Bonanza various times) Guy Williams, David Canary, Mitch Vogel, and Tim Matheson. The show is known for presenting pressing moral dilemmas. The title "Bonanza" is a term used by miners in regard to a large vein or deposit of silver ore, from Spanish "bonanza" (prosperity) and commonly refers to the 1859 revelation of the Comstock Lode of rich silver ore mines under the town of Virginia City, not far from the fictional Ponderosa Ranch that the Cartwright family operated. The show's theme song, also titled "Bonanza", became a hit song. Only instrumental renditions, absent Ray Evans' lyrics, were used during the
George Cartwright (trader) George Cartwright (trader) George Cartwright (12 February 1739/40 – 19 May 1819) was an English army officer and a trader and explorer in Newfoundland and Labrador. His name is borne by Cartwright, a settlement at the entrance to Sandwich Bay. George Cartwright was born at Marnham in Nottinghamshire, England, an elder brother of Edmund Cartwright, clergyman and inventor of the power loom, and of John Cartwright, naval officer and English parliamentary reformer. Cartwright became a gentleman cadet in the Royal Military Academy at Woolwich, London when he was fifteen. He served in India as ensign in the 39th Foot. In