If the first three episodes had received good ratings the series may have found a place on the network’s fall lineup.

[1] The series was based on the plot of Rose Wilder Lane’s 1933 novel Let the Hurricane Roar, which was reissued as Young Pioneers[2] though the main characters names came from her novel Free Land.

[3] In March 1975 the television film Young Pioneers was watched by 40 million viewers,[4] so in December 1975 a second film Young Pioneers' Christmas continued the story of homesteaders Molly and David Beaton, and served as a pilot for a planned ABC series.

Four sod structures were built for the series, with a house and a barn in both Arizona and California.

[4] Earl Hamner, creator of The Waltons, was brought in to help with the project.