Lucas ( Chuck Connors) and Mark McCain ( Johnny Crawford) finally find the ranch they have been looking for, but the ranch comes with a price, and Lucas may have to decide between the ranch and his son's life.
Guest stars: Dennis Hopper, Leif Erickson, Sidney Blackmer, R. G. Armstrong as Marshal Fred Tomlinson, Charles Arnt, Mickey Simpson, Kathleen Mulqueen, Jesse Wayne (uncredited), Paul Fix (uncredited)
Note: This episode was originally an episode from Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theatre and became the pilot for The Rifleman which began September 30, 1958.

Paul Fix was cast in this episode (uncredited) as a doctor, but would return to join the cast as Micah Torrance, and he would remain a major cast member for the show's run.

After two of Oat Jackford's cowhands burn the McCain house, drag Lucas, and steal his rifle, Lucas goes to hunt Jackford ( Harold J. Stone) and his men to inform them that he and his boy are there to stay.

Guest stars: Lee Farr, Rodolfo Hoyos Jr., Don Kennedy

When Mark gets caught on a mountain ledge, a young outlaw ( Michael Landon) risks his life to rescue him and breaks his leg doing so.

Guest stars: Charles Cooper, Carolyn Craig

The notorious Shelton brothers ( Robert J. Wilke, Warren Oates) ride into North Fork to take revenge on Micah Torrance ( Paul Fix), an ex-lawman who is now crippled with alcoholism. When Marshal Fred Tomlinson ( R. G. Armstrong) is killed by the Sheltons, Micah is called upon to take his place.

Guest stars: James Drury, Abby Dalton, Bill Quinn, Bert Stevens (uncredited)

Johnny Gibbs ( Jerome Courtland), Lucas McCain's fugitive brother-in-law, visits the McCain ranch.

Guest stars: Fay Roope, Karl Lukas, Dan White (uncredited)

A bitter judge ( George Macready) kidnaps Mark and plans to kill him to avenge his own son's hanging while Lucas watches. lucas is petrified.

Guest stars: Russell Collins, Hope Summers, Marilee Phelps, Robert L. Crawford, Jr., Bud Osborne

A stagecoach breaks down and Italian nobleman Count Di Montova ( Cesare Danova) is stranded overnight in North Fork. He accepts a challenge for a gun duel after being insulted by Sim Groder ( Jack Elam).

Guest stars: John Dierkes, Bill Quinn, Glenn Strange, John Harmon

The first bank in North Fork is opening, and a Texas gunfighter ( Claude Akins) is hired to guard the safe, but a gang of bank robbers that used to include him arrives in town.

Guest stars: Marc Lawrence, Harlan Warde, Hope Summers, Dennis Cross, Sidney Blackmer

Mark tries to set Lucas up with a woman ( Sherry Jackson) he thinks would make a perfect wife. Lucas soon finds himself contending with the woman's two brothers as well as some outlaws intent on killing him.

Guest stars: Mort Mills, Dan Blocker, Lance Fuller, Hope Summers, John Dierkes

A New Orleans gambling czar ( Akim Tamiroff) and his men stop at the McCain ranch and decide to take it from Lucas.

Guest stars: Michael Pate, Hope Summers, Harlan Warde

Lucas tries to help a young West Point reject ( Robert Vaughn), who is filling in as marshal, just as the town erupts into a gunfight.

Guest stars: Edward Binns, Russell Collins, William Bryant, Grant Richards

Lucas and Mark return from a cattle sale when their stagecoach is robbed by three outlaws led by sharpshooter Johnny Cotton ( Vic Morrow). Lucas sends Mark on with the stagecoach while he goes after the outlaws on foot without his rifle.

Guest stars: Gregory Walcott, Leo Gordon, Harry Hickox

Lucas accuses the young foreman of a neighboring ranch of rustling one of his calves.

Guest stars: Allen Case, James Coburn, Ted de Corsia

Lucas helps an Argentinian family who are new to North Fork when they are ridiculed by others.

Guest stars: Perry Lopez, Lawrence Dobkin, Chana Eden, Dennis Cross, Harlan Warde, Stuart Randall, Robert L. Crawford, Jr., Montie Montana

Lucas allows Mark to take in a homeless horse after its owner is killed in a gunfight. Lucas soon discovers the truth about the horse and has to fight a gunman who does not want a secret to be exposed.

