0:00:11 > 0:00:13Ever since I was a small boy,
0:00:13 > 0:00:17I've been fascinated by stories of the Wild West.
0:00:17 > 0:00:20SHOUTING
0:00:20 > 0:00:23Stories of cowboys, Indians, wagon trains, and the gold-rush.
0:00:26 > 0:00:29But for me those stories are inseparable
0:00:29 > 0:00:32from the landscapes in which they took place -
0:00:32 > 0:00:35the mountains, the deserts and the Great Plains.
0:00:39 > 0:00:43In this series I'll be discovering how the early pioneers conquered
0:00:43 > 0:00:49the mighty mountain ranges and the vast expanses of the Great Plains.
0:00:49 > 0:00:53How the homesteaders and cowboys overcame extreme temperatures,
0:00:53 > 0:00:55blizzards and drought.
0:00:55 > 0:00:57And I will be finding out how the plants,
0:00:57 > 0:01:02animals and natural resources of this unknown wilderness
0:01:02 > 0:01:07offered unimaginable wealth and opportunities for the new nation.
0:01:36 > 0:01:39This is Washington, DC.
0:01:39 > 0:01:41Now, I can't claim that this is my natural environment,
0:01:41 > 0:01:44but it is a very beautiful city.
0:01:45 > 0:01:49When you look around here, you see leafy wide boulevards,
0:01:49 > 0:01:52neo-classical architecture.
0:01:52 > 0:01:55This is a capital city that oozes confidence.
0:01:57 > 0:02:00It was the nerve centre - the command control
0:02:00 > 0:02:06of the western frontier as it swept across the continent in the 1800s.
0:02:06 > 0:02:10The very spirit of the Wild West was forged right here.
0:02:10 > 0:02:15In 1786, there were just 13 states in the union
0:02:15 > 0:02:19and most of the land out there to the west was still unmapped
0:02:19 > 0:02:21and virtually unexplored.
0:02:24 > 0:02:28Over the next 100 years, the population would be
0:02:28 > 0:02:34encouraged to press westward to colonise the yet-untamed land.
0:02:34 > 0:02:36To do so they faced enormous challenges.
0:02:36 > 0:02:40In the middle of the continent there was this huge sea of grassland -
0:02:40 > 0:02:42the Great Plains.
0:02:42 > 0:02:45Then below that and further to the west were great
0:02:45 > 0:02:48and very arid deserts.
0:02:48 > 0:02:51But even before that, there were mountains to contend with.
0:02:51 > 0:02:55Here on the east coast, the maze of the Appalachians.
0:02:55 > 0:02:59Then the Rocky Mountains, an almost impenetrable barrier.
0:02:59 > 0:03:01And lastly the Sierra Nevada.
0:03:01 > 0:03:05And in this episode, it's the mountains I want to focus on.
0:03:05 > 0:03:09As I find out how each of these three mountain ranges would
0:03:09 > 0:03:13change the course of history as the frontier pushed west.
0:03:14 > 0:03:18This is the American Capitol building, and there's a painting
0:03:18 > 0:03:22here that really expresses the attitude of the emerging nation.
0:03:32 > 0:03:35This is an incredible painting.
0:03:35 > 0:03:39The message of this painting is clear - go west!
0:03:39 > 0:03:42And it depicts the journey of the American people across the
0:03:42 > 0:03:48land from the east coast on the right to the west coast on the left.
0:03:48 > 0:03:53These are the poor, the hungry, the religious exiles from Europe,
0:03:53 > 0:03:55in search of free and fertile land.
0:03:56 > 0:04:00You can see there the pioneers, the men in buckskin,
0:04:00 > 0:04:03showing the way through the mountains, helping people,
0:04:03 > 0:04:07ordinary people struggling against adversity,
0:04:07 > 0:04:12taking their carts pulled by oxen across the rugged mountains.
0:04:12 > 0:04:13It's astonishing.
0:04:13 > 0:04:17The message is clear - nothing is going to get in our way.
0:04:17 > 0:04:20These are people who believe they have a right to the land.
0:04:20 > 0:04:23They believe it is their manifest destiny.
0:04:23 > 0:04:29It says up here, "The whole of this boundless continent is ours."
0:04:29 > 0:04:30Which, of course, it wasn't.
0:04:30 > 0:04:33The first nations, the Native Americans,
0:04:33 > 0:04:36simply don't feature in this vision of the future.
0:04:42 > 0:04:44The early Europeans settlers established
0:04:44 > 0:04:48a strip of colonies along the length of the east coast from
0:04:48 > 0:04:51Massachusetts in the north to Georgia in the south.
0:04:54 > 0:04:57But less than a hundred miles inland,
0:04:57 > 0:05:00the wooded slopes of the Appalachians would prove
0:05:00 > 0:05:03to be the first big barrier for westward migration.
0:05:04 > 0:05:08Well, there are no prizes for guessing why these mist
0:05:08 > 0:05:10shrouded mountains get their name, the Great Smokys.
0:05:10 > 0:05:15It's a stunning, very peaceful landscape,
0:05:15 > 0:05:18and these mountains are part of the Appalachian range that runs
0:05:18 > 0:05:22up the eastern side of North America.
0:05:22 > 0:05:261,500 miles of the oldest mountains on the continent.
0:05:26 > 0:05:28The great age of these mountains
0:05:28 > 0:05:32means they've been worn down by erosion.
0:05:32 > 0:05:35They're heavily clad in forestry.
0:05:35 > 0:05:38They're convoluted it's a difficult place to find your way
0:05:38 > 0:05:43through and it was a serious barrier to westward expansion.
0:05:59 > 0:06:03The forest's thick today, but it's hard to imagine that this has
0:06:03 > 0:06:07actually all been cut down and re-grown since the early pioneers
0:06:07 > 0:06:11were here, but I'd love to have seen the forest that they encountered.
0:06:11 > 0:06:13We know that the trees were much bigger.
0:06:13 > 0:06:17There were incredible accounts of sycamores that were hollow and
0:06:17 > 0:06:18they could shelter 30 men,
0:06:18 > 0:06:22and spruce trees that were 20 feet around.
0:06:22 > 0:06:24It must have been staggering.
0:06:24 > 0:06:28With their big trees and crumpled and forested ridges,
0:06:28 > 0:06:31it's no wonder that the Appalachians kept the settlers
0:06:31 > 0:06:34pinned against the east coast.
0:06:34 > 0:06:37But their fertile slopes promised attractive farming
0:06:37 > 0:06:39land for the burgeoning colonies,
0:06:39 > 0:06:44and soon the new arrivals started to move into the mountains.
0:06:44 > 0:06:49However, there was one fundamental problem - they were trespassing.
0:06:49 > 0:06:51This land was already occupied.
0:07:03 > 0:07:06It was, of course, home to the native peoples of America -
0:07:06 > 0:07:08the North American Indians.
0:07:08 > 0:07:12These were tribes with very different beliefs to the settlers
0:07:12 > 0:07:15and that would ultimately lead to bitter clashes.
0:07:15 > 0:07:18But one of the first tribes the pioneers encountered,
0:07:18 > 0:07:22the Cherokee, was remarkably welcoming.
0:07:22 > 0:07:26A few of their descendents still live in these mountains.
0:07:26 > 0:07:30One of them is tribal elder Davy Arch.
0:07:30 > 0:07:32Our people have lived here since before the last Ice Age.
0:07:32 > 0:07:35And you willingly shared your knowledge with the settlers.
0:07:35 > 0:07:39Yes, and a lot of what's called mountain medicine now was
0:07:39 > 0:07:41Cherokee medicine. It's all they had.
0:07:41 > 0:07:43And these people wouldn't have survived
0:07:43 > 0:07:45if we hadn't took care of them.
0:07:45 > 0:07:46This has been here all my life.
0:07:46 > 0:07:49When you come to a cane break like this, you'll see a lot of little
0:07:49 > 0:07:54stuff outside and the bigger, more mature canes on the inside.
0:07:54 > 0:07:57'I've asked Davey to demonstrate one of their most fascinating
0:07:57 > 0:07:59'traditional skills.'
0:07:59 > 0:08:02There are a few rules of thumb that I try to pass on.
0:08:02 > 0:08:04One is that you never take the first plant
0:08:04 > 0:08:06when you're looking for a resource.
0:08:06 > 0:08:09You always wait till you find the fourth or the seventh.
0:08:09 > 0:08:12It takes about three or four years for it to mature,
0:08:12 > 0:08:15so we want to look for the darkest colour and the straightest stalks.
