1 00:00:59,697 --> 00:01:02,300 [ RINGING ] 2 00:01:04,301 --> 00:01:07,688 [ STEAM HISSING ] 3 00:01:10,324 --> 00:01:13,144 [ WHISTLE BLOWS ] 4 00:01:15,646 --> 00:01:19,233 I SEE OVER MY OWN CONTINENT 5 00:01:19,300 --> 00:01:24,455 THE PACIFIC RAILROAD SURMOUNTING EVERY BARRIER. 6 00:01:24,522 --> 00:01:29,227 I SEE CONTINUAL TRAINS OF CARS WINDING ALONG THE PLATTE, 7 00:01:29,293 --> 00:01:32,413 CARRYING FREIGHT AND PASSENGERS. 8 00:01:36,818 --> 00:01:40,221 I HEAR THE LOCOMOTIVES RUSHING AND ROARING, 9 00:01:40,287 --> 00:01:42,590 AND THE SHRILL STEAM WHISTLE. 10 00:01:42,656 --> 00:01:45,093 I HEAR THE ECHOES REVERBERATE 11 00:01:45,159 --> 00:01:48,562 THROUGH THE GRANDEST SCENERY IN THE WORLD. 12 00:01:48,629 --> 00:01:54,552 LO SOUL, SEEST THOU NOT GOD'S PURPOSE FROM THE FIRST? 13 00:01:54,619 --> 00:02:00,008 THE EARTH TO BE SPANNED, CONNECTED BY NETWORKS. 14 00:02:00,074 --> 00:02:04,245 THE LANDS TO BE WELDED TOGETHER -- 15 00:02:04,311 --> 00:02:06,164 WALT WHITMAN. 16 00:02:10,868 --> 00:02:13,754 AMERICAN CHANTING ] 17 00:02:25,098 --> 00:02:29,170 [ EAGLE CRIES ] 18 00:02:29,236 --> 00:02:33,174 [ DRUM BEATS, CHANTING CONTINUES ] 19 00:02:43,134 --> 00:02:46,821 [ MORE VOICES ADDED TO CHANTING ] 20 00:03:06,690 --> 00:03:10,761 Narrator: IT HAD TAKEN THE BLOODSHED AND SACRIFICE 21 00:03:10,828 --> 00:03:15,299 OF THE CIVIL WAR TO REUNITE THE NATION, NORTH AND SOUTH. 22 00:03:15,366 --> 00:03:17,468 BUT WHEN THE WAR WAS OVER, 23 00:03:17,535 --> 00:03:20,921 AMERICANS SET OUT WITH EQUAL DETERMINATION 24 00:03:21,005 --> 00:03:24,325 TO UNITE THE NATION, EAST AND WEST. 25 00:03:24,392 --> 00:03:27,795 TO DO IT, THEY WOULD BUILD A RAILROAD. 26 00:03:27,861 --> 00:03:31,448 ITS COMPLETION WOULD BE ONE OF THE GREATEST 27 00:03:31,515 --> 00:03:35,286 TECHNOLOGICAL ACHIEVEMENTS OF THE AGE -- 28 00:03:35,352 --> 00:03:39,239 SIGNALLING AT LAST, AS NOTHING ELSE EVER HAD, 29 00:03:39,306 --> 00:03:44,127 THAT THE UNITED STATES WAS NOT ONLY A CONTINENTAL NATION, 30 00:03:44,194 --> 00:03:48,049 BUT ON ITS WAY TO BECOMING A WORLD POWER. 31 00:03:52,186 --> 00:03:55,172 AND WHEN THE RAILROAD WAS FINALLY BUILT, 32 00:03:55,239 --> 00:03:57,224 THE PACE OF CHANGE WOULD SHIFT 33 00:03:57,308 --> 00:04:00,111 FROM THE STEADY GAIT OF A TEAM OF OXEN 34 00:04:00,177 --> 00:04:03,764 TO THE POWERFUL SURGE OF A STEAM LOCOMOTIVE. 35 00:04:03,848 --> 00:04:07,568 THE WEST WOULD BE TRANSFORMED. 