All language subtitles for Abandoned.Engineering.S08E02.Paradise.Lost.1080p.WEB-DL.AAC2.0.H.264-squalor_track3_[eng]

Tom ward (narrates):
A Caribbean island

once home to a powerful industry

and a divided people.

They set fire to the one thing

that the company
really, really cares about.

An isolated ghost town in
america where dreams were made.

This was simply not something

you would expect
to see 11,000 feet up.

It demonstrates just how
much wealth there was here.

A waterlogged stronghold
off england's coast

born from a time of fear.

At face value it
looks like something

from mad Max meets waterworld.

What's it doing there?

And in the mediterranean

an ancient village
caught in the crossfire.

Neighbour feared neighbour,

the atmosphere had changed
it had become dangerous.

Decaying relics...

Ruins of lost worlds,

sights haunted by the past,

their secrets waiting
to be revealed.

High in the San Juan
mountains in Colorado usa

is a land of shattered dreams.

It's strikingly beautiful

and on a sunny
day it's even idyllic

but you can't help

but wonder what this
place looks like in the winter.

For anyone living out here
you have to be pretty resilient,

the weathers here are fierce.

Snowstorms, avalanches,
freezing cold temperatures.

It's not the normal place

you'd expect
people put buildings

so there must have been a
good reason for them to be there.

From above it's clear that
there was more to the site

than the structures
still standing today.

As you come closer you
see the outlines of streets,

you see the foundations
of old buildings.

Clearly lots of effort was
put into some of these,

you've got some sort of quite
ornate wooden structures,

some really quite
nice buildings.

And others have
seen better days,

they look as if they
have been destroyed

by some other outside factor.

What promise of
riches first lured settlers

to this inhospitable land?

There must have been
something that we can't see,

something hidden from
view that made all this effort

in construction worthwhile but
what was it and where did it go?

David singer is a
preservation expert

and helps to look after
what's left of the site.

So, this building is a
jail, it was built in 1882,

this was law and
order on the frontier.

Buildings made of wood,
but the planks are laid flat,

so the walls are
all six inches thick.

People would try and
break out of the jail of course,

but people would try
and break into the jail

if they wanted to have their
own kind of vigilante justice

and, er, you know
law and order was here

but it was also taken in to
your own hands occasionally.

In the mid-19th century,

the United States was a land

gripped by wild optimism
and naked greed.

This place was a
part of that story.

Once the federal government
opened up this land

to western settlements
it opened the floodgates,

suddenly Americans were
coming in from the east coast

and immigrants were coming
from other countries to seize

whatever other opportunity
this land had for them.

Untamed frontiers like this
were where fortune seekers

chased the elusive
American dream.

Its impossible to overestimate

how inhospitable an
area this is, in 1884,

a 23-day blizzard
dumped 25 feet of snow

on the region.

People had to dig tunnels

just to get from
building to building.

But what these people wanted
was worth the terrible hardship.

The San Juan mountains

form part of the
Colorado mineral belt

and this is an area that's
famous for hard rock ores

caused by mineralisation
associated with volcanic activity

and what you find is,
that this volcanic activity

caused veins of gold, silver,
lead, copper rich material

to be intruded into
the rocks around them,

but its actually very, very
hard to get this material out

because it's in
the solid geology.

As early as 1873 some
groups had started to explore

the animas river

and gold and silver deposits
were discovered pretty early on.

Log cabins started to sprout
up, scattered all around the place,

and within a year or so the
animas river area had become

a central focus of hard
rock silver and gold mining.

This is animas forks a
remote mining boomtown

built on the promise
of precious metals.

This would have been
the main street area,

there are two streets,
little street and hanson.

This area would have
been bustling with miners

going to work in the
mills and the mines,

carts full of equipment
and materials.

Kids playing, children
going off to school.

Perched at around 11,000 feet

this was one of the
highest altitude mining towns

in the country.

Animas forks became a
substantial town over a time,

but it really began to see
some of its biggest developments

after the sawmill and
lumber mill were created.

The saw mill was producing
over 4,000 pieces of board a day

just so that it could
accommodate the number of people

who were here at the time.

Within three years
there were 30 cabins,

a general store,
several saloons,

a pharmacy, and a post office.

