0:00:03 > 0:00:07I have crossed the Atlantic to ride the railroads of North America with
0:00:07 > 0:00:09my reliable Appletons' guide.
0:00:12 > 0:00:17Published in the late 19th century, Appletons' general guide to
0:00:17 > 0:00:20North America will direct me to all that's novel...
0:00:20 > 0:00:22beautiful...
0:00:22 > 0:00:23memorable...
0:00:23 > 0:00:25and striking...
0:00:25 > 0:00:26in the United States.
0:00:26 > 0:00:28INDISTINCT SHOUTING
0:00:28 > 0:00:30As I journey across this vast continent,
0:00:30 > 0:00:36I'll discover how pioneers and cowboys conquered the West...
0:00:36 > 0:00:39and how the railroads tied this nation together,
0:00:39 > 0:00:43helping to create the global superstate of today.
0:01:03 > 0:01:08Through breathtaking scenery, where I'll encounter magnificent beasts,
0:01:08 > 0:01:13mimic fearless explorers and witness distinctive customs,
0:01:13 > 0:01:15I'll travel 1,500 miles,
0:01:15 > 0:01:20recapturing the excitement and promise of the American frontier.
0:01:29 > 0:01:33I'm beginning a new American adventure,
0:01:33 > 0:01:37striking out west into regions that would have been uncharted territory
0:01:37 > 0:01:40for most readers of my Appletons' guide.
0:01:40 > 0:01:44I'll be using the railroads that enabled the United States
0:01:44 > 0:01:49in the 19th century to fulfil its so-called "manifest destiny",
0:01:49 > 0:01:55to span the North American continent from the Atlantic to the Pacific.
0:01:55 > 0:01:58I'll be following the tracks of intrepid men and women
0:01:58 > 0:02:03who ventured forth, to discover the indelible mark that they left
0:02:03 > 0:02:07on the culture and the landscape of the West.
0:02:12 > 0:02:15My journey begins in St Louis, Missouri,
0:02:15 > 0:02:18from where I head west, pursuing the route of the pioneers,
0:02:18 > 0:02:22taking in Kansas City and Dodge City.
0:02:22 > 0:02:27I'll stop at a surprising British outpost in Colorado Springs
0:02:27 > 0:02:32before turning south to Hispanic Albuquerque in New Mexico.
0:02:32 > 0:02:36My journey will end at Arizona's awe-inspiring Grand Canyon.
0:02:39 > 0:02:42Today I'm exploring in and around the city of St Louis,
0:02:42 > 0:02:45on the great Mississippi river,
0:02:45 > 0:02:47before heading west to Washington, Missouri.
0:02:47 > 0:02:51From there, I'll travel to the very German Hermann,
0:02:51 > 0:02:55and finish in the state capital, Jefferson City.
0:02:58 > 0:03:02On my travels, I marvel at America's monument to the West.
0:03:04 > 0:03:06It is absolutely astonishing.
0:03:06 > 0:03:10But when you get beneath it, you can't believe the scale of it.
0:03:10 > 0:03:14I learn of the expedition which explored new lands,
0:03:14 > 0:03:17but had devastating consequences.
0:03:17 > 0:03:20In the decades that followed, it meant the demise of the native Americans
0:03:20 > 0:03:23and their way of life. It soon disappeared.
0:03:23 > 0:03:27I try my hand on a pipe production line.
0:03:27 > 0:03:29We're on a roll now!
0:03:29 > 0:03:30Little bit of finger in that one.
0:03:31 > 0:03:36And enjoy the merry traditions of the Midwest's German settlers.
0:03:36 > 0:03:39- Eins!- Eins! - Zwei!- Zwei!
0:03:39 > 0:03:40Drei!
0:03:40 > 0:03:43- Zicke zacke zicke zacke... - Oi! Oi! Oi!
0:03:43 > 0:03:45PLAYS FINAL CHORDS
0:03:58 > 0:04:01I'm in the great metropolis of St Louis,
0:04:01 > 0:04:04named in honour of King Louis IX of France,
0:04:04 > 0:04:08who was canonised. It was founded by French fur traders
0:04:08 > 0:04:13in 1764 on the western side of the Mississippi river.
0:04:13 > 0:04:17After the city became part of the United States,
0:04:17 > 0:04:19it formed "the gateway to the west".
0:04:24 > 0:04:27I'm now riding the MetroLink in St Louis.
0:04:27 > 0:04:30Appletons' explains the city's key position.
0:04:30 > 0:04:34"Situated almost in the centre of the great valley of the Mississippi,
0:04:34 > 0:04:38"20 miles below the entrance of the Missouri."
0:04:38 > 0:04:42The rivers were the original highways of the United States,
0:04:42 > 0:04:46but the Mississippi presented a formidable natural barrier.
0:04:46 > 0:04:49And St Louis was the crossing point
0:04:49 > 0:04:53for thousands who dreamed of a new life out west.
0:05:05 > 0:05:08As the railroad struck out across America,
0:05:08 > 0:05:11the mighty Mississippi was a colossal moat,
0:05:11 > 0:05:14denying access to the territory beyond.
0:05:14 > 0:05:18I'm meeting park ranger Don Schwarzberger
0:05:18 > 0:05:20to find out how it was overcome.
0:05:23 > 0:05:26Don, my Appletons' is quite excited about this bridge.
0:05:26 > 0:05:28"The great St Louis bridge across the Mississippi
0:05:28 > 0:05:32"from Washington Avenue to a corresponding point in East St Louis
0:05:32 > 0:05:36is regarded as one of the greatest triumphs of American engineering.
0:05:36 > 0:05:41Designed by James B Eads, completed in 1874.
0:05:41 > 0:05:43Is it a great triumph of American engineering?
0:05:43 > 0:05:46We believe it is, because a bridge like this
0:05:46 > 0:05:49would never have been made out of cast steel.
0:05:49 > 0:05:53And plus, the design itself had never been tried before.
0:05:55 > 0:05:59James Buchanan Eads was a civil engineer from St Louis
0:05:59 > 0:06:01who was largely self-educated.
0:06:03 > 0:06:06What experience did Eads have of building bridges?
0:06:06 > 0:06:08He had no experience of building bridges.
0:06:08 > 0:06:11He was used to building hotels and buildings,
0:06:11 > 0:06:15and when he heard about the dilemma they had here in St Louis,
0:06:15 > 0:06:17he decided, "I'm going to build a bridge
0:06:17 > 0:06:21"that's going to make St Louis accessible from the east."
0:06:21 > 0:06:25And the bridge that he built was an engineering first -
0:06:25 > 0:06:27the longest arch bridge in the world,
0:06:27 > 0:06:30and one of the first to carry railroad tracks.
0:06:30 > 0:06:33To combat the Mississippi's strong currents,
0:06:33 > 0:06:35it had to be anchored into the bedrock
0:06:35 > 0:06:38over 100 feet beneath the river,
0:06:38 > 0:06:41deeper than ever before attempted.
0:06:41 > 0:06:43And the public was anxious.
0:06:44 > 0:06:46Now, the bridge was innovative.
0:06:46 > 0:06:49- There was literally a fear, was there, that it wouldn't work?- Yes.
0:06:49 > 0:06:51Because of the structure and the way it was designed,
0:06:51 > 0:06:54everybody was sceptical that it would not hold up,
0:06:54 > 0:06:59so James Buchanan Eads, three days after the bridge was finished,
0:06:59 > 0:07:02before it was to be opened on 4 July,
0:07:02 > 0:07:05he took an elephant from the local circus
0:07:05 > 0:07:09and decided to walk it across the bridge to prove to everybody
0:07:09 > 0:07:12that it would hold, because folklore has it
0:07:12 > 0:07:17that an elephant would not cross an unstable surface.
0:07:17 > 0:07:21Don, do you know, I believe if I'd been asked to cross the Mississippi
0:07:21 > 0:07:24on a bridge built by someone who'd never built a bridge before,
0:07:24 > 0:07:25I'd be a bit sceptical too!
