The Territory

The Territory is the western region of The Set, a landscape whose boundaries are both physical and temporal. At Brimstone, the Devil’s Highway—a natural rock bridge—points beyond the film-world, making the Territory’s edge a literal route out and the setting for Washburn’s attempted departure and final gunfight with Little Joe Potter.

Setting and Boundary

Brimstone is a desolate mining settlement on the northeastern edge of the Territory. Above it rises the Devil’s Highway, a broad, gently sloping rock bridge. Its far end is out of sight from town, but it is anchored just outside The Set, two hundred yards and 150 years away. The passage thus joins a visible landscape to a destination separated from it not only by distance but by time.

The Route Out

Washburn reaches Brimstone on a limping horse and sees the freckle-faced kid, who appears to have ridden hard to arrive ahead of him. He passes without speaking, then sits on his horse to look at the bridge. The crossing seems close—five minutes’ ride—and he imagines leaving the West for good, with its good times and bad, fear and laughter, slow days and dangerous nights behind him. Beyond it, he expects to be with Consuela, reading newspapers and watching television. His contemplated departure gives the Devil’s Highway the force of a threshold: a way out of the Territory and out of the life he has known there.

Brimstone and the Final Gunfight

Instead of crossing at once, Washburn has one last drink and rides to the saloon, where people have gathered to watch him. Little Joe Potter calls after him, asking whether he has come back for his hat. Washburn answers that he has returned because it is their dance. They laugh together, and then both draw their .44s. Smoke and dust conceal the fighters until they clear: both are still standing, but Little Joe’s gun points down, slips from his hand, and he collapses. Washburn holsters his weapon, goes to him, and lifts his head from the dirt.

Narrative Significance

The Territory’s boundary is presented as an attainable exit, but the route’s promise is interrupted by violence in Brimstone. The bridge remains close enough to be measured in minutes, while Washburn’s return to the saloon turns the apparent end of his western life into one last confrontation. The location therefore holds two incompatible possibilities at once: departure beyond The Set and an ending enacted within the Territory.