Original subtitles

♪ [ trumpet ]

Broken Bow, Oklahoma.

Weeping Water, Nebraska.

Winner, South Dakota.

Protection, Kansas.

Snowflake, Arizona.

Roundup, Montana.

Wink, Texas.

What's in a name?

Very often a story of the West,

like a little place in Idaho that became...

[ people shouting, gunfire ]

Don't just shoot. Aim!

Who's got time to aim?

[ people scream ]

[ all shouting ]

[ yells ]

They're getting ready for a full charge.

It's the timbermen.

[ shouts ]

They must've heard our gunfire.

Thank the Lord for that.

Keep them running!

Hey, Jimboy, give me a hand.

I got to see if Ginny's all right.

We could've routed out those redskins

if we'd have rifles.

Guns, rifles. Axel, I'm a businessman,

not a soldier.

You boys showed up just in time.

Those Indians been only having fun this time,

but we might be too late the next time,

especially if we're cutting timber in the high country.

We'll not be here for a next time.

That's not up to you, Hall.

We do everything by vote, remember?

Mr. Hall has the right notion.

This tent city's sure no place to settle.

We like it here, Mr. Green.

I still say you'd be better off

in a real town,

like Lewiston or Cottonwood.

Mr. Green is right.

I say we pack up and move on.

MAN: So do I. MAN #2: I'm with you, Mr. Hall.

All right, all right. If we're going to have a discussion of whether

we stay or we're going to move on,

let's do it proper with a meeting.

We'll have it at my place.

Naturally.

What do you think, Abel?

I think those Nez Perce renegades

just might have scared them enough.

I think we'll be losing our nesters

in a little bit.

It'll take me hours to clean up around here.

Those Indians kicked up a mountain of dust

with all that ruckus.

Ruckus? Ginny, you could have got yourself killed.

I'm all right, Jim. I've told you.

But the baby...

He's all right, too.

Will you quit worrying about us?

Honey, are you sure?

Yes, I'm sure.

Hey, you said "he's all right."

How do you know it's going to be a "he"?

[ chuckles ]

Because he has a kick like a young mule.

Oh, here. You let me do that.

Go rest a spell. Come on now.

There we go.

MAN: Hey, Jim?

I'm--

I'm sorry.

Fex, don't you ever knock?

[ chuckles ] Well, how can you knock on canvas?

What is it, Mr. Shadroy?

The fellas are having a meeting over at Kaline's store,

and I was sent here to fetch Jim.

All right. I'll be along directly.

Mrs. Martin.

You want anything?

It's funny, but...

I got a hankering for some rock candy.

Oh, Ginny...

I'd buy you a mountain of candy

if it'd just wipe that pain out of your eyes.

It's kind of a sweet pain.

[ people murmuring ]

Now, look--

Excuse me, Axel.

Fex.

Let's not go off half-cocked.

This decision might just be

the most important decision we'll ever make.

It may be our last if we decide to stay.

[ scoffs ] I don't understand you, Hall.

Why did you come with us in the first place?

Same as you, all of us.

We figured the West was going to grow.

We wanted to grow with it.

Well, when you grow, you got to crawl first.

Not if you've got an arrow stuck through your chest.

[ men agree ]

We've seen a lot of places,

we've come a long way together,

and we like it here,

the climate, the altitude, that sharp, clean air.

I say we stay.

Sure, you want to stay. You put up this building.

You brought in supplies from Lewiston.

You've got a stake here.

We've all got a stake here, not just me.

The rest of you could build homes and stores.

We could build a town together.

Yeah, and have the redskins burn it down.

[ men agree ]

We were caught unprepared today. What we need is rifles.

You saw how those Indians turned tail

when they heard the rifles.

We were lucky today.

The timbermen arrived just in time.

What are your feelings on it, Jim?

Well, my wife is due to have our firstborn

at any minute now.

I want to get her over to Lewiston,

where there's a doctor, where it's safe.

Jim, she's had good care here, you know that.

