0:00:02 > 0:00:04I have crossed the Atlantic
0:00:04 > 0:00:07to ride the railroads of North America with my
0:00:07 > 0:00:09reliable Appletons' guide.
0:00:12 > 0:00:14Published in the late 19th century,
0:00:14 > 0:00:19Appletons' General Guide to North America will direct me to all
0:00:19 > 0:00:26that's novel, beautiful, memorable, and striking in the United States.
0:00:26 > 0:00:28THEY SHOUT IN SWEDISH
0:00:28 > 0:00:30As I journey across this vast continent,
0:00:30 > 0:00:35I'll discover how pioneers and cowboys conquered the West.
0:00:35 > 0:00:39And how the railroads tied this nation together,
0:00:39 > 0:00:42helping to create the global superstate of today.
0:01:10 > 0:01:15I'm continuing a journey across America's Midwest
0:01:15 > 0:01:18that will take in some of the most vibrant cities in the United States.
0:01:18 > 0:01:21They were founded in an age of settlement
0:01:21 > 0:01:23and early industrialisation,
0:01:23 > 0:01:26but they became great in the railway age.
0:01:26 > 0:01:30As the modern world cut a swathe across the country,
0:01:30 > 0:01:32older cultures faced extinction.
0:01:34 > 0:01:38I've begun my journey in Minnesota's Twin Cities.
0:01:38 > 0:01:40I'll follow the Mississippi River south
0:01:40 > 0:01:43before crossing into Wisconsin at La Crosse.
0:01:43 > 0:01:48I'll push east towards Milwaukee on the shore of Lake Michigan.
0:01:48 > 0:01:53Then turn south to Chicago before travelling the length of Illinois,
0:01:53 > 0:01:54through Centralia.
0:01:54 > 0:01:57I'll find myself back on the Mississippi
0:01:57 > 0:02:00at my journey's end in Memphis, Tennessee.
0:02:00 > 0:02:03Today, I continue my tour of the Twin Cities,
0:02:03 > 0:02:05Minneapolis and St Paul.
0:02:05 > 0:02:06Along the way,
0:02:06 > 0:02:10I'll use my diplomatic skills at a Swedish-American lunch.
0:02:10 > 0:02:14What a very... What a very interesting texture.
0:02:14 > 0:02:17Feel the rhythm of a great American epic poem.
0:02:17 > 0:02:20So you get what sounds to us like a tom-tom beat.
0:02:20 > 0:02:21Boom-boom. Boom-boom. Boom-boom.
0:02:21 > 0:02:24By the shores of Gitche Gumee.
0:02:24 > 0:02:27And experience life as a turn-of-the-century tycoon.
0:02:27 > 0:02:29Oh, beautiful. Let's bounce on the bed.
0:02:32 > 0:02:35These people knew how to live.
0:02:38 > 0:02:42Each of the two 19th-century cities of St Paul and Minneapolis
0:02:42 > 0:02:45grew by playing to its strengths on the Mississippi River.
0:02:45 > 0:02:48St Paul as the most northerly port...
0:02:51 > 0:02:55..and Minneapolis with its industry driven by the St Anthony Falls.
0:02:57 > 0:02:59Their characters remain distinct today.
0:02:59 > 0:03:02St Paul, older and more conservative,
0:03:02 > 0:03:05Minneapolis, younger and more hip.
0:03:05 > 0:03:09First stop, breakfast, in one of Minneapolis' favourite haunts.
0:03:12 > 0:03:16This must be the narrowest diner I've ever been in.
0:03:16 > 0:03:17And there's no room at the counter,
0:03:17 > 0:03:21so I guess we just stand here, do we? OK.
0:03:21 > 0:03:22Originally a storage shed,
0:03:22 > 0:03:25made from a corrugated roof over an alleyway,
0:03:25 > 0:03:30this building has been used as an eating place since 1937
0:03:30 > 0:03:33and became Al's Diner in the 1950s.
0:03:33 > 0:03:35Right, that seat is yours, sir.
0:03:35 > 0:03:36That one is mine. Thank you very much.
0:03:36 > 0:03:38I will smear the bacteria.
0:03:39 > 0:03:41This is a very thin diner.
0:03:41 > 0:03:45- Very, very thin.- This is how big Americans were back in 1950.
0:03:47 > 0:03:51- How many pancakes do you want? - How many do you recommend?- Two.
0:03:51 > 0:03:54- Two.- You've got to keep that girlish figure.
0:03:54 > 0:03:57- Short while he blows! - Short while he blows.
0:03:58 > 0:04:01Doug Grina still operates a system of credit
0:04:01 > 0:04:04that dates back to the time when the diner catered for workers
0:04:04 > 0:04:06from the nearby railway yard.