Even had the kalamazoo hotel

which was the grandest and
largest building in the area,

it also had the
town's only telephone

and this beautiful grand piano.

Animas forks was a
bustling Metropolis.

In 1882 the animas forks pioneer

began publication

and it was the highest
altitude printing press

in the us at the time.

Clearly this town was
in it for the long haul.

At its height 400 people
called this place home.

For one family drawn
here theirs was a story

that captured the reality
of what towns like this

were really all about.

When the Duncans moved
here in the late 1870s,

they were considering
this to be a place

that was going to
grow and develop

and become a full-fledged
town and so they built a home

that was commensurate

with modern living
in the victorian era.

The amazing views
out into the mountains

from this bay window
were unrivalled

for this kind of living
having a bit of culture

while you were kind of
on the frontier as a pioneer.

This was simply not something
you would expect to see

11,000 feet up the side
of a steep mountain.

And it demonstrates
just how much wealth

there was to be made here.

But pride comes before a
fall, and soon the Duncans

and other townspeople would
learn that lesson the hard way.

The town's boom period

came to a sudden end
on October 22nd, 1891.

A huge fire burned down
most of the business district

causing over $20,000 in damage.

The fire actually originated in
the kalamazoo house kitchen

and then it ultimately ended up

spreading throughout
the rest of the town.

And to add insult to injury
mining had already begun to taper

and so with these
two things together

this was a really crucial moment
for the people of animas forks.

Only five years
after they arrived

the Duncans left animas forks,

their dream of
striking it rich in tatters.

But not everyone packed
their belongings in such a hurry.

The town kind of
lay fallow for a while

until it was revived again
some time after 1904,

when the gold prince
mill was being constructed.

This is a gravity-fed mill

and so that's why you
are seeing the foundation

of this large building tiered

as they did things
to the order process.

At its peak it had a 500
ton per day capacity,

and it was fed ore

by this incredibly impressive

12,600 foot aerial tram line.

And so this does
reinvigorate life at animas forks

and it does begin to
draw more investors

and more people
back to this town.

But making a living out here
balanced on a constant knife edge.

Things were going
swimmingly and looked like

things were improving
a lot in this area

until unfortunately the
owners of the gold prince mill

went bankrupt in 1907.

When it was no longer profitable
the town's days were numbered.

After the gold prince
mill closed down in 1910,

people moved on

and there was some
sporadic repopulation here

in the '20s and then the '60s,

but the town was
never occupied again.

For centuries the pursuit of gold
has driven humankind mad with greed.

A hard life of feast or famine,

that shaped not only the landscape
but the world we live in today.

It might seem that the
story of animas forks

is just another story of
a boomtown gone bust,

and sure in many ways it is,

but it's also a
story of lives made,

lives lost in the process

and we shouldn't
forget that part of it.

Off england's southern coast
in the waters of the solent

is a structure born
in an age of fear.

The first time I ever saw this

I was sailing out of
Portsmouth through the solent

and there up ahead of us
looked like it was an island.

And we got closer

and it can't be an
island its too round.

Its state of decay suggests
this is no modern construction.

This is really
falling to pieces.

The concrete is crumbling

all the metal is corroded

this has clearly been through
some really tough years.

Inside is a labyrinth
of dark passages.

And as you explore
further you can see

that there is a whole series
of inter-connecting corridors,

some of which are so tight
you have to squeeze past,

it's a real claustrophobic
environment.

It's unobstructed views
of the surrounding waters

are clearly key to
its original purpose.

But would it ever
be called into action?

That rather unique
circular design

is a really crucial clue as
to what was going on here.

Another important
fact to consider

is that there are other
emplacements just like it.

There has been a lot of thought

put into this very tightly
knit, very strong structure.

Did it actually
serve it's purpose?

In times of war
the United Kingdom

has always had the advantage
of being an island nation.

This hulking mass of concrete
was a vital part of the strategy

to ward off foreign invaders.

There are a number of things
that were built on top of it,

that are clearly
from world war ii.

There are outposts,
there is place to put guns

and its very reminiscent
for many of the structures

that we see along this
coastal part of the UK.

Dom hones lives
nearby on the mainland

and is an expert on this
unique slice of history.

We're downstairs
in the cartridge cellar,

which is the lower
basement floor of the fort,

and quite simply down here

was where all of the
ammunitions was initially stored

before it was taken
up to the high levels

to the gun
emplacements to be used.