0:07:30 > 0:07:32Throughout the 19th century,
0:07:32 > 0:07:36Eads Bridge was the icon of the city.
0:07:36 > 0:07:38But in the 20th, it would be rivalled
0:07:38 > 0:07:41by another superb feat of engineering.
0:07:47 > 0:07:51The Gateway Arch was completed in 1965
0:07:51 > 0:07:57to commemorate St Louis' role as the gateway to the west.
0:07:58 > 0:08:01It is absolutely astonishing. I've seen it, you know,
0:08:01 > 0:08:04around the city, but when you get beneath it,
0:08:04 > 0:08:05you can't believe the scale of it.
0:08:05 > 0:08:08This must be the biggest monument in the United States.
0:08:08 > 0:08:12It is the tallest free-standing monument in the United States,
0:08:12 > 0:08:13at 630 feet.
0:08:18 > 0:08:22To my delight, the way to ascend the highest monument in the country
0:08:22 > 0:08:25is by train, running inside the arch.
0:08:27 > 0:08:28'Doors are now closing.'
0:08:28 > 0:08:31- Are you ready for a four-minute ride to the top?- I can't wait.
0:08:31 > 0:08:34We've accelerated. And now this is just like an elevator.
0:08:34 > 0:08:37- Yes.- We're going up pretty much vertically.
0:08:37 > 0:08:41What a fantastic piece of engineering this is.
0:08:41 > 0:08:42This is really exciting.
0:08:44 > 0:08:48I think this is the darnedest machine I've ever been in.
0:08:50 > 0:08:54And from the top, I'm rewarded with a fabulous view.
0:08:55 > 0:08:59Well, this is like no building I have ever been in,
0:08:59 > 0:09:04because here, you lean right out to get the view below.
0:09:04 > 0:09:08As you lean down, you can see the people directly below,
0:09:08 > 0:09:11and to say that they look like ants would be an exaggeration.
0:09:11 > 0:09:13They look much smaller.
0:09:13 > 0:09:15Whoa!
0:09:18 > 0:09:22St Louis became the gateway to the west because of geography.
0:09:22 > 0:09:27To understand its critical location, I'm taking to the skies.
0:09:52 > 0:09:55This map in my Appletons' shows why St Louis
0:09:55 > 0:09:57is so important. Here is the city,
0:09:57 > 0:10:01standing on the west of the Mississippi river.
0:10:01 > 0:10:05And just to the north of the city, the great Missouri river enters.
0:10:05 > 0:10:09And in a few moments, I'll be at the point where the waters meet.
0:10:11 > 0:10:15The Mississippi cuts through the United States from north to south,
0:10:15 > 0:10:18and the Missouri flows in from the west.
0:10:18 > 0:10:20In the era before the transcontinental railroads,
0:10:20 > 0:10:24these were the nation's transport and trade arteries.
0:10:25 > 0:10:27When it comes to American rivers,
0:10:27 > 0:10:29size matters.
0:10:31 > 0:10:36The browner waters of the Missouri river have travelled 2,300 miles
0:10:36 > 0:10:39from their source in the mountains of Montana
0:10:39 > 0:10:42to reach here the waters of the Mississippi.
0:10:42 > 0:10:46And yet, the Mississippi still has more than 1,000 miles to travel
0:10:46 > 0:10:49before it reaches the sea in the Gulf of Mexico.
0:11:02 > 0:11:04And it's on the banks of the Missouri river
0:11:04 > 0:11:06that I'm making my next stop.
0:11:07 > 0:11:09At the turn of the 19th century,
0:11:09 > 0:11:12this was French territory known as Louisiana.
0:11:14 > 0:11:16It bordered the United States,
0:11:16 > 0:11:19whose third president was Thomas Jefferson.
0:11:21 > 0:11:23To find out how there came to be
0:11:23 > 0:11:26an American west for the pioneers to conquer,
0:11:26 > 0:11:28I'm meeting Jan Donaldson.
0:11:32 > 0:11:36Jan, my Appletons' remarks in 1803, all the territory
0:11:36 > 0:11:39then known as Louisiana was ceded to the United States.
0:11:39 > 0:11:43Ceded by whom, and what did the territory really consist of?
0:11:43 > 0:11:49Well, the Louisiana territory was a large piece of...
0:11:49 > 0:11:53Real estate of the day. It was ceded by Napoleon of France,
0:11:53 > 0:11:56who needed money to finance his wars in Europe.
0:11:56 > 0:12:00And, of course, Jefferson was interested in buying.
0:12:00 > 0:12:05It consisted of Louisiana, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Missouri,
0:12:05 > 0:12:09Kansas, Iowa, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota,
0:12:09 > 0:12:12Wyoming and Montana.
0:12:12 > 0:12:14A simply vast amount of territory.
0:12:14 > 0:12:17I mean, it would take up much of the map of Europe.
0:12:17 > 0:12:19It must have doubled the size of the United States?
0:12:19 > 0:12:21It more than doubled the size of the United States.
0:12:22 > 0:12:26Known as the Louisiana Purchase, the territory turned out to
0:12:26 > 0:12:34be 828,000 square miles for which the United States paid 15 million.
0:12:34 > 0:12:37One of the best real estate deals of all time.
0:12:39 > 0:12:43Did Napoleon understand, did Thomas Jefferson understand,
0:12:43 > 0:12:44what was involved in the purchase?
0:12:44 > 0:12:46They did not.
0:12:46 > 0:12:51There was a map of that day which only showed the tributaries
0:12:51 > 0:12:54and the Missouri River going up to about where Nebraska is now.
0:12:54 > 0:12:59So, that Matt did not even show everything that they were
0:12:59 > 0:13:01buying, or that Napoleon was selling.
0:13:03 > 0:13:05To find out exactly what he had bought,
0:13:05 > 0:13:08Thomas Jefferson decided to put together an expedition to be
0:13:08 > 0:13:13to be led by Captain Meriwether Lewis and Lt William Clark.
0:13:13 > 0:13:17Jan and his team re-enact this historic voyage in a magnificent
0:13:17 > 0:13:22and exact replica of the original keelboat used by Lewis and Clark.
0:13:23 > 0:13:24Jan, that is, I think,
0:13:24 > 0:13:27one of the most beautiful boats that I've ever seen.
0:13:27 > 0:13:29Tell me about that.
0:13:29 > 0:13:32It's 55 feet long. A cedar hull on the outside.
0:13:32 > 0:13:36Oak ribs on the inside. It's got a bridge and so forth.
0:13:36 > 0:13:40It carries a lot of cargo. It only draughts only about 30 inches.
0:13:40 > 0:13:43We go up the river, and we'd like you to join us.
0:13:43 > 0:13:45And we're going to put you in a set of whites and we're going to
0:13:45 > 0:13:47go aboard.
0:13:47 > 0:13:49Ready for action, Sir!
0:14:11 > 0:14:12In May 1804,
0:14:12 > 0:14:17Lewis and Clark set out with a corps of about 50 men to explore
0:14:17 > 0:14:20the United States' newly-acquired lands.
0:14:34 > 0:14:38Their task was to map the continent's interior,
0:14:38 > 0:14:40collect specimens
0:14:40 > 0:14:43and to make contact with the tribes of Native Americans.
0:14:46 > 0:14:49On the boat today is 80-year-old Bob Plummer,
0:14:49 > 0:14:52who's been making parts of this epic journey for 20 years.
0:14:55 > 0:14:58You must have a pretty good idea of how fit men can be.
0:14:58 > 0:15:01Would you say Lewis and Clark must've been very,
0:15:01 > 0:15:02- very special kind of guys?- Very.
0:15:02 > 0:15:05Yeah, they were in good shape and they were in a lot better shape when
0:15:05 > 0:15:07they started rowing up this river.
0:15:07 > 0:15:09They actually cordelled more than they rowed.
