Santa Fe, New Mexico, to the Grand Canyon Great American Railroad Journeys

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

with my reliable Appletons' Guide.

Published in the late 19th century,

Appletons' General Guide to North America will direct me to all that's

novel, beautiful, memorable and striking in the United States.

-ALL:

-Goed!

As I journey across this vast continent,

I'll discover how pioneers and cowboys conquered the West.

MEDLEY OF GUNSHOTS

And how the railroads tied this nation together,

helping to create the global super-state of today.

By the time of my guidebook,

railroad tracks stretched across the continent,

and Americans were using them to tour their land for pleasure.

My rail journey westwards from St Louis to the Grand Canyon,

covering maybe 1,700 miles, is reaching its climax.

I've hugged the banks of the Missouri and Arkansas rivers.

I've followed the wagons along the old Santa Fe Trail.

And I've ridden on transcontinental tracks first laid in the 1870s.

Now it's time to wallow in some of the luxury offered by the West today

before witnessing one of the greatest sights on earth.

I began my journey in St Louis, Missouri.

Then headed to Kansas City.

From there, I struck out west across the plains to gun-toting Dodge City

before arriving in the Rocky Mountains at Colorado Springs.

Now I'm heading south, through New Mexico,

ending at the spectacular natural wonder of Arizona's Grand Canyon.

Today, I explore historic Santa Fe, I visit New Mexico's largest city,

Albuquerque, and the cross into Arizona to Williams,

from where I'll end my trip at one of the world's most

marvellous geological landmarks.

I discover how the great outdoors adds to the drama of opera.

It would be a shame to enclose the theatre

when we are surrounded by such incredible natural beauty.

I'm honoured to be invited to an ancient Native American pueblo.

How long has there been a settlement up here?

We've been here since the beginning of time.

I'll marvel at American steam technology.

HE LAUGHS My goodness, John,

that is enormous!

And I get a spectacular bird's eye view.

Here we go, over the edge and the ground falls away beneath us.

Amtrak's Southwest Chief service crosses eight states between Chicago

and Los Angeles in three days.

A full restaurant service means that hungry passengers

can eat great food, as some of the world's

most awesome landscape rolls by.

-Your steak, sir.

-Thank you.

Steak knife for you.

Is there anything else I can bring you right now, Michael?

Oh, Linda, it looks great.

I'm going to be just fine.

Thank you.

Look at that - perfect.

Mmm!

My journey West has brought me into the state of New Mexico,

which retains its Hispanic heritage dating back to the time

before its conquest by the United States.

After the rough-and-tumble of the Wild West,

it's time for some luxury,

and to discover how, in Santa Fe, there arose a biblical epic,

appropriately, perhaps, since the city's name

translates as "holy faith".

Founded in 1607,

Santa Fe was the capital of the Spanish kingdom of New Mexico,

and is the state capital today.

The city's distinctive low adobe buildings

with their round walls and flat roofs

are made from bricks formed of sun-dried earth and straw.

The architecture of Santa Fe is delightfully dominated

by the Spanish colonial period.

We Europeans scoff at the Americans

because they don't have many old buildings.

Well, the mission of San Miguel was built at the beginning of

the 17th century, which makes it older

than London's St Paul's Cathedral,

or France's Palace of Versailles.

So perhaps we should show some humility.

In the late 19th century,

railroad refreshment was a much less leisurely experience

than mine aboard the Southwest Chief.

Passengers had to disembark and were given 15 minutes

to eat and freshen up before re-boarding.

Thanks to a British immigrant named Fred Harvey,

arrangements began to improve.

'I'm meeting Jenny Kimball at La Fonda Hotel.'

Jenny, now, I believe it was once a Harvey hotel, what did that mean?

Well, Fred Harvey operated hotels all along the railroad line.

And the Fred Harvey Company bought it in the early '20s,

which meant it was part of the Harvey chain.

Fred Harvey had worked as a railroad caterer,

which is how he spotted a gap in the market

for good food on long journeys.

In 1876, he struck out on his own

and opened the first of his restaurants

on the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad.

At its peak in 1928, Fred Harvey's empire

comprised nearly 100 restaurants and 25 hotels known as Harvey Houses.

Within his hotels and restaurants,

tell me about the sort of service you could expect?

