#217 THE SECRET OF BLUESTEM      (Original air date:   03/05/98)
 

Written by:	Claire Whitaker
Directed by:	Sandor Stern
Produced by:	Martha Williamson, Jon Andersen, E.F. Wallengren & R.J. Visciglia, Jr.

Guest Cast:

Chuck Carstens	Scott Kraft
Dolly Carstens	Michael Learned
Guy Standing Bear	Les Brandt
Jordan Dash	Phil Riesen
Fred Schaffner	Jesse Bennett

 

The Greenes travel to South Dakota to meet with a lawyer regarding the contents of a will. Claire's deceased cousin (Quill Torrey) left Claire and her family a ranch located on a hundred acres of property near an Indian reservation. Claire gets the nesting urge to settle down, and for the first time, the Greenes give serious thought to the prospect of setting down roots since their travels began. When someone sets fire to lumber the Greenes purchased to fix the bunkhouse, Russell goes to the sheriff. The sheriff suggests the possibility that poachers (scavenging the land for valuable Indian artifacts) are behind it. The Greenes learn that the owner of the local trading post (Chuck Carstens), who is interested in buying Quill's acreage, has been raiding Indian lands and selling off artifacts at a healthy mark-up. Russell ultimately learns that Quill knew of the poaching, intended to leave the land to the Indians to correct an age-old wrong, but died before he was able to change his will. The Greenes do the right thing, honoring Quill's wishes, and return the land to its rightful owner.