0:08:15 > 0:08:17And that's exactly what we're looking for right there.
0:08:21 > 0:08:23And just ripe to squirrel hunt with.
0:08:23 > 0:08:25- A bit of straightening. - Yeah.- OK.
0:08:30 > 0:08:32Davey's going to teach me how to make a blowpipe.
0:08:32 > 0:08:35First we need a fire to help work the cane.
0:08:43 > 0:08:46- I can see you're all set up, Davey. - Yes.
0:08:46 > 0:08:48So, come on, tell me about the river cane,
0:08:48 > 0:08:51because that's got a lot of significance to you, hasn't it?
0:08:51 > 0:08:53I'll tell you, the river cane in the past for us
0:08:53 > 0:08:56is kind of like the Wal-Mart for people today -
0:08:56 > 0:08:59it provided us with all kinds of resources.
0:08:59 > 0:09:03We built our houses out of it, we ate the sprouts,
0:09:03 > 0:09:06we made our baskets and stuff that we used in everyday life,
0:09:06 > 0:09:09and it grew along the edge of every village.
0:09:09 > 0:09:11Well, I guess we'd better get on with it
0:09:11 > 0:09:13because I'm really keen to see this in use.
0:09:13 > 0:09:15All right, well, the trick to straightening the cane is to
0:09:15 > 0:09:19heat it in the fire. And while it's hot, the inside fibres become
0:09:19 > 0:09:21flexible and you can bend it without breaking it.
0:09:21 > 0:09:24Right, well, let's see if I can... How I get on.
0:09:24 > 0:09:25I'll have to be a bit careful.
0:09:34 > 0:09:39- Gentle pressure like that.- It's definitely a little improved.- Yeah.
0:09:39 > 0:09:41'When it's dried, Davy hollows
0:09:41 > 0:09:45'and smoothes out the inside of the cane with a metal file.
0:09:45 > 0:09:49'When the pipe is ready, the next stage is to make the dart.
0:09:50 > 0:09:53'Thistle down is used for the flights.'
0:09:53 > 0:09:56The truer you can get the down applied to the dart...
0:09:56 > 0:09:58- The better.- ..the better it'll fly.
0:09:58 > 0:10:00What would you use then for the darts?
0:10:00 > 0:10:04Yellow locust. It's a strong, flexible wood.
0:10:04 > 0:10:08So it takes about 15, 20 minutes to whittle out a good dart shaft.
0:10:08 > 0:10:12My grandfather used to like find a lightning-struck tree
0:10:12 > 0:10:14and make his blow gun darts out of that.
0:10:14 > 0:10:17He was trying to convey the power of that lightning to the dart.
0:10:18 > 0:10:22The Cherokee use no poison on their dart tips
0:10:22 > 0:10:26and rely on their skills as hunters to catch their prey.
0:10:28 > 0:10:30That is amazing.
0:10:30 > 0:10:33That is truly impressive. That's fantastic.
0:10:33 > 0:10:37'Applying the thistle to the dart shaft is a real art form.'
0:10:40 > 0:10:42That is difficult.
0:10:42 > 0:10:45- And there it is.- Push the dart down into a piece of cane.
0:10:45 > 0:10:48Let's see if I can hit that target with it over there.
0:10:52 > 0:10:53Fantastic.
0:10:53 > 0:10:56Can't watch that and not want to have a go.
0:10:56 > 0:10:59'It seems extraordinary now that the Cherokee shared their skills
0:10:59 > 0:11:01'and land with the first settlers.'
0:11:03 > 0:11:04Oh, wow. That's pretty close.
0:11:04 > 0:11:06- HE LAUGHS - Try again.
0:11:07 > 0:11:10But in the early 1800s it must have seemed like there
0:11:10 > 0:11:14were riches enough for everyone in these mountains.
0:11:21 > 0:11:25Well, last night, the heavens absolutely opened.
0:11:25 > 0:11:29There was lightning throughout the sky and the result -
0:11:29 > 0:11:34the woods today are a humid and very sticky place.
0:11:34 > 0:11:38But I love it because it's that moisture that makes this forest
0:11:38 > 0:11:41grow, and places like this make me feel as though I'm coming alive.
0:11:41 > 0:11:45It's so rich in here. It's astonishing.
0:11:46 > 0:11:49But to the early pioneers who came here,
0:11:49 > 0:11:54this was a fairly dark and foreboding wilderness.
0:11:54 > 0:11:58Without science to explain the mysteries they were encountering,
0:11:58 > 0:12:02they turned to the obvious source of reference - the scriptures.
0:12:05 > 0:12:08What was home to the Cherokee was an alien
0:12:08 > 0:12:11and scary land for the settlers.
0:12:11 > 0:12:14Their trepidation is clear from the names they gave places -
0:12:14 > 0:12:16Blood Mountain,
0:12:16 > 0:12:18Devil's Creek Gap,
0:12:18 > 0:12:20Abram's Falls.
0:12:26 > 0:12:29And the local wildlife was equally unnerving...
0:12:32 > 0:12:37..as wildlife biologist Thomas Floyd is about to show me.
0:12:37 > 0:12:40- Thomas, tell me you've had some luck.- I have.
0:12:40 > 0:12:43- Is that what I think it is? - It's a mud dog.
0:12:43 > 0:12:45- A mud dog.- A devil dog.
0:12:45 > 0:12:47- Is that a hellbender? - It is a hellbender.
0:12:47 > 0:12:50They've got some horrible names, haven't they?
0:12:50 > 0:12:53- A snot otter. even!- Gah! Let's have a look! That's incredible! Wow!
0:12:53 > 0:12:57This is an animal that I never thought I would see in my lifetime
0:12:57 > 0:13:01- because it's really rare, isn't it? - It is incredibly rare.
0:13:01 > 0:13:05It requires clear, clean flowing waters.
0:13:05 > 0:13:10Human activity has introduced a lot of soil and in a lot of streams.
0:13:10 > 0:13:13- So it's losing its habitat. - It's losing its habitat.
0:13:13 > 0:13:14Tell me how it lives.
0:13:14 > 0:13:17It's a salamander, but it is completely aquatic.
0:13:17 > 0:13:21It lives its entire life in streams that are cool, fast flowing.
0:13:21 > 0:13:24- And it's a predator, is that right? - That's right.
0:13:24 > 0:13:26It will take on about anything it can fit in its mouth.
0:13:26 > 0:13:30And when people first saw this, what did they think about it?
0:13:30 > 0:13:32Well, they thought it was hideous because it lived under rocks
0:13:32 > 0:13:37in the streams, they thought maybe it was clawing its way back to hell.
0:13:37 > 0:13:39- Hence the name.- Hence the name.
0:13:39 > 0:13:42I find it difficult to understand the mindset that saw this
0:13:42 > 0:13:45harmless little creature as the work of the Devil.
0:13:45 > 0:13:48So you're measuring the width of the tail, is that a sign of health?
0:13:48 > 0:13:50That's a sign of health.
0:13:50 > 0:13:53I think they're quite... quite charming really, aren't they?
0:13:53 > 0:13:56They really don't deserve all the nasty names they've been given.
0:13:56 > 0:13:58Let's get her back home.
0:13:58 > 0:14:01'Europeans would never have seen creatures like this,
0:14:01 > 0:14:05'and to the waves of religious exiles landing on these shores,
0:14:05 > 0:14:09'the Puritans, the Catholics, the Baptists and the Mormons,
0:14:09 > 0:14:13'the scriptures coloured their entire view of this land.'
0:14:25 > 0:14:28The atmosphere here is so magical,
0:14:28 > 0:14:31it's not hard to see why the settlers overcame
0:14:31 > 0:14:35the unfamiliarity and started to make their homes here.
0:14:35 > 0:14:37Oh, this is beautiful.
0:14:37 > 0:14:41Barbara Woodhall can trace her roots back to the earliest pioneers.
0:14:41 > 0:14:42Great old buildings.
0:14:43 > 0:14:48She has devoted her life to preserving those times.
0:14:48 > 0:14:51Life was simple here. It was hard, but it was simple.
0:14:51 > 0:14:54They lived off the land. They were humble people.
0:14:54 > 0:14:57I mean, there's a real sense of identity here,
0:14:57 > 0:14:58isn't there, to be Appalachian?
0:14:58 > 0:15:01Well, I say that my heart is knitted to these mountains with
0:15:01 > 0:15:03golden threads that will never rust.
0:15:03 > 0:15:05It's a beautiful place, that's for sure.