Service was impeccable, only the best,

white glove silver service.

And it was mainly because of the Harvey Girls.

The Harvey Girls were educated women, mainly from the East Coast,

that wanted an adventure.

They were trained in manners, service.

They had impeccable starched uniforms.

And they couldn't be married.

They couldn't fraternise with the guests.

So, I mean, they had a whole list of dos and don'ts.

But they really elevated the service at all of the Harvey Hotels.

The Santa Fe Railroad Company

introduced Pullman dining cars in 1888.

And Fred Harvey provided both the menu and the staff.

What was served until then was what they called slop, the Western slop.

He served lobster.

He served very sophisticated European food on the train.

May have been kind of the precursor to first class on an aeroplane.

He didn't do badly for a lad from Lancashire, England.

No, he did not do badly, yeah.

With good quality food and impeccable service,

the Fred Harvey Brand became widely known in America.

And in 1946, Fred's Harvey Girls were immortalised in a film

starring Judy Garland.

'Bernette Jarvis and Beverly Ireland worked at La Fonda Hotel

'in the 1950s.'

How did you get the job of being a Harvey Girl?

We moved here from Minnesota in 1955.

We thought it was a temporary job.

It turned out to be several years of a wonderful experience.

What attracted you about the reputation of Harvey Girls?

Fine service, elegant dishes, food was marvellous.

It just was a prestige job.

It was the only place in Santa Fe that was a nice hotel.

And we worked breakfast and lunch

only because we were 18 years old and couldn't serve liquor.

Looking back, are you pleased that you were Harvey Girls?

Absolutely.

It was a hard job because of the standard,

but it was a way to get ladies a job.

To get away from home.

And to be in the workforce.

I wouldn't trade it for anything.

I'm heading seven miles north of Santa Fe

to an adobe building inspired by the high desert landscape

which it inhabits.

As though to symbolise the civilisation of the West,

Santa Fe has an opera house of global renown,

attracting the best talent.

Audiences travel for thousands of miles.

I made the pilgrimage myself some years ago.

The auditorium is like no other.

It has no sides.

For many productions, the backdrop is provided by the mountains

and the sunsets of New Mexico.

What better place to perform Puccini's La Fancuilla del West -

The Girl of the Golden West?

The general director of the Santa Fe Opera is Charles MacKay.

Charles, how and why did they think of building an opera house here?

60 years ago John Crosby, the founder,

had always had the dream of founding an opera company here.

And so, lo and behold,

he talked his parents into fronting the money

to build the first theatre

and persuaded a group of businessmen in Santa Fe to back it

and the company got started.

John Crosby was a New York musician with a passion for opera.

Santa Fe had a long connection with visual artists and writers

but little with musical life.

Crosby set out to change that in 1957 by building

a 480-seat wooden theatre

and inaugurating a summer opera festival.

He always had the idea of doing something that was very different,

to combine standard, rarely performed and new works,

and to create the first apprentice programme for singers

in the United States.

Fire destroyed Crosby's Theatre in 1967.

Within a year, it was replaced with a larger structure.

And in 1998, the present 2,000-seat auditorium opened.

Was it always the idea from the beginning

-to have a sideless and backless opera house?

-It was.

John Crosby thought that it would be a shame to enclose the theatre

when we are surrounded by such incredible natural beauty.

And to have a beautiful sunset as the performance is beginning.

And occasionally that the elements

contribute to the telling of the story.

So what happens when you get torrential rain?

If the rain is coming down vertically, everything is fine.

But when it's coming horizontally, that's a little bit of a problem.

It can get a little bit dicey if the rain gets into the orchestra pit.

Sometimes you might end up with a performance

where there's just one first violin playing at the end of the opera.

You do a whole range of opera and I'm wondering whether you feel

there's a particular suitability

to performing The Girl of the Golden West here.

You better believe it. We have the mountains for Puccini's great opera.

Do you know, it's so often the case

that the scenery becomes part of the set

so it is a very, very magical setting.

Puccini's The Girl of the Golden West is a love story between Minnie,

a saloon owner, and a bandit called Dick Johnson

and is set during the California gold rush of 1849.

Cooper Nolan is an apprentice singer at the opera.

Cooper. Good to see you.

