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(PROPELLER WHIRRING)

(MAN CHATTERING ON PA SYSTEM)

Professor Vernor? Yes.

I'm Sidney Endermann. Oh, hello.

I thought you'd be wearing a suit and tie.

(CHUCKLES) Yeah. It's too hot. This way.

Thank you.

Ten days, right? How's that?

The time you said you needed to decide whether or not you'd take the assignment.

Oh, yeah, that's right.

I read Virginia Genesis. How'd it sell?

Miserably.

Oh. What's your latest one?

Great Lakes Ordeal. All about iron, steel.

A lot of immigration, of course.

How's it doing?

It's holding its own in paperback, just barely.

Well, Professor, your books may not sell,

but you have a hell of a rep in the profession.

I guess the brains in this country

know a good man when they read his research.

Thanks. Oh, and it's Lew, okay?

Okay. Sid.

Sid. Yeah.

You live around here, Sid? New York.

Oh, I'm sorry, I... No, don't be sorry.

Unless, of course, it's about my living in New York.

SIDNEY: What's your hang-up about writing the article?

For openers, it's already been written.

They just want some letters from me

giving my understanding of what went on in this part of Colorado

between the years 1844 and 1978.

Not much more than a house report.

You know, "Prepared with the help of Professor Lewis Vernor,

"Department of History, Georgia Southern."

And you feel like you're selling out, huh?

Well, it's not exactly the kind of in-depth research I'm used to.

Well, I'll tell you one thing.

It's all first-class with U.S. Magazine. Your limousine awaits.

SIDNEY: That's how a magazine like U.S. stays in business.

We work like demons for months on a project. Greatest writers in America.

But in the end, they want someone with real brains to vet the piece.

Facts are important, but understandings, like they want from you,

that's vital.

Oh, I don't know. I do.

Your vanity's been destroyed and your intellectual integrity's been humiliated.

But they offered to pay you twice as much

as you'd make teaching for the same period of time,

so you thought you'd come and check it out, right?

Something like that.

(LAUGHS)

So what's your involvement, other than chauffeuring around bruised egos?

What did they tell you?

That you'd meet me, show me around,

and that the magazine is publishing a double issue on one American community.

"The soul of America in microcosm," I believe,

is the way your managing editor put it.

What did you say when they told you

the town they'd picked was Centennial?

That I'd never heard of it.

Which is exactly what they wanted to hear.

Well, that and the fact that I told them

I couldn't believe that anyone

would seriously consider the South Platte River as the...

The focus of an article on the development of American culture.

Too thick to drink, too thin to plow?

Exactly.

Well, there's the Platte.

Not much of a highway of empire, is it?

Used to be.

It was a hell of a highway once.

It brought Pasquinel here. And Alexander McKeag.

Who?

You'll find out.

If it weren't for them, there wouldn't be any Centennial.

Hey, Nate. NATE: Hey, Sidney.

Mexican food tonight? You bet. 6:00?

Sounds good. All right.

I thought an historian would want to stay where a lot of history's been made.

Sounds reasonable.

We'll get you registered, and then we'll get you oriented.

Okay.

SIDNEY: Zendt's Store. That's where it all started.

VERNOR: Zendt? Mmm-hmm. Levi Zendt.

You're gonna love him.

And his wife, Elly, and his second wife, Lucinda McKeag.

You mentioned that name McKeag before.

Wait a minute, I seem to hear a distant bell going off.

Was he a trader? A mountain man?

He was a legend.

One worth knowing and recording,

so that the rest of the country can know, too.

Come on.

Manolo Marquez and his family live down the other end of this street.

That's another whole story.

And then there are two more places that really count.

The Wendell place... Yeah.

...and Paul Garrett's spread, The Venneford.

That's the cattle ranch. Mmm-hmm.

It was owned by Earl Venneford of Wye.

The greatest cattle-rancher in the West.

Does the earl have a place in my story?

Only if you want him to.

The ranch is really the heart of the story.

This is cattle country

and there wasn't a cow north to Wyoming or east to Nebraska

that didn't bear the Crown Vee brand for a long time.

(TRUCK RUMBLING)

VERNOR: There's your truck.

No, that's his truck.

Who's he? Cisco Calendar.

Calendar, the singer?

Yeah, that's him.

What's he, uh... What's he doing here?

He lives here.

I know, he could afford to live anywhere,

but this is where his family's always lived.

Cisco! I thought you were in Chicago.

I just got back.

Well, I'd like you to meet somebody. Lew Vernor, Cisco Calendar.

Hello. Howdy.

Saw the truck down at the hotel.

I thought you might come looking for it.

Um, I borrowed the truck to pick Lew up at the airport.

I was just giving him a tour.

CISCO: I saw.

Think we might take a trip up to Blue Valley again?

That's a wonderful idea. Lew, would you like...

Oh, no, no thanks. I'd like to look around some more.

You go ahead.

You're sure? Oh, absolutely. Nice to meet you.

Same.

Bye.