36 00:04:09,052 --> 00:04:14,759 OVERNIGHT, THE RAILROAD WOULD TURN BARREN SPOTS OF EARTH 37 00:04:14,825 --> 00:04:20,447 INTO RAUCOUS BOOM TOWNS -- NORTH PLATTE AND JULESBURG, 38 00:04:20,514 --> 00:04:27,154 ABILENE, BEAR RIVER, WICHITA AND DODGE. 39 00:04:27,221 --> 00:04:30,708 THE RAILROAD WOULD ALLOW CIVIL WAR VETERANS, 40 00:04:30,775 --> 00:04:35,463 POOR FARMERS FROM THE EAST AND LANDLESS PEASANTS FROM EUROPE 41 00:04:35,529 --> 00:04:39,083 TO HAVE A FARM THEY COULD CALL THEIR OWN. 42 00:04:39,150 --> 00:04:43,387 THERE THEY PLANTED FOREIGN STRAINS OF WHEAT 43 00:04:43,454 --> 00:04:46,174 IN RICH, MATTED PRAIRIE SOIL 44 00:04:46,240 --> 00:04:51,145 THAT HAD NEVER KNOWN ANYTHING BUT GRASS. 45 00:04:51,212 --> 00:04:56,216 RAILROADS WOULD CARRY HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS 46 00:04:56,284 --> 00:05:01,272 OF WESTERN LONGHORNS TO EASTERN MARKETS, 47 00:05:01,338 --> 00:05:05,609 AND TURN THE DUSTY, SADDLE-SORE MEN WHO HERDED THEM 48 00:05:05,676 --> 00:05:09,464 INTO THE IDOLS OF EVERY EASTERN SCHOOLBOY. 49 00:05:11,598 --> 00:05:14,001 [ HORSE NEIGHS ] 50 00:05:26,180 --> 00:05:29,851 AND RAILROADS WOULD BRING ONTO THE GREAT PLAINS 51 00:05:29,917 --> 00:05:31,669 THE BUFFALO HUNTERS -- 52 00:05:31,735 --> 00:05:36,323 WHO WOULD DRIVE A MAGNIFICENT ANIMAL THAT SYMBOLIZED THE WEST 53 00:05:36,390 --> 00:05:38,559 TO THE BRINK OF EXTINCTION, 54 00:05:38,626 --> 00:05:40,978 AND WITH IT A WAY OF LIFE 55 00:05:41,045 --> 00:05:45,682 WITH ROOTS REACHING BACK BEFORE RECORDED HISTORY. 56 00:05:45,749 --> 00:05:50,305 THE RAILROAD WOULD DO ALL OF THAT, 57 00:05:50,371 --> 00:05:55,993 BUT FIRST, SOMEONE WOULD HAVE TO BUILD IT. 58 00:06:08,406 --> 00:06:12,126 [ DOG BARKS ] 59 00:06:12,193 --> 00:06:15,345 THE GREAT PACIFIC RAILWAY IS COMMENCED. 60 00:06:15,413 --> 00:06:18,899 IMMIGRATION WILL SOON POUR INTO THESE VALLEYS, 61 00:06:18,966 --> 00:06:23,137 TEN MILLION EMIGRANTS WILL SETTLE IN THIS GOLDEN LAND 62 00:06:23,204 --> 00:06:24,554 IN TWENTY YEARS. 63 00:06:24,621 --> 00:06:28,058 THIS IS THE GRANDEST ENTERPRISE UNDER GOD -- 64 00:06:28,125 --> 00:06:30,010 GEORGE FRANCIS TRAIN. 65 00:06:32,196 --> 00:06:37,768 Narrator: RAILROADS HAD ALREADY TRANSFORMED LIFE IN THE EAST, 66 00:06:37,835 --> 00:06:40,654 BUT AT THE END OF THE CIVIL WAR, 67 00:06:40,721 --> 00:06:45,092 THEY STILL STOPPED AT THE MISSOURI RIVER. 