-Good to see you, how's it going?

-Very well.

I understand you're on the Santa Fe Opera apprenticeship programme.

Yes, I am. This is my second year.

Now you're studying the role of Dick Johnson?

-Correct.

-In The Girl of the Golden West.

Would you be so kind as to sing me a little bit?

-Sure, absolutely.

-What are you going to sing?

So this is the second act aria after she's discovered

that Dick Johnson is not who he says he is.

He still loves her, but he's been lying.

He's actually the bandit that everyone's been looking for.

# Or son sei mesi che mio padre mori

# E il labbro mio mormoro un'ardente preghiera

# Oh Dio!

# Ch'ella non sappia mai

# Non sappia mai la mia vergogna!

# Non sappia mia!

# Il sogno e stato vano!

# Ora ho finito. #

Well done. You've convinced me you're a good guy.

Thank you very much. Appreciate it. Thanks for coming around.

-And a very good singer.

-Thank you.

NOTES ON XYLOPHONE RING OUT

When the railroad arrived in 1880, it followed the route of the earlier

Santa Fe Trail, which had brought pioneers from Missouri.

As people in the eastern states grew wealthier,

the more intrepid among them began to venture west as tourists.

Appletons' quotes the writings of a Mrs Wallace, who was married

to the United States Governor before New Mexico was a state.

"The ancient governor's palace

"extends along one whole side of the plaza,

"a long low structure built of adobe.

"Santa Fe was a stronghold before

"the Spanish conquest and a town of some importance

"to the white race when Pennsylvania was still a wilderness.

"It is rich in historic interest."

Time to discover more about the palace and about the Wallaces.

'Meredith Davidson is curator at the Palace of the Governors,

'a New Mexico history museum.'

Meredith, I'm very struck by the depth of history here.

The number of regimes that there have been in Santa Fe,

and specifically in this governors palace.

It was built in 1610.

It's the longest continuously occupied public building

in the whole United States.

When the White House was built, it was 200 years old already.

It's seen five separate governments across its history.

Before it was cited in 1608,

New Mexico was occupied by Native Americans.

It was part of the Spanish Empire from 1610 on.

After that it was briefly part of Mexico,

when Mexico declared independence in 1821.

And following that, it became a US territory

and then later became a state in 1912.

I'm in search of one particular governor mentioned in Appletons'.

Governor Wallace.

Yes, Governor Wallace was our governor from 1878 to 1881.

And he was here at a really fascinating moment

where the railroads were coming into New Mexico for the first time,

where there was still quite an environment

of what romantically is sort of called the Wild West.

Lew Wallace was a Union general in the Civil War,

a lawyer and diplomat.

But his fame today largely rests on his work as a writer.

So we've come down here to look at the chair

that belonged to Governor Lew Wallace.

It was from here that he wrote or presumably wrote the book that

he became most well known for, Ben Hur, which came out in 1880.

So, he would sit there, and this is his writing desk, his table.

-He has it on his lap.

-Right.

Exactly.

Set in the Roman Empire,

the novel tells the story of a young Jewish man of means who loses

his family and freedom because of the injustice of a Roman officer.

But eventually triumphs through his own determination

and the intervention of Jesus Christ.

Adaptations for stage and screen followed, most famously in 1959,

starring Charlton Heston as Ben Hur.

Was it a successful book?

Ben Hur was really an instant success.

It very quickly surpassed sales of Uncle Tom's Cabin,

a book that had been, since the Civil War, really,

one of the most purchased books in the nation.

'A bestseller of biblical proportions!'

I'm continuing my journey from Santa Fe south-west,

on an excursion recommended by my Appletons'.

My next destination will be Acoma.

Appletons' says, "The towns of these Indians are similarly interesting

"and well worth a visit, on an eminence commanding a view

"so situated that they can be approached

"only through a narrow defile.

"The houses are two or three storeys,

"ranged in the form of hollow squares.

"Access can be had only by ladders to the second storeys.

"The first being built solid without an opening."

By the end of the 19th century,

the Native American had become a curiosity,

a tourist attraction.

The Pueblo Indians of the south-west

take their name from the Spanish word used by the first explorers

to describe the apartment-like buildings in which they live.