These stores here would
have been absolutely packed

in different size of shells
depending on the erm,

size of the gun.

But literally they would
have lined up against the wall

er, they would be
filled up in this space

so the soldiers could
come and get them erm,

but literally in absolute
mass of fire power

in every one of these stores.

The entire fort stood
on top of a powder keg.

But the design of these lower
levels aim to minimise the risks.

If you had an accident here

and er, an explosion hit here it
would be absolutely catastrophic.

Having lots of different rooms,

very thick walls
around them as well er,

meant that you know, if there
was a problem or explosion

it would limit the damage,

you wouldn't lose sort of
the entire basement floor.

Clearly this structure
was designed for war,

but it doesn't seem
strong enough

to withstand the
extraordinary fire power

marshalled by the Nazis.

This was not something
that could withstand

the type of warfare that
was waged in world war ii

I mean you could either
just bomb it from the air

or you could hit it with
heavy shells from a warship.

But these structures
from world war ii

are these built on
something that pre-existed?

And is that the key

to what this place
used to be used for?

A century before Hitler's
forces terrorised Europe

the threat of invasion came
from much closer to home.

In the old days

england's ancient
enemy was France.

And of the continental powers
France is the closest one,

its only a few miles

across the English
channel from britain.

Construction here began in 1861.

A time of heightened tension

caused by an ambitious
French family dynasty

with a score to settle.

France's new leader was
Napoleon Bonaparte III.

The nephew of the
famous Napoleon Bonaparte

who had fought an
epic battle against britain

before finally facing defeat
at trafalgar and Waterloo.

You can imagine why
his descendant might hold

just a little bit of a
grudge against the British.

The prime minister at the
time Henry John temple,

third viscount palmerston
was a very popular man

and he decreed
that it would be useful

to set up a series of defences

against any potential
attack from the sea.

There was good reason to
think an attack was imminent,

the French were embarking

on an aggressive ship
building programme.

Technologically advanced
and unparalleled in its might.

The French military
was developed

so that they had you
know iron clad erm warships

including la gloire.

Britain had yet to develop an
equivalent armoured warship,

its ageing wooden fleet
didn't stand a chance.

The la gloire was a
major threat to britain,

palmerston knew that
the French ironclad

would sail right up
a royal Navy fleet

and that the cannons
of those ships

could do very little to
dent the ironclad hull.

Britain was put on the
back foot almost over night.

The ironclad was a kind of
undefeatable super weapon.

In response palmerston
ordered a royal commission

to assess the United
Kingdom's ability

to repel foreign invaders.

Its findings spread panic.

If you can't get the royal Navy

to suddenly convert to
ironclads you've got to defend

the royal Navy's ports
with something else.

You've got to defend them
using armoured fortresses instead.

This is horse sand fort,

one of a chain of four
sea-based defences

intended to protect the key
naval position of Portsmouth

from French attack.

In today's money each stronghold
costs around 40 million pounds.

And they were part of a
far larger nationwide plan

that would come to define
palmerston's time in office.

It's difficult to build at
sea at the best of times,

you imagine how hard it
must have been in the 1860s

and what they would
do is they would sail

these preformed concrete
blocks out to the site

and drop them to
form the foundations

on the sea floor and
build up from there.

And eventually you can
build up out of the sea

and build the structure
of these fortresses.

Above the foundation
was the basement level

divided radially into
compartments for ammunition,

the outer most passage
was designed to allow

additional armour to be bolted
on to the exterior of the fort.

When completed in 1880,

there was enough fire power

stored inside to sink
any approaching fleet.

So, here we have one
of the gun emplacements

there would have been 49 in total,
25 on one level, 24 on the other.

And this is where the main
gun emplacements were

and the main fire
power for the forts.

Originally been up

to 12.5 inch rifle
muzzle loading guns,

huge, huge, sort
of, 38 ton guns.

In a period of battle
all of these guns

would be fully manned er,
you know up to 600 soldiers

er, maximum capacity on the fort

er, and they would be running
around with ammunition,

running getting loading,
getting ready to fire

er, fire reload er, and
a huge amount of effort

er, and that would
have all gone on here.