0:15:05 > 0:15:07You get to see the mountains change different colours
0:15:07 > 0:15:12and every season, every turn has a new surprise or a new blessing.
0:15:12 > 0:15:13But when the settlers came here,
0:15:13 > 0:15:15it must have been a bit mysterious for them.
0:15:15 > 0:15:18I mean, you know, as you come further south
0:15:18 > 0:15:20there are more plants, strange things here.
0:15:20 > 0:15:24Yes, there were. Thankfully the Cherokee Indians were here and they
0:15:24 > 0:15:28had a grand knowledge of herbs and stuff, and they taught the settlers.
0:15:28 > 0:15:31They had a wonderful relationship between the Cherokee
0:15:31 > 0:15:34and the white settlers. Like, for instance,
0:15:34 > 0:15:38this is sweet birch and it's used for many things.
0:15:38 > 0:15:40It has the aspirin compound in it, you know
0:15:40 > 0:15:42you could treat pain with it.
0:15:42 > 0:15:46Mostly we used it for, like, chewing gum and stuff like that.
0:15:48 > 0:15:51- Shall we find some shelter in one of the buildings?- We might melt!
0:15:51 > 0:15:53BOTH LAUGH
0:15:57 > 0:16:01By the early 1800s, there were thousands of families
0:16:01 > 0:16:05like Barbara's pushing west into the Appalachians.
0:16:05 > 0:16:08Scottish, Irish, Germans and English
0:16:08 > 0:16:13found plenty of good land to farm alongside the Cherokee.
0:16:13 > 0:16:14This is a wonderful place.
0:16:14 > 0:16:16I mean, I love these buildings - they're fantastic!
0:16:16 > 0:16:21Paint a picture for me of what life would have been like here.
0:16:21 > 0:16:23Well, you'd have had somebody up
0:16:23 > 0:16:25there ploughing that garden, you know.
0:16:25 > 0:16:29You'd have heard the wheel on the grist mill grinding, producing
0:16:29 > 0:16:33corn meal for the community, the sights and sounds around the farm.
0:16:33 > 0:16:35They played bluegrass music, you know.
0:16:35 > 0:16:37I know my dad could play the mandolin.
0:16:37 > 0:16:40There wasn't a whole lot of time to play because quite,
0:16:40 > 0:16:44quite frankly, if you didn't grow it, you didn't have it,
0:16:44 > 0:16:47and corn was life in these mountains.
0:16:47 > 0:16:51If your corn crop failed, well, you'd have to either depend on your
0:16:51 > 0:16:55neighbour a little bit or you would sup from the cup of sorrow.
0:16:58 > 0:17:02Very soon, the emerging nation demanded the rich resources of these
0:17:02 > 0:17:08mountains - the timber, the land and soon the gold - for themselves.
0:17:08 > 0:17:12In 1838, after many years of co-existence,
0:17:12 > 0:17:15the Federal government ordered the forcible removal of the
0:17:15 > 0:17:21Cherokee people along a route that became known as the Trail of Tears.
0:17:21 > 0:17:24The two communities were split asunder.
0:17:24 > 0:17:29This old wagon was the only one that's known left in history
0:17:29 > 0:17:33that was actually used in the Trail of Tears in this area,
0:17:33 > 0:17:39when the Cherokee Indians were rounded up and taken out of here.
0:17:39 > 0:17:41And they were shipped off to Oklahoma.
0:17:41 > 0:17:43Yes, they were, and they were driven like dogs.
0:17:43 > 0:17:45They were treated as sub-human,
0:17:45 > 0:17:49and that appalled the native Appalachian people here
0:17:49 > 0:17:52because it was the government that did that, you see.
0:17:55 > 0:18:00This was a pattern that was to be repeated over the Wild West years,
0:18:00 > 0:18:04with Native Indian tribes constantly being relocated to
0:18:04 > 0:18:07less valuable land as the frontier moved ever westward.
0:18:12 > 0:18:13You've got the fire going good.
0:18:13 > 0:18:16A house without a fire isn't a house, is it?
0:18:16 > 0:18:19- No, no, it's not. - Certainly not a home.
0:18:19 > 0:18:21What was life like in a house like this?
0:18:21 > 0:18:24Imagine ten young 'uns running around - it would become crowded.
0:18:24 > 0:18:26But it was home - that's the main thing.
0:18:26 > 0:18:28There's no place like home,
0:18:28 > 0:18:31and you can make do with what you've got to make do with.
0:18:31 > 0:18:34I like these, right here. These are called leather britches beans.
0:18:34 > 0:18:36They're green beans with a thread running through them,
0:18:36 > 0:18:39and they would take them down and cook them in the pot like that,
0:18:39 > 0:18:42and season them with meat and stuff.
0:18:42 > 0:18:44My mother cooked in a Dutch oven.
0:18:44 > 0:18:47She could boil a dish rag and make it taste good.
0:18:47 > 0:18:49BOTH LAUGH
0:18:49 > 0:18:51One of the things that immediately hits you when you
0:18:51 > 0:18:53look at this lifestyle is how dependent
0:18:53 > 0:18:55they were upon these trees here.
0:18:55 > 0:18:58Oh, absolutely. We would depend on it for fuel to heat the house.
0:18:58 > 0:19:00You had to build your house out of wood.
0:19:00 > 0:19:03You could use the barks, you know, for different stuff,
0:19:03 > 0:19:04to make furniture.
0:19:04 > 0:19:07They made their own caskets, their own coffins,
0:19:07 > 0:19:09they made their own everything.
0:19:09 > 0:19:12If you didn't grow it or you didn't make it, you didn't have it.
0:19:22 > 0:19:25Wood was abundant in the 19th century.
0:19:25 > 0:19:29It is said that each settler family cut down one whole
0:19:29 > 0:19:33acre of wood a year just for their own needs.
0:19:33 > 0:19:37But of course, this timber, it had a much more significant role to
0:19:37 > 0:19:40play in the history of the United States.
0:19:40 > 0:19:44Because it was wood that would be used to build the carts,
0:19:44 > 0:19:49the wagon wheels and the railway sleepers that would drive
0:19:49 > 0:19:51the population across the continent.
0:20:06 > 0:20:11Joe Currie is a lumberjack whose job it is to steward these forests.
0:20:21 > 0:20:23Ta-da!
0:20:23 > 0:20:25What have you cut down? Was that a pine to start with?
0:20:25 > 0:20:27- We had a white pine...- Yeah. - ..and a chestnut oak.
0:20:27 > 0:20:29That's interesting. That's not a tree I know.
0:20:29 > 0:20:32- Ah, I can smell the tannin in there. - Yeah.- Sweet.
0:20:32 > 0:20:33What species do you have here?
0:20:33 > 0:20:37We have northern red oak and two of poplar,
0:20:37 > 0:20:41and some higher end species like hard maple and cherry,
0:20:41 > 0:20:43soft maple...
0:20:43 > 0:20:45cucumber magnolia, bass wood.
0:20:45 > 0:20:47Coming from Europe, I'm astonished at the range
0:20:47 > 0:20:49of species that you have here.
0:20:49 > 0:20:51Oh, and that's just the beginning of it.
0:20:51 > 0:20:54This is the most biodiverse temperate forest in the world.
0:20:54 > 0:20:56So in the early days, when people first came here,
0:20:56 > 0:20:58it must have seemed like a bonanza,
0:20:58 > 0:21:00with all these incredible species and so many of them.
0:21:00 > 0:21:03Especially coming from, you know, the majority of the settlers at the time
0:21:03 > 0:21:07coming from Europe, where the forest had been largely used or overused,
0:21:07 > 0:21:10or had already been placed in some sort of intensive management.
0:21:10 > 0:21:11To come into a native forest
0:21:11 > 0:21:14environment must have been radically different.
0:21:19 > 0:21:21Among the first settlers in these mountains were
0:21:21 > 0:21:24the ancestors of Sanford McGee.
0:21:25 > 0:21:27Sanford, tell me about your family history.
0:21:27 > 0:21:31Well, my folks came over the mountains down through
0:21:31 > 0:21:34from Virginia, down through East Tennessee
0:21:34 > 0:21:38when this was all complete wilderness.
0:21:38 > 0:21:43They moved there in 1806, and were on the same piece of land
0:21:43 > 0:21:46and living there all the way through to the 1920s.
0:21:47 > 0:21:50That's where my father was born in the same
0:21:50 > 0:21:57house as my grandmother, my great grandfather was born.
0:21:57 > 0:22:01I have some photographs, actually, from my grand-parents' collection.
