0:00:02 > 0:00:04I have crossed the Atlantic
0:00:04 > 0:00:07to ride the railroads of North America
0:00:07 > 0:00:09with my reliable Appletons' Guide.
0:00:12 > 0:00:14Published in the late-19th century,
0:00:14 > 0:00:17Appletons' General Guide To North America
0:00:17 > 0:00:23will direct me to all that's novel, beautiful, memorable
0:00:23 > 0:00:25and striking in the United States.
0:00:25 > 0:00:27INDISTINCT SHOUTING
0:00:27 > 0:00:30As I journey across this vast continent,
0:00:30 > 0:00:34I'll discover how pioneers and cowboys conquered the West...
0:00:34 > 0:00:35GUNFIRE
0:00:35 > 0:00:39..and how the railroads tied this nation together,
0:00:39 > 0:00:43helping to create the global superstate of today.
0:01:04 > 0:01:08In the boom decades immediately before my guidebook was published,
0:01:08 > 0:01:12intrepid pioneers piled into the American West,
0:01:12 > 0:01:16determined to build new lives in territory
0:01:16 > 0:01:18that they regarded as vacant but was, in fact,
0:01:18 > 0:01:22home to hundreds of thousands of Native American Indians.
0:01:26 > 0:01:30As I continue to roll westwards across the United States,
0:01:30 > 0:01:32travelling through Missouri,
0:01:32 > 0:01:35it strikes me that these tracks follow the trails
0:01:35 > 0:01:39that were first blazed with boot leather and wagon wheels.
0:01:39 > 0:01:43I want to see what traces remain of the pioneer spirit
0:01:43 > 0:01:46that drove people to cross the Great Plains
0:01:46 > 0:01:49and to understand how the arrival of the iron horse
0:01:49 > 0:01:53changed their lives for better or worse.
0:01:56 > 0:01:59I began in St Louis, Missouri,
0:01:59 > 0:02:02gateway to the West across the Mississippi.
0:02:02 > 0:02:06Continuing westward, I'll take in Kansas City and Dodge City.
0:02:07 > 0:02:12I'll discover a surprising British outpost in Colorado Springs
0:02:12 > 0:02:18before turning south to Hispanic Albuquerque in New Mexico.
0:02:18 > 0:02:22My journey will end at Arizona's extraordinary natural wonder...
0:02:22 > 0:02:23the Grand Canyon.
0:02:24 > 0:02:29On this leg, visit the railroad town of Sedalia, Missouri,
0:02:29 > 0:02:32before heading to Independence, at the head of the Western Trail.
0:02:32 > 0:02:37From there, I'll travel to Kansas City, the largest in Missouri,
0:02:37 > 0:02:38and finish in St Joseph,
0:02:38 > 0:02:42once the western-most station of the United States' rail network.
0:02:45 > 0:02:48'Along the way, I'll confront the brutal hardships
0:02:48 > 0:02:50'faced by early pioneers...'
0:02:50 > 0:02:54400,000 people made that journey.
0:02:54 > 0:02:57They claim at least 9% died along the way.
0:02:57 > 0:03:00'..find out that, when it comes to American freight trains,
0:03:00 > 0:03:02'size matters.'
0:03:02 > 0:03:04And you've got 100 cars.
0:03:04 > 0:03:07That's 2,000 yards. That is more than a mile!
0:03:07 > 0:03:10We do have some long trains here, yes.
0:03:10 > 0:03:13'..learn of the perils of the Pony Express...'
0:03:13 > 0:03:17Wanted. Young, skinny, wiry fellows willing to risk death daily.
0:03:17 > 0:03:19Orphans preferred.
0:03:19 > 0:03:20'..and discover the truth
0:03:20 > 0:03:25'about one of the most notorious outlaws of the Wild West.'
0:03:25 > 0:03:29Jesse's not carrying a gun, Jesse's back's to us,
0:03:29 > 0:03:31so we're just going to murder him in cold blood.
0:03:40 > 0:03:43My next stop will be Sedalia, Missouri,
0:03:43 > 0:03:45which, according to Appletons',
0:03:45 > 0:03:48is "a busy manufacturing town and railroad centre.
0:03:48 > 0:03:52"The principal street is 120 feet wide,
0:03:52 > 0:03:56"finely shaded, and has many handsome buildings."
0:03:56 > 0:04:01I'd like to investigate the shady side of this railroad town.
0:04:07 > 0:04:12Founded in 1860, Sedalia retains its period character,
0:04:12 > 0:04:14with wide streets and old buildings.
0:04:21 > 0:04:26When my guidebook was published, this was an important railroad town,
0:04:26 > 0:04:30full of engineering workshops and storage depots.
0:04:30 > 0:04:33Railroad workers and passengers looked for entertainment
0:04:33 > 0:04:36and Sedalia was proud to deliver.
0:04:41 > 0:04:44Rhonda Chalfant is an historian.
0:04:44 > 0:04:49Paint me a picture of this railroad town in the late-19th century.
0:04:49 > 0:04:53Lots of businesses, lots of industry, lots of noise.
0:04:53 > 0:04:56Something like 24 trains coming through each day.
0:04:56 > 0:04:59And along West Main Street, lots of brothels.
0:04:59 > 0:05:00- Brothels?!- Yes.
0:05:00 > 0:05:04In the upstairs rooms of what were legitimate businesses.
0:05:04 > 0:05:07- Were these brothels legal? - Of course not!
0:05:07 > 0:05:10But the prostitutes contributed a great deal of money
0:05:10 > 0:05:11to the town's economy.
0:05:11 > 0:05:13They dressed nicely, most of them.
0:05:13 > 0:05:16Some of them owned property and paid property taxes
0:05:16 > 0:05:20and they appeared in court to pay their fine.
0:05:20 > 0:05:23If they paid their fine, their house was not raided.
0:05:24 > 0:05:26By the 1890s,
0:05:26 > 0:05:3012 buildings in a single Main Street block housed brothels,
0:05:30 > 0:05:33with others scattered throughout the town.
0:05:33 > 0:05:36- Was that typical of small-town America?- No.
0:05:36 > 0:05:39One of the St Louis newspapers referred to Sedalia
0:05:39 > 0:05:42as "the Sodom and Gomorrah of the Midwest".
0:05:42 > 0:05:44Is that because there was a special kind of clientele in Sedalia?
0:05:44 > 0:05:46Somewhat.
0:05:46 > 0:05:52The number of transients - railroad workers, travelling salespeople,
0:05:52 > 0:05:57that were in and out - did create some of the demand
0:05:57 > 0:06:01but also, apparently, there were quite a number of men
0:06:01 > 0:06:03who just sought the services of the ladies.
0:06:05 > 0:06:08Rhonda has brought me to a place that she promises
0:06:08 > 0:06:12will offer a glimpse into Sedalia's disreputable past.
0:06:13 > 0:06:16Rhonda, what den of iniquity have you brought me to?
0:06:16 > 0:06:19This is 217 West Main.
0:06:19 > 0:06:23It is listed on the National Register Of Historic Places.
0:06:23 > 0:06:24When it was listed in 1996,
0:06:24 > 0:06:27it was the second brothel to be so recognised.
0:06:27 > 0:06:29MICHAEL CHUCKLES Let's go inside.
0:06:32 > 0:06:34- Michael, this way. - Thank you.
0:06:36 > 0:06:38'Jack Lewis now owns the building.'
0:06:42 > 0:06:44Thank you.
0:06:44 > 0:06:47This room was a place where the ladies met their clients,
0:06:47 > 0:06:48- is that right?- Yes.
0:06:48 > 0:06:51I would say this was the social room.
0:06:51 > 0:06:54They would play games, drink, might have had a piano in here.
0:06:54 > 0:06:57You know, women sitting on their laps.
0:06:57 > 0:06:59- And you've been stripping away the wallpaper, is that right?- I have.
0:06:59 > 0:07:02- And some people did it long before I did.- And what have you discovered?
0:07:02 > 0:07:07- All of this graffiti? - Drawings, names, addresses...
0:07:07 > 0:07:09Wow. And this will date back to when, do you think?
0:07:09 > 0:07:12First date we found was 1874.
0:07:12 > 0:07:15And what are the sort of things that they are writing on the wall
0:07:15 > 0:07:19- that you can tell me about? - Old ballads, old poems
0:07:19 > 0:07:22from very risque to very colourful.
0:07:22 > 0:07:25You know, it refers to the ladies, it refers to the era,
0:07:25 > 0:07:27a lot of railroad stuff.
0:07:29 > 0:07:31"Bertha, best in the house."
0:07:32 > 0:07:35"Josie, the best-looker on Main Street."
0:07:36 > 0:07:39Appreciative comments from clients,
0:07:39 > 0:07:41railroad workers and others,
0:07:41 > 0:07:44who never imagined that their graffiti
0:07:44 > 0:07:47would become a matter of historical record.
0:07:48 > 0:07:51So, Jack, if you wanted to know the written history of Sedalia,
0:07:51 > 0:07:53- read the brothel walls. - That would work.
