Original subtitles

♪ [ trumpet ]

ROBERT TAYLOR: This is Death Valley--

lowest point on the American continent,

one of the hottest places on earth,

where heat and thirst and trackless wastes

confronted the 49ers coming west

during the greatest rush

for land and gold in history.

True stories about Death Valley would fill volumes,

but the first of them all,

how Death Valley got it's name,

is the story we bring you now.

We call it...

Our Father, who art in heaven,

hallowed be your name.

Thy kingdom come.

Thy will be done

on earth as it is in heaven.

Our present position is here.

Thanks to Mr. Bennett

and his shortcut,

the horses, the oxen,

all our animals are gone.

Now, distance to the mountains is about 30 miles,

the California settlements, another 30.

Traveling light, you should be able to make it

there and back in, at the most, 10 days.

You mean if we run all the way?

I mean, Mr. Rogers, as you very well know,

that even with strictest rationing,

we have food and water for two weeks,

no longer.

These women and children are depending on you.

Oh?

Just the women and children? Huh?

Let's go.

Well, now, Captain Culverwell here

is giving all the orders around here.

At least he thinks he is.

Mr. Rogers--

You're right, Captain.

Mr. Rogers.

I'm out of the army now. So is he. So are you.

Ain't anything any of us gotta do for anybody else,

just ourselves.

We choose to do you a favor,

but we'll do it our way and in our own good time.

Mr. Rogers...

we'll be praying for you.

Thank you, Mrs. Bennett.

Come on.

[ coughing ]

That's the last we'll ever see of them.

They gave their word.

I remember you giving us your word.

You promised you'd get us to California

before the rush.

Just trust in me.I said I was wrong,

I've admitted that over and over.

Bill, where-- where is California?

Over and beyond.

There's bound to be some water

over them mountains some place.

Don't you ever get tired?

Well, I'd doubt if either one of us is as weary

as those folks are back at the wagon waiting for us.

When they come back, they'll come back that way.

It's not possible.

Logistics say it would have to be

from that direction there.

[ coughing ]

Come on, let's go.

Come on.

I'm sorry to bother you, Mrs. Bennett.

You couldn't bother me if you tried.

How is Mr. Arcane this morning?

He's worse.

He just lies there in the wagon,

he won't talk to me.

I don't know what to do,

his medicine's all gone, and I--

Mrs. Bennett?

Yes, Captain?

Well, I've been trying to reason with your husband.

Mr. Bennett is a reasonable man.

I disagree.

That is your privilege.

Something's got to be done!

We can't wait any longer.

We're down to inches in the water barrel.

I know that Captain, but there's still some left.

I think I better go and see--

What I have to say, Mrs. Arcane,

affects your husband, your little boy, and yourself,

the same as all of us.

We can't run away from the facts.

Manly and Rogers are not coming back.

They never intended to.

I hate to hear you say that, Captain.

Closing your mind from the truth

will help nobody, Mrs. Bennett.

Now, let's get down to what can be done.

Mr. Arcane is in no condition to be moved.

Mr. Bennett belongs here with you and the children.

That leaves only me.

I'm not that much of a cripple.

I've marched on this leg before

when other men who never sustained a wound

were dropping out of the firing line.

You want food and water for your journey.

But we can't spare any.

I mean, the children are already going to bed hungry.

They'll get hungrier, Mrs. Arcane.

They will starve unless one of us

is able to go out after help.

Suppose you go, Captain.

Suppose something happens to you.

I've lived through the war in Mexico.

This desert won't stop me.

How do we know you'll come back?

The sooner I start, the better for all concerned.

I'll talk to Mr. Bennett.

I told you, he won't listen.He always has.

The way he listened when people who knew better

tried to warn him against his short cut

that lead us to this hellhole?

For God sake, woman!

[ thud ]

Go on.

Yell. Wake everybody up.

Tell them you caught a thief.

The longer they sleep,

the less time they'll be hungry.

In the army they shoot deserters for cowardice

in face of the enemy.

We don't have anything to shoot anybody with,

even if we wanted to.

You're doing worse just standing there.

