Good memory! I don’t recall that episode, but I wasn’t a huge “Bonanza” fan.
“That helped me get a grasp on the time in history during which that program was set.”
Indeed. Watching “Death Valley Days” does that for me today. The set designers did a fantastic job creating late 1800s towns, ranches, farms, and building interiors, too. A lot of the sets were hokey (like fake mine entrances), but most were realistic and a lot was shot on location.
I remember they were sponsored by "20 Mule Team Borax."
Much later I learned (with the help of the internet) that Borax was mined in California, and that the mineral from which it was made was called "tinkle." One place it was mined was named for its elemental ingredient, Boron. Boron California is still there, and is dominated by an enormous open-pit boron mine.
The early boron miners knew how to tell they had the real thing by throwing it in a campfire; it would turn the flames green.
Didn't Ronald Reagan do the intro and outtro narration for at least some episodes?