
The desert in 1885.
1885 was a year a full century before the modern time of Marty McFly: 1985. It had been 20 years since Hill Valley's founding and a festival was held to honor the anniversary.
The town consisted of two major dirt streets which intersected at Courthouse Square and the construction of a new county courthouse and clock tower. One of the streets went to the Hill Valley Train Station.
Most of the surrounding countryside was mountains and valleys with deciduous trees and farther out desert with mesas to the north of the town and the ravine to the southeast of the town.
New locations
To previous history
- Bear cave
- Boot Hill Cemetery
- Carson Spur
- Courthouse Square
- Hill Valley Courthouse (under construction)
- Palace Saloon
- Marshal Strickland's office
- Essex Theater (under construction)
- Livery stable
- Wells Fargo & Co.
- Undertaker
- Hill Valley Telegraph building
- Coyote Pass
- County Jail
- Delgado Mine
- Hill Valley Railroad Station
- McFly farm
- Point of No Return
- Shonash Ravine
- Silver mine
- Verde Junction
New culture
New slang
- Dude
- Duded-up
- Egg-suckin'
- Golly!
- Gutter trash
- Jerk
- Runt
- Yellow
- You kin to that hay barber?
Events
Timeline 1
This is the original timeline before Emmett Brown or Marty McFly interfere, in this timeline Clara Clayton falls into Shonash Ravine

Hill Valley Railroad Station in 1885.
- January: Hubert is sworn in as mayor of Hill Valley.
- April: William McFly, is born to Seamus and Maggie McFly, and the first Mcfly to be born in America.
- Saturday, July 4: Fourth of July Celebrations held in the Palace Saloon, and Chester the bartender, gives additional drinks such as Whiskey, to the townspeople.
- Sunday, August 29: There is a meeting of the townspeople, over who will pick up the new school teacher on September 4, no one volunteers.
- Tuesday, September 1: The Western Union are sent billions of letters by the townspeople.,
- Wednesday, September 2: Native American Horse-archers are chased near Hill Valley by the U.S. Cavalry, right near the abonded Bear cave
- Thursday, September 3: Stinky Lomax is arrested by deputy James Strickland for an unknown crime and later hanged in Haysville, California.
- Friday, September 4: Clara Clayton's carriage is spooked by snakes, and she falls into Shonash Ravine.
- Saturday, September 5 Hill Valley Festival takes place, and the new Clock Tower is introduced, photo's are given to the townspeople who want to pose infront of the clock.
- Buford Tannen and his gang attend the Hill Valley Festival, while on their way to the festival they are threatened by James Strickland and his deputy to hand in their weapons if they want to join the festival which they willingly agree, and then proceeded to the festival.
- Sunday, September 6: Buford Tannen and his gang rob the Pine City Stage.
- Monday, September 7: Buford Tannen is arrested by Strickland's deputy for robbing the Pine City Stage, Buford's gang cowardly run away to avoid going to prison.
- Tuesday, September 8: Hill Valley holds a funeral for Clara Clayton.
- Tuesday, December 1: Shonash Ravine is renamed Clayton Ravine.
Timeline 2

Emmett Brown in 1885 taking a picture with the clock.
- Thursday, January 1: Dr. Emmett Brown (of 1985) accidentally arrives from 1955 and appears at an altitude of about fifty feet over the future location of Lyon Estates (about two miles south of Hill Valley). Despite damage to the vehicle's flying circuits, Doc and the DeLorean are not seriously damaged by the landing. Doc then goes into town and sets up as a blacksmith in Hill Valley. (In so doing, Doc may interfere with the normal timeline by replacing another blacksmith or stealing business from other blacksmiths in town or other towns — however, it is possible there would have been no blacksmith at all if Doc were not there.)
- Date unknown between January 1 and September 3: Buford "Mad Dog" Tannen (the great-grandfather of Biff Tannen) asks Doc to shoe his horse but does not pay for them. A shoe would later fall off, leading Buford to break a whiskey bottle and subsequently shoot the horse in frustration.
- April: William Sean McFly born, first son to Seamus and Maggie McFly and the first of the McFly family to be born in America.
- Saturday, July 4: Doc passes out after drinking one shot of whiskey at the 4th of July celebrations.
- Saturday, August 29: There is a meeting of the townspeople over who will pick up the new schoolteacher on September 4. Originally, no-one volunteers. In the altered timeline with Doc, he volunteers; and in the timeline without Marty, he picks her up.
- Tuesday, September 1: Doc buries the broken DeLorean time machine in the Delgado mine and writes a letter to Marty McFly, who is stranded in 1955.
Timeline 3
- Wednesday, September 2: Marty McFly arrives in 1885 to rescue Doc and accidentally rips the fuel line in the time machine. While running from a bear, he hits the fence of the McFly farm, leading him to meet his ancestors Seamus and Maggie McFly.