I've been working on a song about you.

You haven't. I have.

# I guess she'd rather be in Colorado

# I guess she'd rather be out where the sky looks like a pearl

# After the rain #

(MOTOR RUMBLING)

Howdy. Hi.

What're you doing?

Going to build a bridge over the creek,

so the big trucks from the West

can make it to the plant easier. Oh.

MORGAN: That's enough!

I said, that's enough.

Hey, damn it.

I said that's enough!

What is it? What?

The hole here. What is it?

I don't know.

I don't want this fool getting hurt on my property.

I said that's enough. You're gonna get yourself killed.

They told me to work here.

Well, I'm telling you to work over there.

Who are you?

Morgan Wendell, and I own this property

and I'm telling you to work over there.

Okay.

What is that?

Sinkhole.

Watch your step. It could be hollow through here.

No sense in poking around here.

Are you all right?

All right?

I'm fine. I'd just appreciate it if you'd stay clear.

I don't want anyone getting in any accidents around here.

My family made it big here

by picking the right place to be at the right time.

Now, the man who gets this office

can write his own ticket in this state for the next 20 years.

I want you both to start working on the governor.

Tell him that we're singing his praises every inch of the way,

but we want to know that we can count on him to do the same for us.

Now, if you need any help,

the names on this list should carry enough clout...

Mr. Wendell, he's coming.

Oh.

Thanks, Eddie.

There you go.

Thank you, Mr. Wendell.

See you boys later. You bet.

MORGAN: Professor Vernor?

I thought that was you. I'm glad to bump into you again.

Morgan Wendell. You were out to my place earlier this morning

when that workman nearly ran his rig into that sinkhole.

Oh, right.

Well, I didn't realize who you were then.

I just wanted to apologize for my manners.

Oh, that isn't necessary, Mr. Wendell.

Well, you see, it's just that we have a lot of kids fooling around down there.

Sometimes they hurt themselves.

It's inconvenient having somebody come after you all the time

when it's something you have no control over. You know what I mean?

Certainly.

I understand you're doing a piece on Centennial.

I may, yes.

Well, I've got deep roots here, Mr. Vernor.

Real deep.

And I can't tell you how proud I am

that they picked our town to write about and for you to do the writing.

Thank you, Mr. Wendell.

I haven't absolutely decided that I will write the article as yet.

You don't think they're going to let you get away, do you?

A magazine as important as U.S. ?

They need people like you to keep on top.

So people like me can be sure that when I read a fact, it's a fact.

Anyway, I want you to know I'm available anytime

to give you the facts on how this town got started

and how my grandfather helped put it on the map.

You'll forgive me, I hope,

but as yet, I know nothing of the town.

No history, no names.

Well, that's the way it should be, shouldn't it?

No prejudices, no preconceptions.

Let me give you my card.

I don't mean to crowd you,

but this town is the most important place in the world to me.

My grandparents came here during real hard times

and they found the American dream.

(MARIACHI MUSIC PLAYING)

Hi, Sid, Nate. Hey, Paul.

Join you? Sure, sit down.

I haven't seen Cisco around lately.

Nobody has. Except Sidney here.

He's been writing.

He's had a parcel of inspiration, I can tell you that much.

You're terrible.

Lew!

Hi.

Say hi to Paul Garrett. Paul, this is Lew Vernor. Mr. Vernor.

We're trying to get him to do the real work on our story about Centennial.

This is Nate Person. Sit down.

VERNOR: Hi. Howdy.

We're just going to have a couple of beers, thank you.

SIDNEY: And Nate may not be the greatest barber in the world,

but this is the man who knows where all the bodies are buried.

And our host, Manolo Marquez. Lew Vernor.

Do you like Mexican food?

I don't know. It's not all that popular in Georgia.

Well, this is the place to find out.

I'll bring you an order. The best of everything.

Nothing for me, Manolo, I've gotta get back.

I'm sorry I'm late.

I ran into a fellow I couldn't get away from.

Oh, who? Who else?

Had to be Morgan Wendell, right?

How'd you know?

Well, you're writing an article for a high-powered magazine,

he's going heavy into politics,

won't hurt him none to have folks all around the country

reading about him and his family.

'Course, depends on what they read.

His version or my daddy's.

Nate.

Lew, what did he want?

Well, nothing. Just said he wanted to help out any way he could.

He didn't mention anything about politics or a campaign.

Of course not.

Anything a Wendell does is only out of concern for somebody else, right?

They sure know how to sell, that's for dang sure.

And old Morgan's trying to sell himself right into the state capital

and who knows what else.

Washington, maybe.

Wouldn't it beat all?

A Wendell in Washington?

No editorials from me.

It's their town you wanna write about.

What's he running for?

Well, it's a new office. Commissioner of Resources and Priorities.

The idea is to elect a person

that will help the governor make the right ecological and industrial choices.

I've never heard of that one.

We're a pioneer state, Mr. Vernor.

People around here have always been willing

to try a new approach to things. Even politics.

