What happens
Henry Scott, a schoolboy struggling with his history lessons, falls asleep over his book and dreams he is on a wagon train on the Oregon Trail. Among the travelers is a young stranger who knows the territory well and speaks of the disputed land with England. Wagon master Brad leads the train toward the Shady River, where a band of Indians waits in a valley ahead. The guide Stumpy, a trapper, appears and does not recognize Henry. Henry knows of a shallow crossing and the travelers follow him around the valley. The episode is a Ranger Bill broadcast in which the Ranger, Stumpy and Henry frame the lesson as an effort to make history more interesting to a student.
A modern-day schoolroom and the Oregon Trail in the 1840s, near the Shady River and Naughty Pine
Characters: Ranger Bill, Henry Scott, Stumpy, Brad, Mr. Grant, Dorothy
Listen for: Henry's dream of the wagon train and his claim that he named the Shady River
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.