Guest stars: Robert J. Wilke, Bill Erwin, Edgar Buchanan

Wanting to teach Mark about tolerance and acceptance, Lucas hires an injured and bitter confederate soldier ( Royal Dano) to work on his ranch, only the Union army also arrives at the farm.

Guest stars: Lawrence Dobkin, Frank Wilcox, Stephen Chase

A famous gunman ( Robert Webber) promises his new bride that he will retire from gunfighting and settle in North Fork, but five outlaws try to make him break his promise.

Guest stars: Jack Kruschen, John Anderson, Duke Snider, Joseph Mell

When Abel Goss ( John Carradine), a photographer friend of the McCains, is accused of murder, father and son take opposing views on the matter.

Guest stars: Sidney Blackmer, Robert Ellenstein, Raymond Bailey

A young couple ( Paul Carr, Luana Anders) is forced to marry after they hide the fact that one of them is a girl, and Lucas helps them hide; but a rowdy crowd calls for a Shivaree.

Guest stars: Morris Ankrum, John Anderson, Olive Carey, William Bryant, Edgar Dearing

Lucas and Mark protect a witness ( Kip King) wrongfully accused of murder.

Guest stars: Douglas Spencer, Glenn Strange

U.S. Marshal Sam Buckhart ( Michael Ansara) arrives in North Fork to look for Indians who are suspected in the brutal murder of a Ranger and his family. Guest stars: Herbert Rudley, Mickey Simpson, Frank DeKova, Eddie Little Sky, Bill Quinn

Note: This is the pilot for the series Law of the Plainsman

Julia Massini ( Katy Jurado), a reformed gambler, runs a respectable boarding house in North Fork, but her old boss ( Alan Baxter) shows up and tries to force her to turn her place into a gambling house.

Guest stars: Harlan Warde, Sarah Selby, Peggy Maley, Kay Cousins, Charles Fredericks, Bill Quinn

After the witness in a murder case is killed, Lucas agrees to testify in order to convict a murderer, but someone wants the prosecution stopped. Mark and the townsfolk try to talk Lucas out of testifying.

Guest stars: Michael Pate, Hope Summers, Robert Foulk, Robert L. Crawford, Jr., Edgar Buchanan

After falling in love with a sick young woman, fugitive Sam Morley ( Paul Richards) asks his friend Lucas to turn him in and use the reward money to pay for the woman's medical needs.

Guest stars: Chris Alcaide, Dan Sheridan, Michael Fox, John Harmon, Edgar Buchanan, Katharine Bard

Lucas' friend and renowned bank robber Tom Birch ( Richard Anderson) comes for a surprise visit, upsetting Mark. Neither know the man has plans to rob the North Fork bank.

Guest stars: Jack Kruschen, Harlan Warde, Bill Quinn

Released from Yuma prison, Dan Maury ( Lee Van Cleef) arrives in North Fork intent on getting even with Marshal Torrance, who helped send him to jail.

Guest stars: Edgar Buchanan, Bill Quinn

A crooked marshal from another territory intentionally kills an innocent man to collect the bounty money.

Guest stars: Robert H. Harris, Gordon Jones, Frank Sully, Lyle Bettger

An escaped killer holds Hattie and Micah hostage at the General Store to prove that he is still good with a gun.

Guest stars: Les Tremayne, John Durren, Hope Summers, Harlan Warde, John Maxwell, Bill Quinn, Adam Williams

The McCains befriend a stranger ( Patrick McVey) after he saves Mark from a rattlesnake, but they soon discover that he is not who he says he is.

Guest star: John Anderson

Lucas takes in an orphaned teen ( Dennis Hopper) being raised by his abusive uncle after trouble is caused at the school.

Guest stars: John Hoyt, Robert Foulk, Bill Quinn, Patricia Barry

A neighboring rancher ( George Mathews) refuses medical assistance when his son is seriously hurt in an accident because he blames doctors for the death of his wife.

Guest star: Edgar Buchanan

After a boy ( Paul Carr) admits to his father that he and the school teacher ( Patricia Barry) are in love, his rancher father ( James Westerfield) chases the teacher, an advocator for women's rights, out of town. Lucas wants to learn the truth.