0:04:07 > 0:04:11These books you see down here, those are prepaid credit for regulars.
0:04:11 > 0:04:15And it started when Al would come in in the mornings and do prep work,
0:04:15 > 0:04:18he would have railroad workers come in about 4.30 in the morning.
0:04:18 > 0:04:21He wasn't ready to open, but he'd have sweet rolls and coffee
0:04:21 > 0:04:23for them and he'd ask them to write down what they ate.
0:04:23 > 0:04:26And he learned very quickly, better get the money first.
0:04:26 > 0:04:28Right. Are you a regular?
0:04:28 > 0:04:29I am not. This is my first time here.
0:04:29 > 0:04:32And what brought you here? What made you think of coming?
0:04:32 > 0:04:34- All of my friends. - Obviously, it's a great novelty,
0:04:34 > 0:04:37having such a narrow diner, but is the food good too?
0:04:37 > 0:04:38Yeah. Oh, yeah.
0:04:38 > 0:04:42And you get cabaret thrown in from behind the counter, don't you?
0:04:42 > 0:04:45- Voila, your steaming heap. - Thank you very much indeed.
0:04:45 > 0:04:48- Nearly arrived in my lap. - This here is real maple syrup.
0:04:48 > 0:04:50Squeezed from trees.
0:04:50 > 0:04:52Sounds plausible.
0:04:52 > 0:04:57Swimming in butter, glued with maple syrup.
0:04:57 > 0:04:58Stuffed with fruit.
0:05:00 > 0:05:01Amazing.
0:05:07 > 0:05:09I'm taking the metro south
0:05:09 > 0:05:12to explore the earliest period in the history of the Twin Cities,
0:05:12 > 0:05:17when European fur traders and trappers began to trade
0:05:17 > 0:05:18with Native Americans.
0:05:21 > 0:05:24Appletons' tells me that the first building in St Paul
0:05:24 > 0:05:28was erected in 1838 and for several years thereafter,
0:05:28 > 0:05:30it was simply an Indian trading post.
0:05:30 > 0:05:33The first treaty with the Sioux Indians,
0:05:33 > 0:05:37throwing their lands open to settlement, was made in 1837.
0:05:39 > 0:05:41I'm on my way to Fort Snelling,
0:05:41 > 0:05:44which stands on a cliff overlooking the confluence
0:05:44 > 0:05:47of the Mississippi and Minnesota rivers.
0:05:47 > 0:05:50It's a sacred place for the Dakota Sioux Indians.
0:05:50 > 0:05:55The fort was built by the United States Army in 1825,
0:05:55 > 0:05:58when white men and Native Americans traded cordially,
0:05:58 > 0:06:00but within less than 40 years,
0:06:00 > 0:06:04the Dakota had been stripped of their Minnesota homelands
0:06:04 > 0:06:07and were at war with United States.
0:06:13 > 0:06:17These beautiful lands belonged to Native Americans, but when Europeans
0:06:17 > 0:06:20arrived here, hungry for land and wealth,
0:06:20 > 0:06:23they behaved as though the territory was theirs.
0:06:23 > 0:06:25It was an appalling clash of culture,
0:06:25 > 0:06:28the Europeans with their mass production and their rifles
0:06:28 > 0:06:32and their steam engines and their railways,
0:06:32 > 0:06:35the Native Americans advanced philosophically,
0:06:35 > 0:06:38but technologically backward.
0:06:38 > 0:06:39What happened to the Native Americans
0:06:39 > 0:06:44is one of the darkest chapters in United States' history,
0:06:44 > 0:06:47something for which even today they have difficulty in atoning.
0:06:49 > 0:06:52The governor of Minnesota, Alexander Ramsay,
0:06:52 > 0:06:56declared all Dakota must be exterminated
0:06:56 > 0:06:58or driven out of the state.
0:06:58 > 0:07:01Thousands were imprisoned and 38 were killed
0:07:01 > 0:07:06in the largest mass execution in United States history.
0:07:06 > 0:07:121,700 women and children were forced to march 150 miles to Fort Snelling,
0:07:12 > 0:07:15where they were interned in a camp
0:07:15 > 0:07:18before being exiled to western reservations.
0:07:20 > 0:07:23Ramona Kitto Stately is an expert
0:07:23 > 0:07:27in American-Indian culture and language.
0:07:27 > 0:07:30Ramona, we meet in a delightful spot.
0:07:30 > 0:07:31You are Dakota, is that right?
0:07:31 > 0:07:35- Yes, I am.- What is the significance to the Dakota of Fort Snelling?