68 00:06:45,159 --> 00:06:47,061 FOR A QUARTER OF A CENTURY, 69 00:06:47,128 --> 00:06:51,015 MEN HAD DREAMED OF BUILDING A LINE FROM COAST TO COAST. 70 00:06:51,081 --> 00:06:53,150 NOW THEY WOULD ATTEMPT IT -- 71 00:06:53,217 --> 00:07:00,707 1,775 MILES OF TRACK FROM OMAHA TO SACRAMENTO. 72 00:07:00,774 --> 00:07:03,010 IT WOULD HAVE TO BE CUT THROUGH MOUNTAINS 73 00:07:03,077 --> 00:07:06,163 HIGHER THAN ANY RAILROAD BUILDER HAD EVER FACED, 74 00:07:06,229 --> 00:07:09,917 SPAN DESERTS WHERE THERE WAS NO WATER ANYWHERE, 75 00:07:09,983 --> 00:07:11,902 AND CROSS TREELESS PRAIRIES 76 00:07:11,969 --> 00:07:14,689 WHERE ANXIOUS AND DEFIANT INDIANS 77 00:07:14,755 --> 00:07:17,124 WOULD RESIST THEIR PASSAGE. 78 00:07:17,191 --> 00:07:20,544 THEY KNEW FROM THE START THAT IF IT COULD BE COMPLETED, 79 00:07:20,610 --> 00:07:23,297 AMERICANS WOULD HAVE ACCOMPLISHED SOMETHING 80 00:07:23,364 --> 00:07:26,067 NO OTHER PEOPLE HAD EVER EVEN ATTEMPTED. 81 00:07:28,919 --> 00:07:31,372 IN THE RIPENESS OF TIME 82 00:07:31,438 --> 00:07:34,791 THE HOPE OF HUMANITY IS REALIZED. 83 00:07:34,858 --> 00:07:39,163 THIS CONTINENTAL RAILWAY WILL BIND THE TWO SEABOARDS 84 00:07:39,229 --> 00:07:44,585 TO THIS ONE CONTINENTAL UNION, LIKE EARS TO THE HUMAN HEAD, 85 00:07:44,651 --> 00:07:48,005 TO PLANT THE FOUNDATIONS OF THE UNION SO BROAD AND DEEP 86 00:07:48,072 --> 00:07:52,893 THAT NO POSSIBLE FORCE OR STRATAGEM 87 00:07:52,960 --> 00:07:55,495 CAN SHAKE ITS PERMANENCE -- 88 00:07:55,579 --> 00:07:58,566 WILLIAM GILPIN. 89 00:08:02,452 --> 00:08:06,189 Narrator: THE WEST COULDN'T BE SETTLED WITHOUT RAILROADS, 90 00:08:06,256 --> 00:08:08,959 AND A RAILROAD ACROSS THE WEST 91 00:08:09,026 --> 00:08:12,463 COULDN'T BE BUILT WITHOUT THE GOVERNMENT. 92 00:08:12,530 --> 00:08:16,733 THE DISTANCES WERE TOO GREAT, THE COSTS TOO STAGGERING, 93 00:08:16,800 --> 00:08:20,521 THE RISKS TOO HIGH FOR ANY GROUP OF BUSINESSMEN. 94 00:08:20,588 --> 00:08:22,823 IT WAS ONLY THROUGH THE GOVERNMENT'S HELP 95 00:08:22,889 --> 00:08:26,010 THAT ANYTHING OF THIS GARGANTUAN SIZE COULD BE ACCOMPLISHED, 96 00:08:26,077 --> 00:08:27,661 MUCH AS LANDING ON THE MOON. 97 00:08:27,728 --> 00:08:32,199 IT WAS NOT RUGGED INDIVIDUALISTS WHO BUILT THE RAILROAD, 98 00:08:32,266 --> 00:08:34,067 IT WAS RUGGED CORPORATIONS 99 00:08:34,134 --> 00:08:37,421 WHO FORMED AND FINANCED THEMSELVES AS ENTITIES. 