Bonanza: Season 9
Season 9 Lore Primer
Key plot threads, lore context, and character stakes you need to remember before diving into this season.
- Picks up essential narrative continuity directly following the events of Bonanza Season 8.
- Character alliances, factions, and personal loyalties undergo significant shifts under escalating stakes.
- Addresses unresolved cliffhangers and thematic mysteries introduced during previous seasons.
- Establishes the primary seasonal conflict that drives serialized character arcs toward the finale.
Episode Guide
Season 9 Progress Shield
Second Chance
Sep 17, 1967 · 49 min
Renegade Indians have been on the rampage attacking settlers and raising havoc in the West. Joe and Hoss have gone to warn the settlers when Joe is shot with an arrow. Hoss tries
Sense of Duty
Sep 24, 1967 · 49 min
Ben, Hoss and Little Joe help the Virginia City militia escort a renegade Indian, who believes he is the Almighty, through hostile Indian territory to prison.
The Conquistadors
Oct 1, 1967 · 49 min
A band of Mexican kidnaps Little Joe for a $25,000 ransom. A group of cowboys plan to rescue Joe, kill him and claim the gold for themselves.
Judgment at Olympus
Oct 8, 1967 · 49 min
Candy is arrested for committing murder in the town of Olympus. He is accused of killing Jed Wheelock, the son of wealthy A. Z. Wheelock. He insists on finding his son's killer b
Night of Reckoning
Oct 15, 1967 · 49 min
A sadistic outlaw named Dibbs along with his gang, take siege of the Ponderosa, holding Joe, Hoss, and Candy prisoners. Their foreman, Donny Buckler, has stashed $60,000 dollars a
False Witness
Oct 22, 1967 · 49 min
While at the bank in Sandust, Little Joe and the bank's secretary witness an armed robbery. During a subsequent gunfight, the main culprit kills the banker, but is quickly brought
The Gentle Ones
Oct 29, 1967 · 49 min
Most people consider Mark Cole a coward, but he does not hesitate to step forward when his brother attempts to break a horse by torturing it.
Desperate Passage
Nov 5, 1967 · 49 min
Driving horses to Utah, the Cartwrights and Candy discover only two people left in a town wiped out by rampaging Paiute Indians. Together, Mary Burns and Josh Tanner must travel t
The Sure Thing
Nov 12, 1967 · 49 min
A young girl's ownership of a beloved stallion is jeopardized by the "big plans" of her scheming father.
Showdown at Tahoe
Nov 19, 1967 · 49 min
A career robber who claims to be a lumber man, and his gang plan to use Ben's new freight paddleboat to haul a $1 million currency shipment to San Francisco.
Six Black Horses
Nov 26, 1967 · 49 min
Ben's old friend has stolen money from corrupt politicians in New York and plans to invest in Nevada.
Check Rein
Dec 3, 1967 · 49 min
An injured rancher, who has enlisted the aid of the Cartwrights to buy back one of his horses after his farm is foreclosed, must avoid getting killed by his ruthless uncle, who wil
Justice Deferred
Dec 17, 1967 · 49 min
An anguished Hoss discovers that his testimony helped hang an innocent man accused of murder. As he struggles to bring the real killer to justice, Hoss must also combat the cowardi
The Gold Detector
Dec 24, 1967 · 49 min
Hoss wants to buy a mine thought to be worthless and orders a fancy invention to prove it isn't and becomes the local laughingstock in town
The Trackers
Jan 7, 1968 · 49 min
A man, recently released from prison for bank robbery, is accused of robbing the same Virginia City bank and gunning down a teller. The Cartwrights try to protect the accused man f
A Girl Named George
Jan 14, 1968 · 49 min
Trick photography is employed to help a killer beat a murder rap, to prove he was not there at the time of the murder he committed. However, the camera also proves to be his under
The Thirteenth Man
Jan 21, 1968 · 49 min
The ranchers are once again losing stock to rustlers and not everyone agrees with range detective Marcus Alley's preventive methods.
The Burning Sky
Jan 28, 1968 · 49 min
A cruel, sadistic, alcoholic and racist rancher named Aaron Gore stalks the wife of Ben's friend, whom he has hired as a horse trainer. The woman is a glowingly beautiful Sioux who
The Price of Salt
Feb 4, 1968 · 49 min
When a young woman inherits her late father's salt mine, a greedy rancher wants to buy all the salt for himself. Ben, standing for the smaller ranchers who cannot afford to pay the
Blood Tie
Feb 18, 1968 · 49 min
A band of outlaws enact a scheme to rob the Ponderosa, by tricking Hoss and Little Joe away from the ranch and leaving a wounded Ben alone at home.
The Crime of Johnny Mule
Feb 25, 1968 · 49 min
Hoss stands alone in refusing to convict Johnny Mule, a ""slow"" ranch hand who is accused of robbing and murdering his boss. So when Johnny Mule - fearing he'll be lynched, regard
The Late Ben Cartwright
Mar 3, 1968 · 49 min
In order to ruin the plans of a corrupt politician, Ben allows everyone to think that an attempt on his life was successful.
Star Crossed
Mar 10, 1968 · 49 min
Candy falls in love with a beautiful young woman, unaware that the man claiming to be her cousin is a bounty hunter who is not only harassing her but has framed her for murder and
Trouble Town
Mar 17, 1968 · 49 min
The Ponderosa ranch hands are at Riverbend during a cattle drive. While there, Candy meets an old friend, Lilah Holden, working in a saloon. When the cattle drive is ready to mov
Commitment at Angelus
Apr 7, 1968 · 49 min
When a horse steps on Candy's hand out on the trail, he and Joe go to Angelus to find a doctor. When they arrive, Joe sees his friend, Steve Regan, an Angelus miner. Steve tells
A Dream to Dream
Apr 14, 1968 · 49 min
An alcoholic rancher, drinking away his bitterness, makes live unbearable for his wife and children. Hoss helps reform his friend while bringing happiness and stability to his fami
In Defense of Honor
Apr 28, 1968 · 49 min
Davey - a orphaned Yute that Ben helped raise and has worked as a ranch hand on the Ponderosa - falls in love with one of his own. A fellow Yute's jealousy over the blossoming rela
To Die in Darkness
May 5, 1968 · 49 min
While the others are away, Ben and Candy are lured by an old friend of Ben's to go somewhere. The ""friend"" traps them in a deep pit. He comes back to give them food, but how lo
The Bottle Fighter
May 12, 1968 · 49 min
Hoss is accused of stabbing a man to death, and his only hope of acquittal is a once great trial lawyer who is now a hopeless drunk.
The Arrival of Eddie
May 19, 1968 · 49 min
Eddie McKay, the son of a robber and murderer who Hoss killed several years ago in a shootout, returns to Virginia City to make a good start. Hoss wants to help reform Eddie and he
The Stronghold
May 26, 1968 · 49 min
Joe and Candy sell a herd to the Farrell Brothers in Arizona, but are paid a worthless bank draft. The widow of the man one of the brothers killed helps them get their money back,
Pride of a Man
Jun 2, 1968 · 49 min
Joe reluctantly takes a job as a substitute teacher and must contend with two older students who have no use for an education.
A Severe Case of Matrimony
Jul 7, 1968 · 49 min
An untalented gypsy girl tries to get the Cartwrights to finance her career as an opera singer.
Stage Door Johnnies
Jul 28, 1968 · 49 min
Hoss and Joe rival for the affections of visiting entertainer Mademoiselle Denise, though she is more concerned for her little dog, Andre, than anything else.