19 Pueblo communities remain in New Mexico.

They welcome tourists to buy the pottery for which they're renowned,

but filming is rarely allowed.

It's a privilege for me to be invited to visit Acoma Pueblo

on its sandstone bluff 367 feet high.

'I'm meeting tribal secretary John Sims.'

These houses are very much as described in my guidebook

with the ladders.

It says that in those days, there was no opening on the ground floor.

Yes. You know, the ground floor was basically meant for storage

and in case there was intruders or anything like that,

you would pull the ladders up

and the living quarters were on the second storey,

so everybody was nice and safe.

Some of these houses are quite tall, three storeys high.

Is this a fine looking example?

Yes, so the three-storey structures that you find in the pueblo

are probably some of the older houses of the pueblo

and they're all created out of adobe,

which is the straw and mud mixture that you see here.

-May we go inside?

-Yes, sir, follow me.

-It's wonderfully cool in here.

-Yes, definitely keeps in the coolness

during the summer and during the winter,

it keeps it nice and warm in here, also,

once you get the walls heated up.

I notice it's got a wood stove.

I don't see any sign of electric light or anything like that.

No, and actually that's one thing

that you'll find here in the pueblo -

we still operate with no water or no electricity.

People have hauled their water up, people are using wood stoves -

the way our ancestors have done it for hundreds of years

and we still do it today.

The view from here is absolutely breathtaking.

How long has there been a settlement up here?

The way we describe it to ourselves

is we've been here since the beginning of time,

but in terms of anthropology, you can date us to 1500 AD.

Did they settle here for defensive or religious reasons?

The mesa top here was chosen, I think,

more particularly for defence than anything else.

How did you fare with the Spanish when they arrived?

They originally came in

and, for the most part, the Pueblos welcomed them.

The Spanish had other things in mind,

which was to take over land and territories

and, for the most part, they were also looking for riches.

They were looking for gold and they didn't find them.

You know, the battle for Acoma is definitely a large one

in the context of the Pueblo world.

The battle of Acoma between the Spanish and the Pueblo Indians

in 1598 was devastating, with up to 1,500 Native Americans killed.

Over the following decades, the Spanish continued

to repress the Pueblos, until in 1680, the tribes united in revolt.

The Pueblos got together and through force,

drove the Spanish out of New Mexico

and the Spanish basically did not enter New Mexico territory

for about a decade, for almost ten years

and, in those ten years, it allowed the Pueblos to rebuild

and to basically bring back their traditions.

With regard to the present day,

do you think that the Pueblos have survived better

than some other tribe?

The Pueblos have survived a lot better

than our brother and sister tribes out in the rest of North America.

For one instance, a lot of us weren't pushed onto reservations.

We got to stay in our homeland, like you see us here today.

And, secondly, our culture and language survived.

When the railroad came through,

not only did it bring jobs,

but it brought commerce, it brought tourism.

Up to that point, our people were basically farmers, hunters,

but, with tourism, brought money.

We took an item that was traditionally used...

..in the homes and so our ladies started to make

pottery for these people that were coming through the railroads.

Later on, as the train kept building and the lines kept building,

our people found work with them and so to this day,

you find large numbers of Acoma people in places like Sacramento,

in places like Arizona and that was the total direct result of them

working for the railroad.

How would you say the United States treats the Pueblo people today?

The overall thing is that here in Acoma, we have been here

through the Spanish, we were part once of Mexico also, you know?

And then we're here through the American government

and as strong as America is, once the Spanish thought

they were just as strong and just as mighty, and so for Acoma people,

we're going to be here till the end of time.

TRAIN HORN BLARES

This morning, I'll embark on the final stage

of my 1,700 mile journey across the American West.

For the traveller who had seen the Missouri River,

the so-called Mighty Mo,

who had gasped at the Arkansas River's Royal Gorge,

who had marvelled at pueblo towns

perched on pillars of rock 300ft high,

the greatest, grandest wonder still lay ahead.

Starting in Albuquerque, I'll head west to Williams, Arizona

and finish at the Grand Canyon.

My next stop will be Albuquerque,

which Appletons' tells me, "has a population of about 6,000,

"situated on the Rio Grande river at an elevation of some 5,000 feet.

"Albuquerque is the eastern terminus

"of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad.

