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 Appleton's guide.
0:00:13 > 0:00:14Published in the late 19th century,
0:00:14 > 0:00:17Appleton's General Guide to North America
0:00:17 > 0:00:20will direct me to all that's novel,
0:00:20 > 0:00:21beautiful,
0:00:21 > 0:00:23memorable
0:00:23 > 0:00:24and striking
0:00:24 > 0:00:27in the United States. THEY CHANT GREETING
0:00:29 > 0:00:31As I journey across this vast continent,
0:00:31 > 0:00:34I'll discover how pioneers and cowboys conquered the west.
0:00:34 > 0:00:35GUNFIRE
0:00:35 > 0:00:39And how the railroads tied this nation together,
0:00:39 > 0:00:43helping to create the global superstate of today.
0:01:06 > 0:01:10The early pioneers made their way across North America
0:01:10 > 0:01:13in wagon trains, but the railroads made possible
0:01:13 > 0:01:16the wholesale settlement of the west.
0:01:17 > 0:01:20I started my journey in St Louis, Missouri,
0:01:20 > 0:01:22then headed to Kansas City.
0:01:22 > 0:01:26From there, I'll forge west across the plains, to lawless Dodge City,
0:01:26 > 0:01:30before arriving in the mountains at Colorado Springs
0:01:30 > 0:01:34and finally, heading south, through New Mexico.
0:01:34 > 0:01:36I'll end in the awe-inspiring
0:01:36 > 0:01:39natural wonder of Arizona's Grand Canyon.
0:01:41 > 0:01:45Today, I'm leaving behind Kansas City, Missouri.
0:01:45 > 0:01:48I'm travelling to the college city of Lawrence, Kansas
0:01:48 > 0:01:51and then on to storm-battered Topeka,
0:01:51 > 0:01:54from where I'll strike out to the wide-open prairie.
0:01:55 > 0:01:59Along the way, I pay homage at the cathedral of basketball...
0:01:59 > 0:02:03- You've got to turn and shoot. There we go, good job.- Yes!
0:02:03 > 0:02:05..get my hands on a vintage hooter.
0:02:05 > 0:02:07TRAIN TOOTS
0:02:07 > 0:02:08Wow, that was fun!
0:02:08 > 0:02:11'..and head out on the range where the buffalo roam.'
0:02:11 > 0:02:13What fantastic animals, aren't they?
0:02:20 > 0:02:22On my American odyssey,
0:02:22 > 0:02:26I'm continuing to puff westwards, towards the state of Kansas,
0:02:26 > 0:02:29admitted to the Union in 1861.
0:02:29 > 0:02:32By the time of my guide book,
0:02:32 > 0:02:37Kansans had converted this state of prairies and tornadoes
0:02:37 > 0:02:41"into famous wheat and corn fields and immense cattle ranges",
0:02:41 > 0:02:43according to Appleton's.
0:02:43 > 0:02:46But what sort of cultures had blown in on the wind?
0:02:51 > 0:02:55Kansas celebrated its statehood as the United States
0:02:55 > 0:02:58was descending into civil war.
0:02:58 > 0:03:01No stranger to bloodshed, in 1854,
0:03:01 > 0:03:05Kansas territory had been a flashpoint in the nationwide battle
0:03:05 > 0:03:09over slavery, when pro-slavers and abolitionists clashed
0:03:09 > 0:03:13over whether their future state should be slave or free.
0:03:15 > 0:03:20And the town of Lawrence, Kansas was named in honour of an abolitionist,
0:03:20 > 0:03:22Amos A Lawrence.
0:03:25 > 0:03:29I've arrived in Lawrence, which, according to Appleton's,
0:03:29 > 0:03:32even then had 10,000 inhabitants.
0:03:32 > 0:03:37"Located here with over 300 pupils is the Haskell Institute,
0:03:37 > 0:03:40"a United States Indian school."
0:03:40 > 0:03:44"Indian school" - I find those surprising words in a 19th century
0:03:44 > 0:03:48publication, a period that one would think was dominated by shootouts
0:03:48 > 0:03:50and scalpings.
0:03:55 > 0:03:57So far on my journey west,
0:03:57 > 0:04:01Appleton's has proved a useful guide to pioneer settlements and railway
0:04:01 > 0:04:06boomtowns. But I've read little of the people who lived on these lands
0:04:06 > 0:04:09before the arrival of the wagon trains and the railroads.