100 00:08:37,488 --> 00:08:40,874 IT WAS THE RUGGED FEDERAL GOVERNMENT 101 00:08:40,941 --> 00:08:44,061 THAT CAME UP WITH THE FEDERAL LOANS AND THE LAND GRANTS 102 00:08:44,127 --> 00:08:46,230 THAT ENABLED IT TO BE BUILT. 103 00:08:46,296 --> 00:08:49,616 AMID ALL THE ROMANCE OF THE BUILDING OF THE RAILROAD, 104 00:08:49,683 --> 00:08:51,352 WE TEND TO FORGET THAT IT WAS 105 00:08:51,418 --> 00:08:54,871 ONE OF THE MAJOR INDUSTRIAL ENTERPRISES OF ITS AGE. 106 00:08:54,938 --> 00:08:58,809 Narrator: IN 1862, CONGRESS GAVE CHARTERS 107 00:08:58,875 --> 00:09:01,578 TO TWO COMPANIES TO BUILD IT. 108 00:09:01,645 --> 00:09:05,615 THE CENTRAL PACIFIC WAS TO PUSH EASTWARD FROM SACRAMENTO 109 00:09:05,682 --> 00:09:08,269 OVER THE SIERRA NEVADA MOUNTAINS. 110 00:09:08,335 --> 00:09:12,256 THE UNION PACIFIC WAS TO START FROM THE MISSOURI, 111 00:09:12,323 --> 00:09:16,460 CROSS THE GREAT PLAINS AND CUT THROUGH THE ROCKIES. 112 00:09:16,526 --> 00:09:21,031 BOTH COMPANIES WERE TO RECEIVE VAST LOANS FROM THE TREASURY 113 00:09:21,098 --> 00:09:22,833 AS THEY WENT ALONG -- 114 00:09:22,899 --> 00:09:26,603 $16,000 PER MILE OF LEVEL TRACK, 115 00:09:26,670 --> 00:09:33,077 $32,000 IN THE PLATEAUS, AND $48,000 IN THE MOUNTAINS. 116 00:09:33,144 --> 00:09:37,698 LOBBYISTS GOT THE RATES DOUBLED WITHIN A YEAR. 117 00:09:37,765 --> 00:09:40,684 LELAND STANFORD, GOVERNOR OF CALIFORNIA 118 00:09:40,751 --> 00:09:44,671 AND PRESIDENT OF THE CENTRAL PACIFIC RAILROAD, 119 00:09:44,738 --> 00:09:49,326 PERSUADED A MALLEABLE GEOLOGIST, PROFESSOR JOSIAH WHITNEY, 120 00:09:49,393 --> 00:09:52,930 TO DECLARE THE GENTLY SLOPING SACRAMENTO VALLEY 121 00:09:52,996 --> 00:09:54,865 A MOUNTAINOUS REGION, 122 00:09:54,932 --> 00:09:57,033 SO THAT THE CENTRAL PACIFIC 123 00:09:57,100 --> 00:10:00,254 COULD COLLECT THE HIGHEST POSSIBLE RATE 124 00:10:00,321 --> 00:10:02,656 FOR LAYING TRACK ACROSS IT. 125 00:10:02,723 --> 00:10:05,809 A GRATEFUL CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE LATER NAMED 126 00:10:05,876 --> 00:10:10,046 ITS HIGHEST PEAK "MOUNT WHITNEY" IN THE PROFESSOR'S HONOR. 127 00:10:12,833 --> 00:10:16,387 CONGRESS ALSO PROMISED EACH COMPANY 128 00:10:16,454 --> 00:10:22,142 6,400 ACRES OF FEDERAL LAND FOR EVERY MILE OF TRACK IT LAID. 129 00:10:22,209 --> 00:10:24,644 Man: THE RAILROADS GOT THE RIGHT OF WAY 130 00:10:24,711 --> 00:10:26,279 AND ALONG THE RIGHT OF WAY 131 00:10:26,346 --> 00:10:29,700 MILES AND MILES OF WHAT WAS THEN THE GOVERNMENT'S LAND. 132 00:10:29,767 --> 00:10:34,705 WHEN YOU ADDED IT ALL TOGETHER IT WAS A GIFT OF ROUGHLY 133 00:10:34,772 --> 00:10:38,425 THE SIZE OF CALIFORNIA PLUS MOST OF MONTANA. 