"The junction with the Atlantic and Pacific Railroad

"is just south of this point."

I've been wondering, in the old days,

what kind of locomotive was robust enough to haul a train

all the way from Chicago to Los Angeles?

BELL CHIMES

TRAIN WHISTLES

Downtown Albuquerque. Please watch your step.

Thank you for riding the New Mexico Rail Runner Express.

Like much of New Mexico, the city of Albuquerque

blends Native American and Spanish influences.

Founded by Spanish colonists in 1706,

it was laid out as a traditional village,

with a central plaza surrounded by public buildings,

homes and a church,

preserved today as the Old Town.

The arrival of the railroad in 1880 transformed Albuquerque.

It became home to the main locomotive works

for the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad,

better known simply as the Santa Fe.

Albuquerque - former railway hub.

Choose your direction - west, north, east, south

and all points in between.

This enormous Albuquerque locomotive repair shed gives me an idea

of how important the railroads were in this city,

and it's as though they just left.

Here are the tracks where the engines were moved.

There are the cranes with which they were hoisted into the air.

There are the pits for the work underneath.

These vast buildings are often compared to cathedrals of steam,

and this one even has stained glass.

The glory days of the railroad in Albuquerque are long gone,

but thanks to a group of keen volunteers,

steam will soon make a comeback.

'John Taylor is a member of

'the New Mexico Steam Locomotive & Railroad Historical Society.'

John, what was the impact on Albuquerque

of the arrival of the railroad?

Well, it was enormous. Before the railroad arrived,

Albuquerque was a very small agricultural community,

largely Hispanic.

When the railroad came, it opened it up to the country

and in fact to the rest of the world.

People could come, goods could come, goods could go -

it really made a huge economic difference.

What kind of facilities had to be provided for the railroad

out here in the West?

Well, initially, of course, you had to provide stations,

sidings, water and fuel stops,

and then, eventually,

Albuquerque developed into the largest workshop complex

between Chicago and Los Angeles,

and it was one of the major employers in Albuquerque

for a number of years.

Is there any work going on here today?

Oh, yes, there is!

We've been talking about history -

let's go and see some living history.

Let's do that.

John and his colleagues are embarked on an ambitious restoration project.

Ha! My goodness, John, that is enormous.

What a whopper!

Isn't she wonderful?

Absolutely!

What is this locomotive?

This is the Santa Fe 2926.

It was built in 1944 by the Baldwin Locomotive Works in Pennsylvania.

It went 100mph,

weighs a million pounds,

and was built to pull freight and troop trains and passengers.

Why was it necessary to have such a big locomotive?

Well, this locomotive is actually equivalent in horsepower

to about a modern diesel engine.

So, if you're going to have...

pull a big train, you have to have to have a big locomotive.

The other thing about this is the combination of the size of

the locomotive and the size of the tender,

which holds 24,500 gallons of water,

was to get a greater distance between water stops.

This uses 100 gallons per mile of water.

Of course, in Europe, water is normally plentiful.

Here in the United States, it must be quite a big issue.

Well, in the desert and the south-west, of course.

-Wow. Fantastic.

-Yes.

Is it possible to get even closer to the locomotive?

Oh, we have something planned for you!

Let's go this way.

This locomotive is at the pinnacle of steam technology,

one of the last to be built burning oil rather than coal.

I can't think of anything more fun.

OK, come on down. Watch your head.

Oh, my word. I don't think I've ever seen such a huge locomotive

and now I'm underneath it.

And at the end here, that very American feature, the cowcatcher.

Indeed, sort of a reminiscence of the Old West.

-This is Pete Adair.

-Pete, hi. Michael.

Hi. Glad to meet you.

He's going to have you help us adjust part of the brake system.

So what do I do, Pete?

We need to twist this until it brings the brake shoes

up close enough to the drivers.

OK.

Right! Very large spanner, very large screw,

apply pressure.

Yay, it's moving.

How far do I need to take it, Pete?

That's about right. That looks like it's got the brake shoes just about

where they should be. Good.

OK, guys, any time you need a hand, you've got my cell number.

Absolutely.

'This magnificent engine had a relatively brief operational life.

'Introduced in 1944, she made her final journey only nine years later.

