Charley Gray is about to be released from the state penitentiary after serving a long term for the robbery of a government gold shipment. The gold was never recovered, so the Texas Ranger chief has Ranger Panhandle Perkins planted in the prison as Charley's cell-mate in the hopes Charley will tell him where the loot is buried. Charley has a map of the location but is afraid it may be discovered so, while Panhandle is asleep, he draws a copy of it on the sole of Panhandle's foot. Charley then destroys the map but intends to keep "Panhandle" close to him upon their release from prison. Charley makes Panhandle accompany him back to the town where the rest of the hold-up gang is holed up. They go to the saloon owned by Steve Martin, also a member of the hold-up gang, but Charley was the one who buried the loot before he was captured and Charley has no intentions of divulging the location of the gold. Written by Les Adams
A landslide has diverted water from the Baldwin ranch to Cambert's. With their cattle dying, Cambert refuses to let them have any water. Easterner Larry Knight takes a job with the Baldwins and he has a plan to divert the water back to the Baldwin ranch. But Phil, jealous of Kitty's attraction to Larry, lets Cambert know of the scheme.
A man of no worth brags to his daughter back East that he is rich and owns a big ranch. When she decides to pay a visit to her father, Roy and his buddies agree to pretend that the poor man is the owner of the ranch.
Ace Beldon is in prison, but with his stolen bonds not recovered, Capt. Saunders has an idea. He sends Graham to prison and has him and Beldon break out. With Ranger Raymond assisting, they make their escape and get to the hangout run by Stone. But the plan starts to go awry when Sam overhears Graham talking with the Captain and reports back to Stone.
A man known as The Drifter returns home to his cabin in the woods and winds up getting involved with an escaped convict, a gunfighter, lumber company rivals, mysterious family ties and murder.
Although Larry "Buster" Crabbe earns top billing, the hero of Drift Fence is former Western star Tom Keene as Jim Travis, who, at a rodeo, meets city dweller Jim Traft, who has come west to erect a fence that will prevent Clay Jackson from continuing his cattle rustling business. A tough Western type, Travis suggests that he impersonate Traft and the building of the fence soon begins. But Travis is opposed by Slinger Dunn and his family, whose small ranch will suffer from the division of the land. A romance between Travis and Slinger's sister, Paula, paves the way for a meeting of the minds, however, and Slinger switches sides completely upon learning that Travis is a Texas Ranger in disguise.
Chip has inherited a supposedly worthless gold mine from her father and Craig Allen is about to buy it. Roy suspects the mine may be valuable and using a clue left by Chip's father, investigates. He finds the hidden shaft that contains the gold and with the posse chasing him on a trumped up robbery charge, races to town with ore samples hoping to get there before the ownership is transferred.
Ranch owner Sandra, fresh from animal husbandry school, brings a flock of sheep into cattle country. The local ranchers don't like it, and ranch foreman Gene must deal with it.
Kalmus is after the freight contract held by Summers. When his gang kill Summers, Tex and Duke step in to help Madge keep the freight line going. When they foil the gang's further attempts, Kalmus gets the Judge to jail the two.
Sintown is just a deserted ghost town until Vanerpool starts looking for silver. Cookie and Roy's partners put $20,000 into the business only to find that the mine is worthless and Vanerpool is bankrupt. Carol comes out to look for silver to save the company, but does not know that their engineer, named Regan, is crooked and wants all the silver for himself. But only Old Ed knows where the mother lode is located.
An evil ranch foreman tries to provoke a range war by playing two cattlemen against each other while helping a gang to rustle the cattle. Each cattleman blames the other for missing cattle. With the help of Bill Cassidy (Hop-along, because of an earlier bullet wound) and Johnny Nelson, the warring cattlemen join forces to do in the outlaws.
Hoppy's friend Dennis owns a rich gold mine. Frazier who owns the adjoining mine and wants the Dennis mine, has Dennis killed. Hoppy steps in to take over running the Dennis mine and learns Frazier's men sneak into and work the Dennis mine at night. Hoppy captures one of Frazier's men only to be captured in return by Frazier and left to die in a burning building.
Posing as a cattle buyer, Hoppy crosses over into Oklahoma where the Jordan brother's and their outlaw gang operate outside the law. After receiving an unfriendly reception when he finds them, he, California, and Johnny rustle their cattle and drive across the river into Texas. He hopes they will cross over to retrieve their cattle and then he can arrest them.
When Ranger Hoppy's falsely accused young ranger friend is killed while supposedly trying to escape from jail, Hoppy is blamed and drummed out of the Texas Rangers.