Guest stars: Mel Carter, Hope Summers, Bill Quinn, Glenn Strange

Bookkeeper Asa Manning ( William Phipps) hires a professional gunman ( John Dehner) to provoke Oat Jackford ( Bert Freed), a bully rancher who suspects him of embezzlement, into a gunfight. Lucas is forced to assist Jackford, the man he once hated.

Guest stars: Harlan Warde, Earle Hodgins, Frank Hagney

A drought has forced local cowhands to seek work on a railroad construction project and railroad executives are afraid that their workers will desert them when an old man ( Royal Dano) claims to have found a way to make rain.

Guest stars: Parley Baer, Bing Russell

Lucas is surprised when Micah wishes death on a dying man ( Max Wagner) he brings into North Fork, then Lucas discovers that Micah holds a big secret.

Guest stars: Richard Devon, Kelton Garwood, Rhys Williams

Mark stumbles across a dead man and the only clue to his identity is a belt with the initials RM.

Guest stars: Jack Hogan, Bill Quinn, Thomas Gomez

A renegade band of Indians captures Mark and disappears into the hills of New Mexico. Guest stars: Michael Forest, Pat Hogan, Hope Summers, Robert Foulk, Clancy Cooper, Mark Goddard, Michael Ansara

Note: This is the sequel to the episode The Indian

The townspeople question the reputation of Lucas when he is named in a will of a notorious outlaw.

Guest stars: Dabbs Greer, Harlan Warde, Robert Foulk, William Bishop

Lucas takes in an orphaned boy ( Lee Kinsolving) and teaches him how to use a gun, not knowing that the boy plans on killing the banker ( Harlan Warde) he believes is responsible for his father's death.

Guest stars: Dabbs Greer, Hope Summers

Accused of a murder he did not commit, a young man ( Michael Landon) is finally cleared by the accidental discovery of a "mind reader" ( John Carradine).

Guest stars: Sue Randall, Vic Perrin, Robert Bice, William Schallert, John Harmon, Charles Seel

Three gunfighters (John Anderson, Steven Marlo, Dennis Cross) use a cowardly barber ( Whit Bissell) and his son to talk Lucas into a gunfight so they can kill Lucas and take over the town.

Guest stars: John Anderson, Don Grady, Dennis Cross

After Lucas is blamed for killing a young man, an outlaw father and his two sons attempt to kill Lucas.

Guest stars: Denver Pyle, Warren Oates, Christopher Dark, Buddy Hackett, Rhys Williams, Bill Quinn, Archie Butler

An ailing gunfighter ( John Dehner) comes to North Fork to die under a doctor's care in order to spare his family. But the gunfighter is being pursued by bank robbers ( John Milford, Howard Ledig) from whom he stole robbery money.

Guest stars: Hugh Sanders, Bill Quinn, Glenn Strange, George Brenlin, James Parnell

After Lucas accuses a newspaper writer's ( Alexander Scourby) misleading articles of causing an innocent man's death, the writer begins writing articles about Lucas.

Guest stars: Joanna Moore, Chris Alcaide

After a wanna-be bounty hunter ( Harry Dean Stanton) kills a man ( Gregory Walcott) wanted for a crime committed long ago, Lucas and Mark try to protect the widow (Sydna Scott) from learning about her husband's criminal past.

Guest stars: Robert H. Harris, Jack Elam

Eddie's daughter ( Gloria DeHaven), who is withholding criminal information and stolen money, comes to meet her father ( John Harmon) and causes trouble for Lucas.

Guest stars: Bill Quinn, Peter Whitney, Ray Teal

Lucas discovers a young married couple ( William Joyce and Enid Janes) with yellow fever and cares for them at his house, but Mark lets out the secret which causes panic in town.

Guest stars: Dabbs Greer, Fay Roope, Bill Quinn, Hope Summers

A series of events leads to Lucas and Mark being stranded in the middle of a desert with very little food or water, and after Lucas is injured, Mark becomes the only hope for their survival.

An unarmed outlaw ( Richard Devon) robs the stage of a lot of money after the outlaw informs Lucas that his son, Mark, is being held hostage at the McCain ranch and will be killed within the hour unless Lucas cooperates.

Guest stars: Harlan Warde, Jack Lambert, Baynes Barron, Virginia Christine, Glenn Strange, Charles E. Conrad, Fay Roope, John Harmon

Lucas makes a life-and-death decision when Micah is held hostage and the kidnappers demand the release of a notorious outlaw ( Vic Morrow).

