Assembly Line: Fort Laramie (August 12, 1956)

“Assembly Line” is an episode of Fort Laramie, the old-time radio show, first broadcast August 12, 1956. Listen free on Stupid Potato.

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What happens

Captain Quince arrives at the reservation in response to Agent Black's urgent request for troops, fearing an Indian uprising. Black claims the Indians have grown sullen and obtained guns, and wants them disarmed immediately. But Quince finds the real troubles are mining operations destroying hunting grounds and Black's severe rationing of food, which have led the Indians to lodge peaceful complaints rather than stage violent revolt.

Fort Laramie and a nearby Indian reservation, 1956

Characters: Captain Quince, Major Plasney, Agent Black, Red Deer

Listen for: The growing tension between military pragmatism and civilian agency authority; Red Deer's calm but pointed complaints about lost hunting grounds and reduced rations; Agent Black's escalating fears and authoritarian methods.

Written from the episode itself; it never gives away the ending. Every recording is remastered for the stream: cleaned of rumble, hiss and mains hum (and the old TV whine where we found it), then levelled in two passes to steady broadcast loudness, so one show is never quieter than the next.