On the fort's upper levels,

the troops kept
around the clock watch

for any approaching enemy.

The way that these
forts were designed

was that they created
a line of defence

across the entire solent
that the French Navy

would have to pass through
in order to get to the shore.

Had they attempted
to get through

they would have to come through

between horse sand
fort and no man's fort

and they would have been
obliterated from all angles in every area

and stretch of water in between
would have been covered.

When the alarm sounded
which could have been

any time of day or
night the soldiers

er, had to you know, stop
whatever they were doing and,

and take the call to arms.

But that call to
arms, never came.

In the early 20th century,

the dynamics of
britain's relationship

to its continental allies
shifted dramatically.

The unification of Germany

really changed the
equation on the continent.

Lord palmerston gears up for
French attack that never comes,

the crisis and relations
with the French passes

and in fact the French and
the British come together

in the middle of the 19th
century and are as close allies

as two nations
can be for decades.

For the man that ordered
construction of the forts,

these defences became a
damming part of his legacy.

The official title
is the solent fort,

but while they were built,

they were given a different
name by a derisive press,

they were called
palmerston's follies.

And palmerston's ambitious to
his defence building programme

didn't end there.

Across the south coast

more than 80 forts were
commissioned to this day

it was the single most
expensive military project

undertaken by britain
during peace time.

Palmerston saw a
potential threat from France.

With hindsight you might say
that lord palmerston was foolish

to build all of those fortresses

with a massive investment
of national wealth,

but only with hindsight.

Even after the fort
was repurposed

for use in the first and
then second world war,

the guns stayed silent.

There has never been a shot
fired in anger from horse sand,

the closest they got to
it was during world war ii

when one of the French war
ships sought refuge in Portsmouth

and that the only time
the cannons on the forts

were targeted on that ship

just to ensure its safe
passage into the harbour.

A decade after the world's
deadliest conflict ended,

the fort was decommissioned,

it still stands empty

an ocean albatross
motivated by fear.

But horse sand fort may yet
be given a renewed purpose.

If you can turn these old forts

into something nice,

there is potential to
make a lot of money.

A lot of old British
military office buildings,

fortresses have been
turned into luxury apartments

and there's no reason
why if you can work out

the transport problems,

you couldn't do that with
these fortresses as well.

On porta rico's southern shore
stand the remains of a fallen giant.

As you approach
from the water you see

what looks like a
Caribbean paradise

but as you get closer
you see the vast ruins

of some kind of big
industrial enterprise.

Those conveyor belts
and chutes and chimneys,

there is a massive pier
heading out into the water,

obviously we are
taking something away,

there is some
transportation involved,

but what was it for?

Surrounding the
industrial zone are clues

that this operation was even
bigger than it first appears.

There is also signs that
it is a typical town here,

there is all sorts
of little buildings,

different shapes and
sizes, some very domestic.

Some clearly for the community.

You see it looks like it
might have been a hotel,

everything built for
those tropical conditions

with large verandas,

lots of big windows for
the breezes to blow through.

But the layout of this town
suggests not all was as it seemed.

Whatever this place
was you can see

that it obviously
housed a lot of people,

but there appears to
be something off with it.

You can spot

that there is two very,
very different standards

of living.

It almost seems like

there was something
dividing this town

but what was it and where
have all the people gone?

The rusting structures that
cling to the landscape today

were once the beating
heart of this island.

Wilfredo Santiago lives nearby

and is fascinated by
this run-down site's past.

So, I decided these facilities

was basically creating
tonnes of this powder

that was in super high demand,

basically sustaining the economy
of the country for almost 100 years.

So, right now we are
standing at the central office,

were basically
filled with desks,

a lot of processes
a lot of paperwork,

it was the central
hub of information,

every process went through here.

So, most of the workers here

in the central office
were Americans,

where there were
figures of power.

For four centuries Puerto
Rico had been a Spanish colony,

but as the 19th
century drew to a close,

a new superpower emerged

that would change the
course of the island's history.

In 1898, a very short
but intense war started

between Spain and
the United States.

Within a year Spain had decided

there was no way
they could win this war

and they actually granted
the island of Puerto Rico

to the United States.

A lot of Americans
saw Puerto Rico

as a wonderful
opportunity for investment.

