Schenectady to Rochester Great American Railroad Journeys


Schenectady to Rochester

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LineFromTo

I have crossed the Atlantic to ride the railroads of America...

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..with a new travelling companion.

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Published in 1879,

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my Appletons' General Guide will steer me to everything

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that's novel,

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beautiful, memorable

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or curious in the United States.

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-ALL:

-Amen!

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As I cross the continent, I'll discover America's gilded age,

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when powerful tycoons launched a railway boom that tied

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the nation together and carved out its future as a superpower.

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I'm travelling through the Empire State of New York.

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I began in Manhattan

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and continued north through Poughkeepsie

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to the state capital of Albany,

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from where I'll head west and finish on the Canadian border.

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On this leg, I'll travel some 225 miles through Schenectady

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and Utica to the booming 19th-century city of Rochester.

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This route takes me towards the Great Lakes and it was

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the courses of the waterways that determined the spread of population

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and manufacture before the railroad tracks had been laid.

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Far away from the Big Apple, the smaller cities of this state

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were key to creating the American industrial powerhouse.

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Along the way, I man the Erie Canal,

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a waterway that shaped America.

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It changed New York state and, really, the country.

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Almost an immediate impact after the canal opened.

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I try to keep pace with the latest rail technology...

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You see, there's a little dip in there, in the terrain here...

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You've got to be ready for that. You've put all the hazards in here, haven't you?

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..and land somewhere over the rainbow.

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-And you have a yellow brick road running all the way through your town?

-Yes, yes, we do.

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I'm following a recommended Appletons' route, which traverses

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the state heading north-west,

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and passes through the rich midland counties.

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"Schenectady is one of those pleasing Native American

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"place names still in use today."

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Appletons' says that it's situated on the banks of the Mohawk River

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on the spot which once formed the council grounds of the Mohawks.

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An inventive American made a breakthrough which put

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Schenectady on the map for a different reason,

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and brightened up the world.

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-TANNOY:

-Schenectady next. Exit towards the rear of the train,

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where your see a conductor.

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Please watch your step getting off the train

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and please check for all your personal possessions.

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This old trading port was thrust into a new age of innovation

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and industry in 1892 when Thomas Edison,

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the man who lit up the world,

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made Schenectady the headquarters of his General Electric Company -

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a business that would go on to hold interests

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in major industries across 170 countries.

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I'm meeting vice president Christine Furstoss.

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Christine, my guidebook is 1879, and I get the impression

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there were a lot of hopes around electricity at that time.

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What was actually happening?

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Thomas Edison, really the father of today's electricity,

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he was working on one invention - a light bulb.

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What Thomas Edison did was he took a relatively small invention

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and made it something that the world could rely on.

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And the light bulb itself, what was the breakthrough that he made there?

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It wasn't very durable.

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And it had very, very thick wires going to and from it,

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because it had very low resistance.

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So what he did was he changed the filament and then he also worked

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on getting the voltage down and the resistance up, in order to make it

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be able to be used in people's homes and not just a novelty for a museum.

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In 1880, Edison patented the first commercially viable light bulb

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and turned his attentions to the electrical systems

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needed to power it.

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The first electric power station was in 1882 in Manhattan, New York City.

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Edison drove that.

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In fact, the Edison Illuminating Company, as it was called

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at the time, created the equipment to build that power station.

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That power station, at Pearl Street,

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took Edison nearly two years to establish

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and was the model for the electrification of American cities.

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Edison carried his technological revolution into many fields.

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And did Thomas Edison also concern himself with electric locomotion

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-for railroads?

-Almost certainly he did.

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In 1895, he actually oversaw the building of the world's

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largest electrical locomotive, right here in the Schenectady area.

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And so Schenectady really plays an important part in the creation of electricity?

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Oh, it most certainly does, in many, many ways.

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Edison's General Electric company was listed on the original

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Dow Jones stock market index of 1896.

