During their travels, Kit Carson and El Toro encountered many outlaws and criminal schemes, including bank & stagecoach robbers, cattle rustlers, claim jumpers, blackmailers, land swindlers and counterfeiters and smugglers.

Specific gangs included the Stoddard gang, the O'Neill gang, the Hanlon gang, the Ringo gang, the ruthless El Chambergo and his gang, and a vigilante group known as "the Hooded League" who were involved in a range war between ranchers and  homesteaders.

Kit Carson and El Toro

Besides the outlaws Kit and El Toro mingled with a variety of other groups.  They included: Indians, Politicians, Law enforcement, the Military and local citizens. Here is a select summary of some of these activities.

Indians:

• Negotiated with an Indian chief for a herd of wild horses need for the army
• Protected the friendly Indians of Padre Diego from a hostile white man
• Convinced a band of Indians that a white man whom they thought was a god was a false deity and his cries to war were without merit
• Helped  Indians retrieve a gold  treasure, called the Golden Ring of Cibola.
• Identified a bunch of terrorist posing as Indians 
• Tracked down stolen supplies for an Indian reservation

Law Enforcement:

• Investigated an outlaw posing as a sheriff.
• Helped a young sheriff  guard a famous bank robber
• Acted as a marshal during an election
• Rode on a posse to hunt for an outlaw
• Protected a sheriff and his family from a psychopathic killer.

Medical:

• Tracked down a stolen shipment of quinine
• Prevented the spread cholera in the town of San Limas
• Raced to Mexico to deliver a needed smallpox vaccine.

Military:

• Worked with the army to identify the murderers of two telegraph linemen thought to be killed by Indians (but white guys really did it)
• Transported a gatling gun to an army garrison while fighting off attacks from a gang of renegade outlaws.
• Assigned by General Freemont to meet and guard a gold shipment.
• Sought protection from the army against outlaw gangs on behalf of a local citizen's committee.
• Thwarted the nefarious plot of an army deserter who was recruiting outlaws to conquer California.

Politics:

• Appointed to deliver a condemned man's pardon.
• Delivered to the Governor of California an important land grant document in the hands of a Mexican ranch owner.
• Sent by the U.S. territorial commissioner to identify bandits terrorizing the region near the town of Indian Wells
• Escorted an important political figure and government witness
• Delivered an offer of amnesty from the Governor to the O'Neill gang
• Sent by the government to investigate a rash of Post Office hold-ups

Locals:

• Protected the young heir of a large ranch
• Settled a family feud
• Saved the editor of the Red Gulch Journal accused of killing the town's sheriff from a lynch mob
• Cleared a friend of a scandalous accusation
• Came to the aid of a prominent citizen who received threats during an election in the town of Wagontire.
• Helped a struggling art dealer retrieve his winning Mexican national lottery ticket that was stolen by thieves
• Intervened in the forced auction of a ranch.
• Retrieved a church bell stolen by renegades that was designed for the San Capistrano Mission.
• Raced against the clock to thwart a plot to blow up a town.

And, once in a while, the adventures became personal when Kit Carson encountered supernatural and witchcraft events at the ranch of El Toro's uncle Don Jose (Edward Colmans).

Listen to Theme Song

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Memorabilia

Issue No.112. based on "The Life of Kit Carson" by Edward Ellis

Bill Williams as Kit Carson in a 1950s Coke Commercial where he says, "Pure delicious iced cold Coca Cola. It's everybody's favorite"

TRIVIA NOTE:  The real Christopher "Kit" Carson was born in Missouri in 1809. During his career, he had many occupations, including, trapper, scout, Indian agent, and soldier in both the Mexican War and Civil War. He was also involved in the Bear Flag Rebellion that won independence of California from Mexico. Carson died May 23, 1868 and is buried in Taos, New Mexico, alongside his wife, Josefa.

Albert Richardson stated in his 1867 book "Beyond the Mississppi" that Kit Carson was "a gentleman by instinct, upright, pure, and simple-hearted, beloved alike by Indians, Mexicans, and Americans".

Bill Williams (a.k.a. "Kit Carson") was the father of GREATEST AMERICAN HERO William Katt, and husband of PERRY MASON's Barbara Hale.

Don Diamond (a..k.a. "El Toro") was, in reality, of Russian heritage. He also portrayed Corporal Reyes, a Mexican soldier on the Disney series ZORRO (1957) and Crazy Cat, an ambitious Hekawee Indian on the military comedy F TROOP (1965).

Hank Patterson (who later played farmer Fred Ziffel on GREEN ACRES) appeared as Sierra Jack & host of the Kit Carson series.