0:07:36 > 0:07:40Fort Snelling is actually the place of our creation.
0:07:40 > 0:07:43For us, this is the centre of our universe.
0:07:43 > 0:07:46We call it Bdote.
0:07:46 > 0:07:48It is the place of our genesis,
0:07:48 > 0:07:51but it is also the place of our genocide.
0:07:51 > 0:07:53The people who were brought to Fort Snelling,
0:07:53 > 0:07:55the non-combatant Dakota people,
0:07:55 > 0:07:58they were housed in what's been described as a concentration camp.
0:07:58 > 0:07:59Is that a fair expression?
0:07:59 > 0:08:02If you look at what the determinants of
0:08:02 > 0:08:06a concentration camp are, it meets every single one of the criteria.
0:08:06 > 0:08:10And yes, it was a place of holding for our Dakota women and children,
0:08:10 > 0:08:14under very harsh conditions, for the purpose of exile and removal.
0:08:14 > 0:08:17They would have done it probably sooner,
0:08:17 > 0:08:19except this Bdote was frozen.
0:08:19 > 0:08:22So they had to keep them here for six months.
0:08:22 > 0:08:24And the Dakota were literally shipped out.
0:08:24 > 0:08:27The women were shipped out, right here at this landing.
0:08:27 > 0:08:32They were boarded on steamboats and taken to Crow Creek and then
0:08:32 > 0:08:36eventually Santee, which is where my people live in exile today.
0:08:36 > 0:08:38- In Nebraska?- Yes.
0:08:38 > 0:08:41- A long way from here. - A long way from here.
0:08:41 > 0:08:44What do you think were the consequences for the Dakota
0:08:44 > 0:08:47of the Indian War of 1862?
0:08:47 > 0:08:51The consequences were exactly what they were meant to be,
0:08:51 > 0:08:54which was exile, loss of land.
0:08:54 > 0:08:59There's no faster way to bring the hearts of people to
0:08:59 > 0:09:03their knees than to separate them from their language, their culture,
0:09:03 > 0:09:05their medicines, their food supply,
0:09:05 > 0:09:09their water and all of their ancestors,
0:09:09 > 0:09:12who are buried along this beautiful river valley.
0:09:14 > 0:09:17Since 2002, every other year,
0:09:17 > 0:09:20descendants of the Dakota prisoners have retraced
0:09:20 > 0:09:23the steps of the forced march to Fort Snelling.
0:09:23 > 0:09:28Placing prayer flags at every mile, singing traditional songs,
0:09:28 > 0:09:31and telling stories of their ancestors.
0:09:31 > 0:09:36One of the ways for us to even be able to begin that healing is to
0:09:36 > 0:09:41bring back the language, to bring back the culture, to remember,
0:09:41 > 0:09:45to put back together the oldest cultural knowledge
0:09:45 > 0:09:47on this continent.
0:09:47 > 0:09:51Go back to that point where our mothers lost their voice
0:09:51 > 0:09:52and reclaim it.
0:10:03 > 0:10:08European migration to the Midwest eased during the Dakota War,
0:10:08 > 0:10:11but grew steadily after the Dakota were exiled.
0:10:11 > 0:10:16I've come to South Minneapolis and the American Swedish Institute,
0:10:16 > 0:10:19where I'm meeting current president Bruce Karstadt,
0:10:19 > 0:10:22to find out how this community keeps its heritage alive.
0:10:24 > 0:10:27- Bruce, hello.- Michael, welcome to the American Swedish Institute.
0:10:27 > 0:10:29- A pleasure to have you here. - Thank you. Great to be here.
0:10:29 > 0:10:31- Let's go up. Yep.- What a pile.
0:10:31 > 0:10:35This extravagant French-style chateaux was built by Swedish
0:10:35 > 0:10:38newspaper baron Swan Turnblad,
0:10:38 > 0:10:40who left it to the Institute
0:10:40 > 0:10:43to be used as a museum and cultural centre.
0:10:43 > 0:10:44So, when was the peak period
0:10:44 > 0:10:47of Swedish immigration into the United States?
0:10:47 > 0:10:50It was between 1860 and 1910.
0:10:50 > 0:10:53About 20% of Sweden's population
0:10:53 > 0:10:56or 1.2 million of a five million population country
0:10:56 > 0:11:00left Sweden for principally North America and the United States.
0:11:02 > 0:11:05The majority of these emigrants were farmers,
0:11:05 > 0:11:09attracted to Minnesota by its familiar landscape and climate.
0:11:09 > 0:11:12They built hospitals, churches, and schools
0:11:12 > 0:11:17that upheld Swedish values and reinforced ties with their homeland.
0:11:18 > 0:11:20And what about food?