Guest stars: Rhys Williams, Ken Lynch, Michael Fox, Paul Carr

Lucas respects a dying man's ( James Barton) wishes by telling the son ( James Franciscus) that his father is a partner in the McCain ranch in order to get him to North Fork, but Lucas finds trouble when the man dies before telling his son the truth.

Guest stars: Jack Grinnage, Denver Pyle, Fay Roope, Bill Quinn, Robert Bice, Donald Elson, Lillian Bronson, Harry Harvey, Don Kennedy

A singer ( Phyllis Avery) asks Lucas to care for her daughter in an effort to hide the child from its bigoted father ( John Dehner).

Guest stars: Lillian Bronson, Henry Rowland, Bill Quinn

Lucas becomes involved in a battle between a recently fired cook ( Carleton Carpenter) and a cocky trail hand (Steve Rowland) who finds it fun to attack those weaker than himself.

Guest stars: John Milford, Robert Bice, Bill Quinn

surveying party camps near North Fork. Mark carries a milk supply to their campsite. No one is there, and Mark falls asleep in a tent while reading a surveying book. Meanwhile, two of the surveyors ( Mike Kellin, Lin McCarthy) have murdered a third (Ted Otis), and are planning a crime in North Fork. Mark awakens when they return. He hears just a little of their talk; just enough for him to think that something bad is going to happen. He tells Lucas, but Lucas is not convinced. Mark must persist, and Lucas must consider and reconsider, before deciding what to do.

Lucas refuses a shooting competition with wandering buffalo hunter Cass Callicott ( John Anderson) and then becomes his new target.

Guest star: Dick Elliott

Shortly after his arrival to marry Isabelle (Alice Backes), John Jupiter ( Peter Whitney) is taunted and beaten.

Guest stars: Sandy Kenyon, Montie Montana

A man ( Royal Dano) hires two private detectives to find his long-lost son. They presume him to be dead and try to take Mark to pass him off as the son in order to collect the money.

Guest stars: Herbert Rudley, Chris Alcaide, Rhys Williams

Anne Dodd (Christine White), a pretty young widow of a man who was once Lucas' good friend, visits.

Guest stars: Michael Pate, June Vincent, John Harmon

The body of a notorious outlaw, the Domino Kid, is brought in by Colly Vane ( Robert Culp), who doesn't get the reward for he shot the man in the back.

Guest stars: Frank Ferguson, Lynn Cartier, Dennis Cross

Lucas and Mark try to help out a friend ( Chubby Johnson) who has been cheated in a horse trading deal.

Guest stars: Jack Kirkwood, John Milford, Clegg Hoyt

The Averys ( Chubby Johnson, Ellen Corby), Lucas' new elderly neighbors, live under an assumed name to keep the town from knowing they are the parents of a vicious wanted killer ( Skip Homeier).

Guest stars: Malcolm Cassell, Ralph Moody, and Max Wagner

Teenaged Heller ( Gigi Perreau) and her brother ( Don Grady) are badly mistreated by their drunken stepfather ( Peter Whitney).

Guest stars: K.T. Stevens, Hope Summers

Lucas and Mark find themselves held at gunpoint by a prisoner ( Richard Devon) being transported on a train, which becomes stranded from a plague of grasshoppers.

Guest stars: Arthur Hunnicutt, Arthur Space, Ethan Laidlaw, Hope Summers

Mark learns a new preacher ( Robert Knapp) is an impostor.

Guest stars: Chris Alcaide, Patricia Barry, John Milford, Hope Summers

Lucas learns why a young soldier ( Ron Hagerthy) deserted.

Guest stars: Robert O. Cornthwaite, Harry Carey, Jr., Bill Quinn, Richard Alexander

While ill with typhoid fever, Mark has a vision of his mother ( Marian Seldes).

Guest stars: Karl Swenson, Hope Summers, Natividad Vacío, Dennis Cross, John Abbott, Chuck Hicks

An old friend ( Richard Anderson) of Lucas' arrives in North Fork to open a gambling casino.

Guest stars: Steve Conte, Dayton Lummis, George Macready, James Flavin, Bill Quinn, Snub Pollard

The daughter (Jennifer Lea) of a prosperous rancher ( Douglas Kennedy) is found murdered.

Guest stars: Paul Carr, George N. Neise, William Benedict

Lucas receives a series of mysterious threatening notes from an ex-convict (John Anderson) with a grudge.