134 00:10:38,492 --> 00:10:40,161 IT WAS INCREDIBLE. 135 00:10:40,227 --> 00:10:44,031 Narrator: THE UNION PACIFIC AND CENTRAL PACIFIC 136 00:10:44,098 --> 00:10:46,233 WERE SOON LOCKED IN A RACE 137 00:10:46,299 --> 00:10:49,487 TO SEE WHO COULD LAY THE MOST TRACK -- 138 00:10:49,553 --> 00:10:53,274 AND THEREFORE GET THE MOST LAND AND MONEY. 139 00:10:53,340 --> 00:10:57,544 SOMEWHERE IN THE WEST -- NO ONE KNEW EXACTLY WHERE -- 140 00:10:57,611 --> 00:11:00,798 THE TWO LINES WERE SUPPOSED TO MEET. 141 00:11:20,633 --> 00:11:22,586 IT IS A GRAND ANVIL CHORUS 142 00:11:22,652 --> 00:11:26,139 THAT THESE STURDY SLEDGES ARE PLAYING ACROSS THE PLAINS. 143 00:11:26,206 --> 00:11:30,244 IT IS IN TRIPLE TIME, THREE STROKES TO A SPIKE. 144 00:11:30,310 --> 00:11:32,946 TWENTY-ONE MILLION TIMES ARE THEY TO COME DOWN 145 00:11:33,012 --> 00:11:35,933 WITH THEIR SHARP PUNCTUATION 146 00:11:36,000 --> 00:11:38,234 BEFORE THE GREAT WORK OF MODERN AMERICA IS COMPLETE -- 147 00:11:38,301 --> 00:11:41,438 DR. WILLIAM A. BELL. 148 00:11:41,505 --> 00:11:45,909 Narrator: IN NEBRASKA, SOME 10,000 MEN WERE AT WORK 149 00:11:45,975 --> 00:11:49,413 ON THE UNION PACIFIC HEADING WEST. 150 00:11:49,479 --> 00:11:51,982 MOST WERE IMMIGRANTS FROM IRELAND, 151 00:11:52,048 --> 00:11:55,118 BUT THERE WERE ALSO MEXICANS AND GERMANS, 152 00:11:55,185 --> 00:11:59,389 ENGLISHMEN, EX-SOLDIERS AND FORMER SLAVES -- 153 00:11:59,456 --> 00:12:03,110 AN ARMY OF WORKMEN MOVING ACROSS THE PLAINS 154 00:12:03,177 --> 00:12:05,245 WITH MILITARY PRECISION. 155 00:12:05,311 --> 00:12:08,115 THERE WAS NO TIME FOR REST. 156 00:12:08,198 --> 00:12:14,287 A 20-CAR WORK TRAIN HOUSED AND FED THE MEN WHO ROSE AT DAWN. 157 00:12:14,354 --> 00:12:19,809 A SUPPLY TRAIN CARRIED EVERYTHING NEEDED THAT DAY -- 158 00:12:19,876 --> 00:12:23,063 RAILS, TIES, SPIKES, RODS -- 159 00:12:23,130 --> 00:12:26,416 ALL OF WHICH HAD TO BE LOADED ONTO FLATCARS 160 00:12:26,482 --> 00:12:28,685 AND RUN UP TO THE RAILHEAD 161 00:12:28,752 --> 00:12:32,022 WHERE THE "IRON MEN" WERE ALREADY WAITING. 162 00:12:32,089 --> 00:12:34,992 EACH RAIL WEIGHED 700 POUNDS. 