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It is the only company from that date still listed today.

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It continues to innovate in many industries, including water,

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aviation, energy, health care and transport.

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Before I move on, I want to see some of its latest rail technology,

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designed to reduce fuel consumption on freight trains.

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-Is this the hot seat?

-This is the system.

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And what we can have you do here today is drive a trip an operator

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would see normally and see how you compare to the system.

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-OK, so...

-Are you up for the challenge?

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HE LAUGHS

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-I'll give it a go. I've got to follow this speed limit, is that right?

-Yeah.

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On the screen you can also see the terrain,

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the profile there of the hills and the valleys.

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Oh, this is a challenge, isn't it? A lot to look at, isn't there?

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All right, here's your first speed reduction.

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-You see the 60 mile an hour coming up?

-Uh-huh.

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-Four miles in advance.

-I've got to be ready for that.

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So the challenge - there's a little dip in the terrain here.

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So the train will actually accelerate as you approach that speed reduction.

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LAUGHING: You've put all the hazards in here, haven't you?

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So the computer wouldn't be doing all this up and down that I'm doing?

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Whoa! I'm just over the speed limit, I think.

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So I assume you don't just play with this, here in your laboratory?

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-This is really a practical application?

-Yeah, that's right.

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And this system is in use at all the major railroads in North America.

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Have you any idea what it's saving the rail companies?

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On average, we're seeing about a 10% reduction in fuel.

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If you look the class of railroads in North America,

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they consume about four billion gallons

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-of diesel fuel a year, so that's a huge saving.

-Oh! What...?

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Right, so here we have the comparison

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-of you and the system.

-Oh, wow.

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-You were significantly slower.

-Yes, yes.

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And you see you burned 12.5% more fuel.

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The key feature of Trip Optimizer

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is that it's able to predict when to begin slowing down,

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to hit this speed restriction that you exceeded.

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James, I resign. I hand over to computers.

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That's the story of the world, isn't it?

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-Utica?

-Yup, right up on your left.

-Thank you.

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Appleton's tells me that the great Erie Canal traverses

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New York state from Albany to Buffalo on

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the same line with the railroad and often in sight from the train cars.

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I hope that in my enthusiasm for those who constructed the railways,

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I never forget the wonderful achievements of those who

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built the canals - pioneers in huge-scale civil engineering.

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The Erie Canal created the first all-water link from the Great Lakes

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in the Midwest via the Hudson River to the Atlantic Ocean.

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It was the catalyst for mass migration westwards,

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and a trade explosion.

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Thank you very much.

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I'm stepping off in Utica,

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whose 100-year-old station was built in the classical style by

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Stem & Fellheimer - the architects behind New York City's

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Grand Central terminal.

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This station served the old water level route, which runs

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alongside rivers and canals.

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I'm off to the Erie Canal's Lock 20 to meet Bill Schweizer.

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Constructing the Erie Canal - what does it achieve, as it were,

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strategically?

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So it achieved...

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I mean, at the time, we were a young nation and, you know,

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the plan was the Western expansion, you know, move west.

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But it was hard.

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The terrain of New York was very mountainous - no roads, obviously.

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And so, surveyors and many... The thought was build a canal.

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Thomas Jefferson,

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the president at the time, said the idea was something

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short of madness, to connect Albany, the northern navigational

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point on the Hudson River, to the Great Lakes.

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They started in 1817

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and started about ten miles from here in Rome, New York,

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because that was the plateau, that was the flat, high part.

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Considered the folly of its sponsor in the Senate, DeWitt Clinton,

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the Erie Canal was to be double the length of anything in Europe.

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It was a huge state gamble at 7 million.

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Built by many Welsh and Irish labourers,

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the 363-mile waterway opened in 1825.

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What was the impact of opening the canal up and down its length?

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At that time, Baltimore, Philadelphia, Boston were the ports.

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Within a year of the canal being opened, New York City became

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the port of choice and soon became the choice for immigrants as well.