0:15:09 > 0:15:12They had men ashore with ropes over their shoulder
0:15:12 > 0:15:13and pulled the boat up.
0:15:13 > 0:15:16Problem was their feet would get so sore they'd lose their moccasins,
0:15:16 > 0:15:18so they had to go barefoot,
0:15:18 > 0:15:20and their feet was cut all the time.
0:15:23 > 0:15:27It was a journey full of hardships and dangers, and the expedition
0:15:27 > 0:15:30relied on help from the tribes that they met.
0:15:31 > 0:15:34What contact did they have with the Native Americans?
0:15:35 > 0:15:38Well, everywhere they visited the Native Americans,
0:15:38 > 0:15:42they made contact on direction of President Jefferson.
0:15:42 > 0:15:48And it was to exchange gifts and exchange information and make a pact
0:15:48 > 0:15:50of friendship, because that's what it was,
0:15:50 > 0:15:52it was an outreach to the Native Americans that had,
0:15:52 > 0:15:55some of them, never seen a white man before.
0:15:59 > 0:16:03They travelled to the source of the Missouri River before taking to
0:16:03 > 0:16:06horseback to cross the daunting Rocky Mountains.
0:16:08 > 0:16:12One year and 4,000 miles since they'd left St Louis,
0:16:12 > 0:16:16the expedition reached the Pacific Ocean in November 1805.
0:16:18 > 0:16:20Their maps and journals were indispensable
0:16:20 > 0:16:22for settlers going west.
0:16:28 > 0:16:32Am I right that you actually are a descendant of William Clark?
0:16:32 > 0:16:35William Clark is my great-great-great-grandfather.
0:16:35 > 0:16:38What do you think of the achievements of Lewis and Clark?
0:16:39 > 0:16:44Well, certainly the most significant achievement is finding a feasible
0:16:44 > 0:16:47route to the Pacific and opening the door to Western expansion.
0:16:47 > 0:16:50I think for the Native Americans
0:16:50 > 0:16:56it marks a point in time when their lives as they knew them were facing
0:16:56 > 0:16:57the beginning of the end.
0:16:57 > 0:16:59In the decades that followed Lewis and Clark,
0:16:59 > 0:17:02it meant for the demise of the Native Americans
0:17:02 > 0:17:05- and their way of life would soon disappear.- Yes.
0:17:28 > 0:17:33After my exertions on the River, I'm keen for a comfortable bed tonight
0:17:33 > 0:17:36and in St Louis there's one obvious place for me to stay.
0:17:44 > 0:17:47At the time of my guidebook, this was a magnificent,
0:17:47 > 0:17:50opulent and busy railway terminal,
0:17:50 > 0:17:52but today Union Station is a hotel.
0:18:00 > 0:18:03Darlene Menietti is the resident historian.
0:18:06 > 0:18:08- Darlene.- Welcome to Union Station.
0:18:08 > 0:18:10This is absolutely fantastic.
0:18:10 > 0:18:14This must've been one of the great railroad stations of America.
0:18:14 > 0:18:18Oh, exactly, and what you see today is the way it was in 1894.
0:18:18 > 0:18:21Why did St Louis merit a station of such grandeur?
0:18:21 > 0:18:24Oh, simply because this was the place first to the west
0:18:24 > 0:18:27of the Mississippi. It married the east to the west.
0:18:27 > 0:18:30Up until that time we didn't have anything that,
0:18:30 > 0:18:33other than Chicago of course, that would tie the country together.
0:18:36 > 0:18:39When opened it was the largest and most ornate terminal
0:18:39 > 0:18:42in the United States.
0:18:42 > 0:18:46The last commuter service pulled out of Union Station in 1978
0:18:46 > 0:18:48and, in honour of those railroads,
0:18:48 > 0:18:51I'm trying a coffee and almond liqueur cocktail
0:18:51 > 0:18:53known as a Union Pacific.
0:18:55 > 0:18:58- Here you are.- Ooh, thank you.
0:18:58 > 0:19:00You're very welcome.
0:19:00 > 0:19:02Our Union Station signature drink.
0:19:02 > 0:19:04Cheers.
0:19:04 > 0:19:05Cheers!
0:19:08 > 0:19:09Choo-choo!
0:19:32 > 0:19:36It's a new morning in St Louis and, led by my Appleton's guide,
0:19:36 > 0:19:38I've more exploring to do.
0:19:45 > 0:19:48In this big city, I'm hoping to discover some tranquillity.
0:19:56 > 0:19:59Appleton's draws my attention to Shaw's Garden,
0:19:59 > 0:20:02"Which Henry Shaw has opened to the public
0:20:02 > 0:20:06"and intends as a gift for the city."
0:20:06 > 0:20:11This far west, I expected tumbleweed and cactus, not a bed of roses.
0:20:16 > 0:20:19'The Missouri Botanical Gardens are like an oasis
0:20:19 > 0:20:21'in the heart of the city.
0:20:21 > 0:20:24'The gardens' president, Peter Wyse Jackson,
0:20:24 > 0:20:28'came here in 2010 after working at the botanical gardens
0:20:28 > 0:20:29'of Trinity College, Dublin.'
0:20:32 > 0:20:35Peter, my Appleton's says,
0:20:35 > 0:20:39"The herbaceous and flower garden, embracing ten acres, contains almost
0:20:39 > 0:20:42"every flower that can be grown at this latitude.
0:20:42 > 0:20:43"There are several greenhouses
0:20:43 > 0:20:46"with thousands of exotic and tropical plants."
0:20:46 > 0:20:48I was expecting the Wild West.
0:20:48 > 0:20:51This sounds like, I don't know, Great Britain.
0:20:51 > 0:20:55Well, Henry Shaw really created the garden
0:20:55 > 0:20:59to be what he remembered from his childhood because, of course,
0:20:59 > 0:21:04he was an Englishman. He was born in Sheffield in 1800.
0:21:04 > 0:21:07And when Shaw began, what was here?
0:21:08 > 0:21:11All that was here was prairie.
0:21:11 > 0:21:15There wasn't a single tree on all of the land that he owned.
0:21:15 > 0:21:20Was Shaw interested in the botany of America,
0:21:20 > 0:21:22the samples coming back from the west?
0:21:22 > 0:21:26Yes, indeed. He certainly grew a large number of specimens
0:21:26 > 0:21:29in the garden from places in the US but, equally,
0:21:29 > 0:21:32he was growing plants from all round the world.
0:21:35 > 0:21:37Having made his money in the cutlery business,
0:21:37 > 0:21:41Henry Shaw decided to use his fortune to cultivate
0:21:41 > 0:21:44the prairie land and created these abundant gardens.
0:21:46 > 0:21:48Inspired by that pioneering spirit,
0:21:48 > 0:21:52the gardens later developed a Climatron,
0:21:52 > 0:21:55the world's first geodesic dome greenhouse,
0:21:55 > 0:21:58which today houses around 7,000 species.
0:22:02 > 0:22:05Many of the plants that are grown in the Climatron are either
0:22:05 > 0:22:07very rare or some of them are endangered.
0:22:07 > 0:22:10Indeed, we have some species that are extinct in the wild.
0:22:10 > 0:22:15We aim to have as complete a reference collection of the world's
0:22:15 > 0:22:20plants, both preserved specimens and DNA for our DNA bank.
0:22:20 > 0:22:22And maybe you could help us today.
0:22:22 > 0:22:23- By going up there?- Yes, indeed.
0:22:23 > 0:22:27You look like a fit man who could do that.
0:22:27 > 0:22:28Here we go.
0:22:29 > 0:22:32'The huge range of plant specimens in the garden
0:22:32 > 0:22:36'acts as a reserve for the conservation of species.'
0:22:40 > 0:22:43Lovely sample there.
0:22:43 > 0:22:45And now a sample of leaf.
0:22:45 > 0:22:49A couple of leaves and two beautiful fruit.
