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Date Posted: 13:29:49 03/09/12 Fri
Author: Joe H.
Subject: Ponderosa acquired by Warranty Deed(s)?

How many deeds did Ben acquire to complete The Ponderosa?,#____ and by what type(s)? such as by conquest, Warranty, Quitclaim, Tax Sale*, Sheriff Sale, Homestead, etc. and for how much? in total: $__________ for #_____ acres.

* re; those TV commercials of: buyers are "scooping up homes" for pennies on the dollar! (;-) You may call now, all others. . . tomorrow. (when it might be too late!) (;-) "Time is of the essence" as "they" say.

- - Joe

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[> Re: Ponderosa acquired by Warranty Deed(s)? -- SWC, 07:58:14 03/10/12 Sat [1]

In the original backstory, Ben seems to have just taken the land and claimed it by developing it into a ranch, not unlike the Ryker" character in "Shane".

The Mexican government claimed what would become Nevada at the time. They had a problem holding onto it and California due to a lack of population of Mexican citizens there- same in texas. Their solution was to grant land to impresarios like John Sutter in California and Moses Austin in Texas in exchange for their bringing in a community of people who promised to become good Catholics and Mexican citizens. They would have to obey Mexican laws but would defend the frontier themselves.

The plan backfired in Texas where the new settlers revolted against the govenrment in Mexico City and won their independence. The Mexican War deprived them of both territories and the subsequent gold rush in California and the discovery of the Comstock Lode in Nevada filed those areas with new "citizens" who had little interest in who had claimed the land before. That's why Ben mentions what happened to his friend, Sutter, who wound up bankrupt. He doesn't want that to happen to him.

The Mexican War ended with the treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, (which gets mentioned in a couple of episodes) Per Wikipedia: "Articles VIII and IX ensured safety of existing property rights of Mexican citizens living in the transferred territories. Despite assurances to the contrary, the property rights of Mexican citizens were often not honored by the U.S. in accordance with modifications to and interpretations of the Treaty." Ben and his sons would have to defend the Ponderosa themsleves, which explains their xenophobia and their combative attitude and reputation in the early epsiodes.

I've always had problems with the backstory of Bonanza. It would make more sense for Ben to have been one of the several Yankee sea captains who married one of the daughters of prosperous Mexican landowners in California, (their property owed to the Mexican govenrment taking over the Cahtolic Missions and giving them to prominent people as ranchos). There Ben could have learned the cattle trade and when the 49ers overhwelmed California, he could have sold his ranch and used it to buy land in Nevada for a new one, away from the wild chaos of the Gold Rush, only to face the same problem with the discovery of the Comstock Lode a decade later.

Instead we have a backstory of Ben crossing the Prairie with Inga and Adam from his first marriage and baby Hoss. Later on a business trip to New Orleans, he meets Marie and she becomes his third wife and Little Joe's mother. The Adam story is fine. I think Inga should have been in Scandanavia where Ben meets her during one of his many voyages and Marie should be Maria, the daughter of a Mexican rancher in California.

But I was 6 years old in 1959 and David Dortort didn't ask me what I thought. :(


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[> Re: Ponderosa acquired by Warranty Deed(s)? -- Leah, 18:29:39 03/10/12 Sat [1]

SWC, I remember you wrote this scenario before also, and it would have been interesting as a backstory. I liked it, but Little Joe didn't show any Mexican blood. Would they have to have had an actor other than Michael play Little Joe? I wouldn't have stood still for that, you know. :)
Leah


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[> [> Re: Ponderosa acquired by Warranty Deed(s)? -- SWC, 09:54:15 03/11/12 Sun [1]

He's not very French, either. In the premiere there's a fight between "northerner" Adam and "southerner" Joe. Pernell Roberts was from Georgia and Mike was from New Jersey. Mike also played an Indian in one of heis early appearances on another show, (Cheyenne, as I recall).

Mike was a good enough actor to have played someone whose father was from New England and his mother from Mexico. His blood, when we saw it, was red.


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