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Western · Syndicated

Tales of the Diamond K

· 38 broadcasts

Pioneering movie singing-cowboy Ken Maynard hosts and narrates this early-1950s syndicated Western series for young listeners, spinning a self-contained "real-life" tale in each quarter hour -- lost mines and buried treasure, frontier legends, and adventures drawn from his own rodeo, circus, and Hollywood past -- always in the company of his horse Tarzan. The stories range from Coronado's Seven Cities and the finding of Machu Picchu to a rope bridge that collapses on the set of Ken's first movie, and from ghost riders and poisoned water holes to con men who meet their match. Syndicated by the Peterson, Schafer and Buck Agency and sold with premiums -- a personalized phonograph recording from Ken Maynard Phono Records and a Western "K" shirt bearing the Diamond K brand -- the series is said to have run to as many as a thousand episodes, of which fewer than forty are known to survive. Thirty-eight are gathered here, all undated.

Collection status: 38 of 38 held (100% complete)
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Episode Spine

undated

date unknown Rusty Bill Listen (MP3)
Ken recalls Rusty Bill, an old hand wise in the ways of the Shoshone, whose plain advice turns out to be worth heeding.
date unknown The Oklahoma Kid Listen (MP3)
When "the Oklahoma Kid" holds up Colonel Rockwell's Wild West Show, Ken's horse Tarzan turns the tables.
date unknown The Squaw Mans Fortune Listen (MP3)
The lingering mystery of whatever became of Joe Bogey's buried fortune.
date unknown Red Ingles Miracle Listen (MP3)
Fiddle in hand, Ken spins a yarn about buzzards -- and a small miracle.
date unknown Thunder Valley Listen (MP3)
A curse pronounced by the chief Thunder Eagle falls upon the white settlers.
date unknown Gold Fever Listen (MP3)
date unknown Pirate Booty Listen (MP3)
The legend of pirate Jean Lafitte and his buried booty.
date unknown Adventure in Maverick Valley Listen (MP3)
Ken finds a young boy still alive in the smoldering ruin of a homestead.
date unknown Broken Bridge Listen (MP3)
On the set of Ken's very first motion picture, a rope bridge gives way and drops him down a cliff.
date unknown Poison Gold Listen (MP3)
To take a prospecting party's strike for himself, the outlaw Blackie Ryan fouls their water hole.
date unknown The Lake of Gold Listen (MP3)
Burro Bill hits pay dirt in the unlikeliest place -- the bottom of a dried-up lake.
date unknown Cattle Rustling Texas Style Listen (MP3)
A rustling riddle in which not a single cow goes missing, yet the herd is being stolen all the same.
date unknown Windmill Jones Listen (MP3)
How a long-bearded fellow earned the nickname "Windmill" -- and the good reason behind it.
date unknown Hidden Fortune aka The Lost Fortune Listen (MP3)
date unknown Devils Kitchen Listen (MP3)
Three million in stolen cash sets off betrayal piled on betrayal.
date unknown The Secret of Three Horn Ranch Listen (MP3)
Who framed Ken for cattle rustling, and why?
date unknown The Lost City of the Incas Listen (MP3)
How the lost Inca city of Machu Picchu came to be discovered.
date unknown Chuckaluck and the City of Gold Listen (MP3)
A grizzled old-timer keeps a fortune in gold in a forgotten ghost town.
date unknown Craters of the Moon Listen (MP3)
Seminole Bill and a lost mine whose ore ran impossibly rich.
date unknown The Gold of Fort Ramirez Listen (MP3)
A one-handed Mexican and the buried treasure he guarded.
date unknown The Treasure of the Guadalupes Listen (MP3)
An easy-tempered old man holds the one secret that counts: where a hidden gold mine lies.
date unknown The Treasure of Cuengha Pass Listen (MP3)
Buried loot from the Mexican Revolution, and the five missing sacks of General Vega.
date unknown Peg Leg Smith Listen (MP3)
A one-legged wanderer of the desert and the secret cache he never gave up.
date unknown The Ghost Rider of Loma Escondida Listen (MP3)
Jess Cassidy and his horse are murdered -- and both come riding back as ghosts.
date unknown Posthole Bank Listen (MP3)
Twenty thousand dollars in gold pieces and a treasure hunt that ends happily.
date unknown Pot O Gold Listen (MP3)
An outlaw's dying words hand a cowboy the burial spot of $50,000 -- but the digging proves the hard part.
date unknown The Skeleton in the Well Listen (MP3)
Burro bones and buried silver haunt the bottom of a fathomless shaft.
date unknown The Bryfogel Mine Listen (MP3)
A man bent on walking across the California desert finds gold, hostile country, and badly swollen feet.
date unknown The Seven Cities of Sibola Listen (MP3)
Coronado's hunt for the fabled Seven Cities of Cibola and the riches of the West.
date unknown The Unburied Treasure Listen (MP3)
Uncle Henry's lost money -- but where on earth did he hide it?
date unknown The Lure of El Dorado Listen (MP3)
A dreamer's reverie on new worlds to conquer, in the spirit of the Spanish conquistadors.
date unknown Yankee Dan Listen (MP3)
An early-day Western con man finally meets more than his match.
date unknown The Adventure at Mud Creek Listen (MP3)
A South Texas tale, and the strange bars a flood washes up in the river.
date unknown The Golden Chimney Listen (MP3)
A crooked trader strikes a rich vein of gold -- one that rightfully belongs to his Indian friends.
date unknown Tarzans Mate Listen (MP3)
date unknown Talbots Bank Listen (MP3)
Somewhere on the ranch a chest of gold lies waiting -- a treasure tale.
date unknown Horse Named Gunpowder Listen (MP3)
date unknown Golden Spiders Listen (MP3)
The Story

Pioneering movie singing-cowboy Ken Maynard hosts and narrates this early-1950s syndicated Western series for young listeners, spinning a self-contained "real-life" tale in each quarter hour -- lost mines and buried treasure, frontier legends, and adventures drawn from his own rodeo, circus, and Hollywood past -- always in the company of his horse Tarzan. The stories range from Coronado's Seven Cities and the finding of Machu Picchu to a rope bridge that collapses on the set of Ken's first movie, and from ghost riders and poisoned water holes to con men who meet their match. Syndicated by the Peterson, Schafer and Buck Agency and sold with premiums -- a personalized phonograph recording from Ken Maynard Phono Records and a Western "K" shirt bearing the Diamond K brand -- the series is said to have run to as many as a thousand episodes, of which fewer than forty are known to survive. Thirty-eight are gathered here, all undated.

Full story — coming soon while it's being curated.
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