0:22:49 > 0:22:52- Now, what will you do with that?- We will test to see whether these are
0:22:52 > 0:22:56ripe and whether we can add these to the seed bank. The leaves
0:22:56 > 0:23:00we'll make into a DNA sample, which will go into our DNA bank.
0:23:05 > 0:23:09'Housed in the garden's herbarium, what began as a collection
0:23:09 > 0:23:15'of 60,000 specimens in the 1850s, has now grown to over six million.'
0:23:17 > 0:23:21Jim, this is an extraordinary facility that you have here.
0:23:21 > 0:23:25When there was a great push to the West after the Louisiana Purchase
0:23:25 > 0:23:28were lots of interesting specimens being found then
0:23:28 > 0:23:30and were they being brought back to St Louis?
0:23:30 > 0:23:33Yes. That is definitely true.
0:23:33 > 0:23:37In the time of exploration, St Louis was the jumping off point
0:23:37 > 0:23:41for all of the major military expeditions that went west.
0:23:41 > 0:23:45Plants that they collected were sent here to St Louis.
0:23:45 > 0:23:48Here are a couple of specimens from the 19th century.
0:23:48 > 0:23:53These are two examples of what is called bluestem here.
0:23:53 > 0:23:56This is one of the famous grasses, if you've ever read
0:23:56 > 0:24:01any early descriptions of the prairies of this part of the world
0:24:01 > 0:24:04you hear about people, men on horseback,
0:24:04 > 0:24:08not being able to see over the tops of the grasses
0:24:08 > 0:24:13and big bluestem is one of those that grows to 2m-2.5m tall.
0:24:14 > 0:24:16Unfortunately, in this day,
0:24:16 > 0:24:19most of these native grasslands have disappeared
0:24:19 > 0:24:23because they were converted into agricultural lands.
0:24:23 > 0:24:27- Is conservation a big part of what you do today? - Oh, most definitely.
0:24:41 > 0:24:43As usual I am hungry
0:24:43 > 0:24:45and I've been looking forward to sampling
0:24:45 > 0:24:48a St Louis speciality dating back to the 1930s.
0:24:55 > 0:24:57So, this is gooey butter cake and basically,
0:24:57 > 0:25:02what it is...is it is a dense yellow cake crust
0:25:02 > 0:25:05and the filling is cream cheese, butter and powdered sugar.
0:25:05 > 0:25:09So it was actually made in error by a baker here in St Louis.
0:25:09 > 0:25:12They were making a deep butter cake and they reversed the flour
0:25:12 > 0:25:13and sugar ingredients.
0:25:13 > 0:25:17And so, when they did that, the cake did not rise properly,
0:25:17 > 0:25:19so the baker's wife tried it and said, do you know what?
0:25:19 > 0:25:21It's awfully good.
0:25:21 > 0:25:22It was very gooey,
0:25:22 > 0:25:25so the deep butter cake became gooey butter cake.
0:25:25 > 0:25:26I definitely have to try it.
0:25:26 > 0:25:29We should start here with the traditional, since you've never had it before.
0:25:29 > 0:25:31Can I have a cappuccino and a traditional...
0:25:31 > 0:25:34- Gooey butter cake, please? Thank you.- Of course.
0:25:42 > 0:25:43Thank you.
0:25:52 > 0:25:53Oh!
0:25:53 > 0:25:55Boy, that is good.
0:25:55 > 0:25:57Naughty but very nice!
0:26:25 > 0:26:31Between 1830 and 1870, the population of St Louis exploded.
0:26:31 > 0:26:34Multiplying by 60 times.
0:26:34 > 0:26:37Coping with such growth presented many challenges,
0:26:37 > 0:26:40not least how to supply clean water.
0:26:44 > 0:26:49Appleton's tells me that the city waterworks are situated 3.5 miles
0:26:49 > 0:26:51north of the courthouse.
0:26:51 > 0:26:53"The two pumping engines,
0:26:53 > 0:26:58"each with a capacity of 17 million gallons a day, are worth seeing
0:26:58 > 0:27:01"and are open to visitors at all times."
0:27:01 > 0:27:05By the time of my guidebook, St Louis had become an enormous city.
0:27:05 > 0:27:09With the Missouri and the Mississippi, there was water, water,
0:27:09 > 0:27:13all around, but there might have been scarcely a drop to drink
0:27:13 > 0:27:15but for human ingenuity.
0:27:23 > 0:27:27In the 1840s and '50s, as the population boomed,
0:27:27 > 0:27:29St Louis was struck by cholera.
0:27:30 > 0:27:34Desperate to provide a safe water supply, the city board turned to
0:27:34 > 0:27:38a talented railway engineer, James P Kirkwood,
0:27:38 > 0:27:40to design a new city waterworks.
0:27:43 > 0:27:48Today Pat Baldera is in charge of the 19th-century Chain of Rocks
0:27:48 > 0:27:52water-treatment plant. He's going to show me how it used to work,
0:27:52 > 0:27:57starting at these now disused intake towers in the middle of the river.
0:28:08 > 0:28:10Ah!
0:28:10 > 0:28:12One half bucket of Mississippi water.
0:28:13 > 0:28:15Now, sir, would you care to drink that?
0:28:15 > 0:28:17Mmm, bit brown, isn't it?
0:28:17 > 0:28:19That's the famous sediment, is it?
0:28:19 > 0:28:22Yes, you know, Mark Twain said you could tell the difference between
0:28:22 > 0:28:25a St Louis man and an outsider because the outsider would try
0:28:25 > 0:28:27to drink off the top
0:28:27 > 0:28:29but a man from St Louis would stir up the sediment
0:28:29 > 0:28:32and chuck the whole thing down.
0:28:32 > 0:28:35Probably thinking that the sediment was good for you.
0:28:35 > 0:28:38I'm going to confine the sediment to the Mississippi.
0:28:48 > 0:28:50Here on the eastern shores of the river,
0:28:50 > 0:28:54James Kirkwood designed a plant to rid the water of its sediment
0:28:54 > 0:28:58and to purify it by filtering it through sand.
0:29:00 > 0:29:03Today the plant operates on the same basic principle.
0:29:13 > 0:29:17Now, I believe that in St Louis you pride yourselves on your water.
0:29:17 > 0:29:20Yes, we consider ourselves to have the best water in the country
0:29:20 > 0:29:23and I'd like to prove that to you by maybe taking a blind taste test.
0:29:23 > 0:29:25- Yes, sure.- All right, so, if I could get you to turn around,
0:29:25 > 0:29:29I'll prepare you one sample with traditional bottled water
0:29:29 > 0:29:31and one sample right from the filter plant here.
0:29:31 > 0:29:33OK. No peeping, I promise.
0:29:40 > 0:29:41All right, Michael.
0:29:43 > 0:29:44Thank you very much.
0:29:50 > 0:29:52Mmm.
0:29:52 > 0:29:55I'm going to say this one is from the Mississippi.
0:29:55 > 0:29:56- Am I right?- You're right.
0:29:56 > 0:29:57Do you know why?
0:29:57 > 0:30:00- It's a little bit softer on the palate.- OK.
0:30:00 > 0:30:03It's kind of actually more interesting as a water.
0:30:04 > 0:30:07- Very pure. Well done.- There may be just a little bit of Mark Twain's
0:30:07 > 0:30:09sediment still left in there.
0:30:09 > 0:30:11MICHAEL LAUGHS I hope so!
0:30:29 > 0:30:33'This morning, I'm leaving behind the big city buzz of St Louis,
0:30:33 > 0:30:38'and, like so many before me, I'm heading out West.'
0:30:38 > 0:30:39Good morning.
0:30:39 > 0:30:42I'm going to Washington, Missouri.
0:30:42 > 0:30:4335.
0:30:47 > 0:30:48There you go.
0:30:48 > 0:30:51Thank you very much indeed.
0:30:51 > 0:30:55Platform B, at 9:15 . We start boarding at nine o'clock.
0:30:55 > 0:30:57Thank you very much.
