‘How the West was Won’ was made

Press, 26 June 1978, Page 15

‘How the West was Won’ was made

, The winning of land by; ! people of diverse motiva- < itions who hungered for new: horizons is the theme in ’ “How the West was Won,”: the series which runs on; Monday nights on SPTV. “The structure for the series is more like a continuing saga, each segment blending into the next,” said the executive producer, John Mantley, who has supervised more than 400 western in a 20-year career. Some 70 per cent of the series was photographed in locations where much of the history of the west was actually made, including Kanab, Utah; Canon City and La Junta, Colorado; and Old Tucson, Arizona. Mantley secured permission from the State of Colorado to film sequences at Bente’s Fort, a national historical monument which the state recently reconstructed at a cost of several million dollars. An unusual scene during the 20-day location in Colorado takes place on the 30,000-acre Griffin Ranch (6500 ft located in Alpine Meadows, high above Canon City, Colorado, with the I spectacular Rocky Moun-» tains as the back drop. The ranch was the site where numerous silent westerns were filmed. Also on the Canon City

’ location Mantley hired 100 ; full-blooded Indians who re-| ~side in the surrounding com-: munities to portray a Sioux (Indian tribe. ’I In addition, the West- ; ernaires, a unit of 60 young ■ men under strict military ■ discipline who give performances using authentic ward- : robe and specially-trained I horses, were employed for i the production as the United I States Cavalry troopers. The directorial responsibilities are shared by the > brothers Bernard and Vin-i i cent McEveety. The script: • was written by Earl W.j . Wallace, William Kelly, Cal-' ; vin Clements, Paul F. Ed-: • wards and Mantley. 1 Since people were partner-1 ed with animals in the! development of the west, ■ livestock plays an important ; part in the production of I “How the West was Won.” i Mantley retained a veteran . wrangler, Richard Lundin, to I supervise the show’s vast demand for horses, cows, ; Buffalo, oxen, sheep, mules, chickens and goats. > Lundin, who for 10 years i was the ramrod of “Gun- . smoke,” obtained a team of i champion Durham oxen and >|a herd of buffalo. , One of his biggest assign-: ment was rounding up 2001 i head of Texas Longhorn • steers used in the cattle ( drive sequence filmed in ’ Tucson.