Max Terhune

The sheriff of Gila Springs is murdered by gunmen, leaving the town wide open for corruption. Three traveling cowboys known as the Range Busters ride into town to clean things up. In the 18th entry of Monogram's 24 "Range Buster" films, the bank of Gila Springs is robbed by Ace Alton and his gang, and Sheriff Frank Hammond, son of Marshal Jim Hammond, is killed. The Marshal sends for the Range Busters, Dusty King, Davy Sharpe and Alibi Terhune, to come and restore order to the town. Ed Cole, head of the local vigilantes, and secretly the head of the outlaws, promptly orders the trio out of town. They visit an old friend, Rancher Mike Rand and his daughter Mary. Mary's brother Jeff has unwittingly become a gang member, and carries out Cole's orders by taking a shot at Davy, but the latter makes him a prisoner during a subsequent fight in the town café. Jeff confesses to Cole's involvement, and the Range Busters, with the help of town banker Harrison, set a trap for Cole and his outlaw vigilantes. —Les Adams <longhorn1939@suddenlink.net>

Gold stages are being held up in the far west at a time when the U.S. government needs bullion, just before the famed "Black Friday" attempt to corner the gold market. The government sends the Range Busters, Crash Corrigan, Dusty King and Alibi Terhune, to Gold Butte, an important bullion dispensing center, to put an end to the stage robberies. —Les Adams <longhorn1939@suddenlink.net>

Very organized cattle rustlers are operating with portable slaughterhouses and refrigerator vans. The governor asks the Three Mesquiteers to go undercover to investigate. The Cattlemen's Association has called in the Mesquiteers to find cattle rustlers. They get Tex Riley to pose as Stony so Stony can arrive posing as a wanted outlaw. This gets Stony into the gang of rustlers and he alerts Tucson and Lullaby as to the next raid. But Hartley is on hand and unknown to anyone is the rustler's boss and he joins the posse with a plan that will do away with the Mesquiteers. —Maurice VanAuken <mvanauken@a1access.net>

After gold shipments from a mining town have been hijacked, the three Mesquiteers buy a plane to fly the gold out. The owner of the shipping line brings in Eastern gangsters to thwart them. With the stage being held up regularly, the Mesquiteers decide an airplane would be better so they get the ranchers to sell their cattle and invest in the new airline. But when a gold shipment goes out, the stage line owner has his men hijack the plane. The pilot discharges the gas causing a forced landing and the Mesquiteers must now find the missing plane and recover the gold. —Maurice VanAuken <mvanauken@a1access.net>

Flagg is relocating flood victims to Gunsmoke Ranch. The Three Mesquiteers know Flagg to be a crook and try to warn them. They ignore the warning and improve the land only to find that it has been condemned for a new dam. During the Great Depression, when natural catastrophes including floods destroy the homes of thousands,.crooked, con man Phineas Flagg buys up all the ranches in Arizona's Gunsmoke Valley at the bargain price of $2 per acre. The displaced families are only too happy to buy what Flagg misrepresents as 40 acres of prime farmland per family at the bargain price of $50 an acre. What he doesn't tell the migrants is that the entire area has been condemned under the law of eminent domain and will soon be flooded for the construction of a new dam. The group's leader, Judge Warren, initially disregards the Mesquiteers' warnings that they're being conned,, but Stony' romances his beautiful granddaughter Marion,, and the settlers accept the Mesquiteers' help,, but is it too late? —duke1029