0:30:57 > 0:30:58Thank you.
0:30:59 > 0:31:02'I'm taking the Missouri River Runner service,
0:31:02 > 0:31:05'which follows the banks of the river for over 80 miles.'
0:31:10 > 0:31:13Morning, sir, I'll get your ticket, please.
0:31:13 > 0:31:15I'm getting off at Washington, Missouri?
0:31:15 > 0:31:18Washington, Missouri, all right. Got you covered, have a good trip.
0:31:18 > 0:31:20- Thank you very much. - Thank you.
0:31:30 > 0:31:34Today I'll visit the birthplace of a rural icon in Washington.
0:31:34 > 0:31:38From there, I'll continue onto the German community of Hermann,
0:31:38 > 0:31:41before arriving at the Missouri state capital, Jefferson City.
0:31:49 > 0:31:52My first stop will be Washington, Missouri,
0:31:52 > 0:31:57which Appleton's tells me is a "prosperous and handsome town".
0:31:57 > 0:32:01I want to discover how the Europeans encountering an American crop
0:32:01 > 0:32:05found a corny way of fulfilling their pipe dreams.
0:32:10 > 0:32:14'I'm travelling on the tracks of the very first railroad to operate west
0:32:14 > 0:32:17'of the Mississippi, the Pacific Railroad.
0:32:17 > 0:32:19'Following the course of the Missouri River,
0:32:19 > 0:32:23'it was built to connect early immigrant settlements and to promote
0:32:23 > 0:32:25'further colonisation.'
0:32:25 > 0:32:27- Thank you very much. - You're welcome.- Bye-bye now.
0:32:33 > 0:32:35'The railroad arrived in Washington, Missouri,
0:32:35 > 0:32:39'in 1855 and helped to make this town the world capital
0:32:39 > 0:32:41'of a very particular product.
0:32:49 > 0:32:52'I'm visiting the Missouri Meerschaum Company
0:32:52 > 0:32:54'to meet Marilyn Lanning.'
0:32:56 > 0:32:59- Hello, Marilyn.- Hello, Michael. Welcome.- Thank you very much.
0:32:59 > 0:33:02- Wonderful historic building. - Oh, thank you.
0:33:02 > 0:33:06This is actually the original building that we built in
0:33:06 > 0:33:11the 1880s and it was built specifically for the corn cob pipe factory.
0:33:16 > 0:33:20'In the 19th century, pipe smoking was widespread
0:33:20 > 0:33:21'and in the rural Midwest,
0:33:21 > 0:33:23'where there was an abundance of corn,
0:33:23 > 0:33:26'farmers whittled pipes from their own crops.
0:33:28 > 0:33:34'In 1869, Dutch immigrant woodworker Henry Tibbe started to make pipes
0:33:34 > 0:33:38'for sale and, within a decade, went into mass production.'
0:33:41 > 0:33:46Marilyn, how does the process of making a corncob pipe begin?
0:33:46 > 0:33:48Well, once the cobs get to the factory, Michael,
0:33:48 > 0:33:50they're separated into size.
0:33:50 > 0:33:54Then they're cut on the saw into lengths for the size pipe
0:33:54 > 0:33:55that they're making.
0:33:55 > 0:33:59Then they come over here to Robert and he drills the tobacco holes
0:33:59 > 0:34:01in the centre.
0:34:01 > 0:34:05Then after that, they'll go over and they'll be shaped by Nathan.
0:34:05 > 0:34:08There's a cutter head that shapes some of them.
0:34:08 > 0:34:10So, some of this roughness on the outside is going to come off.
0:34:10 > 0:34:14It will. Then the plaster is applied to the outside of the cob and this
0:34:14 > 0:34:19was the part of the process that was patented by Henry Tibbe back in the 1870s.
0:34:19 > 0:34:25And that's what made his pipes stand out from all the other local manufacturers.
0:34:25 > 0:34:29Why would you want to cover the bowl in plaster of Paris?
0:34:29 > 0:34:33Well, because it would give it a smoother appearance and maybe make
0:34:33 > 0:34:37the pipe last a little longer and there were those people who thought
0:34:37 > 0:34:40smoking a corncob pipe was a little bit hickish,
0:34:40 > 0:34:43so it would kind of make them feel like they were a little more
0:34:43 > 0:34:45aristocratic, perhaps,
0:34:45 > 0:34:49if they were smoking something that didn't quite look as rural.
0:34:50 > 0:34:53- Hi.- Hello.
0:34:53 > 0:34:55Wow! You do those fast.
0:34:55 > 0:34:56What have you got in the bowl there?
0:34:56 > 0:34:58It's a white plaster.
0:34:58 > 0:35:02It's almost the same type of plaster you'd use on a household wall.
0:35:02 > 0:35:03Right.
0:35:03 > 0:35:06Here's a cob that's natural. See how you've got all these holes?
0:35:06 > 0:35:10- Yes.- It fills them holes in to make it smooth,
0:35:10 > 0:35:16then you sand them down and then you put the plaster in the second time.
0:35:16 > 0:35:19And then it gets sanded again, by the time it comes out here,
0:35:19 > 0:35:20it's slick as glass.
0:35:20 > 0:35:24Lovely. You keep going because I don't want your plaster to dry there.
0:35:24 > 0:35:26Yeah, plaster will harden up on me.
0:35:32 > 0:35:37In this factory, they produce, pack and ship about 5,000 pipes
0:35:37 > 0:35:39a day for the home market and abroad.
0:35:43 > 0:35:46May I ask you what you're doing? What part of the process is that?
0:35:46 > 0:35:51This is the little black ferrule on the stem.
0:35:51 > 0:35:55I'm putting this on the stem and then they'll put the bit into it.
0:35:55 > 0:35:58Have you any idea how many of those you can do maybe in a day?
0:35:58 > 0:36:01Probably a couple of thousand in an hour...
0:36:01 > 0:36:03- In an hour?- In an hour.- Really?
0:36:03 > 0:36:06There's couple of thousand in a tub and I can do a tub
0:36:06 > 0:36:09- in a couple of hours.- Wow!
0:36:09 > 0:36:11Do you mind if I have a little go at that?
0:36:11 > 0:36:14- Show me how to do it.- This...
0:36:14 > 0:36:20I set it in there and line it up and hit it once to get it started.
0:36:20 > 0:36:23Then I hit it the second time to level it out.
0:36:23 > 0:36:28- Two taps.- Yes. I always do two taps because the first one,
0:36:28 > 0:36:32I'm afraid it's not really level, so with the second one,
0:36:32 > 0:36:34- it levels it out more.- Well...
0:36:36 > 0:36:38One end is thinner than the other.
0:36:38 > 0:36:39It's narrower, yeah.
0:36:39 > 0:36:41So I pop that over the ring...
0:36:42 > 0:36:45One tap and another tap for luck.
0:36:45 > 0:36:47- Yes.- That looks good.
0:36:47 > 0:36:51We're on a roll now. A little bit of finger in that one.
0:36:51 > 0:36:53Yeah. You'll soon be able to do 1,000.
0:36:57 > 0:37:01Two taps and away to a pipe dream.
0:37:01 > 0:37:02Excellent.
0:37:11 > 0:37:14Manufactured just metres from the railroad station,
0:37:14 > 0:37:19Henry Tibbe's pipes were exported across the country and the world.
0:37:19 > 0:37:23Pipe connoisseurs Joe and Jim are aficionados of this icon of
0:37:23 > 0:37:24the Midwest.
0:37:30 > 0:37:33Jim, when is the ideal moment to enjoy a pipe?
0:37:33 > 0:37:34You have to have time.
0:37:35 > 0:37:40You shouldn't be disturbed by a telephone call or other people.
0:37:40 > 0:37:43Typically for me it's after dinner, glass of wine.
0:37:43 > 0:37:46The pipe you're holding now, is that a special pipe for you?
0:37:46 > 0:37:48It's one that I use quite often.