We led the nation in old-age pensions,

proper funding of education, liberal labor laws.

Turned down the '76 Winter Olympics

because we thought it might be destructive to the environment.

Well, Wendell didn't.

I'm not defending Wendell, Nate.

Just his right to change his mind about the way he feels.

Are you gonna vote for him? A Wendell?

Far as I know, his is the only name on the ballot.

NATE: Well, yours could be.

And I know for a fact that the governor asked you himself to run.

Well, I've got a ranch to run. Takes up all my time.

Manolo, when Flor comes in,

tell her I'll call her later.

Paul... I wish I could tell her you've changed your mind

about running against Wendell.

Excuse me. Any chance you could carve out some time for Lew?

Tomorrow morning?

Fine.

You an early riser, Mr. Vernor? Sure.

It'll take some time to see the Venneford.

Thanks, Paul.

NATE: You really want to do something

for this part of the country, Professor?

Well, you and Sidney go to work on that man

and get him into politics himself.

And you tell me that I'm not right, Manolo.

You're right, amigo. Wendell should be stopped.

And Paul Garrett is the only man who could do it.

That's right.

It won't take you a long time to find out. He is Colorado.

VERNOR: A breeding book.

History of the Venneford bulls.

Over there inside the back of the book it's got the family, too.

All the way back to the fifth generation.

The Garretts came down from Montana. They were English stock.

The Messmores and the Bucklands were, too.

The Lloyds were Welsh. They emigrated to Tennessee and then Texas.

And old Patrick Beeley was a hard drinking Irishman.

Amazing.

Pasquinel... Yeah, he was French.

Zendt, Skimmerhorn and Bockweiss were Germans.

Deal was Dutch.

Red Wolf and Pale Star were full-blooded Arapaho.

And Lucinda McKeag

was Pasquinel's half-breed daughter by a squaw named Clay Basket.

She was the daughter of a great Arapaho leader.

Pretty mixed up.

It was damned near incestuous.

You want some more coffee? No, thank you.

If you turn to the front of the book,

you'll find the history of some of those great old bulls

had some pretty close breeding in it, too.

Come on, bring it with you.

We gotta get airborne if we're gonna see this ranch. Okay.

(BIRDS CHIRPING)

Lucinda McKeag.

You say she was Pasquinel's daughter?

Yeah, she was one of them.

The other was Maxwell Mercy's wife, Lisette.

She was born to Pasquinel's St. Louis wife,

Lise Bockweiss.

Then Pasquinel is responsible for the development of the whole area?

And Alexander McKeag. But Pasquinel came first.

He paddled a birch bark up the Platte all the way from St. Louis.

He was a courier du bois.

One who runs in the woods.

A Frenchman from Quebec.

And the first white man the Arapaho had ever seen.

He traded with them for beaver pelts.

And Lame Beaver let him know he was welcome to come back.

He traded with the Pawnee, too. And he won their respect.

Because he came to them without fear.

He found McKeag in a Pawnee camp,

and he was able to save his life

because the Indians believed he was a man of his word.

A man they could trust.

McKeag stayed with Pasquinel.

And they explored a virgin wilderness together.

And Pasquinel taught McKeag how to survive.

Don't fire.

(GUN FIRES)

You were way high both times!

I hit what I wanted. Yeah, the wind.

If you give an Indian a fair chance, you can avoid killing.

They're going to charge again.

We'll give them this one and then they'll be gone.

In years to come they will sit around the campfire

and talk about the coup they made on the two white men.

And the whistling lead.

And you will sit in Scotland and talk about the tomahawks and lances.

PAUL: Their story's an important story.

The story of men who lived a life of freedom

not many others have ever known.

And what McKeag learned from Pasquinel,

he passed on to another important man in this part of the country.

His name was Levi Zendt.

He'd been headed for Oregon, but like a lot of others, he had to turn back.

Levi,

a wheel give out?

After we did.

What?

We turned around.

Why?

I saw the elephant.

Oh, I don't believe that.

Why not?

Well, a man doesn't spin a tale that tall

unless he's hiding a mountain of fear.

I don't see that in you.

Well, it doesn't matter. Fact is, we quit.

I was wondering if...

No, I don't suppose you'd consider it.

What?

Oh, just an old man's foolish dream.

It wouldn't be fair to a young one with the makings you have.

What?

Well, I told you I wanted to start another store

for trading with the Indians.

On that land down south of here near Beaver Creek.

The place you trapped with your partner? Pasquinel.

I just had a funny feeling

maybe you'd take to it the same way he and I did.

I don't even have to see it to know that for a fact.

PAUL: Levi and his wife Elly headed south with McKeag and his family

and camped at a place called Rattlesnake Cliffs.

McKEAG: There it is.

(SNAKE RATTLING)

What is it?

Snake bite.

She was down low.

Elly?

Elly!

LEVI: Elly!

It's God's mercy, son.

I've seen them die slow. Believe me, it's better this way.

Levi...

Elly!

Elly...

