Little House on the Prairie Season 3 (1976-77)

Revisited
Laura is enchanted by the music box

Review

The third season of Little House the Prairie began airing on 27 September 1976 to 4 April 1977 and consisted of 21 episodes. The season begins with a rather weak episode, The Collection, featuring legendary country singer, Johnny Cash, who manages to convince Walnut Grove that he is a preacher in order to receive them of their meagre savings. However, the joke is on him as the wholesome vibes of the town make him see the error of his ways. As charming as Johnny Cash may be, the storyline is tedious and it is frustrating that most of the regulars are sidelined to accommodate his guest star role.

Things pick up in the next two episodes as we finally revisit the storyline that saw Laura sell her beloved horse, Bunny, to the Olesons in the first season episode, Christmas at Plum Creek. In the first part, Bunny, Nellie is injured when she is thrown by the horse and she pretends to be paralysed to exploit Laura’s guilt. However, when Laura discovers she is being duped, she pushes Nellie down a hill in one of the series’ most famous scenes. Realising what Nellie has done, Nels gives Bunny back to Laura and Nellie has the mother of all tantrums. The second part of the story, The Race, is less interesting as Nellie and Laura compete in a horse race where they are the only participants. Harriet tries to win by cheating but Bunny proves she has a big heart by winning the day.

The enmity between the two girls is explored again in The Music Box where Nellie decides to start a secret club but deliberately excludes, Anna, a girl who has a bad stutter. Angry at Nellie, Laura steals a music box from her bedroom but is wracked with guilt afterwards. When Nellie discovers what she has done, Laura is blackmailed into joining Nellie’s games at the expense of Anna. An upset Laura finally confesses t her parents about stealing the music box and Nels punishes Nellie for being mean to Anna and blackmailing Laura.

Racism rears its ugly head again when the widowed Amelia arrives in town with her mixed race son, Joseph, who faces prejudice from children and adults alike in the episode Injun Kid. Amelia married a Sioux Indian and her father is not happy at having a mixed race grandson and orders his daughter to tell everyone that she adopted the boy. In The Wisdom of Solomon, a young black boy runs away from home because he yearns to go to school and is taken in by the Ingallses. However, young Solomon (Todd Bridges) gets a reality check when he meets a black doctor who tells him being educated won’t stop the prejudice. The Wisdom of Solomon is a better written story because there is no fairytale ending to be had for young Solomon as he will face racism all his life and the episode does not shy away from that reality.

We are reminded that the Ingallses are part of a large extended family in the two-parter, Journey in the Spring, when Charles heads back to Wisconsin when his mother dies and brings his grieving father, Lansford (Arthur Hill), back to Walnut Grove. Lansford has given up on life but he seems to come out of his depression when he spends time around Laura who was named after her late grandmother. However, the relationship is put into jeopardy when Bunny is injured and is put down despite Lansford’s protests he can cure him. There are two actors in these episodes to look out for as we will be meeting them again as different characters: Hedda Parady as Alice Garvey and Matthew Labyorteaux as Albert Ingalls.

Family plays an important part this season and there are anxious times for Laura when Charles is seriously injured in The Hunters and she has to convince an old blind man to help her get her father to safety. This extended episode really gives Melissa Gilbert a chance to shine and the connection she makes with Sam (Burl Ives) is a lovely one. The two-part episode, To Live With Fear, also deals with serious illness as Mary has to be taken to Rochester for a costly life saving operation. To pay the hospital bills, Edwards and Charles take a dangerous job with the railroad and almost come to blows as Charles takes unnecessary risks to earn a bonus. Charles’s antics spoil the second part of the storyline somewhat as Caroline quietly goes about tending her daughter.

Speaking of Mary, she may be only thirteen this season but that doesn’t stop her from getting engaged to John Sanderson Edwards in I’ll Ride The Wind which we now understand made Melissa Sue Anderson very uncomfortable. Despite that, Mary is the mature one as she persuades John not to give up on his dream to attend university and become a writer. Mary may be pining for John but the whole of Walnut Grove soon finds itself in danger in the feature-length finale, Gold Country, when a continuous deluge of rain destroys the crops. The Ingalls and Edwards families head to Dakota to try their luck at panning for gold in a rough town where greed prevails. The story is quite dark as it delivers a moral lesson on being grateful for what you have but it just doesn’t feel like it belongs on the show.