0:11:20 > 0:11:21When Swedes came here,
0:11:21 > 0:11:26packed in their trunk were recipe cards and pots and pans and other
0:11:26 > 0:11:27kitchen utensils.
0:11:27 > 0:11:31You will find cherished recipes for Swedish meatballs,
0:11:31 > 0:11:36for baked rye bread, lutefisk,
0:11:36 > 0:11:39and all sorts of other delicacies that were important to them.
0:11:39 > 0:11:44- What on earth is lutefisk? - Reconstituted dried cod.
0:11:44 > 0:11:49So, drying of fish, like meat, is a way of preserving food.
0:11:49 > 0:11:52And so, one way in which today's Swedish Americans
0:11:52 > 0:11:55honour that tradition and that past is
0:11:55 > 0:11:57by having lutefisk at Christmas time.
0:12:00 > 0:12:04It's closer to Midsummer than Christmas, but tonight,
0:12:04 > 0:12:08the Institute is holding a special dinner and lutefisk is on the menu.
0:12:09 > 0:12:13Nordic food specialist Patrice Johnson is head chef
0:12:13 > 0:12:15and I'm going to lend a hand.
0:12:15 > 0:12:17Hello. Are you Patrice?
0:12:17 > 0:12:19- I am.- I'm Michael. - Hi, Michael. Nice to meet you.
0:12:19 > 0:12:24I've come to help you... Help you, make lutefisk.
0:12:24 > 0:12:25I'm happy for your help.
0:12:25 > 0:12:27Lutefisk kind of makes itself.
0:12:27 > 0:12:29- Oh.- But you have to keep an eye on it.
0:12:29 > 0:12:31- OK, good. - So you can help me with that.
0:12:31 > 0:12:34Now, what I've heard about this dish does not encourage me at all.
0:12:36 > 0:12:37Do you know how it's made?
0:12:37 > 0:12:40Well, I believe you start with dried cod, is that right?
0:12:40 > 0:12:43It is, that's true. And then they soak it in lye.
0:12:43 > 0:12:45Isn't that stuff you use for making soap?
0:12:45 > 0:12:46Yeah. That's the same stuff.
0:12:46 > 0:12:48But you can see that the lye in the water
0:12:48 > 0:12:52has made it a little bit gelatinous.
0:12:52 > 0:12:54Oh. It has.
0:12:55 > 0:12:58Ah, I'm relieved. Not too smelly at this point.
0:12:58 > 0:12:59I'll pop that in there, shall I?
0:12:59 > 0:13:03Yeah. And we are going to put some salt and some white pepper on this.
0:13:03 > 0:13:05And I'm going to put a little bit of allspice on there as well.
0:13:05 > 0:13:08Allspice is indicative of lutefisk.
0:13:08 > 0:13:10Now, that is really nice.
0:13:10 > 0:13:12- Isn't that nice?- Yeah, yeah.
0:13:12 > 0:13:14I'm relieved that we've got some of that in there as well.
0:13:14 > 0:13:18'The fish is covered in unsalted butter and steam cooked
0:13:18 > 0:13:20'in the oven until it flakes.
0:13:20 > 0:13:22'Overcook it and it turns to mush.'
0:13:22 > 0:13:25Goodbye, little fishy.
0:13:25 > 0:13:27'30 minutes later, and it's ready to serve.'
0:13:27 > 0:13:30Smell it.
0:13:30 > 0:13:33MICHAEL COUGHS
0:13:33 > 0:13:35Yeah... I can smell it.
0:13:35 > 0:13:37'Outside in the garden,
0:13:37 > 0:13:40'13 hungry Swedish Americans are waiting to tuck in.'
0:13:41 > 0:13:44Hey, everybody. The lutefisk is here.
0:13:44 > 0:13:46THEY CHEER
0:13:46 > 0:13:50Happy Christmas to one and all.
0:13:50 > 0:13:52There we are. You're going to have a big piece.
0:13:52 > 0:13:55- You're a brave man.- Thank you.
0:13:55 > 0:13:58'Lutefisk is traditionally served with boiled potatoes and either a
0:13:58 > 0:14:01'butter or a cream sauce.'
0:14:01 > 0:14:03Would you like some fish with that cream?
0:14:04 > 0:14:07- Sorry.- I did put rather a lot of cream on.
0:14:07 > 0:14:09Also to deaden the taste.
0:14:14 > 0:14:17Hm! THEY LAUGH
0:14:17 > 0:14:18Hm!
0:14:20 > 0:14:23What a very interesting texture.
0:14:23 > 0:14:26- Memorable, isn't it?- Memorable.
0:14:26 > 0:14:27'I'm not alone.