0:07:56 > 0:07:59Brothels offered more than one sort of entertainment.
0:07:59 > 0:08:02Sedalia's red-light district
0:08:02 > 0:08:05provided a venue for black musicians to perform.
0:08:07 > 0:08:11The town became known as the cradle of a new musical genre...
0:08:11 > 0:08:13Ragtime.
0:08:13 > 0:08:16And its most famous composer was Scott Joplin.
0:08:16 > 0:08:19- MAN:- # Won't you come home, Bill Bailey?
0:08:19 > 0:08:21# Won't you come home? #
0:08:21 > 0:08:23What a lovely building!
0:08:23 > 0:08:25Clearly a former railroad station
0:08:25 > 0:08:28of the Missouri, Kansas and Texas Railroad.
0:08:28 > 0:08:33And from the "KT" in the middle of those initials, known as Katy.
0:08:33 > 0:08:36- MAN:- # I know I've done you wrong
0:08:37 > 0:08:40# Remember that raining evening
0:08:40 > 0:08:42# I threw you out
0:08:42 > 0:08:46# With nothing but a fine toothcomb
0:08:47 > 0:08:50# Yes, I know that I'm to blame
0:08:50 > 0:08:53# But ain't that a shame?
0:08:53 > 0:08:56# Bill Bailey, won't you please come home?
0:08:58 > 0:09:01# Bill Bailey, won't you please come home? #
0:09:01 > 0:09:04HE PLAYS ON THE HARMONICA
0:09:04 > 0:09:05MUSIC STOPS
0:09:05 > 0:09:06Fantastic!
0:09:06 > 0:09:09Oh, I enjoyed that! That gets rid of the blues, doesn't it?
0:09:09 > 0:09:11So, is this ragtime?
0:09:11 > 0:09:13- Yes.- And what distinguishes ragtime?
0:09:13 > 0:09:17- A combination of overlapping rhythms...- Mm-hm.
0:09:17 > 0:09:22..where a rhythm is given as much attention as the melody.
0:09:22 > 0:09:26That's what signifies and characterises ragtime.
0:09:26 > 0:09:29And was Scott Joplin really the pioneer of that?
0:09:29 > 0:09:31- Pioneer of classic ragtime.- Yeah.
0:09:31 > 0:09:37I mean, the genius of Scott Joplin is he fused African American rhythms
0:09:37 > 0:09:40with classical European composition.
0:09:40 > 0:09:43You could say it was the first authentic
0:09:43 > 0:09:46widespread popular American music. Indigenous.
0:09:46 > 0:09:49RAGTIME PIANO
0:09:49 > 0:09:55Born in Texas, a young Scott Joplin moved to Sedalia in the 1880s
0:09:55 > 0:10:01and enrolled in the George R Smith College for Negroes to study music.
0:10:01 > 0:10:04MUSIC: Maple Leaf Rag by Scott Joplin
0:10:12 > 0:10:16His big break came when the owner of a music store in Sedalia
0:10:16 > 0:10:20published his Maple Leaf Rag in 1899.
0:10:25 > 0:10:31It sold half a million copies and set off the ragtime craze.
0:10:41 > 0:10:44- Hey! You really tickle the ivories. - Thank you!
0:10:44 > 0:10:47- Doesn't she swing a mean finger? ALL:- Yes!
0:10:58 > 0:11:00Are you a Sedalia man?
0:11:00 > 0:11:02I am. I've lived here for about eight years now.
0:11:02 > 0:11:05- Where did you come from before that, then?- I was born in Boston.
0:11:05 > 0:11:08Is there much difference between Massachusetts and Sedalia, Missouri?
0:11:08 > 0:11:12Huge difference. In Boston it is such a rat race.
0:11:12 > 0:11:15Whereas here...you meet people, you know?
0:11:15 > 0:11:17And I love it that you can meet somebody out on the street
0:11:17 > 0:11:19and just have a conversation with people.
0:11:19 > 0:11:23I'm using a 19th-century guidebook and, at the time,
0:11:23 > 0:11:27Sedalia was known as "the Sodom and Gomorrah of Missouri", I think.
0:11:27 > 0:11:29- Is it still Sodom and Gomorrah? - It is not.
0:11:29 > 0:11:34Today we have this swathe that we call the Bible Belt
0:11:34 > 0:11:35and we're right in the middle of that.
0:11:35 > 0:11:37Missouri is really a big part of that.
0:11:37 > 0:11:41What does it really mean to be in the Bible Belt?
0:11:41 > 0:11:44Generally speaking, it's middle-class America.
0:11:44 > 0:11:48It's hard-working, average people.
0:11:48 > 0:11:51And they believe in what God has for us.
0:11:51 > 0:11:55It's about following a different way of life than our own, er...
0:11:55 > 0:11:57natural tendencies.
0:11:57 > 0:11:59And what practical difference does that make
0:11:59 > 0:12:01to the way that people behave towards each other?
0:12:01 > 0:12:03We love each other. It's all about love.
0:12:03 > 0:12:06And does that love extend to people who aren't like you?
0:12:06 > 0:12:08Black people, non-Christians, Muslims?
0:12:08 > 0:12:10Oh, sure it does, yeah.
0:12:10 > 0:12:13Love... Love transcends all, doesn't it?
0:12:13 > 0:12:16I will have that thought in mind as I board my train.
0:12:16 > 0:12:18Good! Thank you, Mike.
0:12:27 > 0:12:31From Sedalia, my journey following in the footsteps of the pioneers
0:12:31 > 0:12:33is taking me 84 miles westward
0:12:33 > 0:12:36on Amtrak's Missouri River Runner service.
0:12:38 > 0:12:41My next stop will be Independence, Missouri,
0:12:41 > 0:12:43which Appletons' tells me is
0:12:43 > 0:12:47"a neat and thriving town with much business activity".
0:12:47 > 0:12:49I wonder what made its wheels go round
0:12:49 > 0:12:51before the railroads called into town?
0:12:53 > 0:12:54- Hello, ladies.- Hi!
0:12:54 > 0:12:58I spotted you, because you are being very jolly. What you are up to?
0:12:58 > 0:13:01- Why are you having so much fun? - We're on our mother-daughter trip.
0:13:01 > 0:13:05- Ah, lovely.- Yes.- And where is your mother-daughter trip taking you?
0:13:05 > 0:13:08- To Kansas City.- Now, I'm doing a journey through history.
0:13:08 > 0:13:10- Do you like history? - I teach history, so...
0:13:10 > 0:13:12- You teach it?- I teach history.
0:13:12 > 0:13:14Do you ever think about the old days?
0:13:14 > 0:13:16I mean, before the railroads,
0:13:16 > 0:13:19what about the wagons and the frontiersmen and the settlers?
0:13:19 > 0:13:23I do. I mean, I just think it would be neat to go back in time
0:13:23 > 0:13:25and see all of that, just be a part of it.
0:13:25 > 0:13:28You'd wear a lot of clothes and you'd be dirty more frequently.
0:13:28 > 0:13:31But I think it would be neat to find out.
0:13:34 > 0:13:36And once again, ladies and gentlemen,
0:13:36 > 0:13:38our next stop is Independence, home to Harry S Truman,
0:13:38 > 0:13:40the 33rd President of the United States.
0:13:40 > 0:13:42Independence, your stop. Please gather your belongings
0:13:42 > 0:13:45and be ready to exit the train. Independence will be next.
0:13:54 > 0:13:57That was a great ride. Thank you so much.
0:13:57 > 0:13:58- You're welcome.- Bye-bye, now.
0:14:09 > 0:14:12This is the house of Harry S Truman.
0:14:12 > 0:14:14He didn't have a college education,
0:14:14 > 0:14:17he ran a haberdashery business here in Independence.
0:14:17 > 0:14:20He became President of the United States.
0:14:20 > 0:14:23Took the decision to drop the atom bomb on Japan.
0:14:23 > 0:14:26And after the Second World War, with the Marshall plan,
0:14:26 > 0:14:30rebuilt Japan and Germany as democracies.
0:14:30 > 0:14:33A self-educated man from small-town America
0:14:33 > 0:14:35reached the White House
0:14:35 > 0:14:38and took decisions that have shaped the world.
0:14:38 > 0:14:40That's the American dream.
0:14:49 > 0:14:52Before railroads crossed the continent,
0:14:52 > 0:14:55Independence, Missouri was the trailhead
0:14:55 > 0:14:58for the gruelling and epic 2,000-mile trip west
0:14:58 > 0:15:00to Oregon or California.
0:15:03 > 0:15:08Pioneers would gather here before setting out into the great unknown.
0:15:14 > 0:15:18I'm taking a ride with tour guide Ralph Goldsmith.
0:15:20 > 0:15:23Ralph, what is the significance of Independence
0:15:23 > 0:15:25in the story of the conquest of the West?
0:15:25 > 0:15:28Well, Independence is where the trails began.
0:15:28 > 0:15:31The main reason is that Independence was about as far west
0:15:31 > 0:15:34as you could get on the Missouri River at that time.
0:15:34 > 0:15:36So, for example, in the 1840s,
0:15:36 > 0:15:39what sort of people were starting from Independence?