0:37:48 > 0:37:52We like to hunt and fish here in the Midwest and squirrel hunting happens
0:37:52 > 0:37:54to be one of our hobbies.
0:37:54 > 0:37:56- Squirrel?- Squirrel.
0:37:56 > 0:37:57Yes, relative to the rat, yes.
0:37:59 > 0:38:00Tree rats, actually.
0:38:00 > 0:38:03But we consider them a food source here.
0:38:03 > 0:38:07And my wife cooks a fantastic squirrel in gravy
0:38:07 > 0:38:10and squirrel hunting is done where you go out into the woods
0:38:10 > 0:38:14before sun up, sit under a tree, usually in the fall,
0:38:14 > 0:38:17and it's kind of frosty and you light it up, it warms your hand.
0:38:17 > 0:38:20Keeps your trigger finger warm.
0:38:20 > 0:38:23Who have been famous pipe smokers in American history?
0:38:23 > 0:38:25Well, General MacArthur, I would say.
0:38:25 > 0:38:27He's right up there.
0:38:28 > 0:38:33He had his long-stemmed pipe designed down here for him.
0:38:33 > 0:38:37And they say he used to take it when he was giving orders and he'd
0:38:37 > 0:38:42use it to point. But he had a long bowl where he could probably be able
0:38:42 > 0:38:44to smoke it for a couple plus hours without refilling.
0:38:44 > 0:38:46I guess he was a busy man.
0:38:48 > 0:38:51- A pipe, a glass of wine. - Absolutely.
0:38:51 > 0:38:53And squirrel with gravy.
0:38:53 > 0:38:55Ha-ha-ha!
0:39:08 > 0:39:10Throughout the 19th century,
0:39:10 > 0:39:13European immigration to the United States gathered pace,
0:39:13 > 0:39:17as groups from Europe fled troubles at home and were attracted to the
0:39:17 > 0:39:21potential of America's new lands.
0:39:21 > 0:39:25My next stop will be Hermann, Missouri, founded in 1836
0:39:25 > 0:39:31by the German settlement society to be a city that was German in every particular.
0:39:31 > 0:39:34And you don't have to be here for long to discover that they
0:39:34 > 0:39:36certainly achieved that.
0:39:39 > 0:39:44In an area of hills and river valleys, the early German settlers
0:39:44 > 0:39:49began cultivating a crop that reminded them of home.
0:39:49 > 0:39:54I'm meeting Jon Held, whose winery was established in 1847.
0:39:56 > 0:40:01John, you have spectacular views here down over the Missouri River
0:40:01 > 0:40:05and I must say, they are quite reminiscent of what you might see in
0:40:05 > 0:40:08the Rhine in Germany. Is there some connection?
0:40:08 > 0:40:12Oh, you bet. The early settlers to Hermann selected this area because
0:40:12 > 0:40:13it reminded them of home.
0:40:13 > 0:40:16When did the cultivation of vines first start here?
0:40:16 > 0:40:20Right about the time the city or the town of Hermann was founded.
0:40:20 > 0:40:25And then it increased in production, hitting its peak around 1878,
0:40:25 > 0:40:29but by that timeframe, there were over 60 wineries
0:40:29 > 0:40:30in and around the town of Hermann.
0:40:30 > 0:40:33I am afraid to say that I had not thought of Missouri as being
0:40:33 > 0:40:36particularly a wine-producing area.
0:40:36 > 0:40:37We tend to think of California.
0:40:39 > 0:40:41How important was Missouri in its heyday?
0:40:41 > 0:40:45During the peak in the 1870s, it was actually...
0:40:45 > 0:40:48for one year, the largest producing state in the nation.
0:40:48 > 0:40:51Is that so? Are you very aware of your Germans?
0:40:51 > 0:40:55Absolutely. Living in Hermann, with the strong German heritage,
0:40:55 > 0:41:00as well as the wine, the German cuisine, very strong German identity.
0:41:00 > 0:41:04- What about the language?- Oh, the language died out with World War I.
0:41:04 > 0:41:08An example, the town that my parents grew up in was called Potsdam.
0:41:08 > 0:41:11But the day the US entered World War I, they changed the name
0:41:11 > 0:41:14to Pershing, in honour of General Pershing.
0:41:14 > 0:41:18The Feds really took a dim view of this town and they were
0:41:18 > 0:41:22scrutinising for German sympathisers.
0:41:22 > 0:41:25And that really killed that language out.
0:41:25 > 0:41:29My grandparents spoke it in their home as children but then it stopped.
0:41:29 > 0:41:33- Did that have an impact on wine growing?- It helped kill it.
0:41:33 > 0:41:37Because they were looked so carefully at by the Feds,
0:41:37 > 0:41:40they didn't attempt to do any sacramental wines,
0:41:40 > 0:41:43which a lot of wineries in California were able to survive
0:41:43 > 0:41:47prohibition by making communion wine or sacramental wine.
0:41:47 > 0:41:48But with the German...
0:41:48 > 0:41:51Anti-German sentiment here, they didn't attempt that.
0:41:51 > 0:41:54- May we move on to the vineyard? - Oh, absolutely.- Thank you.
0:41:58 > 0:42:02The railroads initially boosted the Missouri wine industry,
0:42:02 > 0:42:05transporting its product across America,
0:42:05 > 0:42:10but when the first transcontinental railroad reached California in 1869,
0:42:10 > 0:42:13the West Coast wines offered formidable competition.
0:42:16 > 0:42:18Where does this grape come from?
0:42:18 > 0:42:21The predominant species is Vitus aestivalis,
0:42:21 > 0:42:23which is a native American grape.
0:42:23 > 0:42:26So very well adapted to this climate.
0:42:26 > 0:42:28- Are you having a good year? - Oh, it's a great year.
0:42:28 > 0:42:31It's a really warm season, adequate rainfall.
0:42:31 > 0:42:34I think these are going to ripen into a really great vintage.
0:42:34 > 0:42:36I think I'm going to ripen in this heat.
0:42:38 > 0:42:40The heritage may be of the Rhine Valley,
0:42:40 > 0:42:45but the grape varieties and the resulting wines are very different
0:42:45 > 0:42:47from their European counterparts.
0:42:47 > 0:42:51Not least because I've been expecting a German wine to be white.
0:42:51 > 0:42:54So, this is a bit of a surprise, isn't it?
0:42:54 > 0:42:57Because this wine is not in any way German, right?
0:42:57 > 0:42:59Not at all. This is our top wine.
0:42:59 > 0:43:04It's done in a traditional big red dry style,
0:43:04 > 0:43:07not what you think of as a Germanic-style wine.
0:43:07 > 0:43:09Very nice.
0:43:09 > 0:43:11- Redcurrant?- Definitely.
0:43:11 > 0:43:12- Spicy?- Very spicy.
0:43:12 > 0:43:14Particularly from this vineyard site.
0:43:14 > 0:43:16We get a lot of spicy character.
0:43:16 > 0:43:19- How do we say around here...? - Prost.- Prost!
0:43:26 > 0:43:31The population of Hermann today is still predominantly of German descent.
0:43:31 > 0:43:35Traditions of the mother country are very much in evidence at the local
0:43:35 > 0:43:37sausage shop, run by Mike Sloan.
0:43:41 > 0:43:43So, Mike, what is this that I have here?
0:43:43 > 0:43:48So that sausage is a bratwurst, it's the bacon, potato, cheddar bratwurst.
0:43:48 > 0:43:51So, it's pork, seasoned spices and bacon, added cheddar,
0:43:51 > 0:43:55added potatoes. So, what that means is it's a meal.
0:43:55 > 0:43:56It's a meal all by itself.
0:43:56 > 0:43:59- Oh, my goodness.- All the major food groups are represented right there
0:43:59 > 0:44:02- in that sausage.- That is a very, very good sausage.
0:44:02 > 0:44:05So, there must be huge demand for German sausages here.
