Death Valley Days
Green is the Color of Gold
TV Flash files “Green is the Color of Gold” as hour 392 of 452 in the TV Flash guide — Death Valley Days (1952–1970) on Syndication, season 16, episode 18, aired 1968-03-06, 30 min.
From the desk
How this hour is filed
This leaf is S16E18: listed hour 392 of 452 in the Death Valley Days guide, hour 18 of 26 in season 16. It aired 1968-03-06 (30 min). The listed hour before it is “Bread on the Desert” (S16E17). Next is “Out of the Valley of Death” (S16E19). Broadcast log — titles and dates, not a plot bible.
Catalog log
Broadcast listing — not a TV Flash recap.
Among the motley crew of inhabitants that made up the population of Death Valley were the strange breed of men known as "desert rats." These lonely, forgotten men pitched their little camps in the middle of the scorching desert, and went out each day in search of gold, convinced that somewhere underneath all that sand and cactus there lay a hoard, richer than the '49 Strike or the Comstock Lode. They lived literally like the rats they were named for—in poverty and filth—waiting for that pot of gold at the end of a desert rainbow. But most of them died as poor as they lived, never latching on to that dream of wealth which gold would bring. Aaron Winters was a young desert rat, living in his shack in Ash Meadows—but Aaron had poetry in his soul. He wooed and won an accomplished and beautiful Spanish-American girl away from other suitors, and from her wealthy family. He told her he loved her "as sure as I know shade in the blazing sun, or green things among rocks and sand." He took her back with him across the desert to his adobe hut, and there the young bride was terrified by the stark poverty and the loneliness of the place. She begged Aaron to give up his search and return with her to her parents' home, but he persisted. Their story veered close to tragedy, as Rosie grew bitter and Aaron apologetic. But one day Aaron went out in search of a new ore. The test for it was alcohol and sulphuric acid. If she burned green, it would mean great wealth for Aaron and Rosie—and she did burn green. For, in 1882, Winters discovered a rich strike of borax ore in Death Valley.
Viewer FAQ
Where does Green is the Color of Gold sit in the Death Valley Days guide?
S16E18 is listed hour 392 of 452 — hour 18 of 26 in season 16, season 16 episode 18.
When did Death Valley Days S16E18 air?
Green is the Color of Gold aired 1968-03-06 and is listed at 30 minutes.
Where should I start?
Start with any host era you can find — Andrews, Reagan, Taylor, Robertson — and a Borax-framed 'true' desert tale. The anthology-plus-pitch is the show.
In the series
Why this series still plays
Death Valley Days is the longest-running western anthology, Borax-sponsored Americana hosted by old pros and at least one future president. True-ish frontier tales as a brand. A 2026 viewer watches it for the host-as-pitchman ritual and the trivia that Ronald Reagan once sold 20 Mule Team from the same desk.
The window is eighteen seasons. Death Valley Days ran in syndication from 1952 to 1970 — **452 episodes**, outlasting shinier primetime westerns on pure inventory — and the continuity was not a sheriff. It was Twenty Mule Team Borax. Ruth Woodman's desert brief treated claimed-true stories of the American West as a weekly textbook with a pitchman host: Stanley Andrews as the Old Ranger, then Ronald Reagan, Robert Taylor, Dale Robertson. Old pros and at least one future president selling desert lore from the same…
Filed against
- Stanley Andrews as The Old Ranger
Stanley Andrews hosted Death Valley Days as The Old Ranger — Borax-sponsored Americana, the longest-running western anthology, true-ish frontier tales as a brand. Host-as-pitchman ritual, old-pro weather. TV Flash files him as 1950s…
- Ronald Reagan as Host
Ronald Reagan hosted Death Valley Days as Borax-sponsored Americana — longest-running western anthology, true-ish frontier tales as a brand, host-as-pitchman ritual that later trivia would never let go. A future president selling 20 Mule…
- Robert Taylor as Host
Robert Taylor hosted Death Valley Days as Borax-sponsored Americana — longest-running western anthology, true-ish frontier tales as a brand, old-pro pitchman ritual in the desert. TV Flash files him as 1950s host-as-product craft: a…
- Dale Robertson as Host
Dale Robertson’s host weather on Death Valley Days sold Borax with a western drawl — 1950s catalog frontier anthology, then Tales of Wells Fargo making him a soft-spoken company agent on the trail. TV Flash files him as the cowboy who…