Nitrate and safety prints of this film survive in the UCLA Film and Television Archives.
This film's earliest documented telecasts took place in Tucson Thursday 23 August 1956 on KDWI (Channel 9), in Albuquerque Monday 17 September 1956 on KOAT (Channel 7), in Cincinnati Wednesday 10 October 1956 on WKRC (Channel 12), in San Francisco Friday 12 October 1956 on KPIX (Channel 5), in Salt Lake City Saturday 13 October 1956 on KUTV (Channel 2), in Sacramento CA Saturday 27 October 1956 on KBET (Channel 10), in New York City Sunday 28 October 1956 on WABD (Channel 5), and in Phoenix Thursday 8 November 1956 on KVAR (Channel 12). At this time, color broadcasting was in its infancy, limited to only a small number of high rated programs, primarily on NBC and NBC affiliated stations, so vintage film showings were still in B&W. Most viewers were not offered the opportunity to see these films in their original Technicolor until several years later. However, this film was lucky enough to be included in a series of vintage titles from the WB film library colorcast in Honolulu , and was first seen there "living color" [sic] Thursday 27 November 1957 on KHVH (Channel 13).
This film was remade in a black&white version in 1940 with the title "King of Lumberjacks." The two stories are very similar. They use all of the action footage from the train wreck while substituting the 1940 actors for the 1938 actors during close-ups. In the 1940's version, there weren't bad guy as such. Just two men in love with the same woman. And one of the men is much older and only has one arm.
No miniatures or special effects were used for the train trestle bridge collapse or the breaking of the temporary dam by dynamite. The footage records the destruction of real structures in a real river. This footage was so good it was re-used in subsequent films.
The film was largely remade 14 years later as The Big Trees (1952), which was the last film for Kirk Douglas under his contract with Warner Bros (he did it for free in order to get out of the contract). The Big Trees included several establishing shots and other scenes from this film.