- Thursday, September 3: Marty runs into Buford Tannen and upsets him, causing Tannen to nearly hang Marty (going under the name "Clint Eastwood"). Doc saves Marty in the nick of time.
- Friday, September 4: Doc tries repairing the DeLorean, and accidentally saves the life of Clara Clayton, who was supposed to originally fall into Shonash Ravine (which would have resulted in the ravine being renamed Clayton Ravine). It is love at first sight.
- Saturday, September 5: The Hill Valley festival, and the inauguration of the newly built courthouse and its clock. Doc and Clara dance. Originally, Buford Tannen shot Doc here, causing Doc to die two days later, but thanks to "Clint," this is avoided.
- Sunday, September 6: Doc and Marty prepare to go back to the future. Doc says goodbye to Clara and tells her the truth, but she doesn't believe him, and he brokenheartedly goes to the Palace Saloon.
- Monday, September 7:
- Marty goes into town to find Doc in the saloon. Doc passes out after drinking a single shot of whiskey; and Marty, Chester, and Joey attempt to revive him.
- Tannen shows up in front of the saloon right as Doc awakens; he demands that "Eastwood" come outside and face him. Marty and Doc are ready to escape through the back door when Tannen calls Marty "yellow"; Marty decides not to face Tannen, showing an incredible amount of growth from a mere day earlier. Tannen's gang gets ahold of Doc and threatens to shoot him after Doc and Marty attempt an escape.
- Marty then decides to face Tannen, and survives thanks to a trick learned from the Clint Eastwood movie A Fistful of Dollars. He and Doc then flee to catch the train.
- Meanwhile, Clara, on a train to San Francisco, hears someone talking about a man talking about her, and she stops the train and jumps off to find Doc. She discovers clues at the blacksmith shop and runs to the spur line Doc and Marty are using;
- Doc and Marty use a stolen train's locomotive to push the DeLorean up to 88 mph toward Shonash Ravine to go back to 1985. Marty goes back to the future; but Doc, who went to Clara's rescue, is forced to stay behind.
- Tuesday, September 8:
- Clara Clayton's funeral was to occur on this day had she fallen into the Ravine.[1]
- Tuesday, September 15:
- Emmett Brown and Clara Clayton get married.[1]
- Tuesday, December 1[1]: Had Clara fallen into the ravine, it would have been renamed for her on this day. Since "Clint" is presumed to have crashed along with the locomotive, he enters the town's folklore as the man who beat "Mad Dog" Tannen and stopped bandits from stealing a locomotive, and Shonash Ravine is instead renamed Eastwood Ravine.
Timeline 4
- Thursday, September 3:
- Marty Jr. arrives from 1955 to give the rest of the thomas books to Buford Tannen and tells him that his father and the old man who claims to be a time traveller brought the box of the books, so Buford agreed to keep the books, Marty Jr. explores the past before heading to 1931. Marty runs into Buford Tannen and upsets him, causing Tannen to nearly hang Marty (going under the name "Clint Eastwood"). Doc saves Marty in the nick of time. But Buford tells Doc he found out he and Marty are time travellers. Doc was surprised, but he continues telling Buford Tannen to stay away from Marty. And Buford and his gang did.
- Friday, September 4:
- Doc tries repairing the DeLorean, and accidentally saves the life of Clara Clayton, who was supposed to originally fall into Shonash Ravine (which would have resulted in the ravine being renamed Clayton Ravine). It is love at first sight. Back in Hill Valley, Buford reads the books of thomas and his friends from the future.
- Saturday, September 5:
- The Hill Valley festival, and the inauguration of the newly built courthouse and its clock. Doc and Clara dance. Originally, Buford Tannen shot Doc here, causing Doc to die two days later, but thanks to "Clint," this is avoided.
- Sunday, September 6:
- Doc and Marty prepare to go back to the future. Doc says goodbye to Clara and tells her the truth, but she doesn't believe him, and he brokenheartedly goes to the Palace Saloon.
- Monday, September 7:
- Marty goes into town to find Doc in the saloon. Doc passes out after drinking a single shot of whiskey; and Marty, Chester, and Joey attempt to revive him.
- Tannen shows up in front of the saloon right as Doc awakens; he demands that "Eastwood" come outside and face him. Marty and Doc are ready to escape through the back door when Tannen calls Marty "yellow"; Marty decides not to face Tannen, showing an incredible amount of growth from a mere day earlier. Tannen's gang gets ahold of Doc and threatens to shoot him after Doc and Marty attempt an escape.
- Marty then decides to face Tannen, and survives thanks to a trick learned from the Clint Eastwood movie A Fistful of Dollars. He and Doc then flee to catch the train.