So, Ford & co, that's
not the car people,

a different Ford,

acquired the land here and
with it they decided to invest

a huge amount of money

in order to make an even
bigger amount of money.

Everything was centred around,

and everything came to be

because of one commodity, sugar.

These are the ruins
of central aguirre

a company town built
on sweet white gold.

The employees worked sun to sun

what they call it sol a sol,
which was basically 6am to 6pm.

And a lot of people there
was no transportation

so if you live pretty
far away from the area

you had to walk like one
hour, two hours to get here,

so you were using
almost all your life

working for a misery.

Profit was everything

and the surrounding
neighbourhood grew

to support the booming industry.

You can't run a place like this,

just on a factory you need
all the extra supporting stuff,

you need a town hospital,
schools, places to workshop

it had the lot absolutely
tied to the factory at its heart.

By establishing these
communities around the factories,

factory owners were helping

to ensure a consistent
and stable labour force

that in exchange for providing
basic amenities and housing

they hoped they could get
a certain sense of loyalty

from their workers and ensure

that they were
consistently showing up

to do the job that
they had on hand.

So, in the early 20th
century the aguirre plantation

became the focus

of a lot of very modern
industrialisation.

They realised if they
could get the cane

from the fields to the plant,

crushed and processed
and loaded onto ships

with the fewest
human hands possible,

that would be the
most cost-effective way

to run the whole operation.

By 1920, production
increased to record levels

generating over five
million dollars per year.

The population here swelled

to almost 6,000 mostly
employees of central aguirre.

But for the workers a dark
side would soon be revealed.

In theory providing
this community

for workers is utopian

but if we actually look at the site
we see that there is segregation

that runs rampant
in the facility.

Where the American overseers
lived in these lovely houses

they socialised strictly
among themselves,

and they had the
best of everything.

The people from Puerto
Rico who lived there

lived in very modest housing.

The accommodation was
of such poor construction,

little of it survives
to be seen today.

So, here its not just
about civil planning,

making life beautiful
for everybody,

there is a hierarchy
and there is apartheid.

You've got one area
that is for the Americans

and you've got the other
area that is for the locals.

This division didn't
stop at the housing.

At the American hotel

the deep-seated prejudice
was painfully clear.

It got to a point

that if it a puerto rican
snuck in or walked in

and got into the pool they
would completely dry it out

and clean it so
they could refill it,

they basically had this idea
that Puerto Ricans were dirty,

were unhygienic and were filthy.

For more than three
decades, the sugar mill thrived,

and profits soared.

But it was all at the
expense of the workers,

segregated on their own island.

In time the employees
would fight back

against the poor
wages and mistreatment.

Beginning on the
26th December 1934,

a wave of strikes sets
off across Puerto Rico,

and this has huge implications

for the sugar
processing industry.

They set fire to the one
thing that the company

really, really cares about

in order to get people
to pay attention.

You have a number of workers

who destroyed about
2,900 cords of sugar cane

at an enormous loss to the
factory and the factory owners.

This was particularly
catastrophic,

but it was effective in that

they were able to
negotiate some better terms.

Over the next decade
it's a constant battle

to improve worker's
rights and conditions,

balanced up against
the new machinery

that's being brought in.

It was not until they
started to unionise,

and you know fight for the right
for more money and more equal pay

that they started to get
a little bit more stable

in the whole community.

But their hard won
rights didn't last for long.

Despite continual efforts
to modernise production

the sugar industry here was
entering a terminal decline.

By the mid-60s the
boom was ending,

the end of the road
was becoming visible,

the price of sugar
was collapsing.

The American owners
effectively abandoned the town

and its taken on by the local
and national government.

But by 1993, the
writing was on the wall,

this was not a
profit-making town anymore

and the factory closed

and with it the
town just fell apart.

Today the abandoned company town

is no more than a ghost of
Puerto Rico's colonial past.

One of the first global trades

that really affected
normal people wasn't gold,

it wasn't precious
metals it was sugar.

It's fascinating to
see the remnants

of what was once
this thriving industry

and also to understand
the degree of exploitation

that was involved
in this business.

In the eastern mediterranean
sea on the island of Cyprus,

is a collection of ruins
tainted by tragedy.

Among some pretty hills

is a stone village
this is not fancy,

but it is absolutely clear

from the way this has
survived that the people

who built this place built
well, they built to last.