0:22:01 > 0:22:04When they would move to a camp, one of the first things that they
0:22:04 > 0:22:07would do would be to set up a dwelling.
0:22:07 > 0:22:08This is the way, typically,
0:22:08 > 0:22:11they were built all around this part of the world.
0:22:11 > 0:22:13So they basically put a tent up and then
0:22:13 > 0:22:16they put a shingle roof over the top of it to make it more weatherproof.
0:22:16 > 0:22:21And canvas walls with generally a wood floor.
0:22:21 > 0:22:22You can see the idea of home.
0:22:22 > 0:22:25- They even had like a picket fence. - Yeah, a picket fence.
0:22:30 > 0:22:33These logging camps were temporary.
0:22:33 > 0:22:36They would move in, cut down the timber and then move on.
0:22:36 > 0:22:41Timber had to be hauled by men and oxen or floated down rivers.
0:22:41 > 0:22:43It was hard work.
0:22:44 > 0:22:52This was the way all the trees were cut, with a cross cut saw like this.
0:22:52 > 0:22:54And this was a cant hook.
0:22:54 > 0:22:57This would hook into the back of a log,
0:22:57 > 0:23:00and I would just roll it once it's hooked in.
0:23:00 > 0:23:04What we saw today, with that, was the way it was done.
0:23:04 > 0:23:06You can imagine how long it would take
0:23:06 > 0:23:09to move that many logs to the mill.
0:23:13 > 0:23:16The lumber industry expanded rapidly,
0:23:16 > 0:23:19as Americans logged their way across the country.
0:23:19 > 0:23:24By 1900, over 40% of the standing American forest first
0:23:24 > 0:23:27encountered by the colonists had been chopped down.
0:23:27 > 0:23:32It's a shocking figure, but in the days before coal and oil, the forest
0:23:32 > 0:23:37provided the nation's only fuel and its chief building material.
0:23:37 > 0:23:40Wood was literally driving the nation west.
0:23:42 > 0:23:47Around 1810, just as the settlers and religious revivalists
0:23:47 > 0:23:50were exploring the Appalachian mountains in the east,
0:23:50 > 0:23:55over 2,000 miles away to the west, a very different kind of pioneer was
0:23:55 > 0:23:59making inroads into another mountain range.
0:24:25 > 0:24:30From up here, the Great Plains seem to stretch on for ever.
0:24:30 > 0:24:35It's amazing, it really is, like looking out across the ocean.
0:24:35 > 0:24:38But then of course, rising like a wall in front of them,
0:24:38 > 0:24:40is the Rocky Mountains.
0:24:50 > 0:24:54They're only young mountains at 80 million years old, and you can see
0:24:54 > 0:24:57that when you look at them because they've got these really sharp
0:24:57 > 0:25:02edges, in complete contrast to the weathered domes of the Appalachians.
0:25:12 > 0:25:15You'll find some of the highest peaks in the Continent here -
0:25:15 > 0:25:20up to 14,000 feet and covered in snow all year round.
0:25:20 > 0:25:24North to south, they stretch for more than 3,000 miles.
0:25:26 > 0:25:29It's only when you get up here that you can really get
0:25:29 > 0:25:33a sense of what a bruising landscape this was.
0:25:33 > 0:25:36How difficult it would have been for people
0:25:36 > 0:25:38travelling across this landscape.
0:25:38 > 0:25:41It must have seemed impenetrable.
0:25:59 > 0:26:02It's a very spiritual place to visit.
0:26:02 > 0:26:06You can't help but be moved by the majesty of nature here.
0:26:18 > 0:26:22Glaciers and rivers have shaped the range through its history.
0:26:22 > 0:26:26You can really see the power of the water at work here in an erosive
0:26:26 > 0:26:31sense, as it's carving this river ever deeper into the landscape.
0:26:36 > 0:26:39The abundance of water and the variety of climate
0:26:39 > 0:26:44and plant-life makes this a perfect habitat for wildlife.
0:26:44 > 0:26:47In the early 1800s, the Rocky Mountains would have been
0:26:47 > 0:26:51teeming with animals, everything from mountain goats
0:26:51 > 0:26:53and bighorn sheep to elk.
0:26:54 > 0:26:56Further north in the Canadian Rockies,
0:26:56 > 0:27:01the fur trade was booming, and a trickle of enterprising fur
0:27:01 > 0:27:05trappers known as the mountain men started making their way south
0:27:05 > 0:27:09along the mountain range in pursuit of the animals that lived there.
0:27:12 > 0:27:16See the elk cow there with her calf?
0:27:16 > 0:27:19A little drama being played out here.
0:27:19 > 0:27:22The calf was in the current,
0:27:22 > 0:27:25unsure of itself, panicking a little bit.
0:27:25 > 0:27:26And mum's gone over,
0:27:26 > 0:27:30given it reassurance and encouraged it into safer water.
0:27:33 > 0:27:34A lovely thing to see.
0:27:36 > 0:27:39But the fur trade that lured the mountain men here
0:27:39 > 0:27:42came with serious risks attached.
0:27:45 > 0:27:49The abundant animal population included predators,
0:27:49 > 0:27:53like wolves, coyotes, grizzlies and black bears.
0:27:54 > 0:27:58(In the undergrowth there, there's a bit of movement
0:27:58 > 0:28:00and what it is, it's a young black bear.)
0:28:02 > 0:28:06The black bear are perfectly adapted to this forest habitat.
0:28:06 > 0:28:09They are excellent tree climbers, with short fixed claws that
0:28:09 > 0:28:12help them grip and reach their food.
0:28:13 > 0:28:15Black bears are really beautiful,
0:28:15 > 0:28:18but you must take care with black bears and not get too close to them.
0:28:18 > 0:28:20They're very, very quick.
0:28:20 > 0:28:22It's one of the threats that the early pioneers
0:28:22 > 0:28:24that came here had to live with.
0:28:24 > 0:28:27Bears, you could be surprised by them in the woods.
0:28:29 > 0:28:33But there was one animal above all that drew the mountain men
0:28:33 > 0:28:36into these unmapped mountain ranges.
0:28:39 > 0:28:43I can see some fresh sign here going down into the water,
0:28:43 > 0:28:47so something has gone down here and come back.
0:28:47 > 0:28:49And it's the beaver.
0:28:49 > 0:28:53And you can see here this branch has been dragged up here by beavers.
0:28:53 > 0:28:56Now beavers have got these incredible teeth that
0:28:56 > 0:28:59enable them to fell trees.
0:28:59 > 0:29:01What they're collecting, they like willow,
0:29:01 > 0:29:04they like aspen because it's their food.
0:29:04 > 0:29:08This is the kind of thing they eat, the twigs here and the bark on them.
0:29:08 > 0:29:11And they also use the wood to construct their lodges.
0:29:12 > 0:29:15When the mountain men first arrived in the Rockies,
0:29:15 > 0:29:18beaver were to be found in great abundance.
0:29:19 > 0:29:24The beaver was to play a pivotal role in the exploration
0:29:24 > 0:29:26of the North American continent.
0:29:26 > 0:29:28And here in the USA,
0:29:28 > 0:29:32beavers were the driving force for the exploration westward.
0:29:32 > 0:29:35That's what brought the mountain men into this land.
0:29:35 > 0:29:40They came here to make money and what they were after was this.
0:29:40 > 0:29:43This is what it was all about.
0:29:43 > 0:29:45That is a beaver pelt.
0:29:45 > 0:29:47So what was all the fuss about?
0:29:47 > 0:29:49What was special about the beavers' fur?
0:29:49 > 0:29:51Actually what they were interested
0:29:51 > 0:29:57in was these short hairs underneath - the insulating hairs.
0:29:57 > 0:30:01What the hairs were being used for was to make felt.
0:30:01 > 0:30:03When they were put together in the felting process,
0:30:03 > 0:30:06they made for a very stiff felt,
0:30:06 > 0:30:11which powered the fashion trend for tall hats.
0:30:11 > 0:30:14The more important you were, the bigger the hat you wore.
0:30:14 > 0:30:17It's astonishing to think it was a fashion trend that would
0:30:17 > 0:30:20drive the exploration of a whole continent.
0:30:22 > 0:30:28By 1840, about 3,000 mountain men had travelled to the Rocky Mountains
0:30:28 > 0:30:32to trap the beaver and other wild animals that lived here.
0:30:35 > 0:30:38Some joined fur companies and were organised into military
0:30:38 > 0:30:43style regiments, trapping animals in return for a salary.
0:30:43 > 0:30:47Others worked alone in this inhospitable wilderness
0:30:47 > 0:30:50with the help of one of the toughest animals they had.