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But it changed New York state and, really,

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the country - almost an immediate impact after the canal opened.

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This new link halved journey times, slashed costs by 90%

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and boosted trade as unexploited raw materials from the Midwest

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could now reach the port of New York City.

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The canal created new cities

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and helped the North to industrialise in the pre-rail age.

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Nowadays, can you still get from Lake Erie to

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-the Hudson River by canal?

-Sure.

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The canal still, today, is a viable means of commercial transportation.

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What we see a lot today is cargo that's not time-sensitive,

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that doesn't have to be there right away,

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or cargo that is too big - some of the turbines for the

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General Electric power plant,

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because it is cheaper and it uses less gas.

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So it'll be...

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We think it'll become even more popular as time goes on.

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Now, mountainous terrain, so you have to have locks.

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How many actually are there?

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So today, the modern-day canal, there's 57 locks

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in the whole system - about 34-35 between Albany and Buffalo.

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As heavy traffic increased, 20th-century engineers were

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forced to abandon much of the original man-made channel.

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A new system of dams,

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pools and locks was introduced to accommodate larger barges.

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Michael, let me introduce you to our chief operator, John.

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-I'm John.

-I'm Michael. How do you do?

-Nice to meet you.

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I'm just looking at the machinery.

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It seems to be a certain age. How old is it?

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-It's roughly 100 years old.

-That's fantastic. Still operating well?

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Yes, excellent. Most of it's original equipment.

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-You've got a barge in now.

-Yup.

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So we've got to drop the level of the water,

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and when we've done that, we've got to open up the gates, is that right?

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-Correct.

-So we're going to open up, moving that one...

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..and then moving that one.

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John, the water is absolutely pouring out now.

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How long does it take you to bring the lock down to the proper level?

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-About seven minutes.

-And how much water are you moving in that time?

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-It's right about three million gallons.

-And the drop is how much?

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-16 feet.

-Very efficient.

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How did you get the job, John?

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-I have a long history of family that worked here.

-Really? How long?

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My grandfather started in 1950.

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-Is it going to pass down to the next generation?

-Probably not.

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He's more interested in culinary arts.

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The water's down. Time to open the gates.

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HORN BLARES

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So the Governor Roosevelt takes a route that boats have been

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-plying for 190 years?

-Correct.

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Returning to the railroad that superseded these waterways,

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I press on west,

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leaving the tracks to continue onto a curious place called

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Chittenango which, according to my Appleton's, is where iron

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and sulphur springs are frequented by invalids.

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I'm intrigued.

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And it seems that the clientele has changed considerably

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since Appletons' day.

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So, Dorothy, I presume?

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So I've seen the Lion, I've seen the Tin Man, now I find Dorothy.

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What's going on? What's it all about?

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Well, the author of the book The Wonderful Wizard Of Oz,

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L Frank Baum, was born here in 1856, so every year, we have

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a lot of different characters just roaming around this wonderful

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-little town.

-And you have a yellow brick road running all the way

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-through your town?

-Yes. Yes, we do.

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Published in 1900, L Frank Baum's magical story was picked up

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by Hollywood in its golden era.

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MGM Studios thought that the Kansas farm girl looking for

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a better place over the rainbow would offer

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escapism for their Depression-hit audiences.

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What else does the town do to celebrate L Frank Baum?

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Well, actually, every year,

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we hold a large festival called Oz-Stravaganza!

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We've been holding it since 1978, I believe.

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Before I head back to the rails,

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I can't resist a trip along that most famous of roads.

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# Follow the yellow brick road

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# We're off to see the Wizard

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# The wonderful Wizard of Oz... #

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'I guess that makes me the Scarecrow.'

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# If ever a Wiz there was

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# The wonderful Wizard of Oz! #

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As my journey continues across New York State, I consider how

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the mass migration of people westwards changed

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the social order of this young nation and its religions.