Some stone stairways
are still visible,

and windows and doors give an
idea of what the place used to look like.

The odd assemblage of buildings

that they could date
from almost any era,

some look quite old,
some look less old.

The sense you
get from all of this

is that this is a place
that has been inhabited

down the ages potentially
by different cultures.

And yet the people are all gone

and this whole area
would have been cultivated

and yet now its empty.

What story of sorrow
weighs heavy on this land?

And why is this village
now abandoned?

There was an underlying
divide in the country

which had been bubbling
away for decades,

came to the surface

in the most violent
and shocking way.

For many locals
traditional Christian belief

lies at the heart
of their community.

Christodoulos papaminas is a
farmer in the neighbouring village

he fondly remembers
the simple way of life here.

In time events on the island
would tear this village apart.

A single building holds the
key to its sudden abandonment.

If we've got a mosque
here in the village,

this is a sign that
this might have been

not a Greek orthodox village

but a Turkish Muslim village.

And in the history of Cyprus

and the recent history of
Cyprus, that's significant.

Cyprus had for many
years been a country

made up of two groups,

the Turkish Cypriots
and the Greek Cypriots.

The Greek Cypriots are
predominantly Christian orthodox

whereas the Turkish Cypriots
are predominantly Muslim.

For many, many years they
lived happily side by side.

This is foinikas,

a once idyllic
mediterranean village.

Within living memory, it
was home to 235 people,

yet life here was
not always peaceful.

Cyprus enjoys a
really strategic location,

and because of its key
position in the mediterranean

and because of its
relatively flourishing economy

and its good natural harbours,

Cyprus was battled over
by the powers for centuries,

the Greeks, the romans,
the venetians, the Turks.

The run-down walls are evidence

of one of the earliest
occupying forces.

In the 12th century
the knights templar

called this place home,

they built the
village from stones

from the nearby
vertical rock faces.

During the violent
era of the crusades,

the knights templar protected
European Christian travellers

visiting sites in the
Muslim controlled holy land.

The templars want
to control Cyprus

because it will enable them

to strengthen their control

of middle eastern trade routes.

So, the knights templar build

what they call a commanderie

that is a command
post here in this village.

It may have been founded
at a time of religious conflict

but over the centuries the
people learned to live together.

Over the years of coming
to trade with fellow cattlemen

christodoulos made many friends.

But trouble was brewing

the religious tensions

central to the holy
wars of the crusades

would resurfaced
hundreds of years later.

So, this growing tension
between the Greek christians

and the Turkish muslims
explodes into open warfare in 1974

when the Greek government
lead by a military junta

decides you know
we are going to annexe

the island of Cyprus
because its largely Greek,

it belongs to Greece.

Turkey's response

to the Greek Cypriot
nationalist coup d'etat

is to seek to protect
the Turks of Cyprus

by invading Cyprus.

The island instantly
descended into violent chaos,

in the fog of war
both sides were guilty

of committing
unforgiveable atrocities.

Now, neighbour feared neighbour,

the atmosphere had changed
it had become dangerous,

what once had been a peaceful
landscape of coexistence

had been shattered,
its such a waste.

After 30 days bitter fighting
a ceasefire was agreed

soon after the
country was divided.

And as a condition
of the ceasefire

there were massive
population transfers,

tens of thousands
of Greek christians

migrated from the now Turkish
zone in the north of the island.

To the now Greek zone
in the south of the island

and the same thing
happened on the other side.

This village on the
south of the island

was now part of
Greek held territory.

The civilians of
foinikas were caught

in the middle of the chaos
and had to decide what to do,

it had been a Turkish
village for years

but now they were being told

that they are on the
wrong side of the border.

Fearing reprisals, the
Muslim occupants fled,

christodoulos
remembers only too well

the trauma of
this terrible period.

Over four decades have past

since the shocking events

that transformed this
mediterranean island.

Yet Cyprus is still
a country divided.

The Turks of northern
Cyprus are convinced

that if they let their guard
down for even a moment

the Greeks will take over.

The Greeks of
Cyprus are convinced

that if they let their guard
down for even a moment

the Turks will take over.

And the partition
of Cyprus remains

part of the daily life of
that island to this day.

Captioned by
ai-media ai-media. TV