Guest stars: John Harmon, Bill Quinn, Jack Elam

Andy Moon ( George D. Wallace) and his young son (Eugene Mazzola) take shelter at the McCain ranch.

Guest stars: Richard Evans, Kay E. Kuter, Kelton Garwood, Dick Wilson, Rhys Williams, Charles Tannen

A bank-robbing gunman ( Kevin Hagen) decides to hide out at the McCain ranch.

Guest stars: Josephine Hutchinson, Warren Oates, Lee Van Cleef, Hope Summers

A neighbor ( Whit Bissell) has bet his whole year's farm crop on a horse race.

Guest stars: James Westerfield, K.T. Stevens, Hope Summers

A convict (Dabbs Greer) is released from prison and returns home to North Fork.

Guest stars: Karl Swenson, Bill Quinn, Molly Dodd

Lucas helps an old friend ( Claude Akins), a federal agent, infiltrate a gang of robbers.

Guest stars: Chris Alcaide, John Milford, Frank DeKova, Bill Quinn

Lucas helps a woman ( Julie Adams) who is being harassed by a rough gambler.

Guest stars: Michael Fox, Johnny Carpenter

An ex-convict (Whit Bissell) is accused of robbing and killing his employer.

Guest stars: Denver Pyle, Richard Deacon, Betty Lou Gerson

Three robbers hold Mark hostage, forcing Lucas to help them rob the North Fork bank.

Guest stars: Marc Lawrence, Harold J. Stone, Jack Kruschen, Harlan Warde

A matriarch seeks revenge for her sons' deaths.

Guest stars: Lane Bradford, James Hurst, Robert F. Hoy

A prison wagon carrying seven criminals stops over in North Fork for supplies.

Guest stars: Bing Russell, Helen Beverley, Hope Summers, Don Megowan

A con man and his son want Lucas' mineral rights.

Guest stars: John Milford, Paul Wexler, and Bob Sweeney

Lucas trails an escaped prisoner ( Claude Akins) to a mining town in the mountains.

Guest stars: William Schallert, Claude Akins, Peter Whitney

A Mexican bandit and his gang ride into North Fork.

Guest stars: John Milford, Jack Kruschen, Linda Dangcil, Cesare Danova

Lucas helps a young minister who had problems with his father.

Guest stars: John Hoyt, Don Dubbins, Richard Alexander

A new store owner unknowingly hires con men as collection agents.

Guest stars: Joan Taylor, Warren Oates, Michael Fox, Charles Tannen, Richard Devon

Before she dies, the widow of a bandit Lucas shot arranges for his death.

Guest stars: Joan Taylor, Steve Darrell, Chris Alcaide, Harlan Warde, and Ed Nelson

Mark is trapped in an old mine.

Guest stars: Jimmy Fields, Pamela Cole, and Arnold Moss

A con man makes his living by provoking and then betting on gunfights.

Guest stars: Dabbs Greer, Denny Miller

A hard-drinking painter is accused of murder.

Guest stars: Midge Ware, Dayton Lummis, Ed Nelson, Joseph V. Perry, Richard Whorf

A desperate, mute man steals from the stagecoach.

Guest star: Richard Devon

A sprightly elderly lady arrives in North Fork and announces that she plans to capture a bandit.

Guest stars: Joan Taylor, Agnes Moorehead, Richard Anderson

Lucas helps alcoholic former doctor Jack Cooke (John Larch) regain his self-respect.

Guest stars: John Larch, James Gavin, Ron Hayes, Ralph Moody

Lucas unmasks a book salesman as a killer.

Guest stars: Richard Anderson, Jean Allison, Patricia Breslin

Lucas and Micah are beset with troubles while bringing a killer to trial.

Guest star: Lonny Chapman

A dying friend asks Lucas to fetch his wife.

Guest stars: Morris Ankrum, Diana Millay, Ralph Moody, Charles Tannen

Lucas begins to believe in ghosts when he sees someone he thinks he killed in the war.

Guest stars: Joan Taylor, K.T. Stevens, Ralph Moody, Ben Cooper, John Anderson

Lucas goes undercover as a federal agent.

Guest stars: Joan Taylor, Kent Taylor, Dabbs Greer, Russell Thorson, Chris Alcaide

Lucas is sent to Wyoming to investigate the sale of guns to Indians.