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Greater democracy in America shook up the old order.

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The new society looked for new faiths.

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There was an evangelical revival and new sects emerged.

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I'm hoping that my next stop, Palmyra, will shed some light

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on one of the most controversial religious groups of its time.

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Palmyra, along with Troy and Ithaca and Rome and Syracuse,

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is one of a number of New York towns to bear a classical name.

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My Appletons' tells me that on a nearby hillside,

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Joe Smith claimed to have found the golden plates of the Mormon Bible.

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Well, casting aside the apparently sceptical tone of my guidebook,

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let me investigate this remarkable religious phenomenon.

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Joseph Smith would go on to found the Mormon religion,

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known as the Church Of Jesus Christ Of Latter-day Saints,

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which today claims 15 million members worldwide.

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I'm visiting his old homestead with Charlene Campbell,

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who is a member of the church.

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What were Joseph Smith's juvenile religious beliefs?

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When he was young, he was serious in thinking

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and contemplating about God,

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wondering why all of the churches around him

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were conflicting and bickering and not getting along.

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He wanted an answer.

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He decided he would go into a grove near his home and pray

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and ask God himself for the answer -

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which of all of these churches could be true?

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At the time, 40% of Americans were churchgoing Protestants.

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But a raft of new evangelical religions

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each claimed to show the way.

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What was the result?

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As he prayed, two heavenly beings appeared to him.

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Brighter than all description, brighter than the new-day sun.

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He thought the leaves would catch on fire, they were so bright.

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They explained to him that none of them were true,

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that they have the precepts of men, but their hearts are far from Me.

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This is the sacred grove.

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How very beautiful, very beautiful.

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-So after that first vision, was there a follow-up?

-Yes.

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He waited for something to happen. Three years went by.

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He was worried, something's got to be happening.

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So he prayed, wondering that he could have direction of where to go.

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And appeared to him was the angel Moroni.

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He was the last person to hold the ancient records that had been

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carried on for hundreds of years, here on this continent.

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He buried the plates in the Hill Cumorah, not far from his home.

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And he appeared to Joseph to show him where the plates were buried.

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According to Mormon teachings,

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Joseph found the golden plates buried in the mountain.

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He dug them up and kept them hidden

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whilst he translated the ancient text written on them.

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So this is the miracle.

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Joseph being an unlearned boy of very limited schooling, many people

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wondered how could he translate something of ancient records.

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The plates told a story of a visit by Jesus Christ in ancient times

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to the Americas, where he founded a society of peace and love.

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Smith's writings became the Book Of Mormon, and he set out to

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rekindle the values of that ancient society in 19th-century America.

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Now, after that, a church is established by Joseph Smith.

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-Yes, in April of 1830.

-Here in New York?

-Here in Palmyra.

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Many people came to the church.

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Once reading the book of Mormon, they felt the power of the gospel

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and seeing that it was a church of Jesus Christ, established the same

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as it was in Jerusalem in the times of Christ, people rallied to that.

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And they joined the Church Of Jesus Christ.

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Soon after the church was organised, persecution started.

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Why do you think the Mormons were being persecuted?

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I think people didn't understand them.

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And so the Saints had to move from place to place.

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They first left New York and went to Ohio and then to Missouri.

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And each place they went, they were burned out of their homes,

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they lost property, never to be reimbursed.

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They eventually ended up in Nauvoo, Illinois.

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As Mormon numbers grew, so did animosity towards them.

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Some were opposed to the welcome that they offered to freed slaves,

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but for most, it was the practice of polygamy

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which they couldn't tolerate.

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Wherever they settled, the Mormons inspired hostility.

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Smith himself was persecuted and jailed over 30 times.

0:21:350:21:40

Finally, in 1844, he fell victim to an armed mob.

0:21:400:21:45

This time, Joseph Smith and his brother and a few others

0:21:450:21:49

were led to Carthage Jail, near Nauvoo, Illinois,

0:21:490:21:52

and they were martyred and killed.