0:15:39 > 0:15:41Would they be families or ambitious young men?
0:15:41 > 0:15:43A little of both. A little of both.
0:15:43 > 0:15:44They, er...
0:15:44 > 0:15:47Horace Greeley said it, "Go west, young man, go west."
0:15:47 > 0:15:50If you're ambitious, you know, there are opportunities out there.
0:15:50 > 0:15:52They were giving land away free in Oregon.
0:15:52 > 0:15:53All you had to do was get there.
0:15:53 > 0:15:57Some people would sell everything they had to come here, you know,
0:15:57 > 0:15:59to make a new nation here.
0:16:00 > 0:16:02Between 1840 and 1860,
0:16:02 > 0:16:07around half a million migrants made the journey west on the trails.
0:16:07 > 0:16:10The most popular destination was Oregon.
0:16:10 > 0:16:13But the discovery of gold in California in 1849
0:16:13 > 0:16:17drew tens of thousands to seek their fortune.
0:16:18 > 0:16:20- Did you need to have a bit of money to go out west?- Oh, yeah.
0:16:20 > 0:16:24You had to buy your oxen and mules and all your supplies.
0:16:24 > 0:16:28But you have to understand, it was a wagon train industry here.
0:16:28 > 0:16:32Think about it. A thousand wagons leaving town in one month in 1845.
0:16:32 > 0:16:34Six animals per wagon.
0:16:34 > 0:16:36That's 6,000 head of livestock left this area.
0:16:36 > 0:16:38Times four.
0:16:38 > 0:16:4224,000 mule shoes, ox shoes and horseshoes had to go on.
0:16:42 > 0:16:46It was incredible. The commerce here was just off the wall.
0:16:46 > 0:16:48Right here, where the courthouse is,
0:16:48 > 0:16:50is where the Presbyterian and Methodist church
0:16:50 > 0:16:53would have gatherings here and pray for the pioneers as they'd leave.
0:16:53 > 0:16:55The Episcopal church down here
0:16:55 > 0:16:57would actually anoint them, the animals, with holy water.
0:16:57 > 0:16:59It was a pretty perilous undertaking.
0:16:59 > 0:17:02It was a perilous taking. They were taking their lives in their hands.
0:17:02 > 0:17:04Five-and-a-half months from this point, right here.
0:17:04 > 0:17:08And they never averaged more than 9 to 15 miles per day.
0:17:08 > 0:17:09Unbelievable.
0:17:09 > 0:17:11They called it "seeing the elephant".
0:17:11 > 0:17:14You know, you had this vision of what it's going to be like
0:17:14 > 0:17:17but, when you get out on the prairie,
0:17:17 > 0:17:19there's nothing but prairie grass for thousands of miles.
0:17:19 > 0:17:22And you realise, "Holy Moley, what have I got myself into?"
0:17:22 > 0:17:26Ralph, I want you to level with me. What are our chances of making it?
0:17:26 > 0:17:29400,000 people made that journey.
0:17:29 > 0:17:33They claim at least 9% died along the way.
0:17:33 > 0:17:36- Died of what? - Dysentery, snakebites,
0:17:36 > 0:17:39wagon accidents, cholera.
0:17:39 > 0:17:40They claim less than 300 of them
0:17:40 > 0:17:43were actually killed by American Indians along the way.
0:17:43 > 0:17:47But those people, their courage, their strength, their stamina,
0:17:47 > 0:17:50they're the ones who made us a nation
0:17:50 > 0:17:52from sea to shining sea.
0:17:52 > 0:17:55We had a name for this dream.
0:17:55 > 0:17:58We called it "manifest destiny".
0:17:58 > 0:18:00Yah! Come on, get 'em up, now!
0:18:00 > 0:18:02- Here, you take them for a while. - OK.
0:18:02 > 0:18:05Let's go west, young man!
0:18:05 > 0:18:06All right!
0:18:06 > 0:18:08I smell...gold!
0:18:15 > 0:18:17At the end of the day,
0:18:17 > 0:18:20wagon trains would be drawn into a circle to corral the livestock.
0:18:21 > 0:18:24- What's for supper, Keith? - Buffalo soup.
0:18:24 > 0:18:26- Not again!- Oh, yeah.
0:18:26 > 0:18:27It's your favourite.
0:18:29 > 0:18:31I tell you, Keith, it's good.
0:18:35 > 0:18:40To many pioneers on the trail, my meal would have seemed like a feast.
0:18:40 > 0:18:44Diaries reveal the hardships that they faced.
0:18:44 > 0:18:48Virginia Reid Murphy, aged 13, 1846 -
0:18:48 > 0:18:50"We could scarcely walk
0:18:50 > 0:18:52"and the men had hardly enough strength to procure wood.
0:18:52 > 0:18:55"We would drag ourselves through the snow.
0:18:55 > 0:18:59"Poor little children were crying with hunger and mothers were crying
0:18:59 > 0:19:02"because they had so little to give to their children.
0:19:02 > 0:19:06"We now had nothing to eat... but raw hides."
0:19:06 > 0:19:07Terrible.
0:19:20 > 0:19:22'At the time of my Appletons' Guide,
0:19:22 > 0:19:27'waves of migrants continued to push the American frontier westward,
0:19:27 > 0:19:29'while others settled.
0:19:29 > 0:19:32'15 miles south of Independence,
0:19:32 > 0:19:34'I hope to find out what life was like for them
0:19:34 > 0:19:38'from Jonathan Klusmeyer, who, along with 150 volunteers...'
0:19:38 > 0:19:40Thank you. It's so nice to see you.
0:19:40 > 0:19:45'..runs a living history museum called Missouri Town 1855.'
0:19:45 > 0:19:49You know, there is such amazing tranquillity here.
0:19:49 > 0:19:52I can't believe it. No sound of cars, no sounds of trains.
0:19:52 > 0:19:55- It's a very special place, isn't it? - Absolutely it is.
0:19:55 > 0:19:57The town actually never existed.
0:19:57 > 0:19:59We actually moved buildings in here
0:19:59 > 0:20:00from different parts of western Missouri.
0:20:00 > 0:20:03So these buildings have come from somewhere else,
0:20:03 > 0:20:05- but they're perfect in their period detail?- Yeah.
0:20:05 > 0:20:07These folk, who came to Missouri,
0:20:07 > 0:20:09they had not made the trek of 2,000 miles to Oregon or California
0:20:09 > 0:20:12but, nonetheless, the conditions they found here were difficult.
0:20:12 > 0:20:14They were difficult.
0:20:14 > 0:20:17So they found rocky soil, they found tall trees,
0:20:17 > 0:20:20they had to clear all of these roots out of the area
0:20:20 > 0:20:22and really get the land ready to farm.
0:20:22 > 0:20:24So where had they come from?
0:20:24 > 0:20:27They were coming from all over the South, primarily.
0:20:27 > 0:20:29Until actually you get into the 1850s,
0:20:29 > 0:20:31when the Germans and Irish started coming over,
0:20:31 > 0:20:33you're getting mainly just Virginians,
0:20:33 > 0:20:35people from Tennessee and also Kentucky,
0:20:35 > 0:20:38that are trying to escape the higher land prices in the East.
0:20:41 > 0:20:44The Homestead Act of 1862
0:20:44 > 0:20:47opened up settlement of the Western United States
0:20:47 > 0:20:53by allowing any citizen over 21 to claim 160 acres of land.
0:20:53 > 0:20:57Those who farmed it successfully for five years would then own it.
0:20:59 > 0:21:03Others were drawn to follow, and settlements grew into towns.
0:21:03 > 0:21:04Hello.
0:21:05 > 0:21:11The number of such claims approved eventually exceeded 1.5 million.
0:21:11 > 0:21:13- Hello, sir.- Mr Bailey.
0:21:13 > 0:21:15They tell me this is the very heart of the village.
0:21:15 > 0:21:17Who are your clients? What are they coming here for?
0:21:17 > 0:21:21Well, pretty much everybody has some business with me one way or another,
0:21:21 > 0:21:23but most of the people, of course, are farmers.
0:21:23 > 0:21:27So I put tyres on the wagon wheels, shoes for the horse, mule and ox.
0:21:27 > 0:21:31And whatever their metal needs are, I pretty much take care of them.
0:21:31 > 0:21:33Tell me a bit about how the town works.
0:21:33 > 0:21:35I think of people here being self-reliant.
0:21:35 > 0:21:37But, actually, I'm getting an impression
0:21:37 > 0:21:38that it has to function as a community.
0:21:38 > 0:21:41We're really more dependent on one another than you might imagine.
0:21:41 > 0:21:44I don't farm, but I still like to eat.
0:21:44 > 0:21:46So what I do is, oftentimes,
0:21:46 > 0:21:50if people can't afford to pay me outright with cash, we do barter.
0:21:50 > 0:21:52And that's, of course, a way of life with us.
0:21:52 > 0:21:54Now, I interrupted you. You were making something.
0:21:54 > 0:21:58Well, yes, sir. Got a little hook in the fire here.