0:04:13 > 0:04:15When it was founded in 1884,
0:04:15 > 0:04:20Haskell College in Lawrence was one of 60 schools designed to rid
0:04:20 > 0:04:24Native American children of their tribal identity.
0:04:26 > 0:04:30I'm meeting Stephen Prue, part of the Haskell administrative team,
0:04:30 > 0:04:33and a member of the Rosebud Sioux Tribe.
0:04:38 > 0:04:40I was very surprised to find that
0:04:40 > 0:04:43this school was founded in the 19th century. What was its purpose, then?
0:04:43 > 0:04:46Well, it was founded by the United States government
0:04:46 > 0:04:49in partial fulfilment of trust and treaty obligations.
0:04:49 > 0:04:52American Indians at the time were under the War Department,
0:04:52 > 0:04:54many were still considered hostile,
0:04:54 > 0:04:59so the schools' primary job was not only to educate, but to assimilate.
0:04:59 > 0:05:03Kill the Indian, to save the man.
0:05:03 > 0:05:07What was the difference between the culture of the Native American
0:05:07 > 0:05:09and the culture of those who were coming in from Europe?
0:05:09 > 0:05:12Well, I think the people that came in from Europe,
0:05:12 > 0:05:14their focus was on ownership.
0:05:14 > 0:05:18Native American culture views our relationship not only with the earth
0:05:18 > 0:05:21but with each other, in terms of a community,
0:05:21 > 0:05:25and that those resources are here for all to share,
0:05:25 > 0:05:28but not for all to just use for themselves.
0:05:30 > 0:05:35Haskell started with just 22 pupils and, by 1894,
0:05:35 > 0:05:41the number had grown to 606, drawn from 36 different states.
0:05:41 > 0:05:45Many had been forcibly separated from their families and transported
0:05:45 > 0:05:48thousands of miles across the country.
0:05:52 > 0:05:54The regime at Haskell was harsh.
0:05:54 > 0:05:58On arrival, the children were stripped of all traditional clothing
0:05:58 > 0:06:00and tribal belongings.
0:06:00 > 0:06:04They were made to work the fields in preparation for lives as labourers
0:06:04 > 0:06:07and servants and in the schoolroom,
0:06:07 > 0:06:10they were taught white American history.
0:06:10 > 0:06:11What about language?
0:06:11 > 0:06:14They would be disciplined and punished for speaking
0:06:14 > 0:06:16their language, saying their prayers.
0:06:16 > 0:06:19There was even a jail on the campus, where students,
0:06:19 > 0:06:23if they were not following the rules, could be handcuffed,
0:06:23 > 0:06:27brought to the jail and locked and given food and water for the day,
0:06:27 > 0:06:29to correct their behaviour.
0:06:33 > 0:06:35Not until the civil rights movement
0:06:35 > 0:06:37in the 1960s did government educators
0:06:37 > 0:06:39begin to adopt a more enlightened
0:06:39 > 0:06:41approach to the education of these people,
0:06:41 > 0:06:46who President Lyndon B Johnson described as "forgotten Americans".
0:06:50 > 0:06:53In 1993, the Indian school became
0:06:53 > 0:06:57the Haskell Indian Nations University.
0:06:57 > 0:07:01Business student Chris Sindone combines his degree studies
0:07:01 > 0:07:04with American Indian dance performance.
0:07:04 > 0:07:06Would you mind telling me about the regalia you're wearing?
0:07:06 > 0:07:10The regalia, this is a traditional prairie chicken dance outfit.
0:07:10 > 0:07:13The beadwork all comes from different pieces and parts
0:07:13 > 0:07:17of my family. I have porcupine needles that are softened up
0:07:17 > 0:07:20on my roach and I have my eagle feathers and I have our prairie
0:07:20 > 0:07:22chicken pheasant bustle.
0:07:22 > 0:07:26It originates within the Blackfeet community, up in Montana,
0:07:26 > 0:07:27close to the border of Canada.
0:07:27 > 0:07:29At the beginning of the mating season,
0:07:29 > 0:07:33all the male prairie chickens are out there, trying to be
0:07:33 > 0:07:37cocky, you know, they want to impress the best lady out there,
0:07:37 > 0:07:40so they're out there fighting each other to, you know,
0:07:40 > 0:07:42to show their vanity.
