Geography of TV Westerns Trivia Quiz

Answer: San Francisco, California

Paladin's permanent place of residence was the Hotel Carlton in San Francisco. While in San Francisco attending the opera and other cultural events, he was dressed to the nines, but while on the job he dressed all in black. The series ran a total of 225 episodes, and 24 of them were written by Gene Roddenberry of "Star Trek" fame.

Answer: Virginia City, Nevada

"Bonanza" ran from 1959 until 1973 and had a total of 431 episodes. In length it was second only to "Gunsmoke" for longevity. And yes, Virginia, there really is a Virginia City in Nevada, and it's located near Lake Tahoe just like the blazing map used in the intro to "Bonanza" shows.

Answer: Medicine Bow, Wyoming

"The Virginian" ran for a total of 249 episodes from 1962 to 1971. It was one of the first to be filmed in color and it was television's first 90-minute western. Well, actually it was a 75-minute western with 15 minutes of commercial breaks. One interesting note - the real name of the Virginian was never revealed in the show.

Answer: Death Valley

"Death Valley Days" started out as a radio show in 1930. It moved to television in 1952 and was hosted by "The Old Ranger". In 1964 Ronald Reagan took over hosting duties and starred in twenty-one of the episodes until 1965 when he began his political career. The show ran until 1970 for a total of 452 episodes.

Answer: Stockton, California

"The Big Valley" ran for four seasons, from September 1965 to May 1969. It was loosely based on the Hill Ranch, a 30,000 acre ranch that was located in Calaveras County in California, not far from Stockton. The ranch was run by Lawson Hill until he was murdered in 1861, and his wife ("Auntie Hill") took over. Like the TV show, they had three sons and a daughter.

The ranch is now covered by a reservoir.

Answer: North Fork, New Mexico

Lucas McCain was known as "The Rifleman" because he did not carry a pistol. Instead he used a Winchester Model 1892 rifle that was customized to allow rapid fire. Back when the show was popular, a sought-after Christmas toy was a toy model of the rifle he used. His ranch was set in the New Mexico territory before it became a state.

Answer: Arizona

The "High Chaparral" name came from a plant which is also known as Creosote Bush or Greasewood. The scientific name is Larrea tridentate, but I suppose that wouldn't be an appropriate name for a tough guy's ranch. The show ran for four seasons from 1967 to 1971 for a total of 98 episodes. The main star was Leif Erickson.

Answer: Trains

In "Wild, Wild West" the star, Robert Conrad, has his office on a train. In "Casey Jones", the star is the legendary Casey Jones, played by Alan Hale. In "Union Pacific", the star of the show supervises the construction and extension of the Union Pacific Railroad from Oklahoma to Utah.

Answer: Tombstone Territory

"Tombstone Territory" ran for only three seasons for a total of 91 episodes. It was set in Tombstone, Arizona which was not yet a state when the events in the show presumably took place. Richard Eastham was the editor of the Tombstone Epitaph, a real newspaper which was in business into the 21st Century.

Answer: Grover, Arizona

"Sky King" originally ran for only one season on NBC, from 1951 to 1952. but the episodes were brought back in reruns the following year by ABC. It went into syndication in 1955 and ran through 1959. After that it resurfaced in reruns until 1966. There was a total of only 72 episodes.

The plane was called "Songbird" and was originally a world war II surplus Cessna T-50 Bobcat. Because of rot in the wooden frame, it was replaced by a Cessna 310B for episodes 40 through 72. Despite supposedly being set in Arizona, the filming was actually done in the high desert of California.

The ranch house is an actual residence located in Apple Valley, California.