0:21:58 > 0:21:59You want to work it whilst it's still hot.
0:21:59 > 0:22:02The old saying, you've got to strike while the iron's hot.
0:22:02 > 0:22:03This is where it came from.
0:22:03 > 0:22:05I'm making a little curlicue on the end of this.
0:22:05 > 0:22:07We don't want this to snag momma's dress
0:22:07 > 0:22:09while she's working in the kitchen.
0:22:09 > 0:22:11And the next thing that's left
0:22:11 > 0:22:14is just to put a twist in it to kind of finish it off.
0:22:14 > 0:22:17Why don't you come on over here and try the bellows for a little bit?
0:22:19 > 0:22:21- Takes a bit of effort, Mr Bailey. - Yes, it does.
0:22:21 > 0:22:23We're going to bring that out.
0:22:25 > 0:22:27Put it with the hook up in the vice.
0:22:27 > 0:22:31- Now, take the tongs and get a good grip on the shank itself.- Yeah.
0:22:31 > 0:22:35And in this state, it's easy enough to put a little twist in there.
0:22:36 > 0:22:37There you go, sir.
0:22:38 > 0:22:41A lovely S-hook with twists at either end,
0:22:41 > 0:22:43ready for grandma's kitchen.
0:22:46 > 0:22:48To encourage western migration,
0:22:48 > 0:22:53the Homestead Act even made provision for women and freed slaves
0:22:53 > 0:22:57to take over land and begin new lives in the prairies and beyond.
0:22:58 > 0:23:01- Good morning, Linda.- Hello.
0:23:01 > 0:23:03- How are Dan and Murphy today? - Very good, thank you.
0:23:03 > 0:23:07They've been very busy ploughing, hauling grain.
0:23:07 > 0:23:09And excuse me asking you, it is usual for a woman
0:23:09 > 0:23:11to be in control of a couple of huge oxen?
0:23:11 > 0:23:14It is not that common but, of course,
0:23:14 > 0:23:16in the absence of her husband or any sons,
0:23:16 > 0:23:20women of all ages and all generations rise to the occasion
0:23:20 > 0:23:22and do what's required of them.
0:23:22 > 0:23:25Honestly, what's it like for a woman in 1855 living out here in the West?
0:23:25 > 0:23:29Well, it can be rather frightening. It can be very lonely.
0:23:29 > 0:23:32But, of course, that makes it all the more enjoyable
0:23:32 > 0:23:36when we get to go to church or if we have a quilting bee
0:23:36 > 0:23:39- and get together with the other ladies.- Hm...
0:23:39 > 0:23:41Now, next time I get lonesome, I'll think about a quilting bee.
0:23:41 > 0:23:44- Could be just the thing. - It might be just the thing.
0:23:44 > 0:23:47- Thank you, Linda.- Thank you. - Bye.- Bye.
0:23:49 > 0:23:53Railroad companies drove the settlement of the West.
0:23:53 > 0:23:55In order to encourage new lines,
0:23:55 > 0:23:57the government offered them generous land grants
0:23:57 > 0:24:00on either side of their tracks.
0:24:01 > 0:24:03They launched a settlement campaign,
0:24:03 > 0:24:07offering transport and temporary accommodation,
0:24:07 > 0:24:09while families built their own homes.
0:24:09 > 0:24:11Communities quickly grew.
0:24:11 > 0:24:17OLD-TIME COUNTRY MUSIC
0:24:31 > 0:24:34Ma'am, what a privilege.
0:24:34 > 0:24:36You are welcome, sir.
0:24:38 > 0:24:40From Independence,
0:24:40 > 0:24:43you can see the gleaming towers of Kansas City, Missouri,
0:24:43 > 0:24:45ten miles away.
0:24:48 > 0:24:53But most trains approaching the city today don't carry passengers.
0:24:55 > 0:24:58They move America's freight.
0:25:01 > 0:25:06Shellee Currier is from the South Kansas and Oklahoma Railroad.
0:25:08 > 0:25:11Shellee, I get the impression that Kansas City
0:25:11 > 0:25:13must be a very major hub for rail freight.
0:25:13 > 0:25:15Where does it rank in the nation?
0:25:15 > 0:25:18Yes, Kansas City is the second largest rail hub after Chicago.
0:25:18 > 0:25:20But it's first with consideration of tonnage
0:25:20 > 0:25:22that travels through the terminal.
0:25:22 > 0:25:24As you're seeing above us,
0:25:24 > 0:25:26this is considered a container train.
0:25:26 > 0:25:28You could have a mix of unit train,
0:25:28 > 0:25:32where it's one train carrying one product, such as coal.
0:25:32 > 0:25:35Or you could have what's called a manifest train,
0:25:35 > 0:25:38100 to 132 railcars,
0:25:38 > 0:25:41and it's a mixture of, like, cement or sand or things of that type.
0:25:41 > 0:25:45So let's say the average length of a car is 60 feet, 20 yards.
0:25:45 > 0:25:47And you've got 100 cars, that's 2,000 yards.
0:25:47 > 0:25:50That is more than a mile!
0:25:50 > 0:25:53We do have some long trains here, yes.
0:25:53 > 0:25:54I get the feeling in Kansas City
0:25:54 > 0:25:57we're at the centre of the spider's web. Would that be right?
0:25:57 > 0:25:59That is true. Each carrier that's in here,
0:25:59 > 0:26:01their network looks a little bit different.
0:26:01 > 0:26:03For the Kansas City Southern, for example,
0:26:03 > 0:26:04this is their furthest north point,
0:26:04 > 0:26:07and then they're travelling down into the Mexico area.
0:26:07 > 0:26:10For the Canadian Pacific, this is their furthest west point.
0:26:10 > 0:26:11The BN and the Union Pacific,
0:26:11 > 0:26:14they have traffic that runs both east and west
0:26:14 > 0:26:17and also some lines north and south, as well.
0:26:18 > 0:26:23At the time of my guidebook, separate rail companies cooperated
0:26:23 > 0:26:27to provide direct services for goods across the United States.
0:26:28 > 0:26:34Today, the freight rail network extends to 140,000 miles
0:26:34 > 0:26:37and plays a major role in transporting goods.
0:26:39 > 0:26:43Shellee, what sort of freight would you be moving on these lines?
0:26:43 > 0:26:45Predominantly, we're moving bulk paper
0:26:45 > 0:26:50that would be used to manufacture moving boxes and paper plates.
0:26:50 > 0:26:54Keith, your job, then, is to pick up goods like this, like paper,
0:26:54 > 0:26:57- and take them into the centre of Kansas City.- That's correct.
0:26:57 > 0:26:58What will happen to them there?
0:26:58 > 0:27:01They switch them between different railroads
0:27:01 > 0:27:02and send them on their way out.
0:27:02 > 0:27:05So you're the local service. You're picking up and delivering
0:27:05 > 0:27:08- to the cross-continental railway? - That's right. We're the local crew.
0:27:08 > 0:27:11This locomotive, how big a train could this haul?
0:27:11 > 0:27:15This train is only 2,000 horsepower, so it'll haul about 2,000 tonnes.
0:27:15 > 0:27:19- 2,000 tonnes? That's still a serious amount.- Oh, yeah.
0:27:44 > 0:27:47I'm halfway through the second leg of my journey
0:27:47 > 0:27:50charting the expansion of the American West.
0:27:54 > 0:27:59This morning, I'll continue into the bustling heart of Kansas City.
0:27:59 > 0:28:02From there, I'll travel north to finish at what was once
0:28:02 > 0:28:05the Western terminus of the United States' railway network,
0:28:05 > 0:28:07Saint Joseph.
0:28:14 > 0:28:18To my great excitement, I will soon, for the first time in my life,
0:28:18 > 0:28:20set foot in Kansas City.
0:28:20 > 0:28:23Appletons' tells me it's the second city of Missouri
0:28:23 > 0:28:28in size and importance with a population of about 40,000,
0:28:28 > 0:28:31situated on the south bank of the Missouri River.
0:28:31 > 0:28:3512 important railroads converge here. 12!
0:28:35 > 0:28:38Imagine what sort of station I'm going to find.
0:28:50 > 0:28:54This magnificent station does not disappoint.
0:28:54 > 0:28:59Come with me on my journey in time back to 1914, when it opened.
0:28:59 > 0:29:03Three magnificent chandeliers weighing tonnes,
0:29:03 > 0:29:07a destination board on which was listed every major city
0:29:07 > 0:29:11in the United States, East and West and North and South,
0:29:11 > 0:29:16a waiting hall that could accommodate 10,000 people.
0:29:18 > 0:29:19Now deserted.
0:29:20 > 0:29:22The crowds have gone to the airports.
0:29:28 > 0:29:33Kansas City, founded as a port on the Missouri River,
0:29:33 > 0:29:38was first settled by French fur traders in 1821.
0:29:38 > 0:29:42The town once revelled in the nickname Paris of the Plains.
0:29:44 > 0:29:48"If you want to see some sin," wrote journalist Edward R Murrow,
0:29:48 > 0:29:51"forget Paris and go to Kansas City."