0:07:42 > 0:07:45Will you honour me with a display, a performance?
0:07:45 > 0:07:47Absolutely, I'd be honoured.
0:08:13 > 0:08:15Ah.
0:08:15 > 0:08:18I have learned one word which I hope will express my thanks
0:08:18 > 0:08:21and I hope I'm going to say it right. Aho.
0:08:21 > 0:08:23Aho! Thank you, you said it perfectly.
0:08:26 > 0:08:31Haskell is not the only academic institution in Lawrence.
0:08:31 > 0:08:35The University of Kansas, or KU, was founded in 1865.
0:08:35 > 0:08:39Now, it has a student body of almost 25,000,
0:08:39 > 0:08:41making it the largest in the state,
0:08:41 > 0:08:44and it accounts for almost a fifth of Lawrence's population.
0:08:47 > 0:08:49"The state university," says Appleton's,
0:08:49 > 0:08:52"is a large and handsome structure
0:08:52 > 0:08:55"standing upon a bluff called Mt Oread
0:08:55 > 0:08:57"in the south-western part of the city."
0:08:57 > 0:09:02If you are ever asked in a pub quiz what Kansas university is famous for
0:09:02 > 0:09:05and you were to answer "basketball", you would score a slam dunk.
0:09:07 > 0:09:11The Kansas University basketball team is known as the Jayhawks,
0:09:11 > 0:09:16a hybrid of the quarrelsome blue jay and the fighting sparrowhawk.
0:09:16 > 0:09:19It was the name given to those 19th century abolitionists who fought
0:09:19 > 0:09:22to make Kansas a free state.
0:09:22 > 0:09:26'Curtis Marsh is director of the DeBruce Center at the university
0:09:26 > 0:09:28'and a Jayhawks fanatic.'
0:09:28 > 0:09:29- Hello, Curtis.- Hello, Michael.
0:09:29 > 0:09:33- How are you?- Good to see you. - Lovely to see you, as well.
0:09:33 > 0:09:35- May we sit down?- Of course.
0:09:35 > 0:09:36And we're sitting next to whom?
0:09:36 > 0:09:40This is Dr James Naismith, the inventor of basketball.
0:09:40 > 0:09:45He was in Kansas for 40 years, until his death in 1939,
0:09:45 > 0:09:50and he helped the university create a historic basketball programme.
0:09:51 > 0:09:55Dr Naismith was a Canadian sports coach and chaplain
0:09:55 > 0:09:58who came up with the idea of basketball while working
0:09:58 > 0:10:02with a YMCA training group in Massachusetts.
0:10:02 > 0:10:04Why had he invented the sport in the first place?
0:10:04 > 0:10:09Ah, there was a very cold winter in the north-east.
0:10:09 > 0:10:14He had a great number of athletes at the school that were used to playing
0:10:14 > 0:10:18American football and rugby and they were...
0:10:18 > 0:10:19Quite frankly, they were restless.
0:10:19 > 0:10:25The winter months were just too cold for those outdoor activities, so he
0:10:25 > 0:10:30was challenged to find a sport that they could play inside where perhaps
0:10:30 > 0:10:33they don't beat each other up and tackle each other
0:10:33 > 0:10:35and basketball was created.
0:10:35 > 0:10:40Naismith divided his class of 18 into two teams of 9.
0:10:40 > 0:10:44The object of the game was to lob a ball into a goal fixed high
0:10:44 > 0:10:47on the wall. The only thing available at the time
0:10:47 > 0:10:48was a peach basket.
0:10:48 > 0:10:51Michael, one of the things that we love about this game is that
0:10:51 > 0:10:53the scoring is just astronomical.
0:10:53 > 0:10:56You can have a game where 100 points are scored.
0:10:56 > 0:11:00Not when it was a peach basket because you had to stop the game,
0:11:00 > 0:11:04grab a ladder, head up to the peach basket and take the ball out.
0:11:04 > 0:11:08Well, they created a wonderful improvement,
0:11:08 > 0:11:10which was nothing more than cutting a small hole in the bottom
0:11:10 > 0:11:14of the basket so that a broom handle could pop the ball right out.