Further Reading

Explore the characters and books that inspired the series

  • Charles Ingalls (Michael Landon)
  • Caroline Ingalls (Karen Grassle)
  • Mary Ingalls (Melissa Sue Anderson)
  • Laura Ingalls (Melissa Gilbert)
  • Carrie Ingalls (Lindsay Sidney Greenbush)
  • Nels Oleson (Richard Bull)
  • Harriet Oleson (Katherine MacGregor)
  • Nellie Oleson (Alison Arngrim)
  • Willie Oleson (Jonathan Gilbert)
  • Isaiah Edwards (Victor French)
  • Lars Hansen (Karl Swenson)
  • Dr. Hiram Baker (Kevin Hagen)
  • Eva Beadle (Charlotte Stewart)
  • Reverend Alden (Dabbs Greer)
  • Grace Snider Edwards (Bonnie Bartlett)
  • John Sanderson Edwards (Radames Pera)
  • Carl Sanderson Edwards (Brian Part)
  • Alicia Sanderson Edwards (Kyle Richards)
  • 3.01 The Collection
  • 3.02 Bunny
  • 3.03 The Race
  • 3.04 Little Girl Lost
  • 3.05 The Monster of Walnut Grove
  • 3.06 Journey Into the Spring Part I
  • 3.07 Journey Into the Spring Part II
  • 3.08 Fred
  • 3.09 The Bully Boys
  • 3.10 The Hunters
  • 3.11 Blizzard
  • 3.12 I’ll Ride the Wind
  • 3.13 Quarantine
  • 3.14 Little Women
  • 3.15 Injun Kid
  • 3.16 To Live With Fear Part I
  • 3.17 To Live With Fear Part II
  • 3.18 The Wisdom of Solomon
  • 3.19 Music Box
  • 3.20 Election
  • 3.21 Gold Country
  • CHARLES PHILIP INGALLS was born on 10 January 1836 in Cuba, New York, and was the third of ten children born to Lansford Whiting Ingalls and Laura Louise Colby. Charles married Caroline Lake Quiner on 1 February 1860 and they had five children. Charles died, aged 66 years, in De Smet, South Dakota, on 8 June 1902.
  • CAROLINE LAKE QUINER was born on 12 December 1839, in Brookfield, Wisconsin, and was the fifth of eight children born to Henry Newcomb Quiner and Charlotte Wallis Tucker. Caroline’s father died when she was young and her mother married Frederick Holbrook on 2 June 1849. Caroline married Charles Philip Ingalls on 1 February 1860 and they had five children. Caroline died, aged 84 years, in De Smet, South Dakota, on 20 April 1924.
  • MARY AMELIA INGALLS was born on 10 January 1865 in Pepin, Wisconsin, and was the eldest daughter of Charles Philip Ingalls and Caroline Lake Quiner. Mary lost her sight in 1879 after a serious illness and attended the Iowa School for the Blind from 1880 to 1889. Mary never married and lived with her parents for the rest of her life, and then with her sisters. Mary died, aged 63 years, in Keystone, South Dakota, on 17 October 1928.
  • LAURA ELIZABETH INGALLS was born on 7 February 1867 in Pepin, Wisconsin, and was the second daughter of Charles Philip Ingalls and Caroline Lake Quiner. She married Almanzo James Wilder on 25 August 1885 and they had two children, Rose, born in 1886, and an unnamed son in 1889. Laura died, aged 90 years, in Mansfield, Missouri, on 10 February 1957.
  • CAROLINE CELESTIA INGALLS was born on 3 August 1870 in Montgomery, Kansas and was the third daughter of Charles Philip Ingalls and Caroline Lake Quiner. She married David N Swanzey in 1912 but had no children of her own. Carrie died, aged 75 years, in Rapid City, South Dakota, on 2 June 1946.
  • CHARLES FREDERICK INGALLS was born on 1 November 1875 in Walnut Grove, Minnesota, but died, aged 9 months, in South Troy, Minnesota, on 27 August 1876.
  • GRACE PEARL INGALLS was born on 23 May 1877 in Burr Oak, Iowa, and was the youngest daughter of Charles Philip Ingalls and Caroline Lake Quiner. She married Nathan William Dow on 16 October 1901 but they had no children. Grace died, aged 64 years, in Manchester, South Dakota, on 10 November 1941.

More from Little House on the Prairie

See all