Ellie died.

But Levi stayed on with McKeag and they built a trading post together.

McKeag went to St. Louis and brought back goods

and they made a real go of it out there alone.

Because McKeag had learned from Pasquinel that the secret was to show no fear.

And Levi Zendt learned the same lesson from McKeag.

Why?

He was Pawnee.

He was a boy. He was warrior prepared to die.

Are you?

Before I'll watch you commit another murder.

Don't you let Pawnee on our land again. Ever!

This land is McKeag's and mine.

Clay Basket's!

And when she dies, ours. His and mine.

If you want the exact figures, Jake, 40% is mine.

And when I marry Lucinda, it'll be half.

Marry Lucinda?

(SCOFFS)

You going to marry Lucinda?

This land is ours

and when we tell you to get off, you get off.

Otherwise, it will all go.

We kill you all!

It's easy to kill with a dozen others behind you.

Your father was a brave man, they say.

I figure if he'd seen what just happened, he'd have been sick.

You keep the trading post.

No harm.

One white man alone who understood the Indians

couldn't stop others who didn't take the time to learn, though.

And when the men who came looking for gold got there,

they were in too big a rush to want to learn anything.

They're the ones who really started the Indian wars.

And it cost a lot of good people dearly.

The trading post Zendt built with McKeag was burned down.

But he and Lucinda built a new one.

Right on the spot where it sits today.

Another important man came along about then.

His name was Hans Brumbaugh.

He was a Volga Deutschman.

And he was the first white man to really make use of the river since Pasquinel.

This is my land, huh?

Mine.

And I'll grow potatoes.

And I'll be king of potatoes.

Potatoes Brumbaugh. That's me.

That's good, huh?

Potatoes Brumbaugh.

(LEVI LAUGHING)

VERNOR: So the river really was the highway of empire.

PAUL: Sure was.

Now it's being treated like a sewer in some places

and being sucked dry at that.

PAUL: Until I tell you different,

everything you see down there once belonged to Earl Venneford of Wye.

VERNOR: Incredible. It's so vacant.

I guess it's never been good for much but running cattle.

Yeah, and barely good for that.

It takes about 60 acres to support one cow and calf unit.

(WHISTLES)

Sidney says you bought some of it.

(CHUCKLING) Yeah.

Only about 130,000 acres.

Maybe it's the best part.

It's a challenge.

And back east, how many acres to a unit?

Well, my uncle in Virginia needs one acre for what you call a unit.

But, see, it's bottom land along the river.

That's the difference between Virginia and Colorado.

One to an acre your way, one to sixty our way.

I guess it makes your land 60 times better than ours,

but we work 70 times harder, so we come out a little bit ahead, huh?

How much land was there?

Well, 180 miles east-west,

50 miles north-south.

About six million acres.

(WHISTLES)

When my great-grandfather, Jim Lloyd, was foreman,

he said that he could inspect about 10 miles a day.

About 18 days to cover just the middle.

Forget the north and south borders.

You said the Lloyds were from Texas?

Yeah. He came north on the first drive. The Skimmerhorn drive?

No, Skimmerhorn went to Texas to get the cows.

But R.J. Poteet made the drive north.

Do you mind if I turn this on?

No, go ahead.

R.J. Poteet drove them north.

That'd be 1868?

That's right.

Jim Lloyd was just a boy.

Did he tell you about it?

Well, he claimed he grew old telling me.

You can imagine what it was like for a kid about eight or nine years old,

listening to his grandpa telling him stories about adventures he had.

Adventures he knew he was never gonna see in his lifetime.

(CATTLE LOWING)

Can I help you, son?

Yes, sir, I'm looking for Mr. R.J. Poteet.

You found him.

Mr. Poteet, my ma says to please ride over and see her.

Who's your ma?

Emma Lloyd.

You Tom Lloyd's boy?

Yes, sir.

Well, how is ol' Tom?

He's dead.

He didn't get back from the war.

What's your name, son?

Jim.

(BIRDS CHIRPING)

Emma.

R.J.! Bless me, you look just fine. Just fine.

Jim here told me that Tom didn't make it back.

Him and too many others.

What can I do for you?

I need you to buy my cattle, R.J.

Well, Emma,

we just got about every head that we need.

Well, I'm sure of it, R.J,

but, well, we haven't had a cent of spending money in over a year

and I just gotta sell my cattle.

How many kids you got?

Three boys.

Jim's the oldest.

Could I see the others?

Boys, come on out here.

This is J.C. and this is little Tom.

He does favor him some.

Boys, this is Mr. R.J. Poteet.

A good friend of your father's for many years.

And of mine.

Howdy.

J.C.

Now, the reason that I'm here,

is because your brother told me about your pa,

and I reckon that if it was me that didn't make it back instead of him,

I'd like to think that he'd look in on my family, if they ask.

I'll take your cattle, Emma. How many you got? A hundred and fifty.

I'll take them on consignment.

Two dollars a head now, plus whatever I can get at Fort Sumner.