0:14:27 > 0:14:30'Not everyone here is a lutefisk fan.'
0:14:30 > 0:14:34Oh. Oh, you're exporting...
0:14:34 > 0:14:35- Yes.- ..yours.
0:14:35 > 0:14:37Are you not too keen on it?
0:14:37 > 0:14:39No, I'm not, but I love making it.
0:14:39 > 0:14:41I've made it for over 40 years.
0:14:41 > 0:14:43When we lived away from Minnesota,
0:14:43 > 0:14:44I would have it shipped in overnight,
0:14:44 > 0:14:46so he could have it for Christmas Eve.
0:14:46 > 0:14:48And you really do like it.
0:14:48 > 0:14:49I do like it. Yes. Absolutely.
0:14:49 > 0:14:52I grew up with it and, yeah, it
0:14:52 > 0:14:55brings me back to Christmases of long ago
0:14:55 > 0:14:57and parents and grandparents.
0:14:57 > 0:14:58- Now, that's nice.- Yes.
0:14:59 > 0:15:03'No Swedish feast would be complete without aquavit.'
0:15:03 > 0:15:04Oh, thank you very much.
0:15:04 > 0:15:07'A spirit flavoured with herbs and spices
0:15:07 > 0:15:10'first distilled in Sweden in the 15th century.'
0:15:10 > 0:15:12We are going to do a skol.
0:15:12 > 0:15:14THEY SING IN SWEDISH
0:15:29 > 0:15:31Skol!
0:15:31 > 0:15:32Skol!
0:15:38 > 0:15:39And it's not over yet.
0:15:39 > 0:15:42The Swedish fiddle group Spelmanslag
0:15:42 > 0:15:44plays songs based on traditional melodies,
0:15:44 > 0:15:48sung by Swedish maidens to their cattle in the pastures.
0:15:48 > 0:15:51And by miners and loggers as they walked to work.
0:15:57 > 0:16:00My dear American-Swedish friends,
0:16:00 > 0:16:04what a memorable evening this has been and thank you so much.
0:16:04 > 0:16:05Skol!
0:16:05 > 0:16:06- ALL:- Skol.
0:16:11 > 0:16:13APPLAUSE
0:16:22 > 0:16:24I'm up early and back on the Metro,
0:16:24 > 0:16:27which is taking me out to the west of the city
0:16:27 > 0:16:31to a place that has been on the tourist map for over a century,
0:16:31 > 0:16:33and is still attracting visitors today,
0:16:33 > 0:16:36thanks in part to its literary connections.
0:16:37 > 0:16:40Appletons' tells me that the Minnehaha Falls,
0:16:40 > 0:16:44"which were immortalised by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow,
0:16:44 > 0:16:49"are picturesquely situated, but hardly merit the prominence
0:16:49 > 0:16:52"that Mr Longfellow's poem has obtained for them."
0:16:52 > 0:16:54Nonetheless, I'll go and have a look.
0:16:54 > 0:16:58Where would I be now if I'd been put off by mediocre reviews?
0:17:01 > 0:17:03In the early 19th century,
0:17:03 > 0:17:07a pioneering landscape photograph of the falls gained
0:17:07 > 0:17:10wide circulation in the United States.
0:17:10 > 0:17:13It may have inspired Longfellow to write his epic poem,
0:17:13 > 0:17:14The Song Of Hiawatha.
0:17:16 > 0:17:19Enchanted by the name Minnehaha,
0:17:19 > 0:17:23Longfellow used it for his Native American hero's beautiful lover.
0:17:25 > 0:17:27To hear more, I'm meeting Charles Calhoun,
0:17:27 > 0:17:30who has written a book about Longfellow.
0:17:32 > 0:17:34Welcome to Minnehaha Falls, Michael.
0:17:34 > 0:17:37Thank you very much. Did Longfellow come here to study...?
0:17:37 > 0:17:40No, no, no. He was very desk-bound in his very beautiful house in
0:17:40 > 0:17:43Cambridge, Massachusetts, near Harvard, where he had been teaching,
0:17:43 > 0:17:45but he had a wonderful imagination
0:17:45 > 0:17:48and he could take what he read in these books about Indian legends
0:17:48 > 0:17:51and more and this wonderful array of Indian place names
0:17:51 > 0:17:54and personal names and turn it into a great epic.
0:17:56 > 0:17:59The poem tells of the life of Hiawatha,
0:17:59 > 0:18:02a mythical Native American warrior and leader,
0:18:02 > 0:18:04from his birth to manhood.
0:18:04 > 0:18:08And the tragedy of his love for the beautiful Minnehaha.