0:44:05 > 0:44:09We make 46 different flavours of sausage and bratwurst.
0:44:10 > 0:44:12Are you a native of Hermann?
0:44:12 > 0:44:13Yes, I am. I've lived here all my life.
0:44:13 > 0:44:18- 71 years.- Have you any idea, you know, what proportion of this town
0:44:18 > 0:44:20is German today, would call itself German?
0:44:20 > 0:44:2340, 50 years ago, it was close to 100%.
0:44:23 > 0:44:27Now, we have some people coming out from St Louis,
0:44:27 > 0:44:29but I'd still say 80%.
0:44:29 > 0:44:31What are the customs that you maintain?
0:44:32 > 0:44:34Well, we have our May Festival, our Maifest,
0:44:34 > 0:44:37we have the sausage festival, the Wurstfest.
0:44:37 > 0:44:40We have Oktoberfest, October Festival.
0:44:40 > 0:44:43Excuse me, is there any month you don't have a Fest?
0:44:43 > 0:44:45A couple of months, yes.
0:44:48 > 0:44:52And at the heart of any self-respecting German festival is
0:44:52 > 0:44:54beer and a singsong.
0:44:54 > 0:44:59# Mein Vater war ein Wandersmann
0:44:59 > 0:45:02# Und mir steckt's auch im Blut
0:45:02 > 0:45:06# Drum wandr' ich flott, so lang ich kann
0:45:06 > 0:45:09# Und schwenke meinen Hut... #
0:45:09 > 0:45:11Here we go!
0:45:11 > 0:45:17# Faleri, falera, faleri
0:45:17 > 0:45:19# Falera ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha
0:45:19 > 0:45:23# Faleri, falera
0:45:23 > 0:45:26# Und schwenke meinen Hut. #
0:45:29 > 0:45:33Eins, zwei, drei.
0:45:35 > 0:45:38Zicke, zacke, zicke, zacke. Hoi, hoi, hoi!
0:45:38 > 0:45:43- Zicke, zacke, zicke, zacke. - ALL: Hoi, hoi, hoi!
0:46:00 > 0:46:03It's a new day and I'm continuing westwards on the
0:46:03 > 0:46:05Amtrak River Runner Route.
0:46:12 > 0:46:14- Guys? May I join you for a second? - Sure.
0:46:15 > 0:46:16Thank you very much.
0:46:18 > 0:46:20It's very nice to see a family using the train.
0:46:20 > 0:46:24- Where are you headed for?- We're going from St Louis to Kansas City.
0:46:24 > 0:46:26- Do you like using the train? - Absolutely.
0:46:26 > 0:46:29It's clean, it's comfortable, you meet nice people.
0:46:29 > 0:46:31- It's the best way to travel.- Wow!
0:46:31 > 0:46:33You sound like an advertisement for the railroads.
0:46:33 > 0:46:36Actually, many Americans seem to be railroad averse.
0:46:36 > 0:46:38They just get in their car.
0:46:38 > 0:46:42I think if you grew up in the north-east, it's a different story.
0:46:42 > 0:46:45I think your statement is correct for other parts of the country.
0:46:45 > 0:46:48The Midwest, particularly, but the East Coast, that's a way of life.
0:46:48 > 0:46:52Yeah. That's true, that's true. And do you know this route?
0:46:52 > 0:46:55Have you travelled it before? I'm just enjoying the views of the
0:46:55 > 0:46:57- Missouri River so much, aren't you? - Very scenic, very nice.
0:47:05 > 0:47:07My next stop is Jefferson City,
0:47:07 > 0:47:11which Appletons' tells me is the capital of the state of Missouri.
0:47:11 > 0:47:16Beautifully situated on high bluffs which overlook the Missouri River.
0:47:16 > 0:47:20Named after Thomas Jefferson, author of the Declaration of Independence.
0:47:20 > 0:47:23Third president of the United States.
0:47:23 > 0:47:27The man who made the Louisiana Purchase from Napoleon of France
0:47:27 > 0:47:31and who set out the grid pattern for the settlement of the American West.
0:47:34 > 0:47:37Ladies and gentlemen, we're arriving in Jefferson City.
0:47:37 > 0:47:39Please gather your belongings, make your way to the exit doors.
0:47:39 > 0:47:42Jefferson City, now arriving.
0:47:47 > 0:47:51All right, folks. Be very careful here. Watch your step.
0:47:51 > 0:47:52Thank you very much.
0:47:57 > 0:48:01Located on the river between St Louis and Kansas City,
0:48:01 > 0:48:05Jefferson City began as a midway trading post.
0:48:05 > 0:48:09It's the capital of Missouri, but by no means the state's biggest city.
0:48:12 > 0:48:18With a population of just over 40,000, it has a quiet, small-town feel.
0:48:21 > 0:48:25Every state in the union has a capital city and a centre of government,
0:48:25 > 0:48:29generally known as the capital, and in nearly every case,
0:48:29 > 0:48:30dominated by a dome.
0:48:30 > 0:48:33This one in Jefferson City, Missouri,
0:48:33 > 0:48:37has a sort of grey, austere elegance about it.
0:48:37 > 0:48:40Inside, I'm hoping to find something a little earthier.
0:48:52 > 0:48:56My Appletons' gives the reader detailed descriptions
0:48:56 > 0:49:00of American towns and cities but in the days before guidebooks,
0:49:00 > 0:49:05people in the east struggled to get an image of the new western lands.
0:49:05 > 0:49:08I'm here to meet art historian Joan Stack
0:49:08 > 0:49:11to find out about a famous frontier painter
0:49:11 > 0:49:15and Missouri politician, George Caleb Bingham.
0:49:16 > 0:49:19Why is George Caleb Bingham significant?
0:49:19 > 0:49:24Well, he was an early artist who painted the West and he didn't just
0:49:24 > 0:49:26paint Native Americans and buffalo,
0:49:26 > 0:49:30he painted the people who worked in the West.
0:49:30 > 0:49:33And when people saw these images in the east,
0:49:33 > 0:49:37they began to really realise, perhaps, the potential of the West.
0:49:39 > 0:49:44Painting primarily in the 1840s and 50s, Bingham was the first artist to
0:49:44 > 0:49:49bring realistic images of the West into the drawing rooms of the rich
0:49:49 > 0:49:51and influential in New York.
0:49:53 > 0:49:57Well, not what I expected as images of the Wild West.
0:49:57 > 0:49:58Tell me about this image.
0:49:58 > 0:50:01This is the picture that made George Caleb Bingham famous.
0:50:01 > 0:50:05And the picture was called The Jolly Flatboatman.
0:50:05 > 0:50:10The interesting thing is that you see the type of person that was in
0:50:10 > 0:50:12Missouri at that time.
0:50:12 > 0:50:18We see a kind of a group of young immigrants, Young Americans,
0:50:18 > 0:50:21who represent the potential of the United States.
0:50:21 > 0:50:24And then this would be an oil painting of his, would it?
0:50:24 > 0:50:29Yes. This is a painting called Watching The Cargo, painted in 1849,
0:50:29 > 0:50:31that was displayed in New York.
0:50:31 > 0:50:35It appears at first to be this beautiful landscape with this
0:50:35 > 0:50:37beautiful evening sky, but if you look closely,
0:50:37 > 0:50:42you'll see there is a wrecked steamboat in the painting,
0:50:42 > 0:50:48so they're protecting the commercial goods because the river is dangerous.
0:50:48 > 0:50:51And Bingham was a member of the Whig party,
0:50:51 > 0:50:54which supported the idea of improving the rivers,
0:50:54 > 0:50:58of making them more safe to navigate.
0:50:58 > 0:51:02How different is Bingham's art from what other people are painting in the West?
0:51:02 > 0:51:05Well, most of the artists who are painting the West are taking
0:51:05 > 0:51:09advantage of the romanticism around the Native Americans,
0:51:09 > 0:51:13the exotic animals like the buffalo, but to many people,
0:51:13 > 0:51:17that is the West that is disappearing.