Oh, thank God. God bless you, R.J.

Jim...

There's one more thing.

Now what's that?

Would you consider taking Jim with you?

I've seen you ride. Can you throw a rope?

Yes, sir.

It's a deal.

But when the trail's over, you don't get any wages.

Why not?

Because I'm giving them to your mother now.

VERNOR: Tough way to grow up.

Well, he didn't have much choice.

The north was hungry for beef and Texas was just plain hungry.

Did he ever go back?

He told me that after he saw Colorado,

there was nowhere else on earth that he wanted to live.

And I grew up around here and I think I pretty much feel the same way.

Mmm.

You mentioned a fellow named Nate. Mmm?

Any relation to Nate Person? Yeah, his grandfather.

He was Poteet's right-hand man.

He was the only black man that ever rode point on the Skimmerhorn trail.

Gap's dead ahead.

Fourteen miles past it's the Pecos.

How's the water?

Sweet in one spot.

North and south, it's all stagnant. Pure alkali.

Kill every cow that drinks it.

Is it marked?

There's a sign says Horsehead Crossing.

A line of skulls tell you why.

(SHOUTING)

(WHOOPING)

Watch where you pass!

(SHOUTING)

Bring it up!

(SHOUTING)

Dust, hell.

That alkali weren't nothing to what me and ol' O.D. Cleaver come through

when we was finishing up an Indian scout one time.

Nothing could have been worse than that alkali.

I don't see how.

I'll tell you how.

The wind never stopped blowing, that's how.

For three days and three nights.

The sand covered up every blade of grass,

even the mesquite bushes.

We was riding down through the sand hills

between El Paso and Alamogordo.

Now you know what that's like. I'll take it to that alkali.

Well, that's 'cause you wasn't there when we found the hat.

The hat? Yes, sir.

A man's hat lying there on top a sand dome when the wind died down.

Real nice hat, too. Like someone cared for it real good.

So ol' O.D.,

he climbs down to pick it up, don't you know.

And smack underneath it, there's a head.

A head?

What'd you do?

Well, I climbed down beside ol' O.D.

We started scratching the sand out of the eyes and the ears,

and the mouth with our fingers.

Then danged if that ol' head

didn't look right smack up at both of us

and started talking.

It talked? That's right.

What did it say?

It says, "Get a shovel, boys, I'm on horseback."

PAUL: But it wasn't all yarn-spinning and eating trail dust.

There was danger, too. The outlaws and Indians.

(WHOOPING)

POTEET: All right, boys.

Hold your fire.

You held them, boys! You held them!

They won't be coming back.

You all right, Mr. Skimmerhorn? Yes, sir.

Good work, Nate. You all ought to have seen old Jim.

He dropped that chief when he was right on top of me.

I killed him? I sure as hell didn't.

Somebody else's bullet, maybe.

No, sir. Chief was yours, Jim.

Quite a breed of men.

Yes, they were.

You know, Nate and Bufe Coker the rebel died not far from here.

They were fighting side by side in the range war.

Cisco Calendar's great-grandfather, Amos,

he was a buffalo hunter for a while until he started to herd sheep

with Nate and Coker for my great-grandfather on my father's side.

Messmore Garrett. Sheep?

Yeah, he started with sheep but he had the good sense to switch to cattle.

The cowboy made this state.

He carved out the trail we're flying over now.

(HORSE SNUFFLING)

Coker, they're straying over there.

Yes, boss.

Jim, well, this is the trail's end.

I heard.

I'd like...

I'd like for you to hear something from me.

Sir?

You know, if I was your own pa,

I couldn't be prouder of the way that you've come through.

I'd like to shake your hand.

Thank you, Mr. Poteet. You betcha.

I'd like to give you something, too.

Oh, no, sir.

That wasn't our deal.

All right, son.

Well, you think you'll be sticking with this kind of work?

Yeah, if I can find it.

Well, the trick is finding men like you that will do it.

It's a big, wind-blistered world we're riding through, Jim.

I just hope it'll last a little while longer.

Why wouldn't it?

Well, because when men like you and me

point the way to where a town can be built,

then other men come along and they build it.

Settlers that want a home,

or a title, a piece of ground.

And they'll kill to keep it.

But if you're as much like me as I think you are, you won't fight for that.

You'll only care about what you're responsible for.

Your horse and your herd.

I don't know, Jim. Maybe...

Maybe we're just too restless to inherit the earth.

Hmm?

(WHISTLES)

PAUL: He did inherit it, though. A large part of it, anyway.

How did he wind up owning the ranch?

Luck of the draw.

A wealthy widow fell in love with him and made him a wealthy man.

Your great-grandmother. That would be Charlotte Buckland?

Quite a lady. And quite a story in her own right.

Sidney said I'd need a lot of tape.

Well, we got a lot of history.

But the men that followed that herd north,

those are the men you gotta focus on here.

Without the cattle, there wouldn't be a Colorado.

DENNIS: Morgan, Vernor's just trying to get a slant on the story, that's all.