163 00:12:35,058 --> 00:12:38,596 IT TOOK FIVE MEN TO LIFT IT INTO PLACE. 164 00:12:38,662 --> 00:12:40,997 TWO OR THREE MILES A DAY. 165 00:12:41,064 --> 00:12:46,086 EVERY DAY. SIX DAYS A WEEK. 166 00:12:46,153 --> 00:12:48,672 WEEK IN AND WEEK OUT. 167 00:12:48,738 --> 00:12:50,941 AS THE UNION PACIFIC CREWS 168 00:12:51,008 --> 00:12:54,895 WORKED THEIR WAY WESTWARD ACROSS THE PRAIRIE, 169 00:12:54,961 --> 00:12:59,265 HUNDREDS OF PROSTITUTES, PIMPS, GAMBLERS, SALOONKEEPERS, 170 00:12:59,350 --> 00:13:01,819 GUNMEN FOLLOWED RIGHT BEHIND -- 171 00:13:01,885 --> 00:13:05,188 "A CARNIVOROUS HORDE," ONE MAN RECALLED, 172 00:13:05,255 --> 00:13:08,058 "HUNGRIER THAN THE NATIVE GRASSHOPPERS," 173 00:13:08,125 --> 00:13:11,912 AND EAGER TO DEVOUR THE MEN'S WEEKLY PAY. 174 00:13:11,979 --> 00:13:17,300 JULESBURG, AUGUST 23, 1867 -- 175 00:13:17,367 --> 00:13:21,738 GAMBLING WAS CARRIED ON EXTENSIVELY, 176 00:13:21,805 --> 00:13:23,406 AND THE SALOONS WERE FULL. 177 00:13:23,473 --> 00:13:26,693 MOSTLY EVERY ONE SEEMED BENT ON DEBAUCHERY AND DISSIPATION. 178 00:13:26,759 --> 00:13:31,131 THERE APPEARS TO BE PLENTY OF MONEY HERE, 179 00:13:31,198 --> 00:13:33,300 AND PLENTY OF FOOLS TO SQUANDER IT. 180 00:13:33,367 --> 00:13:37,387 I VERILY BELIEVE THAT THERE ARE MEN HERE WHO WOULD 181 00:13:37,454 --> 00:13:40,273 MURDER A FELLOW CREATURE FOR FIVE DOLLARS -- 182 00:13:40,340 --> 00:13:42,609 HENRY MORTON STANLEY. 183 00:13:42,676 --> 00:13:46,680 Narrator: THE SUCCESSION OF BASE CAMPS THE UNION PACIFIC BUILT, 184 00:13:46,747 --> 00:13:48,616 ROUGHLY 70 MILES APART, 185 00:13:48,682 --> 00:13:50,567 ALL HAD DIFFERENT NAMES -- 186 00:13:50,634 --> 00:13:54,121 ELK HORN, FREMONT, OGLALLA, 187 00:13:54,187 --> 00:13:58,876 LARAMIE, GREEN RIVER, AND CHEYENNE. 188 00:14:03,096 --> 00:14:04,764 Watkins: SAY YOU'RE IN WYOMING, 189 00:14:04,831 --> 00:14:08,185 SAY YOU'RE AT CITADEL ROCK ON THE GREEN RIVER IN WYOMING 190 00:14:08,252 --> 00:14:12,489 AND YOU'RE LOOKING INTO THE DISTANCE AND THERE'S NOTHING, 191 00:14:12,555 --> 00:14:15,942 AND BEHIND YOU THERE IS TRACK GOING ALL THE WAY TO OMAHA. 