Half A Claim

Originally Aired: July 8, 1938The Lone Ranger #850, "Half A Claim," begins when young prospector Jim Rockwell returns to his Uncle Ike's home with exciting news: he's discovered a rich gold strike. Concerned about his idle, dissipated cousin Matt, who spends his days gambling and drinking, Jim makes a generous offer. He proposes taking Matt back to the claim as a partner, hoping that honest work and the promise of wealth will reform him. Uncle Ike is grateful but skeptical, knowing Matt's troublesome nature all too well. Meanwhile, the Lone Ranger and Tonto observe the cousins' arrival in the remote gold country, noting that the shack they're building sits dangerously beneath unstable rocks on a hillside.As Jim and Matt settle in to begin their mining operation, tension quickly develops between the hardworking Jim and the lazy, hot-tempered Matt. Matt smokes nervously and grows suspicious, even accusing Jim of tricking him about the claim's value. Jim has done most of the work building their shack while Matt contributed little, and he's rapidly losing patience with his cousin's "onry cussedness." With the Lone Ranger watching from afar and Matt's volatile temperament threatening to explode, trouble seems inevitable at this isolated mining camp.