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
Bonanza River of the divide between Eldorado and Bonanza rivers. In its general character, it is similar to the Eldorado River. Also called Bonanza Cal, later maps indicate California Creek to be a principal tributary of Bonanza River. According to Alfred Hulse Brooks, the Eskimo name is Ki-ul-uk. Bonanza River Bonanza River (alternates, Ki-ul-uk, Bonanza California, Bonanza Cal) is a waterway on the Seward Peninsula in the U.S. state of Alaska. The headwaters lie close to Venetia Creek and the Koksuktapaga River. It flows southeast for before reaching Safety Sound, as do the Flambeau and Eldorado Rivers, and then through Safety Inlet