Besides, what could he possibly do that would hurt you?

That's an important magazine, Dennis. It's got millions of readers.

And what they write about my family

can affect what I'm after in the next couple of years.

Are you talking about that gossip of how your granddad got started?

Morg, my daddy used to tell us that one

when we were just little squirts.

Hell, in a town like this, everybody's got a story or two they're not proud of.

Well, I'm proud of my family. Damn proud.

I don't want that story turning up in print right now.

Simms and Riggs have been watching him.

Said he hasn't done anything out of the ordinary.

He's been with Paul Garrett.

Garrett's got a big story to tell, Morg. You know that.

If I were writing for that magazine, I'd be pumping his well dry myself.

You afraid ol' Paul might still wanna jump in on this seat?

I'm not afraid of Paul Garrett.

I just don't want anyone upsetting my plans right now.

We've got a perfect setup going here.

A campaign for a real public service showcase.

A chance to push an image the public wants to buy.

Now the right words about me and my family in that magazine

can put us over the hump.

The wrong words can flush it all.

Understand?

VERNOR: That's got to be good food.

It always tastes better after than it does going down.

Thank you.

Sort of puts your stomach in synch

with the rest of the world, doesn't it? Yeah.

So tell me, are we in synch?

I've still got eight days, right?

Just didn't think it would take you that long.

How long did it take you? To do what?

VERNOR: Write the story I'm here to fortify.

They did tell you.

Your friends did.

The way they treat you.

So, how long did you do research here?

Five months.

Disappointed?

No, it was just that at first I thought you were someone who, you know...

Yeah, that was helping somebody else out?

Someone more important than myself, huh?

I'm sorry.

But your magazine has asked me to spend a lot of time

doing something you've already done.

Can I ask you a question?

Sure.

I expect it. I know how important this is to you.

What's your judgment of the Skimmerhorn massacre?

Oh, no.

That's your job to tell us what you think.

Have you done any work on the reports of Maxwell Mercy?

Lew, you're an ace. You're a real ace.

I did my master's thesis under Allan Nevins at Columbia University

on some unpublished letters I found of Captain Mercy's.

And on my bedroom wall at home,

I have an old photograph of him

taken by Jackson at Fort Laramie.

And for your personal information,

I got damn near straight As at Illinois

and honors at the University of Chicago, where I took my doctorate.

Well, Doctor, you really love this, don't you?

Yeah, I do.

And I really need you to make things hum. To make them work.

To make them live.

VERNOR: What about the creek? Anything important happen here?

What makes you ask?

A little something I came across when I first got here.

This is the spot where Pasquinel and McKeag set up camp

the first time they traded with the Arapahos.

How long ago was that?

They were the first white men to come down the river.

That was nearly two centuries ago.

You're supposed to be getting this information from other people.

Could Morgan Wendell tell me?

About Pasquinel and McKeag? No.

His family didn't get here until the 1880s. Ah.

What's their connection with the creek?

Oh, you've been doing your homework.

You heard about the scandal, hmm?

Scandal?

Yeah, the murder.

On this land? Their land?

It wasn't theirs at the time.

But that's what some people say, that's how they got their money to pay for it.

They killed for it?

That's what Nate Person said. And Manolo says it's true, too.

What about Paul Garrett?

No, he just sort of disregards anything

that doesn't concern him directly.

What happened?

Lew, I'm supposed to be making you do your own research.

Okay, how's this?

What is it? What does it look like?

Is it human?

I'd say so.

Did you find it here?

No. It's just something I carry around to startle bright young journalists

I meet in small Western towns.

No, I'm serious. Did you find it here?

Right there.

They were digging a hole to pour a foundation for the bridge abutment.

They must've broken through an old cave.

Then Dumire was right.

Dumire?

He was the sheriff here when the territory became a state.

Axel Dumire was his name.

He swore that the Wendells got their start by committing a murder.

But he could never prove it because he couldn't find the body.

(BELL RINGING)

SIDNEY: Morgan's grandfather, Mervin, did arrive without a penny.

But according to Sheriff Dumire,

the fortune he made here was founded on blackmail and blood money.

Mr. Wendell, ain't it?

Sheriff. What a surprise.

Maude, for heaven's sake, look who's here.

Yes.

MERVIN: Well, how have you been, old man?

Your trunks are on the cart, sir.

Oh, thank you, lad.

Here you go.

Oh, Lord.

I don't suppose you'd be able to change a $20 gold piece?

I don't suppose I would.

Oh.

Well, no matter. I'll catch you next time.

There it is, the Railway Arms. See it, dear?

MAUDE: Oh, yes.

Have them send someone for the trunks. Yes.

Come, Philip.

How long are you planning to stay with us in Centennial?

Two performances, sir.

And of course there will be a free pass for you at the box office.

And of course you're planning to pay your bills before you leave.

Sheriff.

SIDNEY: I told you the Railway Arms had seen a lot of history.

Well, it saw the first performance in Centennial by the Wendells.

