The Oregon Trail (1939)

Frontier scout Jeff Scott (Johnny Mack Brown) and his pal, Deadwood Hawkins (Fuzzy Knight), are hired by Washington officials to stop outlaw and Indian raids on pioneer wagon trains crossing the western plains. Strangely, only those trains bound for the rich fur-trapping regions of the Oregon territory are molested. Keeping their identity secret, Jeff and Deadwood overtake a wagon train in time to save its occupants from an Indian-attack massacre. They rescue Margaret Mason (Louise Stanley) and Johnnie Clark (Bill Cody, Jr.), a young boy whose father was killed in the attack. Jeff suspects that the wagonmaster "Bull" Bragg (Jack C. Smith) is a spy for the raiders and has Bragg thrown out of his job. Bragg, after inciting an Indian attack and starting a prairie fire, is thrown into jail. Bragg is working under the orders of Sam Morgan (James Blaine), the manager for a fur company syndicate that hopes to keep the settlers out of Oregon. After many dangers and disasters, the wagon train finally reaches Oregon. When the settlers prepare to stake out land claims, Morgan flashes a fake land grant and demands they pay him a high price for the land.