And Mrs. Tumey has brought

dozens of children into the world.

She's as good as any doctor in Lewiston.

Oh, woods ain't no fit place to birth a baby.

I got to side with Jim here.

The fact is, I've been thinking

about building me a little log cabin

here up on the bluffs.

I like it here.

And do what?

It takes money to buy clothes and food.

What do we do here?

The same thing you would do in any town.

Well, I've already made up my mind...

to leave.

[ men murmuring ]

Listen to me, all of you!

If you leave and go to Lewiston,

or some other town,

there's people there before you.

It's their town. This is ours, or it could be.

I say we go home and sleep on it and vote on it tomorrow.

Tomorrow, the redskins may be back.

There you are. They'll never let us alone.

Yes, we need rifles.

I'm going to have somebody ride into Lewiston

and pick up some rifles.

I reckon I got the fastest team in these parts.

I could take a buckboard and leave tonight.

Should be back in the morning.

Thanks, Fex.

And we'll take a vote on it tomorrow,

meet in the afternoon.

Agreed?

[ men murmur ]

And by tomorrow, we'll know if we're a town...

or just a nameless place on a map.

Don't you eyeball me like that, Annie.

I'm just as bone-weary and tired as you are.

You ain't no rocking chair, you know.

I'll be right out.

Jericho! Be with you in a minute.

No, take your time. Take your time.

[ door squeaks ]Mr. Green.

What can I do for you?

Just looking to see what I might need.

Go right ahead.

Oh, you got something for her.

Yeah, a couple of skinny letters

and a box for Mrs. Martin from her mother.

It smells like cookies.

You get mail delivered here?

Oh, no, not really.

Jericho picks it up in Lewiston, makes a special trip here...

for a fee.

It don't hardly seem worse than making my old Annie

carry me across them mountains for the likes of that.

This ain't even a town.

We hope to be one. There you are, Jericho.

It's your money.

[ door squeaks ]

If you lived in a real town,

you'd get your mail delivered free.

Maybe, one day, we will be a real town.

I might even set up a post office

right here in the store.

You know, I thought that Nez Perce raid

taught you people a lesson.

It certainly put the fear of God in some of us,

that's for sure.

And you mean to stay?

We're going to vote on it tomorrow,

and I sure intend to make the others see it my way.

Now what can I show you, Mr. Green?

Oh, show me? Uh...paint.

Do you have any paint?

Well, um...

I've got a couple of half-used cans of...

white paint and red paint.

Why, that's just fine.

Abel, we're here like you said.

Hi, morning, boys.

Sorry to take you away from your work,

but we've got problems.

It's those settlers again.

I thought they were going to pull out.

We figured those renegade Indians

would run them off.

Yeah, so did I,

but it didn't, leastways, not all of them.

There's something else. They're getting mail.

Mail delivery here?

Yeah, from Lewiston,

and do you know what's going to happen

when they find out about that Timber and Stone Act?

There'll be more claims filed in this country

than you could shake a stick at,

and we don't want that, do we?

I don't see how we can stop them, Abel,

not if they find out.

We get rid of them before they find out.

You ain't saying we hurt those people, Abel?

Oh, nothing like that.

No, we're going to scare them out,

just like those renegade Nez Perce did.

Only, we're going to chase them clear out of the mountains, huh?

[ laughs ]

Ginny, we can't stay here.

You saw what happened yesterday,

and those Indians might be back.

It's too close, Jim.

The baby could come any time now.

I can't travel.

But we could be in Lewiston by tomorrow night

if we left now.

Now, Ginny, listen--

Jim, please.

I can't explain it, but...

there's something about this place

that feels likes...

where we belong,

like home.

Home?

A tent and an open-cook fire?

But it's ours, Jim.

No one was here before us.

We could build a house right here,

a real home.

Oh, Ginny, I just want you and the baby

to have the best of care,

a doctor.

Mrs. Tumey knows what she's doing.

She's been wonderful.

And we have you to take care of us.

That's all we'll need.

That's all we'll ever need.