0:30:52 > 0:30:55Modern day mountain man Stu Sorenson
0:30:55 > 0:30:59has spent his life as a mule packer and guide.
0:30:59 > 0:31:02So this is a pack animal. Do you ride these animals at all?
0:31:02 > 0:31:04Well, yeah, I... It's nice to have them for everything.
0:31:04 > 0:31:08- Why the mule, not the horse? - They're tough.
0:31:08 > 0:31:11They're smart. The tougher the country is, the better they are.
0:31:11 > 0:31:13They really are tough animals,
0:31:13 > 0:31:14and they're very intelligent and they...
0:31:14 > 0:31:17They know where they're putting their feet all the time.
0:31:17 > 0:31:20They're looking and they're watching. They won't get themselves in trouble.
0:31:20 > 0:31:22They don't panic as much as a horse will.
0:31:22 > 0:31:26They build a trust in you by never
0:31:26 > 0:31:28putting them in a spot where they're going to get hurt.
0:31:28 > 0:31:32You have a unique bond and trust between you.
0:31:32 > 0:31:34(You're gorgeous.)
0:31:34 > 0:31:37Stu is going to take me on one of the early trails the pioneers
0:31:37 > 0:31:39used to get into the mountains.
0:31:41 > 0:31:42It's been a long while.
0:31:42 > 0:31:45How are those stirrups? Are they gonna be all right?
0:31:45 > 0:31:47There we go. That's fine.
0:31:52 > 0:31:54Come on, girl. Come on.
0:31:54 > 0:31:56You're all right.
0:32:05 > 0:32:07INDISTINCT CHATTER
0:32:16 > 0:32:18Hundreds of miles from any town or homestead,
0:32:18 > 0:32:23the mountain men needed to carry absolutely everything with them -
0:32:23 > 0:32:27knives, pots and pans, coffee, salt and tobacco
0:32:27 > 0:32:30and of course, hopefully dozens of beaver pelts.
0:32:38 > 0:32:41On these steep and narrow tracks, you can really see
0:32:41 > 0:32:44why these sure-footed pack animals were so essential.
0:32:56 > 0:32:59This is...aspen and the bark off that.
0:33:02 > 0:33:04Here you are, Stu.
0:33:09 > 0:33:12It's going good.
0:33:12 > 0:33:16Now, Stu, you've really lived the old mule packing life, haven't you?
0:33:16 > 0:33:17For many, many years.
0:33:17 > 0:33:20I've been living in the mountains, guiding, packing,
0:33:20 > 0:33:23scouting, fishing trips, just because I like being here.
0:33:23 > 0:33:26When I go back in the wilderness,
0:33:26 > 0:33:28it's just like it's has changed.
0:33:28 > 0:33:31You can still live same way, take care of the land,
0:33:31 > 0:33:36leave no trace, just move through like a shadow and just soak it up.
0:33:36 > 0:33:39It really did take special people to pioneer
0:33:39 > 0:33:41the routes into this country.
0:33:41 > 0:33:44- A pretty dangerous life. - Yeah, it was.
0:33:44 > 0:33:47What were the risks that they faced when they came here?
0:33:47 > 0:33:52Well, drowning was the big one, pneumonia, infection, Indians.
0:33:52 > 0:33:54And, of course, when they were coming into this country,
0:33:54 > 0:33:56- they were following the Indian trails.- Yeah.
0:33:56 > 0:33:59But what about the predators they had to face here?
0:33:59 > 0:34:01Grizzly bears were always a problem. It was dang tough.
0:34:01 > 0:34:05They say that most mountain men only lasted a few years.
0:34:05 > 0:34:09Either they died, got killed or gave it up.
0:34:09 > 0:34:11It was a miracle they survived at all.
0:34:11 > 0:34:15I mean, with the conditions they lived under, it was incredible.
0:34:15 > 0:34:18I think Hollywood creates quite a lot of myths about the mountain men.
0:34:18 > 0:34:23Hollywood portrays these people who were running away from society.
0:34:23 > 0:34:25My impression is something different.
0:34:25 > 0:34:26I think they were businessmen.
0:34:26 > 0:34:29They were looking to make money on the furs of the beaver,
0:34:29 > 0:34:31- is that right? - That's correct.
0:34:31 > 0:34:34Yeah, and there was...
0:34:34 > 0:34:36If they stayed at home, farming was about it, you know,
0:34:36 > 0:34:38and it was just...
0:34:38 > 0:34:40Barely get enough to survive.
0:34:40 > 0:34:42Especially, if you hired on with a company,
0:34:42 > 0:34:45they supplied everything, and you just went out there
0:34:45 > 0:34:47and you'd trap and come back with the money.
0:34:47 > 0:34:50That was the theory... They would come into the country,
0:34:50 > 0:34:54trap and mostly, on the way back, you got robbed by the Indians.
0:34:54 > 0:34:56Well, yeah, that happened a lot. HE LAUGHS
0:34:56 > 0:34:59- You had to watch your back all the time.- It was a dangerous business.
0:34:59 > 0:35:01Oh, yeah. And you couldn't build a fire in daytime
0:35:01 > 0:35:04cos they could see your smoke. You had to build a fire at night.
0:35:04 > 0:35:06So you really had to understand the Indians.
0:35:06 > 0:35:08You had to think like the Indians.
0:35:08 > 0:35:10But the mountain men would soon be forced
0:35:10 > 0:35:13to find a different way to survive.
0:35:13 > 0:35:16So you had this period of, say, 40 years
0:35:16 > 0:35:20when the beaver were very heavily exploited, and then the trade
0:35:20 > 0:35:23- came to an end because the fashion in Europe changed.- Yeah.
0:35:23 > 0:35:26When this period of fur trapping ended,
0:35:26 > 0:35:28what did the mountain men do then for a living?
0:35:28 > 0:35:32A lot of them looked for jobs in the wilderness.
0:35:32 > 0:35:34They became guides for wagon trains and scouts.
0:35:34 > 0:35:37And this was really difficult place to find your way through.
0:35:37 > 0:35:39Oh, yeah, crossing the mountains was tough.
0:35:39 > 0:35:42Then how important would you say their role was in American history?
0:35:42 > 0:35:46I think it was very important. It opened up the west for settlers.
0:36:11 > 0:36:15The mountain men searched out the simple routes through
0:36:15 > 0:36:18the difficult terrain and that's exactly where I'm standing.
0:36:18 > 0:36:20It doesn't look mountainous,
0:36:20 > 0:36:25but this is a giant pass through the Rocky Mountains called South Pass.
0:36:25 > 0:36:27It was important to the mountain men.
0:36:27 > 0:36:30What they couldn't predict was it was going to be important to
0:36:30 > 0:36:32a lot of other people, too.
0:36:32 > 0:36:35And in the years after this pass was established,
0:36:35 > 0:36:40half of humanity would pass through here in wagon trains heading
0:36:40 > 0:36:42to start new lives in the west.
0:36:47 > 0:36:52South Pass was first discovered by the mountain men in 1812 and the
0:36:52 > 0:36:57very first wagon trains made their way through the pass in the 1830s.
0:36:57 > 0:37:02And by the time the railroad offered an easier route in 1869,
0:37:02 > 0:37:06about half a million people had trekked through here.
0:37:06 > 0:37:10Most of the wagons followed the Oregon Trail to the fertile
0:37:10 > 0:37:13lands on the north-western seaboard.
0:37:13 > 0:37:17But if you were headed for the promised land of California,
0:37:17 > 0:37:20yet another mountain range stood in your way.
0:37:26 > 0:37:29These are the Sierra Nevada.
0:37:29 > 0:37:34500 snow-capped peaks with extremely steep eastern flanks,
0:37:34 > 0:37:36especially dangerous in winter.
0:37:36 > 0:37:40It's the last barrier before the promised land 100 miles
0:37:40 > 0:37:45that way, the wonderful farming land of California.
0:37:45 > 0:37:47What made these mountains dangerous
0:37:47 > 0:37:51was the time of year that the wagons got here -
0:37:51 > 0:37:54late in the summer, just before winter.
0:37:54 > 0:37:57If you didn't get through these mountains before the winter snows,
0:37:57 > 0:38:01there was a good chance you wouldn't be getting through at all.
0:38:08 > 0:38:13In October, 1846 a wagon train known as the Donner Party pitched
0:38:13 > 0:38:17up here at Truckee Lake on the east flank of the Sierra Nevada.
