Ponderosa Steakhouse and Bonanza Steakhouse under the Metromedia Restaurant Group. The names of the restaurants were derived from the classic TV series "Bonanza", which was set at a place called Ponderosa Ranch. In 1963, Dan Blocker, who played Eric "Hoss" Cartwright on "Bonanza", started the Bonanza Steakhouse chain. The first Bonanza opened in Westport, Connecticut. Sam Wyly and his brother Charles Wyly bought the small Bonanza restaurant chain three years later. The company grew to approximately 600 restaurants by 1989, when the Wylys sold it to Metromedia. In 1965, Dan Lasater, Norm Wiese and Charles Kleptz founded Ponderosa in Kokomo, Indiana, moving the headquarters to
Firehole Ranch Places under the name Watkins Creek Ranch on December 27, 2006. Firehole Ranch Firehole Ranch is a private 640-acre guest ranch located on Hebgen Lake in Gallatin County, Montana. Owned and operated by Lynda Caine since 1999, Firehole Ranch was founded in the late 1890s as Watkins Creek Ranch by George S. Watkins. Originally much larger, Watkins Creek Ranch sold much of its land to the Madison Power and Light Company in 1904 to make way for the Hebgen Lake Dam. Much of Watkins’ cattle were sold to Yellowstone National Park while the remaining land was converted into a dude