192 00:14:16,009 --> 00:14:17,778 THE DONKEY ENGINES COMING IN AND GETTING OUT, 193 00:14:17,844 --> 00:14:20,814 HAULING IN MATERIALS, THE CLATTER AND THE BUSTLE 194 00:14:20,881 --> 00:14:23,016 AND THE WORK AROUND YOU AT ALL TIMES, 195 00:14:23,100 --> 00:14:25,936 THE CLANGING OF THE SLEDGEHAMMERS ON THE RAILS 196 00:14:26,003 --> 00:14:27,353 ECHOING IN THE WILDERNESS 197 00:14:27,438 --> 00:14:30,606 THAT HAD NEVER KNOWN ANYTHING LIKE THIS, EVER. 198 00:14:30,674 --> 00:14:34,978 THE SOUNDS OF THE LOCOMOTIVES BELCHING SMOKE 199 00:14:35,045 --> 00:14:37,681 INTO A PREVIOUSLY PRISTINE SKY. 200 00:14:37,731 --> 00:14:42,603 THERE HAD NEVER BEEN A SOUND LIKE THIS EVER BEFORE. 201 00:14:47,224 --> 00:14:49,226 [ NATIVE AMERICAN CHANTING ] 202 00:14:58,819 --> 00:15:05,108 EVERYTHING THE KIOWAS HAD CAME FROM THE BUFFALO. 203 00:15:05,175 --> 00:15:08,462 THEIR TEPEES WERE MADE OF BUFFALO HIDES, 204 00:15:08,528 --> 00:15:11,881 SO WERE THEIR CLOTHES AND MOCASSINS. 205 00:15:11,949 --> 00:15:14,450 THEY ATE BUFFALO MEAT. 206 00:15:14,517 --> 00:15:16,804 THEIR CONTAINERS WERE MADE OF HIDE, 207 00:15:16,870 --> 00:15:19,439 OR OF BLADDERS OR STOMACHS. 208 00:15:19,523 --> 00:15:26,163 MOST OF ALL, THE BUFFALO WAS PART OF THE KIOWA RELIGION. 209 00:15:26,230 --> 00:15:31,084 THE BUFFALO WERE THE LIFE OF THE KIOWAS -- 210 00:15:31,151 --> 00:15:32,969 OLD LADY HORSE. 211 00:15:33,036 --> 00:15:36,156 [ CHANTING CONTINUES ] 212 00:15:36,223 --> 00:15:39,092 Narrator: OF ALL THE WEST'S NATURAL WONDERS, 213 00:15:39,159 --> 00:15:41,795 NONE SURPASSED THE HUGE HERDS OF BUFFALO 214 00:15:41,862 --> 00:15:44,798 THAT BLANKETED THE PLAINS -- 215 00:15:44,865 --> 00:15:49,469 PERHAPS ONCE AS MANY AS 30 MILLION OF THEM. 216 00:15:49,536 --> 00:15:54,825 THEY HAD FRIGHTENED CORONADO'S HORSES BY THEIR SMELL, 217 00:15:54,891 --> 00:15:59,362 AND ASTONISHED LEWIS AND CLARK BY THEIR SHEER NUMBERS. 218 00:15:59,429 --> 00:16:03,900 ONE WAGON TRAIN OF PIONEERS WAS BLOCKED FOR HOURS 219 00:16:03,967 --> 00:16:07,821 BY A HERD THREE MILES WIDE AND TEN MILES LONG. 220 00:16:07,887 --> 00:16:14,161 BUT FOR THE NATIVE PEOPLES OF THE PLAINS, 221 00:16:14,228 --> 00:16:16,913 THEY REPRESENTED EXISTENCE ITSELF. 222 00:16:16,980 --> 00:16:19,950 Man: THE BUFFALO, WHICH WAS 223 00:16:20,000 --> 00:16:22,535 THE ANIMAL REPRESENTATION OF THE SUN, 224 00:16:22,602 --> 00:16:26,873 WAS THE SACRIFICIAL VICTIM OF THE SUN DANCE. 225 00:16:26,940 --> 00:16:30,711 THE SUN DANCE WAS A GREAT CELEBRATION, 226 00:16:30,777 --> 00:16:32,162 A GREAT SOCIAL OCCASION, 227 00:16:32,229 --> 00:16:36,633 AND THE SUN DANCERS WERE EXPRESSING THEIR SPIRIT 228 00:16:36,700 --> 00:16:39,236 IN ORDER TO GAIN CERTAIN POWER. 