This powerful Gunsmoke episode takes listeners into the heart of a frontier crisis. When a devastating drought threatens a massive cattle herd, trail boss Jack Jackson desperately needs water from Cottonwood Pond. Rancher Dyke Howard has fenced off the water source and demands exorbitant fees, pushing desperate cattlemen toward violence. Marshal Matt Dillon faces one of his toughest moral dilemmas—caught between legal duty and moral justice as tensions escalate into a potential range war. Dillon discovers an obscure territorial ordinance that might save the day, but Howard refuses to back down. As prairie fires ignite, nature itself intervenes with spectacular force, delivering justice in ways no lawman could predict.

Episode Highlights & Quotes

"Water is a material. And as far as keeping cattle alive, concerned, Cottonwood Pond is a facility." - Marshall Matt Dillon

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