The film was based on the 1952 novel by Verne Athanas[2] who after suffering an early heart attack, gave up logging and started writing under the pseudonym Bill Colson.

[3] Cass Silver, marshal of a small Kansas town, is expecting trouble with the arrival of the first Texas trail herds to meet the newly completed railroad.

To make matters worse, the marshal's deputy, Thad Anderson, formerly one of the trail cowboys, is the son of a gunfighter Cass shot years before.

Film rights were purchased by 20th Century Fox in November 1952 who assigned Frank Rosenberg to produce.

[9] The "Theme from the Proud Ones" written by Lionel Newman, recorded by Nelson Riddle, reached number 39 on the US charts on August 4, 1956.