0:38:21 > 0:38:24They'd already made a terrible mistake taking what had
0:38:24 > 0:38:27seemed like a short cut through the Rocky Mountains.
0:38:28 > 0:38:32That led to an unchartered and arduous trip across the high
0:38:32 > 0:38:35plateau desert to get to the Sierra Nevada.
0:38:37 > 0:38:41It delayed them by a whole month and by the time they arrived here,
0:38:41 > 0:38:46exhausted, one of the worst winters in history was just beginning.
0:38:49 > 0:38:52They had no choice but to make camp.
0:38:52 > 0:38:55This would be the beginning of one of the most terrible
0:38:55 > 0:38:58and famous survival stories in American history.
0:39:06 > 0:39:10There were about 90 members of the Donner Party stranded here.
0:39:10 > 0:39:13Today local historian Gayle Green
0:39:13 > 0:39:16is going to show me the site of one of the shelters.
0:39:18 > 0:39:23Two families actually built a cabin here
0:39:23 > 0:39:28and used this boulder as the west wall and chimney.
0:39:28 > 0:39:29They built a fire up against it
0:39:29 > 0:39:34and it would come to about the point over here, behind you,
0:39:34 > 0:39:40where that log is, and in this small area there were 17 people.
0:39:40 > 0:39:43- 17 people in a shelter using that as one wall.- Yes.
0:39:43 > 0:39:46What did they use for the roof? Do you have any idea?
0:39:46 > 0:39:50The roof, we think, was the canvass and also the pine branches.
0:39:50 > 0:39:54- Canvas from their wagon?- Yes, and I think it was a make-shift cabin
0:39:54 > 0:39:56because I think their whole mindset was,
0:39:56 > 0:39:59after all they went through to get to this point, they were going to
0:39:59 > 0:40:03make it over the Sierras, and unfortunately that didn't happen.
0:40:03 > 0:40:06- No, winter overtook them. - It did. It was an early winter.
0:40:06 > 0:40:09And they talk about in the diary accounts of snow steps
0:40:09 > 0:40:13- and coming down the steps... - Into here- ..into here.
0:40:13 > 0:40:17This was a very dark, dank area,
0:40:17 > 0:40:23and when someone passed it was very hard to get them out of the cabin.
0:40:23 > 0:40:25And the conditions in here...
0:40:25 > 0:40:29When somebody died, it was hard to get the body out.
0:40:29 > 0:40:32Just the idea anybody survived this in the conditions,
0:40:32 > 0:40:34it just amazes me.
0:40:39 > 0:40:45The winter of 1846 was particularly harsh, trapping the families
0:40:45 > 0:40:50inside their cramped and filthy cabins for days at a time.
0:40:50 > 0:40:52Their supplies were exhausted.
0:40:52 > 0:40:55And when they did make it out to search for firewood,
0:40:55 > 0:40:58there were ten foot snowdrifts to contend with.
0:40:58 > 0:41:01Gayle, this tree tells a story to me.
0:41:01 > 0:41:03It's cut at this height, as you know,
0:41:03 > 0:41:06because the snow level was really high that year.
0:41:06 > 0:41:10So they were standing on the snow and they cut this tree down.
0:41:10 > 0:41:13Now they would have known by then that burning pine is good
0:41:13 > 0:41:15because it burns slowly, gives a lot of heat
0:41:15 > 0:41:17and it doesn't give a lot of acrid smoke -
0:41:17 > 0:41:20- really good for fire lighting. - And they needed that,
0:41:20 > 0:41:24especially in the conditions they were getting in being so weak.
0:41:24 > 0:41:27It's a bit spooky, really, to be stood here next to this,
0:41:27 > 0:41:30- knowing that this was a desperate survival situation.- Yes.
0:41:38 > 0:41:41Life at the camp was utterly miserable.
0:41:41 > 0:41:45By November, they were starving and, apart from mice,
0:41:45 > 0:41:50all they had to eat were rugs made out of the skins of their dead oxen.
0:41:50 > 0:41:53They must have been in a very bad physiological state.
0:41:53 > 0:41:55That's the one feature of all the Indian
0:41:55 > 0:41:58cultures across the mountains in America is how resourceful
0:41:58 > 0:42:02they were at finding edible roots and saving these things.
0:42:02 > 0:42:07They did not have a mountain man and I think that made a big difference,
0:42:07 > 0:42:11and one of things I really want to stress is they weren't just stupid.
0:42:11 > 0:42:14To get to this point they had to have knowledge.
0:42:14 > 0:42:17If you watched your children die in front of you
0:42:17 > 0:42:22and cry for hunger... I mean, it was a really sad situation.
0:42:28 > 0:42:30The families built their shelters a little distance
0:42:30 > 0:42:33away from each other, but they were talking to each other
0:42:33 > 0:42:36and we know that from this particular diary extract.
0:42:36 > 0:42:40This was written by Patrick Breen, who was staying in a shelter
0:42:40 > 0:42:43a few hundred metres over in that direction,
0:42:43 > 0:42:47but it relates directly to events taking place here.
0:42:47 > 0:42:52"Mrs Murphy says the wolves are about to dig up the dead
0:42:52 > 0:42:57"bodies at her shanty. The nights are too cold to watch them.
0:42:57 > 0:43:02"We hear them howl. Thanks be to Almighty God. Amen.
0:43:02 > 0:43:05"Mrs Murphy said here yesterday that she thought
0:43:05 > 0:43:10"she would commence on Milt and eat him.
0:43:10 > 0:43:13"I don't think she has done so yet. It is distressing."
0:43:13 > 0:43:17So there we are. February, and they are so desperate
0:43:17 > 0:43:19they are considering cannibalism.
0:43:19 > 0:43:23It's astonishing to think that they would be here until mid-April.
0:43:31 > 0:43:33Although never freely admitted,
0:43:33 > 0:43:36survivors' accounts of cannibalism at Truckee Lake were
0:43:36 > 0:43:40telegraphed across the continent to a horrified population.
0:43:45 > 0:43:48It's tremendously important to remember that the Donner
0:43:48 > 0:43:50party wasn't an expedition.
0:43:50 > 0:43:52This was a family affair.
0:43:52 > 0:43:57Less than half of the party was made up by adult males.
0:43:57 > 0:44:01Quite frankly, it's a miracle that anybody survived at all.
0:44:01 > 0:44:06But of the 91 souls that were trapped in this mountain pass,
0:44:06 > 0:44:0949 survived and they made it west.
0:44:18 > 0:44:23It was 1847 when the survivors of the disastrous Donner Party
0:44:23 > 0:44:25finally limped into California.
0:44:27 > 0:44:29You'd have thought that news of that tragedy would put
0:44:29 > 0:44:32the brakes on western migration.
0:44:33 > 0:44:35But less than a year later,
0:44:35 > 0:44:38a discovery was made in the Sierra Nevada that was to trigger
0:44:38 > 0:44:43the biggest migration in the history of the continent...gold.
0:44:45 > 0:44:49Out of all the magnets to migration, gold was to prove the most powerful.
0:44:53 > 0:44:59In 1849, 90,000 men flooded into California to make their fortune -
0:44:59 > 0:45:02they became known as the 49ers.
0:45:04 > 0:45:07I've come to meet a modern day gold prospector,
0:45:07 > 0:45:09John Gurney, to find out more.
0:45:09 > 0:45:10Word got out and it was all of a sudden
0:45:10 > 0:45:13hundreds of thousands of dollars' worth of gold,
0:45:13 > 0:45:15and then rush was on from all over the world -
0:45:15 > 0:45:18China, South America, North America.
0:45:18 > 0:45:20Just everyone flooded here.
0:45:20 > 0:45:24- What sort of people were these miners?- Everybody and anybody.
0:45:24 > 0:45:26I mean, you had basically slave labour from China.
0:45:26 > 0:45:28If they didn't do their job, they got sent back in shame.
0:45:28 > 0:45:32You had bakers, farmers, businessmen, sailors.
0:45:32 > 0:45:35A lot of them came up and they made their own shovels or used just hands,
0:45:35 > 0:45:37and they didn't have a truck to drive up.
0:45:37 > 0:45:39A lot of them either walked up or used donkeys or horses.
0:45:39 > 0:45:41And was the work of a miner dangerous?
0:45:41 > 0:45:44Well, people died of dysentery, they died of scurvy,
0:45:44 > 0:45:46there was no citrus here.
0:45:46 > 0:45:48There wasn't much of health care.
0:45:48 > 0:45:51If you worked in the water, your feet turned, you know, gangrene
0:45:51 > 0:45:53and guess what? There was no-one to take care of that.
