Great Plains
Ray finds out how 500,000 square miles of flat, treeless grassland was the setting for some of the Wild West’s most dramatic stories of Plains Indians, wagon trains, homesteaders and cattle drives. He joins the Blackfeet Indian Nation as they demonstrate bareback riding skills before a ritual buffalo hunt and sacrifice, and learns how their ancestors were dependent upon the buffalo for their survival. He follows in the wagon ruts of the early pioneers along the Oregon Trail, hitches a ride on a prairie schooner with a wagon master and discovers the stories of the early homesteaders who lived in sod-houses and farmed wild grassland. At a Dodge City cattle auction he explores the story of the railways, cow-towns and the buffalo massacre. His journey ends at Moore Ranch where he joins a long-horn cattle drive and learns about the life and myth of the cowboy.