Guest stars: Joan Taylor, Kent Taylor, Dabbs Greer, Russell Thorson, Chris Alcaide

Micah is terrorized by an old enemy and resigns from his job.

Guest stars: Rex Ingram, Berry Kroeger, Bill Quinn

Lucas, Mark and Micah learn the secret of a town's 20-year-old mystery of a lost gold mine.

Guest star: Willam Fawcett

Lucas, temporarily blind, faces a gunfight.

Guest stars: Joan Taylor, John Milford, Ralph Moody, Joe Higgins

A former POW imprisons Lucas for his role in the Civil War.

Guest stars: Joan Taylor, Adam Williams, John Dehner

A traveling salesman is accused of forcing his attentions on a local woman.

Guest stars: Linda Lawson, King Calder, Paul Mantee and Bob Sweeney

Lucas faces lynching for unwittingly buying stolen horses.

Guest stars: Hal Baylor, Norman Leavitt, William Schallert, Bert Freed

A slow-witted handyman gets into trouble when he accidentally kills a skilled gunfighter.

Guest stars: Joan Taylor, Buddy Hackett, Denver Pyle, Lee Van Cleef, John Milford

Lucas and Mark stumble across a robbery in progress.

Guest star: Adam Williams

After Lucas receives a curse while attending then hanging of a murdering Indian, he goes on a hunt to find out who or what is behind the so-called curse.

Guest stars: Ralph Moody, Jackie Searl, Michael Pate

Lucas allows troublesome snowed-in stagecoach passengers to stay with him until the roads are passable.

Guest stars: Adam West, Gordon Jones, Bethel Leslie

Lucas almost finds himself at the altar when two drunken cowboys play a joke on him.

Guest stars: Joan Taylor, Kay E. Kuter, Bill Quinn, Joan Shawlee

An ex-gunfighter from Lucas' past, now a doctor, comes to his aid when a dying man is brought in, but Lucas and the new doctor have unresolved anger toward each other.

Guest stars: Philip Carey, Gigi Perreau, John Pickard, William Kendis, Steve Pendleton, James Drury

Lucas helps a Chinese man settle into town after townspeople try to force him out because of his race.

Guest stars: Joan Taylor, Victor Sen Yung, Pat Close, Paul Wexler, Peter Whitney

Lucas subdues a gang of bandits singlehandedly.
Guest stars: Martin Landau, Roberto Contreras, Vladimir Sokoloff, Than Wyenn, Pepe Hern .

Note: This is the first episode to air on a Monday night.

Mark takes a job against his father's wishes.

Guest stars: Ed Nelson, Joe Higgins

Stagecoach robbers take Mark and Milly hostage.

Guest stars: Joan Taylor, Harlan Warde, Paul Wexler

A prison wagon carrying a condemned killer passes through North Fork.

Guest stars: Richard Devon, Dabbs Greer, Charles Cooper

A new neighbor of the McCains' gives Mark a job on his ranch.

Guest stars: John Anderson, John Milford, Harry Carey Jr., Mel Carter, Chris Alcaide

A killer's rich father tries to bribe witness Lucas.

Guest stars: Denver Pyle, Hampton Fancher, Kevin Hagen, Arlyne Varden (credited as Arlyne Lampshire), Richard Kiel, Henry Norell

An eccentric old friend of Lucas' arrives in North Fork.

Guest stars: Lawrence Dobkin, Sean McClory, Jack Elam

A kindly neighbor ( Royal Dano) of Lucas' believes he is President Lincoln.

Guest stars: Royal Dano, Charles Cooper, K.T. Stevens, and Pick Temple

The North Fork Town Council feels that an old man is incapable of raising his grandson.

Guest stars: Joan Taylor, Edgar Buchanan, Virginia Christine, Bill Zuckert

Mark Twain visits North Fork.

Guest stars: Kevin McCarthy, Jack Elam, John Harmon

The townspeople leave Lucas to face killers alone.

Guest stars: Peter Whitney, Whit Bissell, Brian G. Hutton, Billy E. Hughes

Lucas is accidentally responsible for the death of a young mountain boy.

Guest stars: James Coburn, Booth Colman, Ellen Corby, Valora Noland

Lucas is stunned when Mark is kidnapped and a $5,000 ransom is asked.