Bravo!

But some of their better performances

were held for private audiences.

At least, Dumire thought so.

Like the one for Reverend Holly, the local minister,

who let the Wendells move into a house he owned, rent-free.

A performance Dumire called the badger game.

MERVIN: Maude?

Maude, I'm home. Are you here?

Maude...

Mr. Wendell, listen to me, please...

You filth!

Mr. Wendell, I'm so sorry.

And so pious!

So sanctimonious!

Where's your Bible now, Pastor?

About goodness and innocence and trust.

Oh please, you can't say anything to me

that I haven't already said to myself.

How did this happen? I don't know how this happened.

It's as much my fault as it is his.

If you're going to shoot, then shoot both of us.

Yes, don't worry about that, madam.

You'll pay!

Please, we've admitted our guilt.

We'll do anything.

Yes, anything.

Shut your mouth, sir!

If for one second you believe

that there's anything more important to me than honor...

Oh no, no. Of course not. I didn't mean that at all.

But to scar your son like this...

He's right.

Why... Why should you want to punish Philip?

Please let me... Let me try to make this up to you somehow.

Let me... Let me give you something.

Something for Philip's sake.

(STUTTERING) I don't have very much, but...

Well, I don't know, perhaps...

Some kind of security for his future.

The deed.

The what?

I want the deed to this house.

That would be something permanent for him.

That's scandalous.

Scandalous?

You talk to me of scandal?

I'll show you scandal, sir.

No, wait!

The house is yours.

(LAUGHING)

Shh...

VERNOR: The badger game. That isn't murder.

No, the murder came when a man named Sorenson

saw through what they were up to.

But Dumire couldn't prove it. Well, he couldn't find what you found.

Well, Sidney, we... We're not...

Lew, Dumire swore

that Sorenson's body is buried somewhere in that creek.

Yeah, yeah.

But first, we don't know whether this thing I found is actually human.

Second, we don't know how old it is. And third...

Then I will go to New York. I will take it to a lab and have it examined,

I will call you... And third,

if those two guys in the pickup truck are friends of Wendell's,

it wouldn't be the smartest thing

either one of us could ever do

to make a lot of noise about this thing right now, anyway.

Don't look at 'em.

How long have they been there?

Well, when we came out of Manolo's they were there.

And this is the third time they've been by here.

Why?

Maybe Wendell has more parts to the puzzle than we do.

Lew, I don't know what you're talking about.

I saw him take out of there what could have been a complete skeleton.

That's how I got this little number in my pocket.

Just laugh a little,

and act interested in anything besides that cave.

Who do you suppose they were?

Probably a couple of researchers

doing a piece on Centennial.

Funny.

Not so funny if they go to press before we do.

We?

I'm afraid I'm hooked.

On doing the assignment, or playing Sherlock Holmes?

Both.

I hate leaving you here alone.

I wish you would at least talk to the sheriff.

Is he related to Axel Dumire?

You're impossible.

Look, Sid, It's the 20th century, right?

Men have walked on the moon and are headed for planets beyond.

A murder that may or may not have been committed 100 years ago

isn't going to place us in jeopardy.

It was 90 years ago, and it did happen.

According to Dumire's diary, he had everything but the corpus delicti.

SIDNEY: He was on to them from the beginning.

You Mervin Wendell's boy?

Yes, sir.

What's your name?

Philip.

Come down to see your dad do his job?

Yes, sir.

Well, he's a real hard worker.

Job don't pay much. Only about four dollars a week.

Hardly enough to keep a bird alive.

You look like you're eating all right, though.

Got some new clothes?

Yup. Well, I think someone gave them to us.

Good talking to you, Phil.

SIDNEY: Morgan's father, Philip, was just a boy then.

But he had to make a man's decision soon.

The night of the murder, Paul Garrett's grandfather, Messmore,

was throwing a party for his wife.

(CHAMBER MUSIC PLAYING)

Pa, I... Yes, lad, later.

Well now, let me guess.

Doctor?

The black bag? No, I'm just a businessman.

Here looking at some properties.

Oh, I see.

Go and play with Beeley.

MERVIN: Maude...

Maude... (GIGGLING) Oh!

Um... Excuse me, sir.

I'm terribly sorry. I've just spoken to Higgins.

He insists I come to Denver tonight.

Tonight?

Now, precious, there's nothing I can do. You know that.

I've just got time to catch the train.

Oh, no... Please forgive me.

I'll see you tomorrow. I promise.

Oh, this is the end!

I mean it!

That's the last time that man's gonna run out on me!

Are you all right?

(GASPING)

Would you take me home?

Please? Of course.

Thank you.

I just feel so ashamed.

Surely not for crying?

It seems to me you're certainly entitled to a few tears.

I mean, but I have no right to put my burdens on your shoulders.

Oh, I think they're broad enough.

Yes, they certainly seem to be.

Oh, Mr. Sorenson...

Maude,

I'm back!

I missed the train.