0:11:17 > 0:11:19After a few more refinements,
0:11:19 > 0:11:21Naismith arrived at KU in 1898,
0:11:21 > 0:11:25where basketball was wholeheartedly embraced.
0:11:25 > 0:11:29In 2016, the university opened a permanent exhibition
0:11:29 > 0:11:31to honour the great man.
0:11:31 > 0:11:35'I made up some more rules. The most important one was that there should
0:11:35 > 0:11:37'be no running with the ball.'
0:11:37 > 0:11:40Two pages of typescript, with Naismith's signature.
0:11:40 > 0:11:43Give me an idea of how important this document is.
0:11:43 > 0:11:47This document, which as far as we know is the only
0:11:47 > 0:11:50initiating document for a major sport,
0:11:50 > 0:11:53was purchased at auction for 4.3 million
0:11:53 > 0:11:57and it was bought by one former student of the University of Kansas
0:11:57 > 0:11:59and donated to us.
0:11:59 > 0:12:03And now you have it behind glass with electronic paraphernalia.
0:12:03 > 0:12:05This is like the Crown Jewels.
0:12:05 > 0:12:08I think it's the Crown Jewels of basketball, no question.
0:12:08 > 0:12:10# Jayhawks, come on!
0:12:10 > 0:12:12# Jayhawks, here we go!
0:12:12 > 0:12:14# Jayhawks, come on! #
0:12:14 > 0:12:19All the greats have played here in the famous Allen Fieldhouse Stadium.
0:12:20 > 0:12:23And today, there's a new rookie player on the team.
0:12:24 > 0:12:26Right, how do we begin, Coach?
0:12:26 > 0:12:29So, the first thing we're going to do, we're going to get on the block,
0:12:29 > 0:12:31- where it gets real dirty. - Real dirty? OK, fine.
0:12:33 > 0:12:36What you're going to do is put your back to the basket.
0:12:36 > 0:12:38Yes, and you're going to post up and when you post up,
0:12:38 > 0:12:40- you're going to get physical. - OK, physical.
0:12:40 > 0:12:43- You're going to get physical. - Get big.- All right, get big!
0:12:43 > 0:12:44Go, Michael! Go, Michael!
0:12:44 > 0:12:47- There you go.- Yeah, there we go.
0:12:48 > 0:12:49Look at that!
0:12:49 > 0:12:53Thanks to the dedication of KU players and coaches,
0:12:53 > 0:12:55basketball soon became a national sport.
0:12:55 > 0:12:57Yeah, that was good, that was good.
0:12:57 > 0:12:58# Michael, Michael... #
0:12:58 > 0:13:01And in 1936, an Olympic one.
0:13:01 > 0:13:05Here we go, get ready. Turn and shoot. Good job! There we go!
0:13:05 > 0:13:06Yeah!
0:13:06 > 0:13:08KU!
0:13:08 > 0:13:10Here we go. We're big on high fives at KU. Yeah!
0:13:10 > 0:13:14Curtis, do you remember coming here to watch games?
0:13:14 > 0:13:15I will never forget it.
0:13:15 > 0:13:17It's what made me a Jayhawk fan.
0:13:17 > 0:13:18What does this place mean to you?
0:13:18 > 0:13:22Next to my family, it's the most important thing in my life.
0:13:22 > 0:13:24The games here are like no other.
0:13:24 > 0:13:27There's so much energy here that it's really like nothing else.
0:13:27 > 0:13:28You'd better get ready now,
0:13:28 > 0:13:31cos you're going to get licked in your own stadium today.
0:13:31 > 0:13:32You got it, Michael.
0:13:32 > 0:13:34# Go, Michael!
0:13:34 > 0:13:36Stop him, stop him!
0:13:36 > 0:13:37It's in!
0:13:44 > 0:13:45Good sport!
0:14:00 > 0:14:03In truth, there are not many passenger trains nowadays
0:14:03 > 0:14:06running in the state of Kansas,
0:14:06 > 0:14:10which is why it's a great joy to find a heritage line running between
0:14:10 > 0:14:15Baldwin City and Ottawa at a very dignified speed.
0:14:15 > 0:14:18Ladies and gentlemen, all aboard!
0:14:18 > 0:14:20All aboard!
0:14:22 > 0:14:23Thank you.
