Jay Silverheels was famous for playing Tonto in the Lone Rangers films of the 1950s. He was a decent actor and always seemed to play decent sorts of folks...until "Valley of the Damned"! While he's not a major character in the show, seeing him playing a scum-bag did make this episode very unusual! Additionally, the story itself was very good.
Cannon comes to Indian territory to help a social worker. She is worried about Louie Gray Wolf, as he's been accused of murder...and she knows that he's not that sort of man. Despite having not much money to pay him, Cannon agrees to take the case and seems very decent in this one. A bit later, an Indian is found dead...with rope marks on his wrists and he apparently died of exposure in the desert. Cannon then realizes that the problem is much bigger than just Louie...and someone is using Indian day laborers and allowing them to die. But why? What's going on here?
Aside from seeing Cannon playing a guy with a strong social conscience, you also get to see him use his rib-crusher technique...something I haven't seen since the first season. He puts a guy in a bear hug and just squeezes the life out of them! Overall, a very interesting story and it has some very sweet moments near the end that make this one special.