Birth of a Boom

"Birth of a Boom" is not the most compelling of "Death Valley Days" episodes, but it deserves note for featuring late-career Wyatt Earp in a cameo appearance (played by Harry Fleer) and giving veteran western heavy Roy Barcroft a juicy, sympathetic central role for once in his long career. Here he plays Jim Butler, a Nevadan of large ambitions but little success until he finds a silver lode that enables him and his various partners to get rich, although rival miners cause them immense trouble during the course of the several years in which the story takes place. They fend off all sorts of dubious claims because Butler and his partners remain close and form a relationship based on trust, cooperation and equal shares. Too often in such stories, we see partnerships like this break up over greed.