0:29:54 > 0:29:57Away from a typically high-rise downtown,
0:29:57 > 0:30:01I'm surrounded by historic reminders of a prosperous commercial past.
0:30:05 > 0:30:07The 1891 edition of Appletons' says that
0:30:07 > 0:30:12some of the largest packing houses are located in Kansas City,
0:30:12 > 0:30:14such as Armour's and Fowler Brothers.
0:30:14 > 0:30:18The packing business in 1888 was worth 50 million.
0:30:18 > 0:30:20We are talking cattle.
0:30:20 > 0:30:22This is the sort of place where they used to
0:30:22 > 0:30:25heeeerd 'em up and moooove 'em out!
0:30:29 > 0:30:31I'm meeting Bill Haw,
0:30:31 > 0:30:35who runs the Kansas City Live Stock Exchange Building,
0:30:35 > 0:30:39to find out how this city was built on beef.
0:30:39 > 0:30:42Bill, I get the impression from my guidebook that Kansas City
0:30:42 > 0:30:46became an enormous centre for the meat trade. How did it begin?
0:30:46 > 0:30:48You know, it was an accident of geography
0:30:48 > 0:30:50as much as anything else, I think.
0:30:50 > 0:30:55The cattle tended to originate in Texas, Oklahoma and the south-west.
0:30:55 > 0:30:59They were put on trains with the eventual goal of going to Chicago,
0:30:59 > 0:31:02but they needed to stop so that the cattle could be fed and watered.
0:31:02 > 0:31:05Now, at some point that kind of evolves into the idea of
0:31:05 > 0:31:08getting the cattle off the train in order to be slaughtered
0:31:08 > 0:31:11- to continue as carcasses. Is that right?- That is right.
0:31:11 > 0:31:14I think the population, of course, had begun to move west,
0:31:14 > 0:31:17so there was more demand in the central United States.
0:31:17 > 0:31:22And the advent of refrigerated cars enabled them to be able to
0:31:22 > 0:31:26kill the cattle here and then distribute it farther west.
0:31:26 > 0:31:29And we're standing in front of a wonderful building.
0:31:29 > 0:31:31It was the largest livestock exchange ever built,
0:31:31 > 0:31:34and it absolutely reflected the fact that this was
0:31:34 > 0:31:37the economic epicentre for the entire region.
0:31:41 > 0:31:46Today, the renovated building has found new life as a business centre.
0:31:46 > 0:31:51But the heyday of the international meat trade is a distant memory.
0:31:51 > 0:31:55Can you imagine what this looked like 50 and 100 years ago?
0:31:55 > 0:32:00248 acres of pens, 12,000 men, most of them horseback,
0:32:00 > 0:32:05five rail lines capable of unloading 70,000 cattle a day.
0:32:05 > 0:32:07It was an incredible amount of activity.
0:32:07 > 0:32:10And somehow, the railroads were interleaved
0:32:10 > 0:32:13amongst all those livestock yards.
0:32:13 > 0:32:16You know, there's a quote from an 1890s Kansas City Star
0:32:16 > 0:32:18that might explain that best.
0:32:18 > 0:32:20"Kansas City's advantage is the result of
0:32:20 > 0:32:24"an unrivalled geographical location.
0:32:24 > 0:32:27"Every foot of the territory to which Kansas City looks
0:32:27 > 0:32:30"can have rails laid upon it at a reasonable cost.
0:32:30 > 0:32:33"These rails will point to Kansas City as surely as
0:32:33 > 0:32:35"all roads pointed to Rome."
0:32:39 > 0:32:45The Live Stock Exchange Building held its last auction in 1991,
0:32:45 > 0:32:48but the region is still a cattle centre.
0:32:48 > 0:32:51Today the markets are located outside town.
0:32:51 > 0:32:54I've come south of the city across the state line
0:32:54 > 0:32:57to a livestock auction in Paola, Kansas.
0:33:00 > 0:33:02This looks like cowboy central.
0:33:02 > 0:33:06I have a feeling I may be the only one here dressed in pink and green.
0:33:09 > 0:33:10- Hello, sir.- Hello.
0:33:10 > 0:33:13- Would you mind if I pull up a chair for a moment?- Have a seat.
0:33:13 > 0:33:16So, what brings you to the auction today? What are you selling?
0:33:16 > 0:33:19- What kind of beasts have you got? - Feeder cattle.- What age are they?
0:33:19 > 0:33:21- They're yearlings.- Yearlings? - Yeah, a year old.
0:33:21 > 0:33:23So, what's your business?
0:33:23 > 0:33:26You take very young animals and grow them up to yearlings?
0:33:26 > 0:33:31Buy them weighing 300-400 lbs and make them weigh 700, 800.
0:33:31 > 0:33:35What is it about cattle that attracts a man to the job?
0:33:35 > 0:33:40For me, it might have started out the glamour of the Wild West,
0:33:40 > 0:33:42- you know?- Brilliant.
0:33:42 > 0:33:47I grew up around horses and cattle, always rode a horse.
0:33:47 > 0:33:50First thing you know, you're making a living at it.
0:33:50 > 0:33:52- Bit of John Wayne in you.- Yeah.
0:33:52 > 0:33:55- Hello, sir!- Hello.- What brings you into town today?
0:33:55 > 0:33:57Oh, I'm going to try to buy some cattle.
0:33:57 > 0:33:59What are you looking for?
0:33:59 > 0:34:00Mostly yearlings.
0:34:00 > 0:34:03I buy for some people in Nebraska and some local farmers.
0:34:03 > 0:34:05Are you in business in a big way?
0:34:05 > 0:34:08I'm as probably as big a buyer as there is here today.
0:34:08 > 0:34:09- Is that right?- Yeah.
0:34:09 > 0:34:12I mean, there's a few guys will buy more than me,
0:34:12 > 0:34:13but I'll buy my fair share.
0:34:13 > 0:34:15How many in number, possibly?
0:34:15 > 0:34:19He's got 200 here today. I could possibly buy half of them.
0:34:19 > 0:34:21- Really?- Possibly.
0:34:21 > 0:34:23I want to wish you all the best at the auction today.
0:34:23 > 0:34:26- I have a feeling you'll get a good deal.- Ha, thank you.
0:34:26 > 0:34:2756...
0:34:27 > 0:34:29HE SPEAKS RAPIDLY
0:34:29 > 0:34:3157.
0:34:32 > 0:34:34I'll have eight. And 58.
0:34:34 > 0:34:36Half, nine.
0:34:36 > 0:34:3759.
0:34:37 > 0:34:38Half. Nine and a half.
0:34:38 > 0:34:4059.
0:34:40 > 0:34:4159, half.
0:34:44 > 0:34:4625.
0:34:46 > 0:34:49So, cattle 160, 427 straight up.
0:34:49 > 0:34:54At this time, I'd like to introduce Michael Portillio, is that right?
0:34:54 > 0:34:57- Close.- Close. He's going to come up and take the microphone.
0:34:59 > 0:35:01- May I borrow that hat?- Yeah.
0:35:01 > 0:35:04OK, we're ready. What are we starting at?
0:35:04 > 0:35:06130 it is, 130...
0:35:06 > 0:35:08HE IMITATES CATTLE AUCTIONEER
0:35:08 > 0:35:09131.
0:35:11 > 0:35:13'Hmm. I think I got away with that!'
0:35:15 > 0:35:1735. 135!
0:35:17 > 0:35:18135.
0:35:20 > 0:35:22- Who is buying?- Right there.- Ah.
0:35:22 > 0:35:27Buyer 120, buyer 120 at 135.
0:35:27 > 0:35:29APPLAUSE
0:35:29 > 0:35:30Thank you, guys.
0:35:34 > 0:35:36I've heard that for Kansans,
0:35:36 > 0:35:39smoke has the power to transform meat
0:35:39 > 0:35:41from the mundane into the memorable.
0:35:42 > 0:35:46I've been recommended a barbecue joint out at the airstrip.
0:35:49 > 0:35:52Whoa, that is a lot of food!
0:35:52 > 0:35:53What is this?
0:35:53 > 0:35:56That's baby backs, and that's the bottom part of the spare ribs,
0:35:56 > 0:36:00they cut it off. It has no fat on it, it's the most tender...
0:36:00 > 0:36:03It's the cream of the crop when it comes to spare ribs.
0:36:03 > 0:36:05Lovely. And how do you cook them?
0:36:05 > 0:36:10We smoke it with applewood and cherrywood,
0:36:10 > 0:36:13for about four hours.
0:36:13 > 0:36:15Wow. For four hours?
0:36:15 > 0:36:16It's our signature dish.
0:36:16 > 0:36:19We were the rib champions of the year back in 2000,
0:36:19 > 0:36:20before we opened up the restaurant.
0:36:20 > 0:36:23And that's the way we smoked them in competitions.
0:36:23 > 0:36:25- Can I try it in front of you? - Yes, sir.
0:36:28 > 0:36:31It's so soft. It comes clean off the bone.
0:36:34 > 0:36:37It's got a great smoky flavour.