'For over 40 years, she was exhibited in an Albuquerque park

'before restoration began in 2000.'

Who are you, the guys who've come together to do this great work?

We're everything. I'm a nuclear engineer.

We have a physician.

We have a Lutheran minister.

We have welders, we have police officers...

It's a very, very diverse group.

It looks like you've done

an enormous amount of work on it already.

Are you getting towards the end?

It probably is, within six to eight months,

actually having it running.

It's just going to be an unbelievable experience.

TRAIN WHISTLES

'Here in New Mexico, it's hard to avoid the chilli.

'New Mexicans are so proud of their 8,000-acre annual harvest

'that they've designated the potent pepper their state vegetable -

'an opportunity for me to test my mettle.

'Brothers John and Jim Thomas have been running El Pinto restaurant

'since 1994.'

What a fantastic, beautiful garden restaurant this is.

How did it get started?

Back in 1962, our folks started the El Pinto restaurant,

and John and I were three years old at the time.

We grew up on the premises and we've been enjoying it ever since.

'El Pinto began as one room with a handful of tables.

'Now it seats over 1,200 diners

'and once played host to President Obama.'

New Mexico is just, kind of, famed for chilli, isn't that right?

That's it.

What are the influences that come together in New Mexican cuisine?

Well, it's the Hispanic, it's the Indian culture, the Pueblo Indian,

and the Spanish came in and they collaborated

and they developed recipes like enchiladas,

chillies, beans and corn.

I have no idea, because I'm a foreigner.

What is the difference between the red and the green chilli?

-Well, Michael, actually, they're the same plant.

-Are they?

It's just that the green is not matured and the red is matured.

What is the difference in the flavour?

The red chilli has been ripened, so it has a sweeter flavour.

-Yeah?

-And then the green chilli has less sweet of a flavour,

but we roast it and it gives a really nice, distinct flavour.

You can smell it. The way they smell is so good.

There's nothing like chillies.

Chilli goes with everything.

Michael, come along. We're going to show you how to make

a red chilli and chicken enchilada.

I don't even know what an enchilada is!

You start off with the blue corn tortilla.

Go ahead and just lay it in the chilli there.

Flip it on one side, and then flip it on the other side.

-Coat it all the way, Michael.

-That's it.

There we go. What do we to add to that?

Now, we're going to put some onions first -

just a sprinkle, like a light dusting.

Then we go ahead and sprinkle some cheese.

Not too much cheese. This is not a pizza, this is an enchilada.

Give another tortilla a drench. Another tortilla.

-Flip it in there.

-There you go.

-You got the hang of it after that.

-Perfect. Lay it right on top.

-You've got a job, dude.

-There we go. THEY LAUGH

Now we want to put a little chicken on there.

-Layer it right on there.

-Then you've got to put another tortilla on top,

that's going to cover it.

More chilli on top.

-We're going to put an egg on top.

-Put an egg on there.

Now it all looks good and ready to me.

You've got it. Let's go and grab a margarita and have a meal.

I tell you what amazes me is how much of the chilli sauce you use.

You guys really like your chilli, don't you?

Like our grandmother used to say, "Panza llena, corazon contento" -

"Full stomach - happy heart."

So, chicken, cheese, onion, tortilla and chilli.

Wow!

That's great.

Mmm.

That fills your mouth and fills the stomach, doesn't it?

Yes.

-Salud.

-Salud!

I'm leaving Albuquerque and rejoining Amtrak's Southwest Chief

for a really long journey, close to 400 miles west

to Williams Junction in Arizona. TRAIN WHISTLES

On the long rail journey from Chicago to Los Angeles,

a lot of people invest in a sleeping compartment,

and I thought I would take a look.

Come on in.

It is very luxurious.

Look at this lovely sofa.

I'm guessing that this comes down so that this makes two beds.

Aha! A lovely armchair,

so that I can face the direction of travel

and see this beautiful scenery.

The private facilities must be this.

Ooh.

Ah! Very small, but it does the job.

And then the surprise is this -

that it's also a shower.

Every mod con.

-Hello!

-Good evening, folks. My name is Milton.

-Very good to see you, Milton.

-I'm you car attendant

and I'm here to take care of your bed and put it down and put it up.

-Can you show me how this works, then?

-OK.

First, you push this.