Guest stars: Joan Taylor, Harlan Warde, Parley Baer, Tom Snyder

Outlaws force Lucas to help with a prison break.

Guest stars: Lyle Bettger, Lewis Charles, Tom Brown, Don Drysdale, John Alvin

A young girl seeks refuge at the McCain ranch for herself and her ill brother.

Guest stars: Annie Fargue, Michel Petit, Stephen Bekassy, Ron Penfound

A gang comes to town to free a jailed member.

Guest stars: Lon Chaney Jr., Ross Elliot, Joe Higgins, Grant Richards

A drifter forces his attentions on a deaf girl.

Guest stars: Patrick McVey, Richard Rust, Dennis Cross

A dapper man arrives on the stage and announces that he has come to kill Lucas.

Guest stars: Joan Taylor, Arthur Malet, James Luisi

Mark falls head-over-heels in to his first puppy love.

Guest stars: Joan Taylor, Cheryl Holdridge, Richard Evans

A young man arrives in North Fork to claim the body of his dead brother.

Guest stars: Robert Culp, Jack Hogan, Ralph Moody, Harlan Warde

A young gunman with a killer's reputation comes to town and threatens to kill Micah.

Guest stars: Sammy Davis Jr., Johnny Ginger

Lucas is accused of cold-blooded murder by a man who claims to have been an eyewitness.

Guest stars: Leonard Stone, Robert Bice, Bill Quinn

Mark deliberately disobeys his father for the first time when he allows a convicted prisoner to escape.

Guest stars: Hank Patterson, Keith Andes

Lucas suddenly develops the habit is playing all-night poker in the local saloon.

Guest stars: Joan Taylor, Grace Lee Whitney, Larry Thor, Grant Richards

A banjo-playing wanderer, hunting the man who caused his blindness, befriends Mark.

Guest stars: Cliff Osmond, Jeff York

Jake Owens and his beautiful young wife buy the ranch adjoining the McCains'.

Guest stars: Mort Mills, Diane Brewster, Richard Garland, Rex Holman

An aging Southern belle and her teenage son arrive in North Fork and immediately identify Micah as her long-lost husband and father of the boy.

Guest stars: Lee Patrick, Tom Nolan, Argentina Brunetti, Chubby Johnson

North Fork welcomes a new minister ( Royal Dano), but Lucas knows he is a former outlaw and an ex-convict.

Guest stars: Royal Dano, Warren Oates, L.Q. Jones, Billy E. Hughes

The McCains return from a trip to learn Micah has been voted out as marshal and a stranger now has the job.

Guest stars: James Best, Lawrence Dobkin

A handsome gambler moves into town and begins wooing Milly Scott, claiming to have known her deceased brother.

Guest stars: Joan Taylor, Richard Anderson

Lucas develops temporary amnesia from a head injury while visiting a strange town and mistakenly assumes the identity of a wanted criminal.

Guest stars: Michael Greene, Paul Wexler, William Woodson, Stanley Adams, Tom Gilson, Roy Barcroft, Mel Carter

A former friend of Lucas', out to recover some stolen money he had hidden on the McCain ranch, is released from prison and asks Lucas for a job.

Guest stars: Adam Williams, John Davis Chandler, Michael Pate

The McCains and Micah enter a "ghost town" and are taken prisoners by a group of bandits.

Guest stars: Vito Scotti, Alex Montoya, Pepe Hern, Tony Rosa

One of the bandit's wives (Enid Jaynes) is about to give birth and Lucas must deliver it rather than escape.

Guest stars: Vito Scotti, Alex Montoya, Pepe Hern, Tony Rosa

Red-headed beauty Lou Mallory ( Patricia Blair) arrives in North Fork and buys a hotel.

Guest stars: Peter Whitney, Conlan Carter, Mel Carter, Bill Quinn

Lucas, Lou Mallory, Doctor Burrage and two innocent bystanders are trapped in the hotel with dangerous outlaw Lee Coyle ( Ed Ames) after a smallpox epidemic.

Guest stars: Patricia Blair, Ralph Moody

A former gunfighter friend of Lucas ( Lee Van Cleef) arrives in town intent on settling down and living quietly.

Guest stars: Rex Holman, Joe Higgins, Bill Quinn

A charming Irishman ( Sean McClory) comes to town announcing that he is there to claim Lou Mallory as his bride.