0:51:17 > 0:51:21There was also a West that was growing and those are the river men,
0:51:21 > 0:51:23those are the people that are working the rivers,
0:51:23 > 0:51:26making America a united country,
0:51:26 > 0:51:29uniting the East with the West,
0:51:29 > 0:51:32creating this commercial world, this economic world,
0:51:32 > 0:51:34that had a great deal of potential.
0:51:43 > 0:51:47Remaining in Jefferson City, and led by my guidebook,
0:51:47 > 0:51:53I find myself outside the imposing walls of an enormous fortified building.
0:51:55 > 0:51:59Jefferson City's State penitentiary, says Appletons',
0:51:59 > 0:52:01is massive and spacious.
0:52:01 > 0:52:03Evidently, so it is.
0:52:03 > 0:52:05I'm just asking myself why
0:52:05 > 0:52:09such a small town would need such a huge jail.
0:52:16 > 0:52:21This intimidating structure was opened in 1836
0:52:21 > 0:52:25and was operational for 168 years, until it closed in 2004.
0:52:28 > 0:52:31I'm meeting Mike Gruce, a former warden.
0:52:34 > 0:52:38Mike, the interior of the prison confirms its size.
0:52:38 > 0:52:41Why so big in Jefferson City?
0:52:41 > 0:52:43This prison should've housed around 1,000 inmates -
0:52:43 > 0:52:47that's what a state our size would have housed.
0:52:47 > 0:52:50But what happened is we're located at the stepping off point to the frontier.
0:52:50 > 0:52:54We were the furthest west prison in the United States for a number of years.
0:52:54 > 0:52:57Those people going west, they're concerned about not
0:52:57 > 0:53:00being killed by an Indian or eaten by a bear.
0:53:00 > 0:53:01Not building a prison.
0:53:01 > 0:53:04And if you are a person that went west, let's say on a wagon train,
0:53:04 > 0:53:08and you ended up in Colorado and you robbed your mining partner out there
0:53:08 > 0:53:10or something, what did they do with you?
0:53:10 > 0:53:12There were no prisons.
0:53:12 > 0:53:16What they did is actually hauled you all the way back to Jefferson City, Missouri.
0:53:16 > 0:53:21That's what caused us to have a population of over 5,000 people here at this prison.
0:53:22 > 0:53:27As the last bastion of law, this prison served the entire
0:53:27 > 0:53:32Wild West, and serious and violent criminals from beyond the frontier
0:53:32 > 0:53:36were brought here by local sheriffs or bounty hunters.
0:53:41 > 0:53:42Must have been pretty crowded.
0:53:42 > 0:53:45It was certainly crowded and with six people per cell,
0:53:45 > 0:53:48you have to consider in those days there was no plumbing,
0:53:48 > 0:53:50there was no electricity, there was no heat.
0:53:50 > 0:53:53And in this particular case as well, they didn't even give them a bed.
0:53:53 > 0:53:57They simply gave them a straw-filled mattress and they slept on the floor.
0:53:57 > 0:54:01What was the daily routine of the prisoner?
0:54:01 > 0:54:03The primary job was building the prison.
0:54:03 > 0:54:07Each of those millions of rock it took to build these buildings in
0:54:07 > 0:54:10this wall, each of those have been cut out of the ground
0:54:10 > 0:54:12by an inmate, and hand-shaped.
0:54:12 > 0:54:17So this was a massive construction project to build their own prison.
0:54:20 > 0:54:23The prison was notorious for its harsh conditions.
0:54:23 > 0:54:25Silence at all times,
0:54:25 > 0:54:28solitary confinement in the evening and hard labour during the day.
0:54:37 > 0:54:39Why is the door so low?
0:54:39 > 0:54:43The fact behind that is, the prison was so large,
0:54:43 > 0:54:47and so they felt like demanding of respect from inmates
0:54:47 > 0:54:51was the primary thing they needed to do to control the prison.
0:54:51 > 0:54:55So they had a number of rules that subjugated these inmates down
0:54:55 > 0:54:57to the lowest possible level.
0:54:57 > 0:55:00And part of that was that they were not allowed to make eye
0:55:00 > 0:55:02contact with the custody staff.
0:55:08 > 0:55:13I'm imagining emerging in this incredible temperature
0:55:13 > 0:55:15to a cell that has five other men in it and on top of that,
0:55:15 > 0:55:16as I come out of myself,
0:55:16 > 0:55:20I've got to stoop down and peer at the ground.
0:55:20 > 0:55:24Because the punishment of being here is not just incarceration.
0:55:24 > 0:55:27It's the breaking of my spirit, too.
0:55:38 > 0:55:41During the 19th century, the Missouri State Penitentiary
0:55:41 > 0:55:45was less interested in rehabilitation and more in
0:55:45 > 0:55:46convict labour.
0:55:48 > 0:55:51When the inmates weren't involved building the prison,
0:55:51 > 0:55:52what were they put to work doing?
0:55:52 > 0:55:56They were put to work manufacturing things that were needed
0:55:56 > 0:55:59by the people in Missouri and the people settling in the West.
0:55:59 > 0:56:04We supplied a large portion of the harness for horses that pulled those
0:56:04 > 0:56:06wagons west, in Westward expansion.
0:56:06 > 0:56:08We found the records for saddle trees,
0:56:08 > 0:56:10which is the piece under a Western saddle.
0:56:10 > 0:56:13We were producing 60,000 of those a year here.
0:56:13 > 0:56:16How were the raw materials imported into the prison?
0:56:16 > 0:56:19How was the product exported?
0:56:19 > 0:56:22In the early years, it was brought in on a wagon behind a team of
0:56:22 > 0:56:24horses or mules. But that wasn't sufficient.
0:56:24 > 0:56:27With 5,000 people, you need a lot of raw materials.
0:56:27 > 0:56:31And what happened here is eventually we had to bring it in by train and
0:56:31 > 0:56:34they put a rail spur actually into the prison that they hauled in the
0:56:34 > 0:56:38leather goods and the steel and the items that we needed for manufacture.
0:56:46 > 0:56:51Whilst the inmates made goods for the Pioneers, the railroads forged
0:56:51 > 0:56:55West, carving out routes for trade and new settlement.
0:56:56 > 0:57:01While migrants clung to cherished customs, in these harsh new lands,
0:57:01 > 0:57:03they had to adapt and work hard.
0:57:09 > 0:57:11When President Thomas Jefferson bought
0:57:11 > 0:57:15a vast amount of territory from Napoleon Bonaparte,
0:57:15 > 0:57:19he set the United States on course to dominate the continent
0:57:19 > 0:57:21from ocean to ocean.
0:57:21 > 0:57:24When Lewis and Clark explored it,
0:57:24 > 0:57:28they open the gate to speculators, cowboys and settlers.
0:57:28 > 0:57:32It was the making of modern-day America.
0:57:32 > 0:57:35But it spelled doom for the indigenous population of
0:57:35 > 0:57:38Native American Indians.
0:57:38 > 0:57:41The West was won at their expense.
0:57:43 > 0:57:47Next time, I'll marvel at the art of the auctioneer...
0:57:47 > 0:57:51HE REELS OFF NUMBERS RAPIDLY
0:57:51 > 0:57:55..confront the brutal hardships faced by early pioneers...
0:57:55 > 0:57:58400,000 people made that journey.
0:57:58 > 0:58:02They claim at least 9% died along the way.
0:58:02 > 0:58:05..discover freight trains, American-style...
0:58:05 > 0:58:09You've got 100 cars. That is more than a mile.
0:58:09 > 0:58:10We do have some long trains here, yes.
0:58:10 > 0:58:14..and learn the truth about one of the notorious outlaws
0:58:14 > 0:58:15of the Wild West.
0:58:15 > 0:58:19Jesse's not bearing a gun, Jesse's back's to us,
0:58:19 > 0:58:22so we're just going to murder him in cold blood.