0:18:08 > 0:18:13Hiawatha performs brave and magical deeds, slays foes,
0:18:13 > 0:18:15and woos his lover, but she dies.
0:18:15 > 0:18:19He quits his people, sailing into the sunset.
0:18:19 > 0:18:22Do you think he had an intention with the poem?
0:18:22 > 0:18:25Yes, he was one of these 19th-century poets
0:18:25 > 0:18:28who wanted to write a great bardic epic that would summarise
0:18:28 > 0:18:31the history of this country and bring its peoples,
0:18:31 > 0:18:33it's varied peoples, together.
0:18:33 > 0:18:37And he saw that the obvious material wasn't in New England,
0:18:37 > 0:18:41it was in the West, where the Native Americans were still thriving.
0:18:43 > 0:18:46The song of Hiawatha became an instant bestseller
0:18:46 > 0:18:50and made Longfellow one of the wealthiest and best-known authors
0:18:50 > 0:18:51of his day.
0:18:51 > 0:18:56But many Americans criticised his choice of subject matter.
0:18:56 > 0:18:58As you read it,
0:18:58 > 0:19:03what attitude from him towards Native Americans do you infer?
0:19:03 > 0:19:05Well, I think he was sympathetic, certainly,
0:19:05 > 0:19:07or he wouldn't have launched such a huge project, but he,
0:19:07 > 0:19:08like many people in his time,
0:19:08 > 0:19:12he saw them as noble savages and he stressed the noble part of it.
0:19:12 > 0:19:15Yet, for most Americans at that time,
0:19:15 > 0:19:19it was the savage side of that phrase that really predominated.
0:19:19 > 0:19:22It is so strange, the poem comes out and has this huge readership,
0:19:22 > 0:19:24yet within a generation,
0:19:24 > 0:19:29so many of the Native Americans in this country have been wiped out.
0:19:29 > 0:19:32Tell me about the sound of the poem. It has a very specific metre.
0:19:32 > 0:19:36Yes, it's written in a metre called trochaic tetrameter.
0:19:36 > 0:19:38Which means a strong beat, a soft beat,
0:19:38 > 0:19:41a strong beat, a soft beat, over four measures.
0:19:41 > 0:19:44So you get what sounds to us like a tom-tom beat.
0:19:44 > 0:19:46Boom-boom, boom-boom, boom-boom, boom-boom.
0:19:46 > 0:19:48By the shores of Gitche Gumee.
0:19:48 > 0:19:51You might be surprised to know that I,
0:19:51 > 0:19:54brought up maybe 4,500 miles from Minnehaha Falls,
0:19:54 > 0:19:57was taught the poem at school.
0:19:57 > 0:19:59Excellent. That makes my day to hear that.
0:19:59 > 0:20:01And how much of it do you remember?
0:20:02 > 0:20:07Ah! Well, what I remember is precisely the beat.
0:20:07 > 0:20:09- It's hypnotic.- I remember the metre.
0:20:09 > 0:20:13But now, it looks like you've got a copy of it there.
0:20:13 > 0:20:15Yes, a very nice early edition.
0:20:15 > 0:20:17- Please, help yourself. - Thank you very much.
0:20:19 > 0:20:24"There the ancient Arrow-maker Made his arrow heads of sandstone.
0:20:24 > 0:20:27"With him dwelt his dark-eyed daughter,
0:20:27 > 0:20:29"Wayward as the Minnehaha,
0:20:29 > 0:20:32"With her moods of shade and sunshine,
0:20:32 > 0:20:35"Eyes that smiled and frowned alternate,
0:20:35 > 0:20:37"Feet as rapid as the river,
0:20:37 > 0:20:40"Tresses flowing like the water,
0:20:40 > 0:20:42"And as musical a laughter.
0:20:42 > 0:20:46"And he named her from the river, From the waterfall he named her.
0:20:46 > 0:20:49"Minnehaha, Laughing Water."
0:20:49 > 0:20:51- Well done.- It's lovely. Absolutely lovely.
0:20:51 > 0:20:55I could read from the railroad timetable now, if you'd like.
0:20:55 > 0:20:59Now the 0800 passes, now the 805 approaches.
0:20:59 > 0:21:01- Choo-choo.- Choo-choo.
0:21:10 > 0:21:11At the time of my guidebook,
0:21:11 > 0:21:14freight accounted for the largest share of railroad
0:21:14 > 0:21:18business in the United States, as it does today,
0:21:18 > 0:21:22but a new era of opulent passenger travel was dawning.
0:21:25 > 0:21:27Although I've grown fond of the Metro,
0:21:27 > 0:21:32it's not hard to imagine a more luxurious railway carriage.
