A Hundred Yards Over the Rim

Ever the meticulous actor, Cliff Robertson prepared a detailed treatment for his character, Christian Horn, and also did extensive research on the 1840s time period in which the episode is set. Robertson concluded that an easterner like Horn would have worn a stovepipe hat, whereas the director, fearing that such a hat would make Horn look comical, wanted him to wear an ahistorical Stetson. The dispute was finally taken to producer Rod Serling who, after hearing both sides, decided to let Robertson wear the stovepipe hat, as seen in the filmed version.

Christian Horn and his family are on a wagon train headed for the New Mexico Territory in 1847. The New Mexico Territory was established in 1850, on land that Mexico ceded to the United States in 1848.