Scott, Charles Dierkop
12x19 The Desperado
Feb 7, 1971 · 49 min
Hoss is held prisoner by a fugitive black couple who they admit hate white people and have nothing to lose by killing them.
Starring: Louis Gossett Jr., Marlene Clark
12x20 The Reluctant American
Feb 14, 1971 · 49 min
An English couple comes to Nevada to learn why a ranch owned by the British investment firm is the only company holding not showing a profit.
Starring: Jill Haworth, Sandra Ego, Bing Russell, Victor Sen Yung
12x21 Shadow of a Hero
Feb 21, 1971 · 49 min
Ben is shocked to learn the Army general he is backing as governor, advocates a policy of genocide towards all Indians.
Starring: John Randolph, Laurence Luckinbill
12x22 The Silent Killer
Feb 28, 1971 · 49 min
An epidemic of influenza hits the Ponderosa and the only person who seems sure of what to do is the wife of a doctor, whom Doc Martin says is a fraud.
Starring: Meg Foster, Louise Latham
12x23 Terror at 2:00
Mar 7, 1971 · 49 min
A racist and his henchmen steal a Gatling gun, with plans to massacre everyone - including the Cartwrights - involved in a peace treaty signing between the U.S. Army and the Paitues in Virginia City. The man's hope is that the tragedy will spark another war and eventually lead to the genocide of all Native Americans.
Starring: Bing Russell
12x24 The Stillness Within
Mar 14, 1971 · 49 min
Blinded by an explosion, Joe wallows in self-pity, and at first resists the efforts of a woman trying to teach him to live without sight, not knowing she is also blind.
12x25 A Time to Die
Mar 21, 1971 · 49 min
While visiting the Ponderosa, Ben's friend, April Christopher, is bitten by a rabid wolf. Ben and April and her daughter must come to terms with her illness as they all realize the terrible fate that awaits April.
Starring: Vera Miles, Melissa Newman, Bing Russell
12x26 Winter Kill
Mar 28, 1971 · 49 min
The foreman of a neighboring ranch shoots a special steer belonging to the Cartwrights, and his scheming boss plots to take unfair advantage of the mistake.
Starring: Clifton James, Glenn Corbett, John Pickard, Troy Melton
12x27 Kingdom of Fear
Apr 4, 1971 · 49 min
Ben, Hoss and Joe, along with Candy and a fellow rancher, are jailed on false trespassing charges by a greedy mining tycoon. The despot runs a gold mine (i.e., a thinly-veiled prison camp) and acquires slave labor by pressing phony criminal charges against the unfortunate inmates.
12x28 An Earthquake Called Callahan Season Finale
Apr 11, 1971 · 49 min
The only person who can get Dusty out of jail is a professional fighter who will not return to Virginia City, so Joe stays on the man's heels no matter where he goes.
Starring: Victor French, Sandy Duncan, Dub Taylor, Bing Russell