(EXCLAIMS)

Be still, man. For God's sake, nothing's happened.

"Be still"! What earthly right have you got to tell me to be still?

You wait until my back is turned, you creep into my house...

There isn't a judge or jury who wouldn't honor me for killing you!

Sir...

The old badger game. I should have known.

I must be getting silly in my old age

not to see through an act like yours.

You're very good.

Now, we'll see what your sheriff has to say about this.

Mervin?

Now, sir, just one moment.

Put that down, you fool, I've had enough.

Sir, I'll have... Maude!

He's breathing, isn't he?

No.

Oh, my God, we'll hang.

They won't hang us.

MAUDE: Nobody knows he's here.

We'll bury him.

What?

We'll put him in the well.

That's the first place they'll look.

Philip?

Dad, I tried to tell you at the party.

Sheriff Dumire knows what you did to the minister.

So the minute he finds out you were dancing with this man,

he's gonna be out here.

He's gonna be looking down that well and he's gonna be digging up that cellar.

Philip, how did you know about the minister?

I guessed.

I knew he didn't give us this house for nothing.

Oh, dear God. What are we gonna do?

What are we gonna do?

What have we done to this poor boy?

Mervin, be quiet! He won't collapse.

He's his mother's son.

Aren't you, dearest?

I guess I must be.

'Cause I know where we can hide him.

In the creek? It won't work.

Yes, it will. Now come on.

They'll know he didn't drown.

Someone's bound to remember he left with me.

Look, nobody will ever find him.

Come, come on. Phillip, come.

Come.

(SOBBING)

Where? Where did you hide him?

Cave.

Some beavers made it, I guess.

It was my secret hiding place.

Now, I guess it... Now, I guess it's got to be ours, huh?

Mervin.

Look! Look!

It was in his black bag! It's a fortune!

Five and a half thousand dollars!

(BOTH LAUGHING)

Do you know what this means? Do you know what this means?

It means we can go to Europe. It means we can invest.

We can have a business. We can have a theater.

No.

Maude? Not yet.

What are you talking about? Sheriff Dumire.

He'd want to know where we got the money from.

We're going to be very patient.

We're gonna quit the badger games.

We'll take on extra work, all of us, even Philip.

And then,

when the time comes,

we'll be able to invest our savings.

Dumire again.

He's always the fly in the ointment.

MERVIN: What if he finds the body?

He won't.

SIDNEY: That's how it happened.

Dumire knew it, and that's how it happened.

But he could never prove it.

Nobody could prove it.

Lew, you know what you found?

A piece of the past.

Maybe a piece of the future.

How's that? Morgan Wendell.

If the rest of that skeleton could be found, then...

Aw, damn. Damn.

What?

Well, I wanted to use this for our story.

But I think we should leak it to the papers first

so it comes out just before the election.

Why?

To stop Wendell!

Morgan Wendell hasn't done anything wrong.

He represents everything that's wrong in this country.

His family made a fortune on other people's misfortunes and their miseries.

Their land development scheme at Line Camp was enough to...

Well, that's information that you should get from other people.

I just think that we should do something about what we're sitting on.

Wait a minute. What I'm sitting on.

Lew, that's evidence.

Have you ever heard of the statute of limitations?

I'm not trying to send anybody to prison.

What are you trying? Blackmail?

Character assassination?

A smear campaign?

Lew... I shouldn't let you take this to New York.

Oh, you just try and stop me.

Rattlesnake Cliffs.

It's too bad they can't talk into your recorder.

They've seen things no man's ever seen,

and right over there is where the first American dinosaur was found.

Huh.

Diplodocus.

Professor from Harvard dug it out

in about, now, 1875, I guess.

It was about two miles up beyond the cliffs,

that's where they found the Clovis points,

about 1935.

They proved that man had been here at least 11,000 years.

We'll ride out there tomorrow.

Maxwell Mercy wrote about those cliffs in his journal.

Is this where it happened?

We're flying over Lost Eagle's camp right now.

That was a camp with no warriors and no weapons.

PAUL: Over there at about 10:00 is where the Colorado state militia

sat waiting for the sun to come up.

Colonel.

Captain, everything in order here?

Ready and waiting, sir.

I trust you grasp the importance of your position?

You're not to let one single redskin

slip through these lines.

I understand, sir.

Will they be heavily armed?

Armed?

They're Indians. Shoot them down.

Of course, sir.

What I meant to say was

will they be mounting an attack in my direction?

Captain McIntosh, listen to me.

When those cannons fire, there's gonna be a great deal of confusion.

I intend to compound that in the center.

In all that confusion,

many of those Indians are gonna attempt to run off in your direction.

And it's your duty to gun them down.

All of them.

(HORSE SNUFFLING) I do hope you understand.

Yes, sir.

SKIMMERHORN: We can't let them live to fight another day.

It'll be sunrise soon.

Gentlemen, we're engaged in a great venture.

We have it in our power to make this glorious nation

safe forever from these predators.

God is on our side.

Remember that always.

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