0:45:53 > 0:45:56Do you have any idea of their day-to-day life?
0:45:56 > 0:45:59Back then, there wasn't a lot of food around and food was expensive.
0:45:59 > 0:46:02They had, for example, they had an egg scale.
0:46:02 > 0:46:06OK, the amount that egg weighed, you had to pay that much in gold.
0:46:06 > 0:46:10So if you had an 1oz egg, there was 1oz of gold for that egg.
0:46:10 > 0:46:13So they had to continually work to be able to eat,
0:46:13 > 0:46:18or to meet their goal of going back home and buying a piece of land,
0:46:18 > 0:46:21or having a bakery or having whatever they were going to do.
0:46:21 > 0:46:24- How many of them made it big? - Not many.
0:46:24 > 0:46:27I mean, you're struggling to survive every day.
0:46:27 > 0:46:29You know, you're fighting off rattlesnakes,
0:46:29 > 0:46:30you're fighting off Native Americans,
0:46:30 > 0:46:33you're fighting off people trying to steal your gold,
0:46:33 > 0:46:35you're fighting off starvation, disease.
0:46:35 > 0:46:37I mean, every day was a battle.
0:46:37 > 0:46:40You didn't have a house. You had a tent, if you were lucky.
0:46:40 > 0:46:43You had to cut trees and make your own place and then,
0:46:43 > 0:46:45when that gold ran out, guess what? You have to go somewhere else,
0:46:45 > 0:46:47and it may not be a mile down the road.
0:46:47 > 0:46:49It may be a week's travel, a month's travel.
0:46:49 > 0:46:52Hell, some of them went to Oregon, some went to Alaska.
0:46:52 > 0:46:55I mean, just to follow that gold continuously
0:46:55 > 0:46:57to keep fulfilling your dream,
0:46:57 > 0:47:00or to keep trying to make enough money to go do what you want to do.
0:47:04 > 0:47:07In 1849, at the beginning of the gold rush,
0:47:07 > 0:47:11it was said the rivers were awash with gold.
0:47:11 > 0:47:14It had been pushed to the surface of the Sierra Nevada
0:47:14 > 0:47:19mountains by geological forces, and over time the gold seams eroded.
0:47:19 > 0:47:24The mountain rivers carried the exposed gold downstream
0:47:24 > 0:47:27and deposited it in gravel beds.
0:47:27 > 0:47:30All you needed to find it was a shovel and a pail.
0:47:30 > 0:47:33So, John, what are we looking for?
0:47:33 > 0:47:34Well, in an area like this,
0:47:34 > 0:47:36- you see where the bedrock is right here?- Oh, yeah.
0:47:36 > 0:47:38What you kind of look for are the cracks in the bedrock.
0:47:38 > 0:47:40- So it settles in there?- Yeah.
0:47:40 > 0:47:42So, as the river flows down carrying sediment with it,
0:47:42 > 0:47:45the heavier particles get caught up
0:47:45 > 0:47:47- in these nooks and crannies. - Exactly.
0:47:47 > 0:47:50- Right, I'm going to have a go. Lucky shovel. From here?- Yeah.
0:47:50 > 0:47:52- Not from the deep bit there. - You'll get soaked.
0:47:55 > 0:47:57There you go.
0:47:57 > 0:48:00- Right then. Put it in the water. - Right. All the way under.
0:48:00 > 0:48:03- Get rid of the big ones. - Mm-hm.
0:48:05 > 0:48:08- Did the original pans have ridges? - No.
0:48:08 > 0:48:09- So it was more skilful?- Yeah.
0:48:09 > 0:48:12They were metal pans and you had to be really careful.
0:48:12 > 0:48:15- Right. So what do I do now? - Shake it under water.
0:48:15 > 0:48:18Just shake it real hard, vigorously. Yeah, that's settling the gold down.
0:48:18 > 0:48:21And then tip it up at about a 45 degree angle.
0:48:21 > 0:48:24- Just a little more of a tip. - Like that?- And then...
0:48:24 > 0:48:27Well, so you kind of make it a fluid motion.
0:48:27 > 0:48:30Bring it up...just like that. Perfect.
0:48:32 > 0:48:34Well, you know, I'm learning a few things
0:48:34 > 0:48:36- about the gold rush here.- Right.
0:48:36 > 0:48:40The sensible ones went up the creeks, kept shtoom about what
0:48:40 > 0:48:43they found, filled their pouch and left, banked it.
0:48:43 > 0:48:47Everybody else fell victim to the real wealth makers -
0:48:47 > 0:48:49- the people that mined the miners. - That's right.
0:48:49 > 0:48:52I think if I was here, I'd open a store selling shovels and pans.
0:48:52 > 0:48:54So would I. THEY LAUGH
0:48:54 > 0:48:57- Yeah, I think you would have starved!- I think I would.
0:48:57 > 0:48:59Nice tip.
0:49:00 > 0:49:03- I don't want the gold to go. - Don't worry about the gold.
0:49:03 > 0:49:05Trust the pan. That's good.
0:49:05 > 0:49:07Now some people swirl, but if you have dust,
0:49:07 > 0:49:10the swirl will wipe the dust away.
0:49:10 > 0:49:12Nice little wave, just like that. Perfect.
0:49:13 > 0:49:17- There you go. Perfect. - There's something shining there.
0:49:17 > 0:49:20- That there?- That's a piece of gold. - Whoa!
0:49:20 > 0:49:21Wow.
0:49:21 > 0:49:24There's some little dust in there, too.
0:49:24 > 0:49:26Shall I let you check that? Wow.
0:49:26 > 0:49:29- So I'll bring that back down a little bit.- Don't lose it.
0:49:29 > 0:49:31I won't lose it...trust me.
0:49:31 > 0:49:33HE LAUGHS
0:49:36 > 0:49:37There's your little pieces of gold.
0:49:37 > 0:49:39Well, you're very good at that, aren't you?
0:49:39 > 0:49:43- They looked bigger a minute ago. - THEY LAUGH
0:49:43 > 0:49:46Well, John, I've really enjoyed this experience. Thank you very much.
0:49:46 > 0:49:49It's really helped me to get a sense of the gold rush
0:49:49 > 0:49:51and what it was like for the miners.
0:49:51 > 0:49:53What do you make of them?
0:49:53 > 0:49:54Rough, rugged individuals.
0:49:54 > 0:49:57A sense of adventure, drive and determination.
0:49:57 > 0:50:00I mean, it's hard to find people like that any more.
0:50:00 > 0:50:02I mean, I didn't know them personally,
0:50:02 > 0:50:03but to do what they did...
0:50:03 > 0:50:05pack up everything to go somewhere they'd never been.
0:50:05 > 0:50:07They were a hardy bunch, weren't they?
0:50:07 > 0:50:09They must have been to do this.
0:50:09 > 0:50:12It's basically what America was built on and that's kind of lost now.
0:50:20 > 0:50:23I find it really fascinating that, yet again,
0:50:23 > 0:50:26behind the great American narrative of get rich quick
0:50:26 > 0:50:31lies another story of poverty and hard slog for the masses.
0:50:31 > 0:50:36One of the many miners who left as poor as he arrived was a man
0:50:36 > 0:50:37called Horace Snow.
0:50:37 > 0:50:41He recorded his experiences in letters home to a friend.
0:50:41 > 0:50:46Paper was in such short supply that the miners used to
0:50:46 > 0:50:50write their letters one way and then turn them sideways
0:50:50 > 0:50:53and cram more words onto the same page.
0:50:53 > 0:50:56The letter I have copied down here is actually from the gold years
0:50:56 > 0:50:59and it makes for interesting reading.
0:50:59 > 0:51:04"Murders are so common here that the people hardly enquire them
0:51:04 > 0:51:06"unless they happen to know one of the parties.
0:51:06 > 0:51:11"There have been 12 murders within 15 miles of this place.
0:51:11 > 0:51:14"It is just so all over California.
0:51:14 > 0:51:17"Everybody carries a revolver by his side.
0:51:17 > 0:51:21"If a person is irritable or flash and gets insulted,
0:51:21 > 0:51:24"the first thing he does is to draw his revolver
0:51:24 > 0:51:27"and either shoot the man through or knock him down.
0:51:27 > 0:51:31"He doesn't stop to reason and let his better judgment dictate,
0:51:31 > 0:51:34"but gives way to the first impulse."
0:51:34 > 0:51:37It gives some idea of what a wild frontier that was.