0:21:520:21:55

After Joseph Smith's death, his followers fled west to Utah,

0:21:580:22:03

to a place now called Salt Lake City.

0:22:030:22:06

Smith is remembered by Mormons as both a prophet and a martyr.

0:22:060:22:10

-What's your destination, if I may ask, sir?

-Rochester, New York.

0:22:280:22:31

-Do you like to use the train?

-I do.

0:22:310:22:34

-Quite a regular?

-I am.

0:22:340:22:36

It's unusual, because most people prefer to fly back and forth.

0:22:360:22:40

So how long's it going to take you from New York to Rochester?

0:22:400:22:43

Well, it's scheduled to take around seven hours.

0:22:430:22:46

But it can often take longer.

0:22:460:22:48

And you're happy to be on the train for seven hours?

0:22:480:22:50

-You could cross the Atlantic in that time.

-I could.

0:22:500:22:53

I once took the Concorde, so I know what you're talking about.

0:22:530:22:56

-You could cross the Atlantic twice in that time!

-Yes, that's right.

0:22:560:23:00

The original 1830s boom town, Rochester became

0:23:060:23:10

the world's breadbasket, with 20 flour mills

0:23:100:23:14

powered by the Genesee Falls.

0:23:140:23:16

But in the late 19th century,

0:23:160:23:18

it was the George Eastman Kodak Company that launched

0:23:180:23:22

a new era of mass-market photography,

0:23:220:23:25

bringing prosperity to the city.

0:23:250:23:28

I'm visiting Cathy Connor at the inventor's Colonial revival mansion,

0:23:280:23:33

which houses the world's oldest photography museum.

0:23:330:23:36

Well, Cathy, this is the George Eastman house,

0:23:380:23:41

-and a wonderful mansion. Did he begin life like this?

-No, he didn't.

0:23:410:23:45

First he was an errand boy at a local insurance company,

0:23:450:23:48

and then eventually became a teller at a local bank.

0:23:480:23:51

And it was through his job there that he saw

0:23:510:23:53

that many people who were wealthy at the time

0:23:530:23:55

were investors in land and land development.

0:23:550:23:57

So he thought he'd take a trip to Santo Domingo, where he knew that land was for sale,

0:23:570:24:01

and eventually purchase some that he could then sell and make money.

0:24:010:24:04

To record the trip, Eastman brought the latest kit -

0:24:060:24:10

a huge camera, chemicals and a tent

0:24:100:24:12

in which to spread emulsion on glass plates before exposing them.

0:24:120:24:17

Fascinated, he decided to pursue photography instead of land.

0:24:170:24:23

And what is it that George Eastman

0:24:230:24:25

does for photography in the early days?

0:24:250:24:27

Does for photography? Simplifies it.

0:24:270:24:29

Basically makes it easier, so that you no longer have to have

0:24:290:24:32

that darkroom experience. You could actually just press a button,

0:24:320:24:35

and then afterwards, somebody else would do that

0:24:350:24:38

photo finishing and that processing for you.

0:24:380:24:40

And that's really his claim to fame, putting cameras in the hands

0:24:400:24:43

of everyone, because you didn't have to be a chemist any more.

0:24:430:24:46

Eastman's first leap was the roll of film.

0:24:460:24:50

Patented in 1884, it was economical and fitted every plate camera.

0:24:500:24:56

Next, he set about making cameras as easy to use as pencils.

0:24:560:25:01

And this is an example of the original Kodak.

0:25:030:25:06

Came out in 1888,

0:25:060:25:08

and it was considered totally automatic at that time.

0:25:080:25:11

Now, the one funny thing is that you had no viewfinder.

0:25:110:25:14

So many people held the camera up here

0:25:140:25:17

and tried to aim at whatever the subject might be -

0:25:170:25:19

their friend or their home or the chicken in front of the house.

