The West Old & New Vol. III Issue IV April 2014 | Página 9

Wagon Train
1957 - 1965

Wagon Train is an American Western series that ran on
NBC 1957–62 and then on ABC 1962–65, although the
network also aired daytime repeats, as Major Adams, Trailmaster and Trailmaster from January 1963 to September
1965. The show debuted at #15 in the Nielsen ratings, rose
to #2 in the next three seasons, and peaked at #1 in the
1961–62 television season. After moving to ABC in the
autumn of 1962, the ratings began to decline, and Wagon
Train did not again make the Top 20 listing.
The series initially starred veteran movie supporting actor
Ward Bond as the wagon master, later replaced upon his
death by John McIntire, and Robert Horton as the scout,
subsequently replaced by lookalike Robert Fuller a year
after Horton had decided to leave the series.
The series was inspired by the 1950 film Wagon Master directed by John Ford and starring Ben Johnson, Harry
Carey Jr. and Ward Bond, and harkens back to the early widescreen wagon train epic The Big Trail (1930) starring John
Wayne and featuring Bond in his first major screen appearance playing a supporting role. Horton's buckskin outfit as
the scout in the first season of the television series resembles Wayne's, who also played the wagon train's scout in the
earlier film.
The show chronicles the adventures of a wagon train as it makes its way from Missouri to California. There were
284 episodes in 8 seasons: the first aired on September 18, 1957, and the final segment was broadcast on May 2, 1965.
In a first-season episode Adams says the war has been over for five years (suggesting the first season takes place in
1870, although, in "The Major Adams Story", part 1, it is clear that Adams had taken trains west in previous years,
commencing "as soon as the war was over"). In season two, reference is made to the war ending six years earlier (1871)
and to the presidential nomination of Ulysses S. Grant (1868), a neighbor of Adams before the war and eventually his
commanding officer. In season three (in "The Vincent Eaglewood Story") Grant and Colfax are identified as the current
President and VP, which dates it as Grant's first term (March 1869 to March 1873); but also in season three (in "The
Countess Baranof Story") the storyline involves the impending sale of Alaska by Russia, but that transaction actually
took place in 1867 under Pres. Andrew Johnson. "The Bernal Sierra Story" (first season) made extensive reference to
the ongoing revolution in Mexico pitting Benito Juarez against Maximillian I of Mexico (aka Emperor Maximilian)-but that uprising ended decisively with Maximillian's capture and execution in 1867. "The Cathy Eckhardt
Story" (fourth season, broadcast November 9, 1960) clearly shows the year is 1870, but in "The Charlene Brenton
Story" (late third season, broadcast June 8, 1960) reference is made to Bill Hawks' having read the novel Ben-Hur,
which was not published until 1880. The First Transcontinental Railroad was completed in 1869, following approximately the same route as a wagon train from St. Joseph to Sacramento. This would have made wagon trains obsolete by
the time most episodes in the series take place; however, little reference is made to railroads in the West during the series.
Like and most western television series of the 1950s and 1960s, the show is set a few years after the American Civil
War, but whereas there were few Indians in Rawhide, they often turned up in Wagon Train, causing the wagons to form
a circle.
The West Old & New Page 9