0:14:23 > 0:14:27'After the end of the American Civil War in 1865,
0:14:27 > 0:14:30'the United States government began to speed up settlement of the west
0:14:30 > 0:14:32'by investing in the railroads.'
0:14:33 > 0:14:36At first, settlers hailed the railroads
0:14:36 > 0:14:39as the bringers of prosperity. Many also invested in their
0:14:39 > 0:14:42construction and sought to influence the routes.
0:14:46 > 0:14:48'I'm meeting Kansas historian Virgil Dean,
0:14:48 > 0:14:52'to find out how all that changed when the railroad companies
0:14:52 > 0:14:56'became over-mighty and how the people fought back.'
0:14:56 > 0:14:57Hello, Virgil.
0:14:57 > 0:15:00- Michael.- Good to see you. - Good to see you, yes.
0:15:01 > 0:15:04The public got involved in these railroads as investors, did they?
0:15:04 > 0:15:10Exactly, especially if you were in a rural area, just getting started.
0:15:10 > 0:15:14They were vital to a town's success and so towns would
0:15:14 > 0:15:16get into bidding wars over railroads
0:15:16 > 0:15:21just like they do with businesses or corporations, factories now.
0:15:21 > 0:15:24Once the railroads have become a settled part of the landscape,
0:15:24 > 0:15:26how do people feel about them then?
0:15:26 > 0:15:29I think you could say, as some people have,
0:15:29 > 0:15:31that it was kind of a love/hate relationship with the railroads
0:15:31 > 0:15:34from the very beginning. People lost money on them.
0:15:34 > 0:15:37Railroads didn't always live up to their promise.
0:15:37 > 0:15:40They might just decide at the last minute to go this direction,
0:15:40 > 0:15:43instead of this direction, and miss your town,
0:15:43 > 0:15:45or planned town, altogether.
0:15:49 > 0:15:50In the late 19th century,
0:15:50 > 0:15:55numerous privately-owned railroad companies operated in Kansas,
0:15:55 > 0:15:59including the Santa Fe, the Kansas Pacific and the Union Pacific.
0:16:02 > 0:16:04How was it that they affected people's lives?
0:16:04 > 0:16:06Well, they're very important to people,
0:16:06 > 0:16:09but they also see abuses from time to time.
0:16:09 > 0:16:13Most commonly, what you'd hear is that railroads charged too much
0:16:13 > 0:16:18for hauling freight and that the passenger fares were too high.
0:16:18 > 0:16:21By the 1870s, the political corruption,
0:16:21 > 0:16:26which a lot of people tied to the large railroad companies and other
0:16:26 > 0:16:29businesses, but railroads in particular, is a big issue.
0:16:31 > 0:16:33In the 1880s and '90s,
0:16:33 > 0:16:37a combination of drought and competition from overseas
0:16:37 > 0:16:42had left farmers struggling and angry with the wealthy railroads,
0:16:42 > 0:16:45whom they accused of naked greed.
0:16:45 > 0:16:48They formed a political party, the Populists,
0:16:48 > 0:16:52to demand, amongst other things, that the railroads be nationalised.
0:16:52 > 0:16:56So, would it be going too far to say that amongst rural communities,
0:16:56 > 0:16:58anyway, at the end of the 19th century,
0:16:58 > 0:17:01the banks and the railroads have become villains?
0:17:01 > 0:17:03Yeah, that's definitely the case
0:17:03 > 0:17:05when you get to the Populist movement
0:17:05 > 0:17:11during the 1890s, where you have attacks on Wall Street, even,
0:17:11 > 0:17:14railroads and bankers, banks,
0:17:14 > 0:17:19similar to what we have today with the talk about too much
0:17:19 > 0:17:21concentration of wealth and power
0:17:21 > 0:17:25and how much of a corrupting influence that has on society
0:17:25 > 0:17:26in general and individuals.
0:17:30 > 0:17:33'In the end, people power didn't win the day.
0:17:33 > 0:17:37'The railroads stayed in private ownership and the Populist Party
0:17:37 > 0:17:38'petered out.'
0:17:38 > 0:17:41- Thank you very much. - You're welcome.- Off to the loco.
0:17:41 > 0:17:45'But on this train, at least, the people are firmly in control.'
0:17:45 > 0:17:46Hello, guys.
0:17:46 > 0:17:48Hello, how you doing?