You got my mind all knotted up now.

I was fixed to pull out of here.

I'll do whatever you want, Jim.

Ginny...

you got more gumption than sense,

and I guess that's why I love you so much.

[ chuckles ]

Hey, he does have a kick like a young mule!

[ laughs ]

HALL: Trees.

Nothing but trees.

It's beautiful country.

You can't eat beauty. What good is it?

[ sighs ]

Why do you want to stay here?

Why?

I feel good here,

like I belong.

But you can't go by feeling.

A man's got to reason what to do.

Once I was in love.

Beautiful Irish girl.

Too beautiful and too rich.

I knew it wouldn't work out, but that didn't matter.

I loved her anyway.

Reason had nothing to do with it.

Maybe that's it.

I guess I'm in love with this land,

its mountains and trees.

What happened to the girl?

I let her get away from me...

'cause I didn't try.

That's when I came out here.

I mean to try harder this time,

and not lose what I love.

Well, you'll have it all to yourself.

If I had it my way,

the rest of them would be moving on.

I'm sorry, Axel.

Whoa.

Did you get the rifles?

Yeah, and I got five hundred rounds of ammunition, too.

What kind of rifles did you get?

You said that you wanted rifles,

and so, I went into Lewiston,

I said, "I want to buy some rifles."

[ chuckles ] That's what I did. I bought some rifles.

Mind if I ride along with ya?No.

You know, there's a lot of talking in Lewiston

about this new Timber and Stone Act.

What's all that about?

The government wants more people to come in to Idaho,

and so, this new act gives them free timberland.

No wonder Abel Green was so anxious for us to move on.

Why would he want to do that anyway?

Don't you see all this fertile, timberland?

It's there for the taking.

They want to keep it all for themself.

Let's tell the others about it. Yah!

Yah!

[ shouting ]

Don't you see what this means?

We have a future here.

A future in the lumber business.

This Timber and Stone Act should convince us to stay.

It doesn't mean anything to us.

We're not woodchoppers.

Anybody can learn to swing an axe.

Not with my back.

All right.

So you stake out some acreage

and you hire some men to do the chopping for you.

Maybe I could open a stable.

They'll need somebody looking after their horses.

That's right, Fex.

This whole act changes the whole picture!

Yes, but we ain't lumbermen!

All right!

But think of a town in the middle

of this fertile, timber country.

Think of the business it's going to bring,

the saloons, the stores, the hotels, the barbershops.

Lewiston has already got those things,

and that is where I'm leaving for.

I'm going with you, Mr. Hall.

How about you, Jim?

Ginny wants to stay,

so I guess that's what we're going to do.

I see.

Well, I'm heading out first thing in the morning,

and that's what the rest of you better do

if you expect to save your scalps.

You know what's wrong with us?

We've got no ties,

nothing to make us one.

We met on the road West, decided to throw in together,

to see where it brought us.

We found this place, these beautiful mountains

with their trees and beautiful green fields,

and we're nothing but a bunch of tents

and sleeping bags!

There's nothing to hold us together,

to make us one!

And now, we've got a chance to build side-by-side,

to build a town, a real town!

That's all very pretty, Axel,

but we are all just plumb talked out.

Now, I say let's put it to a vote.

[ men murmuring ]

I'm with you there.

Write the word "stay"

or write the word "leave."

Mrs. Tumey?

Mrs. Tumey!

"Stay."

All right, that's three even.

It's "leave."

Four/three.

"Leave."

Five to three.

[ man yelling, gunfire ]

[ gunfire continues ]

It's those Indians!

They're back again!

Pass out those rifles!

Come on, get them, boy!

How do you load these things?

Grab yourself a handful of shells.

Axel, I ain't hit an Indian yet.

You're supposed to aim.

I did!

There they are.

It's these rifles. The sights need adjusting.

No! Don't, Mr. Hall!

Abel Green.

You.

I've got to stop this before somebody gets hurt.

Hold your fire!

Don't shoot!

This time, I'm going to get me one of them snakes.