-Aha!

-This is totally going to be your bed and bunk.

Heavens, Milton, that's virtually a double bed. That's very generous.

Yes, this actually could sleep two.

How many people are you looking after in the sleeping car?

-Over 40.

-Over 40?

-Over 40.

Do you get a lot of people

-travelling all the way from Chicago to Los Angeles?

-Yes, a lot.

Why do you think they're travelling by train,

as opposed to a plane?

Well, travelling because most of them have a disability is one.

-A lot of people are scared to fly.

-Yes.

That's two and I guess it's the best scenery you could see.

You can't see that out the plane!

Before air travel became commonplace,

railroads competed for long-distance passengers.

The Santa Fe launched its Super Chief service,

between Los Angeles and Chicago, in 1936.

Exclusively first-class, the train had three lounges,

a five-star dining carriage and Pullman sleeping accommodation.

It became the transport of stars during Hollywood's golden age.

Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton,

Frank Sinatra and Judy Garland were just some of those who enjoyed

the luxury of the Super Chief.

I've arrived in the Arizona town of Williams.

I'm heading to the town's old train depot,

built in 1908 by the Santa Fe Railroad.

The Amtrak train delivered me in the dead of night to the truly remote

Williams Junction, in a forest which is a great habitat for bears.

At the time of my guidebook,

you would leave the train at Peach Springs and take a stagecoach,

but for the last century and more, there has been a train,

and so, now, this is what Appletons' calls "the departure point

"for one of the greatest wonders of nature in the world".

TRAIN WHISTLES

TRAIN WHISTLES AGAIN

'I'm thrilled to be on my way to one of the greatest sights on earth,

'and it seems that I'm not alone.'

-Hello.

-Hi.

-May I join you a moment?

-Sure.

-Are you visiting the Grand Canyon for the first time?

-Yes, we are.

-We are, we are. We're very excited.

I'm very excited. I'm visiting for the first time.

-Oh, really?

-Yeah, it's a great feeling, isn't it?

-It is.

Do you like rail travel?

I love rail travel.

It brings back the sense of history,

and it allows you to see the whole of the scenery

in a very relaxing way.

Have you been to the Grand Canyon before?

-Yes.

-Oh, many times, yes.

As many times as you go out there,

you look at it and you go, "This is not real!"

-Get over there...

-Oh, go on, then.

-This'll be the highlight of their trip.

-Oh!

-Thank you.

-Oh, brilliant. Thank you very much.

The Grand Canyon Railway stretches 65 miles

from Williams to the south rim of the canyon.

It opened in 1901,

cutting the journey time from three days in a stagecoach

to a mere three hours.

America's love affair with the automobile

meant that the line closed to passengers in 1968.

It was a close shave, but luckily the tracks weren't scrapped,

and on the 17th of September 1989,

88 years to the day since the first train ran to the south rim,

the Grand Canyon Railway reopened.

Appletons' is ecstatic.

"The Grand Canyon of the Colorado was made known to the world

"in detail only a few years ago by the adventurous voyage of

"Major John Wesley Powell down the river.

"The Colorado River passes through a succession of remarkable canyons,

"but all sink into insignificance before the Grand Canyon,

"which is more than 300 miles long.

"This canyon opens all the series of geological strata.

"The walls are from 3,000 to 7,000 in height."

And I'm prepared for much of what I've seen in my life

to sink into insignificance today.

Ha...

Oh.

Now, that really is... That is a great...

That is a great moment of my life.

It's almost like being punched, it is such a surprise.

It's like...

It's like a glimpse of the infinite.

I had no idea it was going to be so multicoloured,

so multi-layered, so...

so wide.

It just is the most...

the most wonderful thing.

Literally, literally awe-inspiring.

Absolutely extraordinary.

'The United States acquired the territory in which

'the Grand Canyon sits from Mexico in 1848.

'Emily Davis works for the National Park Service.'

I'm seeing the Grand Canyon for the first time, and it's like seeing

a compendium of infinite time,

all the layers of rock built up, upon each other,

and then eroded by the river, the Colorado.

Over what period was the Grand Canyon formed?

So, according to geologists,

the Grand Canyon formed about seven million years ago

and that's when the Colorado River took its present-day course.