0:25:190:25:22

So many times you're not sure

0:25:220:25:24

what they were actually trying to get in their picture.

0:25:240:25:26

In fact, many times, people backed up quite a bit

0:25:260:25:29

so that they make sure they'd get it all in the frame.

0:25:290:25:32

Eventually, Eastman found a way to put a viewfinder

0:25:320:25:34

and actually hook it on.

0:25:340:25:35

It was considered an accessory back then.

0:25:350:25:37

What about this little fellow here, what's this?

0:25:370:25:40

This is the little Brownie character that was very popular with kids.

0:25:400:25:44

So Mr Eastman borrowed that same design

0:25:440:25:46

and used it to market these cameras to children.

0:25:460:25:49

Initially, the Brownie camera was only a dollar.

0:25:490:25:52

This one has a viewfinder in the top, so you would have to look down,

0:25:520:25:55

make sure that you were getting what you wanted in your frame.

0:25:550:25:59

And then you would actually click

0:25:590:26:00

this little thing to take the picture.

0:26:000:26:02

Isn't that amazing?

0:26:020:26:05

My mother had quite an old Brownie, and I remember how difficult

0:26:050:26:08

it was just get the image in the viewfinder.

0:26:080:26:12

But isn't that an exquisite item? And here, presumably, is the...

0:26:120:26:15

You roll the film once you took each picture.

0:26:150:26:17

George Eastman's introduction of photography to the masses

0:26:190:26:23

was underpinned by a clever advertising campaign...

0:26:230:26:26

The idea was that if you were on a camel in Egypt

0:26:300:26:33

and you ran out of film and you wanted to get your picture

0:26:330:26:36

on that camera, there would be a store -

0:26:360:26:38

or actually the man running the camel rides

0:26:380:26:41

would actually be able to sell you a Kodak roll of film.

0:26:410:26:44

The Eastman Kodak Company made George Eastman

0:26:440:26:47

one of the leading industrialists and philanthropists of his day.

0:26:470:26:51

He gave away a lot of money, probably over 100 million.

0:26:520:26:56

Education was key.

0:26:560:26:58

Not only education for the people that lived

0:26:580:27:00

in the Rochester community, but people internationally as well.

0:27:000:27:03

And very big into dentistry.

0:27:030:27:05

His mom had bad teeth,

0:27:050:27:07

and she had her teeth pulled at the kitchen table without

0:27:070:27:09

anaesthetic. He remembered that for years to come,

0:27:090:27:12

so he wanted people to have good dental care,

0:27:120:27:14

to not have those problems later on in their life.

0:27:140:27:18

Kodak, like the General Electric Company,

0:27:180:27:20

emerged in America's heyday.

0:27:200:27:23

These giants of industry grew within a confident new superpower

0:27:230:27:27

that would soon overtake Europe.

0:27:270:27:29

But it was thanks to the Genesee River and the building

0:27:310:27:34

of the Erie Canal that upstate New York was able to industrialise.

0:27:340:27:39

I still can't account for why God chose this region to

0:27:410:27:45

reveal his purpose to Joseph Smith,

0:27:450:27:47

but that apparition now determines the lives of 15 million Mormons.

0:27:470:27:53

On the other hand, the visions of Edison and Eastman

0:27:540:27:57

have changed the lives of every single one of us.

0:27:570:28:01

Next time, I visit what was the centre of the world's grain train.

0:28:050:28:10

At its peak, Buffalo moved enough grain to feed every person

0:28:110:28:15

in the United States. Today, a loaf of bread, every single week.

0:28:150:28:18

I have a bite to eat in Buffalo.

0:28:190:28:22

They come in increments of ten. 10, 20, 50.

0:28:220:28:25

-50?!

-50 wings.

0:28:250:28:27

And finish with a splash at one of the natural wonders of the world.

0:28:270:28:31

Keep your eyes open, people, it's worth seeing!

0:28:310:28:34

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