Don't shoot! It's me, Abel Green!

It is Abel Green! Hold your fire!

[ gun fires ]Hold your fire!

Stop shooting!

What's the idea of all this?

Well, Mr. Kaline, It's like this.

Uh...

We figured we...

Well, we thought that we might be able to...

Scare us off for good, is that it?

Well, something like that, but...

Now, we weren't going to hurt you.

That's the gospel's truth.

You were the ones that were going to get

your heads blown off.

[ sighs ] That's the bald fact.

Now, we didn't know you had rifles.

Why? Why did you try to scare us off?

The timberland, isn't that right, Mr. Green?

You were afraid we might hear about the Timber and Stone Act?

I guess that's the way it was.

I don't take kindly

to being intimidated that way, Mr. Green.

I'm not a man to scare off so easy.

Axel?

I've changed my mind. I'm staying.

How do the rest of you men feel about that?

MAN: Me too!Yes!

There's really enough timber country around here for all of us.

That'd be kind of nice to have our own little town

right here...

with...

friends?

It could be your town as much as ours, Mr. Green.

What do you say, boys?

[ men agree ]Hey, you know what?

I got a full gallon of homemade wine I've been saving.

How about doing a little celebrating, eh?

Come on!

[ men laughing ]

Come on!

[ men talking, laughing ]

[ man yelling ]

[ laughing continues ]

[ man yelling ]

[ laughing continues ]

[ yells ]

Hey, Jericho! Come on in!

You know it's against the federal laws of the land

to give whiskey to the Indians.

I'm going to have to report this, Mr. Kaline.

They aren't real Indians, Jericho.

They're friends!

I'm Snort-Paleface.

[ men laughing ]

Come on in! I'll explain it all to you later.

Hey, you got anything for us?

I'm going to have to raise my fee

for delivering your mail.

I'm already paying you more than it's worth.

It's a long haul from Lewiston here.

If this was a real town, the government would pay my fee,

and-and you'd get your mail delivered just for the postage.

We just became a real town.

What's the name?

Oh, that's right.

We'd better give it a name, boys.

Why don't we call it "Lumberton"?

Oh, they've already got a Lumberton somewhere.

How about "Timberville"?

Oh, no. That doesn't have a ring to it.

Well, Axel built the first store here.

Why don't we name it after him?

Kaline, Idaho.

I'd be honored, Tom,

but it's got to be a name that means something to somebody.

I got it![ cup clatters]

Let's call it "Skidoodle."

ALL: Skidoodle?

I used to have this fat, old hounddog,

and his name was "Skidoodle."

Well, I figure, with all these trees and every--

I guess not.

[ out of breath ] I'm a father! Twice!

Ginny just had twins!

[ all cheer ]

Two boys! [ men applaud ]

Twins? [ chuckles ]

I ain't never figured Jim's young woman

would be a repeater.

That's it! "Repeater"!

Repeater, Idaho?

No, no, no. The rifle.

They're what really brought us together,

side-by-side, fighting for what was ours.

They're what really made us a town.

Axel's right.

If it hadn't been for that repeater rifle,

we would've been hotfooting it

over to Lewiston right this minute.

Well, what's your suggestion, Axel?

We'll read off the brand names of these rifles,

and whichever name appears most,

that'll be the name of our new town, agreed?

Yeah.Good idea.

All right, you read them off, and I'll keep tally.

I guess you all know the vote was almost unanimous.

17 to three.

So it's with great pride that we name our new town

after the rifle that made it all possible.

Winchester, Idaho.

[ all cheer, whistle ]

This isn't a backlot of a Hollywood studio,

and this little post office behind me,

is the real thing.

We're here in Winchester, Winchester, Idaho,

the town named after a rifle,

and Axel Kaline,

he later became a senator from Idaho.

Here's the mayor of Winchester,

Mr. Lester Shaddock.

Thank you, Mr. Taylor, for telling the story of our town.

We're proud of its history.

It's my pleasure.

It's another true story of the American West.