Guest stars: Patricia Blair, Charles Cooper, Joe Higgins

A group of assassins disguised as cavalry soldiers try to murder an influential visiting senator ( Edward Platt).

Guest stars: Patricia Blair, John Milford, Noam Pitlik, William Bryant, Joe Higgins

Mark befriends a young man ( Mark Goddard) who arrives in town to promote a circus and then quickly becomes a robbery suspect.

Guest stars: Patricia Blair, Ralph Moody, Eddie Quillan

Wade Randall ( Sammy Davis, Jr.) appears in town, bragging of his gun battles with notorious bad men, until one of them ( Richard Devon) shows up to challenge him.

Guest stars: Patricia Blair, Pat Henry

An unscrupulous land buyer ( Gerald Mohr) tries to purchase the McCain ranch for a railroad eminent domain.

Guest stars: Patricia Blair, Chris Alcaide, Dean Fredericks

Mark develops an intense aversion of his father's rifle after a shooting accident takes the life of his friend ( Jimmy Carter).

Guest stars: Patricia Blair, Bill Quinn, Peter Whitney, Jay Nelson

Outlaws, who had elected not to rob North Branch due to its heavily-armed reputation, change their minds upon learning of a new policy disarming the citizenry.

Guest star: Norman Alden

While out on a cougar hunt, a frightening incident causes Lucas to lose faith in his ability as a rifleman.

Guest stars: Patricia Blair, Ralph Moody, Rhodes Reason, Eddie Quillan

A murder occurs at a railroad camp near town, and a young Indian friend of Lucas' is accused of the killing.

Guest stars: Patricia Blair, Paul Mantee, John Anderson, Raymond Guth, Ray Kellogg

Lucas and Mark find Winslow Quince ( Kevin McCarthy) stranded in the desert with a broken wheel on his wagon and help him to get to town. Quince is later blamed for a series of murders and robberies.

Guest stars: Patricia Blair, Joe Higgins, Bill Quinn, William Fawcett

Grid Maul, a boy not much older than Mark, confronts Lucas with the announcement that he intends to kill him to avenge his father's death.

Guest stars: Patricia Blair, Joe Higgins, Billy E. Hughes

North Fork welcomes the arrival of the first train on the new railroad and with it, visitors that include a royal cousin of the Emperor of Japan (John Fujioka).

Guest stars: Patricia Blair, Vito Scotti, Charles Maxwell, Paul Sorensen

Lucas' faith in his son's honesty is shaken when he hears rumors that Mark may be mixed up with some thieves.

Guest stars: Maurice Dallimore, Tony Haig, I. Stanford Jolley, Paul Mazursky

Lucas and Mark, returning from a fishing trip in the mountains, encounter Micah, who is escorting prisoner Scully Potter ( Lonny Chapman) to Santa Fe.

Lucas, ordinarily a patient and reasonable man, turns vengeful after learning an old enemy ( Jeff Morrow) is in town.

Guest stars: Patricia Blair, Joe Higgins, K.T. Stevens

Away on a trip for the Cattleman's Association, Lucas rescues a man and is drawn into a fight with the crooked owner of a gambling establishment ( Richard Anderson).

Guest stars: Harold J. Stone, Norman Leavitt, Dal McKennon

Mark is injured in an accident, which leaves his legs paralyzed. The doctor suggests mineral baths at Mission Springs to help. There, a gang of Yuma Prison escapees are hiding.

Guest stars: Patricia Blair, Ralph Moody, Dean Fredericks, George Lindsey

A charming stranger ( Cesare Danova) arrives at the McCain ranch and identifies himself as an acquaintance of an old friend of Lucas.

Guest stars: Patricia Blair, Walter Sande

An old man ( John Anderson) appears in North Fork asking for Micah's protection from a gang of criminals who are after him.

Guest stars: Patricia Blair, Joe Higgins, Adam Williams, Arthur Batanides

The hillbilly Jackman family are installed as peace officers in a town near North Fork.

Guest stars: Peter Whitney, Vito Scotti, Conlan Carter, Mickey Manners, Beatrice Kay, Dal McKennon, Leo Gordon

The recluse Old Tony ( Stefan Schnabel) helps Lucas rescue Mark and his girlfriend Lorrie from quicksand. (Trent was injured in the quicksand scene, which led to her decision to retire from filmmaking.)

Guest stars: Karen Sue Trent, Martin Kosleck