0:17:52 > 0:17:54Mark, are you a volunteer?
0:17:54 > 0:17:55We are all volunteers.
0:17:55 > 0:17:58What's the impulsion to come and do this volunteer work?
0:17:58 > 0:18:00- Why do you do it? - I love old machinery.
0:18:00 > 0:18:02- Do you?- Old cars, trucks.
0:18:02 > 0:18:04I'm a gearhead.
0:18:04 > 0:18:05MICHAEL LAUGHS
0:18:08 > 0:18:10Would you mind if I pulled the hooter?
0:18:10 > 0:18:14You've got to go long, long, short, long.
0:18:14 > 0:18:15OK.
0:18:15 > 0:18:16No traffic over here, are we good?
0:18:16 > 0:18:17Yep!
0:18:17 > 0:18:20Long, long...
0:18:20 > 0:18:22Short...
0:18:23 > 0:18:24..and long.
0:18:24 > 0:18:26TRAIN TOOTS
0:18:27 > 0:18:29Wow, that was fun!
0:18:29 > 0:18:30All right, you got it.
0:18:32 > 0:18:38Travelling through the lush farmland of Kansas at a stately 20mph,
0:18:38 > 0:18:40it's hard to imagine a more peaceful place.
0:18:46 > 0:18:49But the area has its surprises.
0:18:53 > 0:18:56This is Tornado Alley,
0:18:56 > 0:18:59where dry air from the Rockies meets moist air from the Gulf,
0:18:59 > 0:19:03creating more tornadoes than anywhere else in America.
0:19:06 > 0:19:11The weather centre in Topeka gathers vital meteorological information
0:19:11 > 0:19:13and there, I'm meeting Mike Smith,
0:19:13 > 0:19:15one of the country's foremost tornado experts.
0:19:18 > 0:19:21Did you become a tornado expert by following tornadoes around?
0:19:21 > 0:19:24By being a so-called tornado chaser?
0:19:24 > 0:19:29I was one of the very first tornado chasers in 1972,
0:19:29 > 0:19:32while I was attending the University of Oklahoma.
0:19:32 > 0:19:34But that's not how I got interested in tornadoes.
0:19:34 > 0:19:39I got interested in tornadoes when I was five years old and an F5,
0:19:39 > 0:19:43the most intense type of tornado, passed a few blocks to my south.
0:19:43 > 0:19:46When I saw all of the damage the next day,
0:19:46 > 0:19:49the thought went through my mind,
0:19:49 > 0:19:51"Anything that could do this had to be pretty interesting."
0:19:53 > 0:19:59Mike has turned his passion into a business and amongst his clients
0:19:59 > 0:20:00are railroad companies.
0:20:00 > 0:20:02What have you been able to do, then,
0:20:02 > 0:20:04to help the railroads to avoid disaster?
0:20:04 > 0:20:09We tell the railroads in advance where the tornado is going to cross
0:20:09 > 0:20:13the track on a milepost by milepost basis
0:20:13 > 0:20:16and they will stop the trains in that area.
0:20:16 > 0:20:20And do you believe that you have avoided catastrophe?
0:20:20 > 0:20:22Oh, we know we have.
0:20:22 > 0:20:24The railroads tell us that.
0:20:24 > 0:20:27In the case of the Greensburg, Kansas tornado,
0:20:27 > 0:20:30another EF5 tornado back in 2007,
0:20:30 > 0:20:34they were able to keep the trains out of the area
0:20:34 > 0:20:39and the two trains stopped were able to watch the tornado in the darkness
0:20:39 > 0:20:43pass safely in between them, illuminated by lightning.
0:20:45 > 0:20:49This is the first known image of a tornado on the Great Plains,
0:20:49 > 0:20:52taken by a Kansas farmer in 1884.
0:20:52 > 0:20:56Back then, there was no way of predicting where or when
0:20:56 > 0:20:59these forces of nature would strike.
0:21:00 > 0:21:05Nowadays, any dramatic shifts in air pressure and humidity are monitored
0:21:05 > 0:21:07from the weather centre's upper air building.
0:21:08 > 0:21:12Every day, meteorologist Brandon Drake sends two of these balloons
0:21:12 > 0:21:14up into the atmosphere.
