<P> The fictional story line maintains that a patrol of six Texas Rangers is massacred, with only one member surviving . The "lone" survivor thereafter disguises himself with a black mask and travels with Tonto throughout Texas and the American West to assist those challenged by the lawless elements . A silver mine supplies The Lone Ranger with the name of his horse as well as the funds required to finance his wandering life - style and the raw material for his signature bullets . At the end of most episodes, after the Lone Ranger and Tonto leave, someone asks the sheriff or other person of authority who the masked man was . The person then responds that it was the Lone Ranger, who is then heard yelling "Hi - Yo Silver, away!" as he and Tonto ride away on their horses . </P> <P> George W. Trendle retained the title of producer, although he recognized that his experience in radio was not adequate for producing the television series . For this, he hired veteran MGM film producer Jack Chertok . Chertok served as the producer for the first 182 episodes . </P> <P> The first 78 episodes were produced and broadcast for 78 consecutive weeks without any breaks or reruns . Then the entire 78 episodes were shown again before any new episodes were produced . All were shot in Kanab, Utah and California . Much of the series was filmed on the former Iverson Movie Ranch in Chatsworth, California, including the iconic opening sequence to each episode, in which the cry of "Hi - yo Silver" is heard before the Lone Ranger and Silver gallop to a distinctive rock and Silver rears up on his hind legs . The rock seen next to Silver is known as Lone Ranger Rock and remains in place today on the site of the former movie ranch . </P> <P> When it came time to produce another batch of 52 episodes, there was a wage dispute with Clayton Moore (until his death, the actor insisted that the problem was creative differences), and John Hart was hired to play the role of the Lone Ranger . Once again, the 52 new episodes were aired in sequence followed by 52 weeks rerunning them . Despite expectations that the mask would make the switch workable, Hart was not accepted in the role, and his episodes were not seen again until the 1980s . </P>

Where was the 1950's lone ranger filmed