0:36:37 > 0:36:38Oh, thank you.
0:36:38 > 0:36:41I couldn't help noticing President Obama on the wall.
0:36:41 > 0:36:43Did he have any ribs?
0:36:43 > 0:36:47Well, he took a slab to go.
0:36:48 > 0:36:49They're good.
0:36:51 > 0:36:56The population of Kansas City skyrocketed during the 1870s
0:36:56 > 0:36:59thanks to the cattle trade.
0:36:59 > 0:37:03An expanding network of railroad tracks brought people from across
0:37:03 > 0:37:07the nation and soon, transport within the city was also needed.
0:37:10 > 0:37:13I'm on the KC Streetcar.
0:37:13 > 0:37:16According to the 1891 edition of Appletons',
0:37:16 > 0:37:20electric or cable cars traverse the city in every direction
0:37:20 > 0:37:24and render all parts accessible for five cents.
0:37:24 > 0:37:26Five cents!
0:37:26 > 0:37:28Do you know what it costs now?
0:37:28 > 0:37:29Zero.
0:37:29 > 0:37:33It must be the only price to have gone down in 125 years.
0:37:35 > 0:37:38Kansas City's cable and streetcar system
0:37:38 > 0:37:41once stretched over 300 miles.
0:37:41 > 0:37:43But the last service ran in 1957.
0:37:45 > 0:37:49The streetcar returned in 2016 as part of a programme
0:37:49 > 0:37:52to revitalise the city's downtown area.
0:37:52 > 0:37:56It runs for two miles and extensions are being planned.
0:37:56 > 0:37:57- Hello, ladies.- Hello.- Hi.
0:37:57 > 0:38:00- Are you enjoying the KC Streetcar? - Yes.- We are.
0:38:00 > 0:38:02Are you regulars on the KC Streetcar?
0:38:02 > 0:38:04- No, we've never done it before. - Oh, really?
0:38:04 > 0:38:07- You're not from Kansas City, then. - Yes.- Yes, we are.
0:38:07 > 0:38:09So, why are you riding it today for the first time?
0:38:09 > 0:38:12- Girls' night out.- Girls' night out.
0:38:12 > 0:38:14- So, better than taking the car. - Yes.- Yes.
0:38:14 > 0:38:17Because you might be having a little drink tonight, perhaps.
0:38:17 > 0:38:18- Just a little.- We already did.
0:38:22 > 0:38:23Like much of America,
0:38:23 > 0:38:29Kansas City owes the building of its early railroads to Irish navvies.
0:38:29 > 0:38:32I've come to the West Bottoms district to meet Pat O'Neill
0:38:32 > 0:38:36from the Irish History Society.
0:38:36 > 0:38:38Classically, a wave of Irish immigration
0:38:38 > 0:38:41came to the United States after the Hunger of 1848-49.
0:38:41 > 0:38:44- Is that true of Kansas City? - It was, absolutely, yes.
0:38:44 > 0:38:47Because, you know, the Irish bottled up in the tenements and again
0:38:47 > 0:38:51always on the East Coast and they were looking for places to escape.
0:38:51 > 0:38:54And the catholic priest here in Kansas City actually put out
0:38:54 > 0:38:55a notice in the late 1840s,
0:38:55 > 0:38:59early 1850s for Irish to come to Kansas City to help them
0:38:59 > 0:39:02expand the city by cutting the streets through these bluffs.
0:39:02 > 0:39:06And so they naturally gravitated to better jobs on the railroad.
0:39:06 > 0:39:11Kansas City's importance as a rail hub was secured in 1869
0:39:11 > 0:39:14when Irishman Charles Kearney helped to persuade
0:39:14 > 0:39:17the Hannibal and Saint Joseph Railroad to construct
0:39:17 > 0:39:18the first permanent rail bridge
0:39:18 > 0:39:21across the Missouri River and Kansas City.
0:39:21 > 0:39:24By the 1870s, they're making cuts through these bluffs in every
0:39:24 > 0:39:27direction so railroads can take off from Kansas City.
0:39:27 > 0:39:29Where was the old union depot?
0:39:29 > 0:39:32Well, the Union Station, you'll see that kind of empty area down there?
0:39:32 > 0:39:34- Yeah.- Well, that's where the Union Station was.
0:39:34 > 0:39:37That's also what they called the wettest block in Missouri,
0:39:37 > 0:39:40because it had some 40-some saloons within two blocks -
0:39:40 > 0:39:42mostly Irish saloons, I might add -
0:39:42 > 0:39:45and there was an area down in here that was shared by Irish immigrants
0:39:45 > 0:39:48and blacks, and it was cold Hell's Half Acre because
0:39:48 > 0:39:50it was the most prone to flooding.
0:39:50 > 0:39:52When the water came up 10 or 12 feet,
0:39:52 > 0:39:55it would send the cattle and the pigs in every direction.
0:39:55 > 0:40:00It would turn train cars over on their sides, even off the bridges.
0:40:00 > 0:40:05Despite those hardships, the Irish community quickly put down roots.
0:40:05 > 0:40:11The first Irish business in America opened in Kansas City in 1887.
0:40:11 > 0:40:14The shop and bar are now run by Kerry Browne,
0:40:14 > 0:40:16great-granddaughter of the founder.
0:40:17 > 0:40:20- Well, thank you, and cheers. - Slainte.- Slainte, indeed.
0:40:22 > 0:40:23So, how did it all start?
0:40:23 > 0:40:26My great grandparents came over from County Kerry, Ireland,
0:40:26 > 0:40:29travelled by train and stopped here and thought, "This looks like home."
0:40:29 > 0:40:31This is the store early on.
0:40:31 > 0:40:33This is my dad, this cute little fellow here,
0:40:33 > 0:40:36and you can still see how it looks the same.
0:40:36 > 0:40:41Here's the papers of my grandfather when he came from Ellis Island.
0:40:41 > 0:40:45James R Browne from Knocknagoshel, County Kerry, Ireland.
0:40:45 > 0:40:47If you think of how young he was,
0:40:47 > 0:40:50he was about 17 years old and left home.
0:40:50 > 0:40:52This sheet is for steerage passengers.
0:40:52 > 0:40:56- They came in the cheapest class. - Yeah.
0:40:56 > 0:40:58Think of that journey, think of what it must have been like.
0:40:58 > 0:40:59I can't imagine.
0:40:59 > 0:41:01You've done very well, your ancestors -
0:41:01 > 0:41:03some of them did very well -
0:41:03 > 0:41:06but do you feel sadness about those who left Ireland in the first place?
0:41:06 > 0:41:08Yeah, it had to be awful.
0:41:08 > 0:41:09When you think of leaving those people,
0:41:09 > 0:41:11knowing you'd never see them again...
0:41:11 > 0:41:13And there wasn't the connections like we have now
0:41:13 > 0:41:16with internet or a phone - they said goodbye for good.
0:41:16 > 0:41:19And they'd have wakes, the Irish wakes,
0:41:19 > 0:41:21like a ceilidh at the crossroads,
0:41:21 > 0:41:24and everybody in the town would gather and have music and dance
0:41:24 > 0:41:27and send them off, knowing they'd never see them again.
0:41:27 > 0:41:31# And it's no, nay, never... #
0:41:31 > 0:41:35'Generations after the Irish arrived in Kansas City,
0:41:35 > 0:41:39'memories of home and those left behind run deep.'
0:41:39 > 0:41:43# And it's no, nay, never
0:41:45 > 0:41:48# No, nay, never no more
0:41:48 > 0:41:52# Will I play the wild rover
0:41:52 > 0:41:55# No, never, no more. #
0:41:57 > 0:41:58Go on ya!
0:42:08 > 0:42:12North of Kansas City lies a town that once held the distinction
0:42:12 > 0:42:16of being the most westerly point on the United States rail network.
0:42:16 > 0:42:19A gateway to the untamed prairies,
0:42:19 > 0:42:24it was also where an American legend was born and another died.
0:42:26 > 0:42:31During the 1850s, railroads had been built over a tremendous distance
0:42:31 > 0:42:36from the east coast into the heart of the American continent.
0:42:36 > 0:42:40But 2,000 miles remained before they'd reach California.
0:42:40 > 0:42:43I'm at Saint Joseph, Missouri, the westerly terminus
0:42:43 > 0:42:49of the delightfully named Hannibal and Saint Joseph Railroad.
0:42:49 > 0:42:51How to provide a connection to California
0:42:51 > 0:42:53before new lines could be built?
0:42:53 > 0:42:57Hannibal would doubtless have recommended elephants,
0:42:57 > 0:42:59but the Americans chose ponies.
0:43:03 > 0:43:07The Pony Express carried mail between Saint Joseph
0:43:07 > 0:43:10and Sacramento, California.
0:43:10 > 0:43:13From there, it would continue to San Francisco by ferry.
0:43:14 > 0:43:19I'm meeting Suzanne King and her husband John to discover more
0:43:19 > 0:43:22about this institution of the American West.
0:43:22 > 0:43:25- Hello, Suzanne. - Hi, Michael, how are you?