0:51:46 > 0:51:53By 1855, over 300,000 fortune hunters had arrived in California
0:51:53 > 0:51:58and the lone gold panners had been overtaken by large mining companies.
0:51:58 > 0:52:01BELL TOLLS
0:52:04 > 0:52:06Gold and other precious metals were being mined
0:52:06 > 0:52:09right across the high desert mountains,
0:52:09 > 0:52:13and boom towns appeared overnight in the most unforgiving of landscapes.
0:52:16 > 0:52:19I'm standing at about 8,000 feet above sea level.
0:52:19 > 0:52:24The hills here experience winds that can gust to 100 miles an hour.
0:52:24 > 0:52:26There are no trees,
0:52:26 > 0:52:30and in the winter the valleys here simply choke up with snow.
0:52:30 > 0:52:34So this would seem to be an unlikely place to build a town,
0:52:34 > 0:52:38but there is a town here. This is the town of Bodie.
0:52:38 > 0:52:42And for a period of just four years, this town really boomed.
0:52:42 > 0:52:45What drew people here was gold fever.
0:52:51 > 0:52:54In the boom years in the late 1870s,
0:52:54 > 0:52:57up to 10,000 people lived here in Bodie.
0:52:59 > 0:53:01There were 30 mines here.
0:53:01 > 0:53:04In just one year they mined over three million dollars'
0:53:04 > 0:53:06worth of gold ore.
0:53:06 > 0:53:10Out of nowhere came 2,000 buildings -
0:53:10 > 0:53:14a bank, a jail, a telegraph line, a railroad,
0:53:14 > 0:53:18four fire companies and even a brass band.
0:53:18 > 0:53:22It's hard to imagine today, but if I'd been walking along here
0:53:22 > 0:53:26in Bodie's heyday, this would have been a street of buildings
0:53:26 > 0:53:28all the way along on both sides.
0:53:28 > 0:53:31In fact, it stretched for a solid mile.
0:53:31 > 0:53:35Bodie claimed to have the highest and widest main street in the land.
0:53:40 > 0:53:43I'm going to take a look around this remarkable place
0:53:43 > 0:53:46with park ranger Chris Spiller.
0:53:46 > 0:53:49- Wow, this is some place. - It's good to get in out of the wind,
0:53:49 > 0:53:51because Bodie is famous for the wind, isn't it?
0:53:51 > 0:53:54- Yes, it is. I'm afraid so. - Quite a forsaken place.
0:53:54 > 0:53:57Yes, and I can imagine how people felt that way,
0:53:57 > 0:54:00especially some of the wives and children.
0:54:00 > 0:54:03There's a wonderful story about a little girl from San Jose
0:54:03 > 0:54:06who learned she was moving to Bodie,
0:54:06 > 0:54:09which was renowned for the bad men and the gunfights,
0:54:09 > 0:54:12and supposedly her prayer that night was,
0:54:12 > 0:54:16"Goodbye, God, I'm going to Bodie." HE LAUGHS
0:54:17 > 0:54:18What was life like?
0:54:18 > 0:54:24If you were a miner, you would work six days a week, 12 hours a day.
0:54:24 > 0:54:26You would be down in a vertical shaft
0:54:26 > 0:54:29and then tunnels went out from the shaft,
0:54:29 > 0:54:30and it would be dark and dismal.
0:54:30 > 0:54:34Ventilation was not good. You could die from the built up gases.
0:54:34 > 0:54:36You could even drown in a mine here.
0:54:36 > 0:54:39The ground water table here was very high.
0:54:39 > 0:54:43If you had a careless operator in the lift, or the cage that was
0:54:43 > 0:54:46taking you down, that could send you and the car crashing down
0:54:46 > 0:54:48and kill you, several hundred feet.
0:54:48 > 0:54:50The deepest mines were 1,200 feet.
0:54:50 > 0:54:53What did the miners do for entertainment?
0:54:53 > 0:54:55Well, we had the dance halls.
0:54:55 > 0:54:57You could dance with a girl for a dime down there.
0:54:57 > 0:54:59There was always a show going on.
0:54:59 > 0:55:02You...could go out to Booker Flat.
0:55:02 > 0:55:04They had a horse racing track out there.
0:55:04 > 0:55:07You could go out and have a flutter on the horses.
0:55:07 > 0:55:09You also could watch the baseball team -
0:55:09 > 0:55:11they had the Bodie Mutts.
0:55:11 > 0:55:15They had the gambling halls - those were very popular -
0:55:15 > 0:55:16and you had very grim faced dealers.
0:55:16 > 0:55:19They always had a gun ready if anyone got out of hand.
0:55:19 > 0:55:24When miners and their families moved on to the next big excitement,
0:55:24 > 0:55:27they were charged on the roads by the weight of possessions,
0:55:27 > 0:55:31so they simply left most of their things behind.
0:55:32 > 0:55:35Wow. Look at that.
0:55:36 > 0:55:38Goodness me.
0:55:38 > 0:55:40The mattresses are still on the beds.
0:55:40 > 0:55:43Even a pair of women's drawers lying on top there.
0:55:43 > 0:55:45But there were beds in Bodie that
0:55:45 > 0:55:48saw a different sort of action, weren't there?
0:55:48 > 0:55:51Yes, there were. There was a big red light district on
0:55:51 > 0:55:53Bonanza Street in the north end of town.
0:55:53 > 0:55:56Prostitutes would entertain their clients
0:55:56 > 0:55:57in one-room cabins called cribs.
0:55:57 > 0:55:59They were not very glamorous
0:55:59 > 0:56:02if you think about Hollywood portrayal of whore houses.
0:56:06 > 0:56:08So this is the general store.
0:56:08 > 0:56:11HE LAUGHS
0:56:11 > 0:56:13It's amazing.
0:56:13 > 0:56:16I mean, there are still nails in the bins.
0:56:16 > 0:56:18The stock's still here.
0:56:18 > 0:56:21Red skinned salmon, baking powder...
0:56:21 > 0:56:24Ground chocolate.
0:56:24 > 0:56:26Mechanic's soap.
0:56:26 > 0:56:29Ha! This is a real glory hole. It's amazing.
0:56:31 > 0:56:34- And there's the cash register. - Yes, still here.
0:56:34 > 0:56:37You can really feel the atmosphere of this, can't you?
0:56:37 > 0:56:39How can I help you? What would you like?
0:56:39 > 0:56:41Yes, I've got two varieties.
0:56:42 > 0:56:43- But this is the important bit.- Yes.
0:56:43 > 0:56:45This is where they mined the miners.
0:56:45 > 0:56:47Yes, this is where they mined the miners. Yes, indeed.
0:56:47 > 0:56:51A lot of people came out west to get rich, but then they discovered
0:56:51 > 0:56:55mining was pretty hard work, and they realised it was much more lucrative
0:56:55 > 0:56:58to go into business and provide the things the miners needed.
0:57:01 > 0:57:03It's wonderful,
0:57:03 > 0:57:04a real time capsule.
0:57:04 > 0:57:08I mean, to my mind, this sums up the gold rush.
0:57:08 > 0:57:09This is a boom town.
0:57:09 > 0:57:11It grew from nothing to this.
0:57:11 > 0:57:15You get a real sense of decadence in here at the range
0:57:15 > 0:57:17of materials still on the shelves.
0:57:17 > 0:57:19It's astonishing. But then, bust, it's all gone.
0:57:19 > 0:57:21The people have gone. They have just gone.
0:57:21 > 0:57:24Right. They go on to the next big excitement.
0:57:34 > 0:57:37Like so many parts of the story of the Wild West,
0:57:37 > 0:57:41the story of the mountains is one of great change.
0:57:41 > 0:57:44Both people and places come and go with the blinking of an eye.
0:57:46 > 0:57:49The three mountain ranges of this continent pushed
0:57:49 > 0:57:52and pulled the new nation into being.
0:57:52 > 0:57:56The Appalachian forests provided the timber for the buildings,
0:57:56 > 0:57:59wagons and railroads to push the nation west.
0:58:00 > 0:58:01In the Rocky Mountains,
0:58:01 > 0:58:05the pursuit of fur pulled the mountain men into the unexplored
0:58:05 > 0:58:10heart of the continent, opening up the way for the wagon trails.
0:58:10 > 0:58:14The gold of the Sierra Nevada pulled thousands of migrants west
0:58:14 > 0:58:16and gave the young Americans the money
0:58:16 > 0:58:19they needed to build their cities and industries.
0:58:24 > 0:58:27The geography of these mountains transformed
0:58:27 > 0:58:29the fortunes of the emerging nation.