0:21:32 > 0:21:36In the heyday on the railroads between the Twin Cities and Chicago,
0:21:36 > 0:21:41what was known as the Milwaukee Road, prestigious trains ran.
0:21:41 > 0:21:47Special cars catered for the pre-jet jet set, the rich, the famous,
0:21:47 > 0:21:48the glamorous.
0:21:55 > 0:21:58I've come to a rail yard in north-east Minneapolis,
0:21:58 > 0:22:02home to a collection of beloved relics of the Milwaukee Road.
0:22:03 > 0:22:09Rail enthusiast Steve Sandberg will be my guide to the golden age of
0:22:09 > 0:22:11luxury train travel.
0:22:11 > 0:22:15- Hello, Steve.- Welcome to Minnesota, the land of 10,000 lakes.
0:22:15 > 0:22:18And of beautifully-restored rolling stock.
0:22:18 > 0:22:21How come they are in such great condition?
0:22:21 > 0:22:22Well, they've been wonderfully restored
0:22:22 > 0:22:25by the members of the Friends Of The 261,
0:22:25 > 0:22:28which is a non-profit railway heritage organisation,
0:22:28 > 0:22:30here in the United States.
0:22:30 > 0:22:34What was the origin of luxury travel on American railroads?
0:22:34 > 0:22:39Well, really, post 1900 was when most of your families,
0:22:39 > 0:22:42the Carnegies, the Vanderbilts, the Woolworths,
0:22:42 > 0:22:44all of those famous families,
0:22:44 > 0:22:46owned fleets of private Pullman cars.
0:22:46 > 0:22:48It's like a corporate jet in today's era.
0:22:48 > 0:22:51And all of America's wealthiest people
0:22:51 > 0:22:55would have not only one but several Pullman private cars.
0:22:55 > 0:22:58Pullman is an iconic name and brand,
0:22:58 > 0:23:01- may we start with the Pullman car, please?- Absolutely.
0:23:01 > 0:23:03- Come this way.- Thank you.
0:23:05 > 0:23:08With the advent of the sleeper car,
0:23:08 > 0:23:12express transcontinental rail travel was reduced from weeks
0:23:12 > 0:23:14to a few days.
0:23:14 > 0:23:18- Thank you very much. - Welcome aboard the Lambert's Point.
0:23:18 > 0:23:21Ah! Beautiful luxury.
0:23:21 > 0:23:24Well, if we come this way, we've got bedrooms, dining room and kitchen.
0:23:24 > 0:23:28- Come on in.- Oh, look at this one. - And this is the master bedroom.
0:23:28 > 0:23:31Oh, beautiful. Let's bounce on the bed.
0:23:34 > 0:23:37- These people knew how to live. - Yes, absolutely splendid.
0:23:37 > 0:23:40This is how some of America's wealthiest and famous people
0:23:40 > 0:23:43would have travelled cross-country at the turn of the century.
0:23:43 > 0:23:48'Then, like today, the dining car was the heart of life on board.'
0:23:48 > 0:23:49Ah, yes. Look at this.
0:23:51 > 0:23:52Isn't that beautiful?
0:23:52 > 0:23:54'And on the Lambert's Point,
0:23:54 > 0:23:57'private chefs prepared everything from scratch,
0:23:57 > 0:24:00'from turtle soup to porterhouse steak.'
0:24:00 > 0:24:02- Crystal, I take it?- Yes.
0:24:02 > 0:24:03GLASS CLINKS
0:24:04 > 0:24:06BELL RINGS
0:24:06 > 0:24:10So, when the airplane starts to compete in the post-war years,
0:24:10 > 0:24:12how do the railroads respond?
0:24:12 > 0:24:15Well, right after World War II,
0:24:15 > 0:24:20railroads started to go with more luxury travel for the masses.
0:24:20 > 0:24:22They thought that they would actually just put
0:24:22 > 0:24:24the airline industry right out of business.
0:24:26 > 0:24:28From the mid-1940s,
0:24:28 > 0:24:30railroad companies all over the United States
0:24:30 > 0:24:34launched new high-speed services with Pullman cars
0:24:34 > 0:24:37to attract upmarket passengers and business travellers.
0:24:39 > 0:24:40On the Pennsylvania Railway,
0:24:40 > 0:24:42they've put a new cheap-fare luxury train into service
0:24:42 > 0:24:44between Chicago and New York.
0:24:44 > 0:24:47It's the company's answer to the competitive Western Railway scheme.
0:24:47 > 0:24:49And though the fares are reduced, the comfort has increased.
0:24:49 > 0:24:52They're trying the Pullman appeal.
0:24:52 > 0:24:55Here in the Twin Cities, they went one better.
