Heart of the Rio Grande the new foreman, Gene Autry (Gene Autry), and how he turned the place into a dude ranch. Gene reminds him that ranch owner "Skipper" Forbes (Sarah Padden) hired him because Hap's mismanagement drove the ranch into debt. When the train arrives at Smoke River carrying Alice and the girls, Connie bribes the porter to keep her luggage on the train. In the confusion, no one notices that Connie hasn't disembarked until the train pulls away. Gene races after the train on his horse, Champion, and brings the willful youngster back to the ranch. While Gene and his sidekick Frog Millhouse
Gene Autry his Service Pilot rating in June 1944, serving as a C-109 transport pilot with the rank of flight officer. Assigned to a unit of the Air Transport Command, he flew as part of the dangerous airlift operation over the Himalayas between India and China, nicknamed the Hump. In 1942, at the height of his screen popularity, Autry had a string of rodeo stock based in Ardmore, Oklahoma. A year later, he became a partner in the World Championship Rodeo Company, which furnished livestock for many of the country's major rodeos. In 1954, he acquired Montana's top bucking string from the