0:21:14 > 0:21:17The instruments will send back data,
0:21:17 > 0:21:20which can be used to forecast tornadoes.
0:21:20 > 0:21:23This balloon's going to go up about 35 km.
0:21:23 > 0:21:26Once it does that, it'll pop and it'll fall back down with
0:21:26 > 0:21:27the instrument attached, still.
0:21:27 > 0:21:30This thing will take a profile of the atmosphere
0:21:30 > 0:21:32roughly above this location.
0:21:32 > 0:21:34- May I watch the launch?- You may.
0:21:34 > 0:21:39On the Great Plains, spring is tornado season,
0:21:39 > 0:21:41but they can occur any time.
0:21:41 > 0:21:42Er, don't let go!
0:21:42 > 0:21:43I won't.
0:21:43 > 0:21:46- OK.- Let me know when you've got it.
0:21:46 > 0:21:48I've got a good grip on it. Wow!
0:21:48 > 0:21:51- OK.- I must say, this is very distinctly different from holding on
0:21:51 > 0:21:52to a party balloon, isn't it?
0:21:52 > 0:21:54- It is.- Brandon, ready for lift-off?
0:21:54 > 0:21:55Ready for lift-off, Michael.
0:21:55 > 0:21:56Here goes.
0:21:56 > 0:21:58Yee-hah!
0:22:00 > 0:22:01Whoa, watch it go!
0:22:04 > 0:22:08The Great Plains make up about a third of the whole landmass
0:22:08 > 0:22:11of the United States, but here in the Midwest,
0:22:11 > 0:22:15the climate has created a very particular ecosystem,
0:22:15 > 0:22:16known as tallgrass prairie.
0:22:16 > 0:22:18Hello, Paula.
0:22:18 > 0:22:19Hello!
0:22:19 > 0:22:24Paula Matile is a rancher who heads a conservation project in the Kansas
0:22:24 > 0:22:28Flint Hills. It's the largest area of prairie to survive.
0:22:35 > 0:22:37Paula, how much prairie do you have left here?
0:22:37 > 0:22:40The national preserve is about 11,000 acres.
0:22:40 > 0:22:44And before this was disturbed by the white man,
0:22:44 > 0:22:49how much prairie was there in what we now call the United States?
0:22:49 > 0:22:53Tallgrass prairie once covered about 170 million acres
0:22:53 > 0:22:58and now we're estimating less than 4% of that is still around.
0:23:02 > 0:23:06A rare herd of American buffalo, also called bison,
0:23:06 > 0:23:08roams freely over the whole preserve,
0:23:08 > 0:23:12so we're extremely fortunate to come across them.
0:23:12 > 0:23:14Oh!
0:23:14 > 0:23:17You have to drive very carefully, don't you?
0:23:17 > 0:23:20This is... I never thought I'd ever be this close to a bison.
0:23:20 > 0:23:22What fantastic animals, aren't they?
0:23:22 > 0:23:27Yeah, we reintroduced the bison to the preserve in 2009,
0:23:27 > 0:23:30with 13 head, and we're up to about 100 head, right now.
0:23:30 > 0:23:35They graze differently than cattle, so they leave these little
0:23:35 > 0:23:38micro-habitats for different species of bird.
0:23:39 > 0:23:44The immense treeless horizon of the prairie was shaped by the constant
0:23:44 > 0:23:49grazing of the buffalo and by fires caused by violent electric storms.
0:23:50 > 0:23:54Oh, that is beautiful. That is very, very beautiful.
0:23:54 > 0:23:56This is such an important landscape.
0:23:56 > 0:23:59It's getting developed and it's getting ploughed up
0:23:59 > 0:24:02and it's disappearing right before our eyes
0:24:02 > 0:24:07and the tallgrass prairie is American history.
0:24:07 > 0:24:12This was the American Dream - to be out in the tallgrass prairie
0:24:12 > 0:24:14and to make a living.
0:24:17 > 0:24:21The Kansas prairie has been mythologised in American culture.
0:24:21 > 0:24:24Bye-bye, Paula. Thank you very much.
0:24:27 > 0:24:32One writer in particular fixed the landscape in the public imagination.
0:24:32 > 0:24:34The poet, Walt Whitman.
0:24:35 > 0:24:39Known as America's bard, he was born in New York in 1819,
0:24:39 > 0:24:44but in later life, adopted the persona of a western frontiersman,
0:24:44 > 0:24:46complete with beard and Stetson.