0:24:55 > 0:24:58The Hiawatha was an entirely streamlined train
0:24:58 > 0:25:01with a distinctive orange and grey livery,
0:25:01 > 0:25:04including the world's first double-decker car,
0:25:04 > 0:25:06topped with a glass dome.
0:25:06 > 0:25:09Custom-built for the Milwaukee Road Rail Company.
0:25:11 > 0:25:14What amazes me about these cars is the size.
0:25:14 > 0:25:18They are so wide, they are so high, and of course,
0:25:18 > 0:25:21you've got the beautiful vista of the countryside passing.
0:25:21 > 0:25:22Yes, this car, when it was built,
0:25:22 > 0:25:27it was the heaviest passenger rail car ever built, at 248,000 pounds.
0:25:27 > 0:25:3116 feet tall, 85 feet long.
0:25:31 > 0:25:33So, what does the Hiawatha train really consist of?
0:25:33 > 0:25:35Well, in 1934,
0:25:35 > 0:25:38the concept was developed for a high-speed train
0:25:38 > 0:25:42that would operate at speeds of 110-120mph,
0:25:42 > 0:25:44from Minneapolis to Chicago.
0:25:44 > 0:25:48There was two each day that ran out of Minneapolis and two that departed
0:25:48 > 0:25:50each day out of Chicago.
0:25:50 > 0:25:53They had the morning Hiawatha and the afternoon Hiawatha.
0:25:53 > 0:25:56And it's so interesting to see the way that luxury
0:25:56 > 0:26:00has been developed for a fairly mass market here.
0:26:00 > 0:26:02So, this was competing with the airplane?
0:26:02 > 0:26:05Yeah, this was all about space, luxury, and speed,
0:26:05 > 0:26:09and when you were travelling in 1948 on an airplane,
0:26:09 > 0:26:11it was very cramped, it was very noisy,
0:26:11 > 0:26:14and it was an unpressurised cabin that didn't go very far
0:26:14 > 0:26:15between fuelling stops.
0:26:18 > 0:26:20Frankly, I need no more persuading.
0:26:20 > 0:26:24I'm booked on the afternoon Hiawatha out of Minneapolis,
0:26:24 > 0:26:27which today is pulling a piece of railroad history.
0:26:28 > 0:26:31- Hello.- Good morning. Welcome aboard.- Thank you.
0:26:31 > 0:26:34And I've bagged the back seat for the ride of a lifetime.
0:26:35 > 0:26:39Designed by famed industrial designer Brooks Stevens,
0:26:39 > 0:26:42the Cedar Rapids car is one of only four
0:26:42 > 0:26:46sky top observation parlour lounges ever built
0:26:46 > 0:26:49and the only one still gracing the rails today.
0:26:51 > 0:26:53And so, a dream come true.
0:26:53 > 0:26:57Riding on the tracks of the old Milwaukee Road in a Cedar Rapids
0:26:57 > 0:27:00observation car from 1948.
0:27:00 > 0:27:02That moment in history
0:27:02 > 0:27:05when the design of airliner and train collided
0:27:05 > 0:27:08to produce this beautiful object.
0:27:11 > 0:27:15The airlines won the war against the railroads.
0:27:15 > 0:27:19But in the modern world, when the greatest luxury is quality time,
0:27:19 > 0:27:21you're hard pressed to beat this.
0:27:23 > 0:27:27The classic American locomotive had at its front a V-shaped grille
0:27:27 > 0:27:30that was known as a cow pusher.
0:27:30 > 0:27:35The railroads brought the immigrants who in fact pushed aside the buffalo
0:27:35 > 0:27:37and the Native American.
0:27:37 > 0:27:43The poet Longfellow, in his epic Hiawatha, included the Indian
0:27:43 > 0:27:44in the national story.
0:27:44 > 0:27:46He was ahead of his time,
0:27:46 > 0:27:50in showing respect, even if a little patronising,
0:27:50 > 0:27:55for a civilisation that was squashed as the trains rolled west.
0:27:57 > 0:28:02Next time, on my travels, I immerse myself in Native American culture.
0:28:02 > 0:28:06- How do you like it? - I love it.- Yeah?
0:28:06 > 0:28:10Visit an extraordinary wildlife refuge...
0:28:10 > 0:28:13Is it a healthy bald eagle colony?
0:28:13 > 0:28:16At one point, we had single digits for eagle nests
0:28:16 > 0:28:18and now we are up over 300.
0:28:18 > 0:28:23..and take a crash course in lacrosse.
0:28:23 > 0:28:25- Oh.- That's all right. We got a helmet for a reason.
0:28:26 > 0:28:27Didn't even see it.