0:43:25 > 0:43:27- Good to see you. Hello, John.- Hello.
0:43:27 > 0:43:29- And who is this?- This is Renzy.
0:43:29 > 0:43:32She is a Morgan horse and Morgans were one of the breeds of horses
0:43:32 > 0:43:35that were used during the Pony Express.
0:43:35 > 0:43:40Now, I see we're standing outside the 1860 Pony Express office.
0:43:40 > 0:43:41- May we go inside?- Absolutely.
0:43:44 > 0:43:47The Pony Express made its headquarters
0:43:47 > 0:43:50in the Patee House Hotel, now a museum.
0:43:50 > 0:43:54It offered a last taste of luxury for guests heading into
0:43:54 > 0:43:55the inhospitable western terrain.
0:43:57 > 0:44:00Well, Suzanne, really, here we are touching history.
0:44:00 > 0:44:03This is the original furniture of the Pony Express office.
0:44:03 > 0:44:06But what was the concept of the Pony Express?
0:44:06 > 0:44:09Well, the concept was to improve communication between
0:44:09 > 0:44:11the Atlantic and the Pacific coast.
0:44:11 > 0:44:14Saint Joseph was the furthest west that you'd get on a train,
0:44:14 > 0:44:18however, communication for the rest of the country was slow.
0:44:18 > 0:44:21And so, with the Pony Express,
0:44:21 > 0:44:25the communication was condensed into ten days.
0:44:25 > 0:44:29The idea was proposed by California Senator William Gwin
0:44:29 > 0:44:33to freight magnate William Russell in 1859.
0:44:33 > 0:44:35It was visionary and in harmony
0:44:35 > 0:44:39with America's growing sense of manifest destiny,
0:44:39 > 0:44:43that the nation was fated to span the continent
0:44:43 > 0:44:45from sea to shining sea.
0:44:45 > 0:44:47The first rider, Johnny Fry,
0:44:47 > 0:44:51left Saint Joseph on April 3, 1860.
0:44:51 > 0:44:54What sort of riders did they have to recruit?
0:44:54 > 0:44:57Well, if you take a look at the advertisement...
0:44:57 > 0:45:01"Wanted - young, skinny, wiry fellows not over 18.
0:45:01 > 0:45:05"Must be expert riders willing to risk death daily.
0:45:05 > 0:45:06"Orphans preferred."
0:45:06 > 0:45:10And these intrepid riders, what sort of perils did they face?
0:45:10 > 0:45:15Well, you did have Indian activity, you had the heavy winter snow,
0:45:15 > 0:45:18the rains washing out the gullies, the trail,
0:45:18 > 0:45:22and you had groundhogs, because a horse would run across that,
0:45:22 > 0:45:23they could break a leg.
0:45:23 > 0:45:27- The groundhog was at least as dangerous as the Indians.- Yeah, yes.
0:45:28 > 0:45:32Over 400 horses and 80 riders galloped between
0:45:32 > 0:45:35a chain of stations that crossed hostile terrain.
0:45:35 > 0:45:39Riders could be in the saddle for 100 miles at a time.
0:45:40 > 0:45:43This sounds like a very expensive operation.
0:45:43 > 0:45:45Well, they had 172 stations.
0:45:45 > 0:45:48Each of those stations had to be staffed and stocked,
0:45:48 > 0:45:53and you have all the costs of the horses and the feed and food.
0:45:53 > 0:45:57And the letters at that point in time cost 5.
0:45:57 > 0:46:00The high price deterred most people from using
0:46:00 > 0:46:02the Pony Express for their mail.
0:46:02 > 0:46:05The final nail in its coffin was the connection
0:46:05 > 0:46:08of the cross-country telegraph,
0:46:08 > 0:46:12which provided instantaneous and affordable communication.
0:46:12 > 0:46:16That service opened on October 24, 1861,
0:46:16 > 0:46:21and two days later, the Pony Express announced its closure.
0:46:21 > 0:46:23Here's something that only lasted 19 months.
0:46:23 > 0:46:27Why does this little incident live in our minds, in our history?
0:46:27 > 0:46:31Because it accomplished what the whole country wanted it to do
0:46:31 > 0:46:34at that point, which was communication.
0:46:34 > 0:46:38And the skiddy, wiry fellow, the rider,
0:46:38 > 0:46:41has joined the panoply of great American heroes.
0:46:47 > 0:46:51Because on the Pony Express it cost 5 to send half an ounce
0:46:51 > 0:46:55in ten days to California, most of the correspondence
0:46:55 > 0:46:58was official, governmental, military and so on.
0:46:58 > 0:47:01So I've decided to send my letter, get my money's worth,
0:47:01 > 0:47:07to John Gately Downey, who was, of course, the governor of California.
0:47:08 > 0:47:12The Pony Express is commemorated with an annual ten-day ride
0:47:12 > 0:47:15from Saint Joseph to Sacramento.
0:47:15 > 0:47:18John and Suzanne have taken part since the 1980s and their children,
0:47:18 > 0:47:21Kristen and Richard, carry on the tradition.
0:47:23 > 0:47:25Kristen, I've been to the Pony Express office and I've paid
0:47:25 > 0:47:28- my 5 for half an ounce.- Yes.
0:47:28 > 0:47:30- Would you put that in your mochila, please?- Of course.
0:47:30 > 0:47:33Thank you very much.
0:47:33 > 0:47:36Now, I believe that every young man who made this ride
0:47:36 > 0:47:39had to take this oath.
0:47:39 > 0:47:41- Would you like to raise your right hand, please?- Yes.
0:47:41 > 0:47:43And pronounce the oath.
0:47:43 > 0:47:47I agree not to use profane language, not to get drunk,
0:47:47 > 0:47:49not to gamble, not to treat animals cruelly
0:47:49 > 0:47:53and not to do anything else that is incompatible
0:47:53 > 0:47:56with the conduct of a gentleman.
0:47:56 > 0:47:59Godspeed. May my letter reach its destination safely
0:47:59 > 0:48:01- and may you be kept safe as well. - Thank you.
0:48:31 > 0:48:32In these parts,
0:48:32 > 0:48:36they say of a man of pretensions, without substance -
0:48:36 > 0:48:39big hat, no cattle.
0:48:39 > 0:48:41I have no cattle, so what about a hat?
0:48:45 > 0:48:50And when you think of a hat out west, one name stands out.
0:48:50 > 0:48:52Stetson.
0:48:55 > 0:48:58Mary Ellis has been working in the St Joseph store
0:48:58 > 0:49:03for more than 30 years. Who better to bring out my inner cowboy?
0:49:04 > 0:49:07Mary, if I were looking for a hat, where would I begin?
0:49:07 > 0:49:11We have a lot of different hat shapes, colours.
0:49:11 > 0:49:14We will walk along and put on different styles
0:49:14 > 0:49:20that we think is going to match the shape of your face the best.
0:49:20 > 0:49:23Because some people look good in a tall crown,
0:49:23 > 0:49:26some people look good in a short crown.
0:49:26 > 0:49:29I think you're going to be a short crown.
0:49:29 > 0:49:33John B Stetson was born in New Jersey in 1830.
0:49:33 > 0:49:36He moved west as a young man and, as legend had it,
0:49:36 > 0:49:41he noticed the poor quality of the hats worn by pioneers.
0:49:41 > 0:49:44On his return east in 1865,
0:49:44 > 0:49:47he went into production with an improved design.
0:49:47 > 0:49:52By the 1870s, he was a leading supplier of hats to the west.
0:49:52 > 0:49:56Stetsons have been worn by cowboys and presidents alike.
0:49:57 > 0:50:01So go ahead and try that now.
0:50:01 > 0:50:04Push it down. We're pretty close.
0:50:04 > 0:50:06You want it to have a little bit of a snap,
0:50:06 > 0:50:09but I think that's going to give you a headache.
0:50:09 > 0:50:11Does it feel to you like it's going to give you a headache?
0:50:11 > 0:50:16- It felt a bit tight.- This is more what the cowboys are wearing today.
0:50:16 > 0:50:21It's got the square crown, so let's try this on.
0:50:21 > 0:50:23Tap it down.
0:50:24 > 0:50:26It's not for you.
0:50:26 > 0:50:29- No?- Can't do it. Too low a crown.
0:50:29 > 0:50:32A man of unexpectedly high crown.
0:50:32 > 0:50:35You're surprising me. You're really surprising me.
0:50:37 > 0:50:39Oh, my, my, my.
0:50:40 > 0:50:42No.
0:50:42 > 0:50:44Depends on where you're going.
0:50:45 > 0:50:47That isn't you.
0:50:50 > 0:50:51Goodness.
0:50:53 > 0:50:55I don't think that's bad.
0:50:58 > 0:51:01I'll be darned. Much better.
0:51:01 > 0:51:04I think that's it. I think we've found it.
0:51:04 > 0:51:06Grey does it.
0:51:06 > 0:51:08How does the cowboy make use of a hat like this?
0:51:08 > 0:51:12Well, it blocks the sun off of their neck,
0:51:12 > 0:51:14and I think that they think that
0:51:14 > 0:51:16they're just cool when they wear a hat.
