Winds of the Wasteland is a 1936 Western film directed by Mack V. Wright and starring John Wayne and Phyllis Fraser.

[2] In 1861, John Blair and his partner, Larry Adams are dismayed when the arrival of telegraph ends the Russell & Waddell Pony Express.

Hoping to utilize their horse-riding skills, they decide to start a stage coach transportation business.

There will be a contest in the next few days where the fastest team in a race will win a $25,000 government contract to deliver mail to the area.

Drake, upset that Blair has turned his con into a competing business, offers to hire him to drive a gold shipment to Sacramento.

Blair tricks the escort and delivers the gold, then returns and when Drake hesitates, forces him at gunpoint to honor the $1000 payment on the loan.

On examination Forsythe tells Blair the bullet is lodged near Adam's spine and it will take a difficult operation to save his life.

The night before the race, two of Drake's men set fire to the barn where Blair stage coach is stored.

Forsythe bails Blair out of jail just after the race starts, with O'Brien driving the Crescent City stage.