Captain--Don't call me Captain!

I'll tell you what kind of a Captain I am.

I never carried that sword except on dress parade

with a Sunday militia in Illinois.

This limp never came from any battle wound.

I never saw battle.

I fell off my horse,

and I was discharged,

unfit for service.

I headed out west to get away from being laughed at.

Tin soldier, liar, fake.

Sarah, you've been--

Good morning, Captain.

Well?

Are you going to tell them, or should I?

Tell me what?

We--

We're talking about how to make things last

until the boys come back.

Stop it, Sarah. For god sake, stop it.

They're not coming back. We're out here for good.

You better take a look at the girls.

Are they awake?

Yeah, they're awake. They're burning up a fever.

There's no way I can make another step

without some water, Bill.

I ain't got no water. You know that.

Rogers, Rogers, take a look.

Water!

[ laughing ]

[ laughing, cheering ]

Rogers! Look.

Who are you? What do you want?

My name's Manly. This is Rogers.

Our wagon party's stranded out in the desert.

People are counting on us to bring back food and water.

How far did you come?

I don't know in miles,

but about 15 days since we left.

Women and children aboard.

We can't pay much.

Only got about 30 dollars American between us.

This is a brave thing to journey so far

for the sake of others.

I would not expect it from what I have heard of...

Yankees.

[ coughing ]Please, no.

Mr. Arcane's up.

Arcane!Stop it!

Arcane!

Yes, Mr. Bennett.

I broke your rule.

And what are you going to do about it?

Nothing, Arcane. Nothing...

except you used up your next turn. That's all.

He's just too sick to realize.

Be still.

I realize all right.

You gave the orders that got us into this.

And you're still giving orders...

but not to me, Mr. Bennett,

not to me.

Mr. Arcane, you shouldn't be up out of bed.

Why shouldn't I?

I might just as well go out and leave walking

with Captain Culverwell.

William, no!Leave me alone!

[ coughing ]

William!

Let Mr. Bennett take care of him.

What are we going to do?

What are we going to do?

All we can do is keep hoping and believing.

Oh I can't hope anymore.

Yes, you can!I can't.

Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,

I will fear no evil, for thou art with me,

thy rod and my staff,

they comfort me.

I thought you were gonna put those horses out of their misery.

Well, they're not too lame to make it out of here,

if they're not carrying a load.

You really care that much about them animals, don't you?

Yeah.

Yeah, I do.

That's the last of it.

Charlie...

save some for your father.

[ sobbing ]

I can't go no further, I've gotta have some water.

Leave that water alone.

Bill, I've gotta have water.

These other people need it worse than we do, so forget it.

You're going in the wrong direction, anyway.

You've been going in the wrong direction.

Get off of that mule and carry your own weight,

if you're man enough.

Come on.

Poor devil,

but he helped.

Hadn't been for the sun shining on that sword, we'd have passed him by.

Came from straight off yonder.

How do you know he wasn't lost,

travelin' in circles just like we've been doing?

Well, there's one way to find out.

Let's go.

I told you. I kept telling you they're dead.

They either wandered off,

or they just sat there and died.

Well, in that case, they're entitled to a burial.

[ gun fires ]

They're alive, all right.

They've come back.

They've come back!

[ mutters ]

I'll get you some water.

Here, let me take this food and water to the rest of them.

All right.Come on, boy.

Take it easy now. Don't drink it fast.

A little more.

I sure didn't figure you guys would hold out this long,

but that Manly, he don't give up on nothin',

I don't know how.

Here you go, Mrs. Arcane.

How is that, Charlie?

I'm gonna take this to the girls.

[ laughs ]

Though I walk through the valley of the shadow

of death,

I will fear no evil.

That's a good name for it, Mrs. Bennett.

That's a right and proper name.

Death Valley...

but Beyond those mountains is God's country.

I think, Mr. Manly, that wherever we are,

even in Death Valley,

we're in God's country.

So Death Valley got it's name.

It's a national monument now,

and it's thousands of visitors

will find that Bennett's well,

this marker, on the exact spot of the original campsite,

a reminder of another true story

of the winning of the West.