0:24:48 > 0:24:50- Hello, Philip.- Hello, Michael.
0:24:50 > 0:24:52'Philip Barnard is an English professor
0:24:52 > 0:24:54'at the University of Kansas.'
0:24:54 > 0:24:56Who was Walt Whitman?
0:24:56 > 0:24:59Walt Whitman is one of the greatest of American poets.
0:24:59 > 0:25:01What is the impact that this landscape,
0:25:01 > 0:25:03these prairies, have upon him?
0:25:03 > 0:25:05He idealises the prairies.
0:25:05 > 0:25:10They represent for him a fertile new territory, where a new society
0:25:10 > 0:25:13can be built that's both modern and democratic
0:25:13 > 0:25:19and free from the influences and limitations of the past in his mind.
0:25:19 > 0:25:21A distinctively American society for him.
0:25:21 > 0:25:22What do you mean by that?
0:25:22 > 0:25:26He felt that US culture to the mid-19th century
0:25:26 > 0:25:29was still derivative on its European origins
0:25:29 > 0:25:33and envisioned a more modern, a more egalitarian culture
0:25:33 > 0:25:37linked by railroads and growing in vast spaces, like the prairies.
0:25:37 > 0:25:41Did he write specifically about railroads in his poetry?
0:25:41 > 0:25:44There's a very beautiful poem called To A Locomotive In Winter,
0:25:44 > 0:25:49where he celebrates the railroad and locomotives as engines of modernity.
0:25:49 > 0:25:51"I hear the locomotives rushing
0:25:51 > 0:25:54"and roaring and the shrill steam whistle.
0:25:54 > 0:25:55"I hear the echoes reverberate
0:25:55 > 0:25:58"through the grandest scenery in the world.
0:25:58 > 0:26:00"I cross the Laramie Plains.
0:26:00 > 0:26:03"I note the rocks and grotesque shapes, the buttes.
0:26:03 > 0:26:06"I see the plentiful larkspur and wild onions, the barren,
0:26:06 > 0:26:08"colourless sage deserts.
0:26:08 > 0:26:11"I see in glimpses afar or towering immediately above me
0:26:11 > 0:26:13"the great mountains.
0:26:13 > 0:26:15"I see the Wind River and the Wahsatch mountains."
0:26:15 > 0:26:20So, here's a man who celebrates nature, but also the railroad,
0:26:20 > 0:26:24which, after all, is violating the nature.
0:26:24 > 0:26:27For Whitman, the railroad is part of nature.
0:26:27 > 0:26:29It's a modern window onto nature,
0:26:29 > 0:26:31through which one can appreciate nature differently.
0:26:41 > 0:26:45The landscape of the prairie and the expansion of the west continue
0:26:45 > 0:26:48to inspire American artists today.
0:26:48 > 0:26:52The composer Mark O'Connor is one of them.
0:26:52 > 0:26:55This is his beautiful Poem For Carlita.
0:27:29 > 0:27:33In this prairie landscape from which the Native American was brutally
0:27:33 > 0:27:38expelled, the poet Walt Whitman hoped that a distinctively American
0:27:38 > 0:27:42culture would emerge, free from European influence.
0:27:42 > 0:27:45I don't know whether basketball was the sort of thing
0:27:45 > 0:27:46that he had in mind.
0:27:46 > 0:27:52Inevitably, people here would write and paint and think differently,
0:27:52 > 0:27:55looking outwards from what Whitman described
0:27:55 > 0:27:58as the grandest scenery in the world.
0:28:00 > 0:28:04Next time, I discover what life was like in the old Wild West...
0:28:04 > 0:28:05He's got a gun!
0:28:05 > 0:28:07GUNFIRE
0:28:07 > 0:28:09..give my verdict on a Kansas staple...
0:28:09 > 0:28:14Mmm, nice bit of crispness around the crust. Very nice.
0:28:14 > 0:28:17..and hear about the harrowing tragedy at Sand Creek.
0:28:17 > 0:28:20A quote comes to mind.
0:28:20 > 0:28:22"In all atrocities,
0:28:22 > 0:28:26"the only thing necessary for evil to succeed
0:28:26 > 0:28:29"is for good men to do nothing."