0:51:16 > 0:51:19And what about all this stuff about giving water to your horse
0:51:19 > 0:51:21or putting some feed in there or whatever?
0:51:21 > 0:51:26I hate to rain on your parade, but that's not what we do.
0:51:26 > 0:51:29There is a protection on it in the beginning
0:51:29 > 0:51:33that's done from the factory, but don't water your horse.
0:51:50 > 0:51:52Robin Hood, Bonnie and Clyde -
0:51:52 > 0:51:56can it ever be right to treat the bandit as a hero?
0:51:56 > 0:51:59For me, as a train lover, the question arises poignantly
0:51:59 > 0:52:04in the case of that terror of the railroads, Mr Jesse James.
0:52:09 > 0:52:13Jesse James was one of the most famous outlaws of the Wild West.
0:52:14 > 0:52:17Trains, stagecoaches, banks -
0:52:17 > 0:52:20little was safe from his larceny.
0:52:20 > 0:52:21Hello, Ralph.
0:52:22 > 0:52:26'Ralph Monaco is a Missouri historian and former member
0:52:26 > 0:52:28"of the Missouri House of Representatives.
0:52:28 > 0:52:31"He's an expert on the James gang."
0:52:31 > 0:52:33Ralph, who was Jesse James?
0:52:33 > 0:52:35Part of him is still a mystery to this day,
0:52:35 > 0:52:38the mystique about him, but he was certainly a young man who was
0:52:38 > 0:52:42raised in Clay County under a Southern mind-set by his mother.
0:52:42 > 0:52:45They were slave owners themselves.
0:52:45 > 0:52:48He is thrust into the Civil War as a guerrilla.
0:52:48 > 0:52:50When the war ends, he tries to surrender,
0:52:50 > 0:52:52he's shot through the lung, nearly dies.
0:52:52 > 0:52:55And then, how did he pursue his criminal career?
0:52:55 > 0:52:57It was really the gang led by his older brother Frank,
0:52:57 > 0:53:00who was born in '42, Jesse was born in '47.
0:53:00 > 0:53:02They went directly after the source
0:53:02 > 0:53:04of what they thought were all their privations -
0:53:04 > 0:53:08railroads and banks, owned by the union men, the Yankees, if you will.
0:53:08 > 0:53:10And we're going to get our revenge,
0:53:10 > 0:53:13and in the process we're going to get rich.
0:53:13 > 0:53:16During the American Civil War, supporters in Missouri of
0:53:16 > 0:53:19the Southern Confederacy were barred from voting
0:53:19 > 0:53:21and holding public office.
0:53:21 > 0:53:26Resentment grew and James' attacks on union targets made him
0:53:26 > 0:53:27a hero for many.
0:53:29 > 0:53:32Tell me about one of the gang's lurid railroad crimes.
0:53:32 > 0:53:35I think the one we can certainly point to happened here in Missouri,
0:53:35 > 0:53:38in Daviess County, is the Winston train robbery.
0:53:38 > 0:53:421881, the train is filled with many railroad employees, in fact.
0:53:42 > 0:53:44Things didn't go well.
0:53:44 > 0:53:45They stopped the train as a regular stop,
0:53:45 > 0:53:48they surrounded the train, they robbed the train.
0:53:48 > 0:53:51And what's the tragedy of it is that while the mystique of
0:53:51 > 0:53:54the James gang is so interesting, you've got to remember that
0:53:54 > 0:53:56the stonemason was killed,
0:53:56 > 0:54:00the conductor was killed on the train.
0:54:02 > 0:54:04Despite those murders,
0:54:04 > 0:54:08the gang gained a reputation as Robin Hood-like figures.
0:54:08 > 0:54:12Legend had it that they would steal money from the railroads
0:54:12 > 0:54:14but would not rob the passengers.
0:54:14 > 0:54:18The railroads were not going to let their trains be robbed again,
0:54:18 > 0:54:21so they brought in the number one detective agency in the world,
0:54:21 > 0:54:23Thomas Pinkerton, and they were going to get
0:54:23 > 0:54:24Jesse James and Frank James.
0:54:24 > 0:54:27- The noose just tightened and tightened.- Yes, it did.
0:54:29 > 0:54:32'After a cat-and-mouse game with the authorities,
0:54:32 > 0:54:36'James moved his family to this Saint Joseph house in 1881.'
0:54:39 > 0:54:42- What had brought Jesse James here? - To hide out.
0:54:42 > 0:54:46Jesse James had moved his family from Tennessee to Missouri,
0:54:46 > 0:54:48city to city, town to town, on the run,
0:54:48 > 0:54:50because there was a bounty on their head.
0:54:50 > 0:54:52Governor Crittenden issued a 10,000 reward.
0:54:52 > 0:54:54As they were living here in Saint Jo,
0:54:54 > 0:54:57their name was the Howard family,
0:54:57 > 0:55:01but they were also known as the Johnson family, the Woodson family.
0:55:01 > 0:55:05James invited his most trusted accomplice, Charley Ford,
0:55:05 > 0:55:07and his brother Robert to live with him.
0:55:07 > 0:55:09But James was double-crossed.
0:55:09 > 0:55:13Robert had done a deal with Missouri Governor Crittenden
0:55:13 > 0:55:15for the reward on Jesse's head.
0:55:16 > 0:55:18There was a hot Monday morning.
0:55:18 > 0:55:21Jesse James was here in this very room,
0:55:21 > 0:55:25and for whatever reason he decides to take his holsters off
0:55:25 > 0:55:28and went to feather duster the picture on the wall.
0:55:28 > 0:55:33And the Ford boys were over here and that was their golden opportunity.
0:55:33 > 0:55:37Jesse's not carrying a gun, Jesse's back's to us,
0:55:37 > 0:55:39so we're just going to murder him in cold blood.
0:55:41 > 0:55:43GUNSHOT
0:55:43 > 0:55:47Bob pulled the trigger, his wife came running into the room,
0:55:47 > 0:55:50saw her husband laying on the ground,
0:55:50 > 0:55:52blood coursing from his head.
0:55:52 > 0:55:55Now, wait a minute, you're being quite sentimental about
0:55:55 > 0:55:58a man who killed a lot of people. Why has he become some sort of hero?
0:55:58 > 0:56:00There's multiple reasons,
0:56:00 > 0:56:04but one simple answer is John Newman Edwards.
0:56:04 > 0:56:08He was the owner of the Kansas City Times newspaper -
0:56:08 > 0:56:11well-known publicist, well-known writer.
0:56:11 > 0:56:15Anything Southern-minded from the war he supported,
0:56:15 > 0:56:17and he considered Frank and Jesse as nothing less than
0:56:17 > 0:56:20Knight Errants of the Round of the olden days.
0:56:20 > 0:56:22And so when he was killed,
0:56:22 > 0:56:25Edwards writes this editorial that just condemns the entire
0:56:25 > 0:56:29state of Missouri because of the conspiracy with these bad guys.
0:56:29 > 0:56:31And it violated the law of the West -
0:56:31 > 0:56:33you don't shoot somebody in the back of the head
0:56:33 > 0:56:34when their back is turned.
0:56:34 > 0:56:38That dirty little coward who shot Mr Howard
0:56:38 > 0:56:41has laid Jesse James in his grave.
0:56:41 > 0:56:43And that ballad will never die.
0:56:43 > 0:56:48# Jesse James was a lad that killed many a man
0:56:48 > 0:56:51# He robbed the Glendale train
0:56:52 > 0:56:55# But the dirty little coward
0:56:55 > 0:56:57# That shot Mr Howard
0:56:57 > 0:57:02# Has laid poor Jesse in his grave. #
0:57:07 > 0:57:11While the railroads were wriggling their way from the Eastern Seaboard
0:57:11 > 0:57:14towards the centre of the North American Continent,
0:57:14 > 0:57:19the pioneers were struggling to keep death at bay.
0:57:19 > 0:57:26From drownings, disease, snakebites and outlaws like Jesse James.
0:57:26 > 0:57:30The American Civil War tore through Missouri and Kansas,
0:57:30 > 0:57:34killing thousands and devastating the land.
0:57:34 > 0:57:38In judging how the United States has matured and grown,
0:57:38 > 0:57:42we need to remember that it had a turbulent adolescence.
0:57:44 > 0:57:45'Next time,
0:57:45 > 0:57:49'I pay homage at the cathedral of basketball...'
0:57:49 > 0:57:52- Turn in two. Good job. There we go, good score!- Yeah!
0:57:52 > 0:57:55'..get my hands on a vintage hooter...'
0:57:55 > 0:57:58HORN HONKS Wow, that was fun.
0:57:58 > 0:58:01'..discover what life was like in the Wild West...'
0:58:01 > 0:58:03He's got a gun!
0:58:05 > 0:58:08'..and hear about the harrowing tragedy at Sand Creek.'
0:58:08 > 0:58:13A quote comes to mind in all atrocities.
0:58:13 > 0:58:17The only thing necessary for evil to succeed
0:58:17 > 0:58:20is for good men to do nothing.