- Meanwhile, Clara, on a train to San Francisco, hears someone talking about a man talking about her, and she stops the train and jumps off to find and rescue Doc. She discovers clues at the blacksmith shop and runs to the spur line Doc and Marty are using;
- Doc and Marty use a stolen train's locomotive to push the DeLorean up to 88 mph toward Shonash Ravine to go back to 1985. Marty goes back to the future; but Doc, who went to Clara's rescue, is forced to stay behind.
- Tuesday, September 8:
- Clara Clayton's funeral was to occur on this day had she fallen into the Ravine.[1]
- Tuesday, September 15:
- Buford breaks into the marriage, Emmet tries to kill Buford, but he kills Clara Clayton instead.[1]
- Tuesday, December 1[1]:
- Buford and his Gang are very pleased and celebrated their victory.
- Saturday, December 5:
- Clara gets buried in the grave at the Delgado mine.
Timeline 5
- Thursday, September 3:
- Marty and Emmet Brown arrives from 1931 to stop Buford Tannen from killing Clara Clayton, Emmet tells Marty the plans of retrieving the box of Thomas and his friends books, Emmet tells him that Marty and Emmet retrieve the books and the other Emmet helping the other Marty get back to 1985. Emmet gives Marty the cash and tells him to buy some Cowboy Clothes and to make sure to not run to Marty's 1885-self. Marty Jr. arrives from 1955 to give the rest of the thomas books to Buford Tannen without noticing his father and tells him that his father and the old man who claims to be a time traveller brought the box of the books, so Buford agreed to keep the books, as Marty Jr. thought he had done enough to change the future, he departs 1885 for 1931..
- Friday, September 4:
- Back in Hill Valley, Buford reads the books of thomas and his friends from the future without noticing Marty McFly.
- Saturday, September 5:
- Marty and Doc Brown depart September 5th 1885 for September 7th 1885.
- Monday, September 7:
- Doc and Marty McFly arrive from the day of the Hill Valley Festival (September 5th 1885), Marty McFly runs into Buford Tannen and Buford tries to stop Marty from taking the Thomas books, Marty told Doc that he blew it, Doc and Marty follow Buford Tannen in DeLorean D, Meanwhile, Clara, on a train to San Francisco, hears someone talking about a man talking about her, and she stops the train and jumps off to find and rescue Doc. She discovers clues at the blacksmith shop and runs to the spur line Doc and Marty are using;
- While 1885 Doc and 1885 Marty use a stolen train's locomotive to push the DeLorean B up to 88 mph, Doc and Marty retrieve the Thomas books to the place of Lyon Estates, Marty and Doc finally fixed the timeline by burning the last few Thomas books and everything goes back to normal, Suddenly Buford's gang shot DeLorean D on the flux capacitor heading back to 1785 without Marty.
Timeline 6
- Monday, September 7:
- Marty find the cowboy with a letter from Doc, Marty found out Doc went back to 1785 so Marty needs 1885 Doc and Clara's help to repair DeLorean E, Marty heads back to the railway to find Emmet and Clara. Meanwhile back in the Shonash Ravine, 1885 Marty goes back to the future; but 1885 Doc, who went to Clara's rescue, is forced to stay behind. The hoverboard stopped and Marty found Doc and Clara and tells Doc that he is back from the future, Doc says "Great Scott!" and fells to the ground and faints.
- Tuesday, September 8:
- Doc wakes up to see Marty, Marty tells him that he wrote Marty the letter in 1785, Doc reads the letter, Doc found out that his 1785-self's DeLorean's Flux Capacitor has been shot by Buford's gang so Doc, Clara and Marty had to repair the damage to the Flux Capacitor and the Time Circuits. On 11:00 AM, Doc, Marty and Clara found the second buried DeLorean, They dug it out of a mine, and then Marty found Doc's 1785 self's grave, Marty tells Doc to come to the grave quick. Doc thought Marty saw a ghost, Doc sees his 1785-self's grave very upset, Marty thought he have to go back and save Doc's 1785-self and after that they started repairing DeLorean E.
- Wednesday, September 9:
- Back in Hill Valley, Marty goes back to September 2nd 1785 to rescue 1785 Doc, Doc helps Clara find some garbage to fill up the Fusion Generator, Doc fires the gun at 11:00 AM and Marty accelerates the DeLorean up to 88mph, and departs 1885 for 1785 without Doc and Clara.
Appearances
- Back to the Future Part II (First mentioned)
- Back to the Future Part II novelization (Mentioned only)
- Back to the Future Part III
- Back to the Future Part III novelization
- Back to the Future Part III (video game)
- Back to the Future: The Pinball (Date shown)
- Back to the Future: The Animated Series (Season One opening theme)
- Back to the Future: The Card Game (Mentioned only)
- Back to the Future: The Game
- Back to the Future: The Game - Episode 3: Citizen Brown (Mentioned only)
- Back to the Future: The Game - Episode 5: OUTATIME (Mentioned only)