What we often say is we have a very young canyon, but very old rocks.

The rocks that we're standing on right now,

the youngest is about 270 million years old

and the rocks get progressively younger

as you make your way down into the canyon.

My guidebook talks about Powell setting out in detail

the Grand Canyon.

What was it that John Wesley Powell did?

In 1869, John Wesley Powell became the first European American

to raft down the Colorado River to challenge the white-water rapids.

While doing so, he basically made the first map of the Grand Canyon,

and, in a way, he really opened the West to exploration, to study,

and exploitation as well.

During the American Civil War,

John Wesley Powell had lost his right arm in battle.

At the time of his expedition,

much of the West had still not been mapped.

His group of ten set off along a tributary of the Colorado River

in Wyoming in May 1869.

Three months and 1,000 miles later,

six emaciated survivors arrived in Nevada.

So, when the detail of the Grand Canyon had been revealed by Powell,

did Americans want to exploit it or to treasure it?

Most people back in the late 1800s did want to come to exploit it,

so the earliest people after Powell were the miners, looking for,

of course, gold or silver.

They didn't find any of that, but mostly, once they got here,

they realised it's better to mine the pockets of tourists

rather than to mine the rocks themselves.

To preserve the Grand Canyon for the nation,

President Teddy Roosevelt designated it a national monument in 1908.

11 years later, it was further protected

when Congress made this area a national park.

Roosevelt visited here as early as 1901,

took one look at this place and was utterly inspired, and said,

"This is the one great sight that every American should see."

And now about five and a half million visitors

come to the Grand Canyon to see the grandeur that Teddy Roosevelt

spoke and wrote about, and the very place that Teddy Roosevelt helped

to set aside for our children and our children's children.

At 277 miles long, ten miles wide and over one mile deep,

the scale of the Grand Canyon is hard to grasp.

-Hello, guys.

-Hi!

-How do you feel about what you're seeing here?

-Great.

-It's amazing.

-Yeah.

-First visit to the Grand Canyon?

-Yes, yep.

-Where have you come from?

-New York.

-Has it lived up to expectations?

-Yeah, and beyond, yeah.

-Why so?

-It's just so much bigger

and the magnitude is just so much more than we thought coming here.

-And how are you going to explore it?

-We're doing both extremes.

Today was the top and tomorrow we're going to go to the bottom

and we're going to do a raft ride

and be on the Colorado River.

Go on enjoying the views. It's a lovely evening.

-Thank you so much.

-Bye-bye.

Having seen the Grand Canyon from the ground,

I'm convinced that I will get an altogether different image

from the air.

One of the things I noticed on the train,

and it's apparent again from the plane,

is how the Grand Canyon takes you by surprise.

Below me is this rather unimpressive scrubby plain,

and then, suddenly, you reach the edge of the Grand Canyon,

which maybe explains why, for so many years,

European Americans didn't know where it was.

Here we go, over the edge,

and the ground falls away beneath us.

And now, for the first time,

I see into the depths of the Grand Canyon,

the River Colorado appearing like a muddy brown stream

from this height -

it's difficult to believe that it has eroded this vast landscape.

If you want to think of a hero, think of John Wesley Powell,

down there in the Colorado River, that one-armed army veteran,

paddling, determined to map the Grand Canyon,

to bring its wonder to the attention of others.

Covering 1,700 miles since I left St Louis,

I've crossed plains and mountains.

This vast continent was once home to millions

of Native Americans and buffalo.

I've travelled along the valleys of the Missouri and the Arkansas,

the route once taken by the wagon trains,

and later by the railroads.

The trains transformed this land

and sealed the fate of its original inhabitants.

When the settlers arrived with their European religions,

they must have looked upon this landscape as a gift from God -

proof that the United States was entitled to enjoy

the wonders of nature from ocean to ocean.

That was its manifest destiny.

Next time, I begin a 1,000-mile journey from Minnesota's Twin Cities

to Memphis, Tennessee,

starting and finishing on the mighty Mississippi River.

You'll be riding as my bitch!

-It's a privilege.

-Yes!

-THEY LAUGH

-There they go. Don't let them get away!

-Oh!

-I enjoyed the ride. Thank you so much.

-I thank you!

2-58, your train's never late!

TRAIN WHISTLES