229 00:16:39,302 --> 00:16:42,288 THEY WANTED TO BE VICTORIOUS IN WAR. 230 00:16:42,355 --> 00:16:46,493 THEY WANTED TO GIVE THANKS FOR SOMETHING GOOD 231 00:16:46,559 --> 00:16:48,345 THAT HAD COME TO THEM. 232 00:16:48,411 --> 00:16:54,034 A BUFFALO BULL IS SACRIFICED, AND ITS HEAD IS IMPALED 233 00:16:54,100 --> 00:16:59,840 IN THE SUN DANCE LODGE OR NEAR IT. 234 00:16:59,907 --> 00:17:01,325 AND IT'S PART OF THE RITUAL -- 235 00:17:01,391 --> 00:17:06,913 YOU CAN'T HAVE A SUN DANCE WITHOUT THE BUFFALO. 236 00:17:06,980 --> 00:17:09,933 Narrator: BY THE LATE 1860s, 237 00:17:10,000 --> 00:17:11,502 THEIR NUMBERS HAD ALREADY DECLINED --- 238 00:17:11,568 --> 00:17:14,521 REDUCED BY DISEASE, COMPETITION FROM HORSE HERDS, 239 00:17:14,587 --> 00:17:17,507 AND BY THE BUFFALO ROBE TRADE 240 00:17:17,574 --> 00:17:19,442 THAT ENCOURAGED SOME INDIAN BANDS 241 00:17:19,509 --> 00:17:23,847 TO KILL MORE THAN THEY NEEDED. 242 00:17:23,914 --> 00:17:27,867 AND NOW THE UNION PACIFIC HIRED MEN TO HUNT BUFFALO 243 00:17:27,951 --> 00:17:31,087 TO FEED THE HUNGRY RAILROAD CREWS 244 00:17:31,154 --> 00:17:36,927 AS THEY BUILT THEIR IRON ROAD ACROSS INDIAN LANDS. 245 00:17:36,993 --> 00:17:39,096 WE SAW THE FIRST TRAIN OF CARS 246 00:17:39,162 --> 00:17:41,164 THAT ANY OF US HAD SEEN. 247 00:17:41,230 --> 00:17:44,000 WE LOOKED AT IT FROM A HIGH RIDGE. 248 00:17:44,067 --> 00:17:46,136 FAR OFF IT WAS VERY SMALL, 249 00:17:46,202 --> 00:17:50,307 BUT IT KEPT COMING AND GROWING LARGER ALL THE TIME, 250 00:17:50,374 --> 00:17:52,575 PUFFING OUT SMOKE AND STEAM. 251 00:17:52,642 --> 00:17:56,746 AND AS IT CAME ON, WE SAID TO EACH OTHER THAT IT 252 00:17:56,813 --> 00:18:00,717 LOOKED LIKE A WHITE MAN'S PIPE WHEN HE WAS SMOKING -- 253 00:18:00,784 --> 00:18:02,135 PORCUPINE. 254 00:18:02,202 --> 00:18:05,022 [ NATIVE AMERICAN CHANTING ] 255 00:18:08,075 --> 00:18:11,178 Narrator: THE CHEYENNE AND ARAPAHO AND LAKOTA 256 00:18:11,244 --> 00:18:14,064 RESENTED THE RAILROAD'S INTRUSION. 257 00:18:18,101 --> 00:18:22,706 THEY DE-RAILED TRAINS, RANSACKED FREIGHT CARS, 258 00:18:22,772 --> 00:18:26,576 FIRED ON SURVEYING CREWS. 259 00:18:26,643 --> 00:18:29,513 THE UNION PACIFIC FELL BEHIND SCHEDULE. 260 00:18:29,579 --> 00:18:32,933 ON JUNE 26, 1867, 261 00:18:33,016 --> 00:18:38,505 AN ARMY DETAIL WAS OVERTAKEN BY A WAR PARTY. 262 00:18:38,571 --> 00:18:42,091 ONE OF THOSE KILLED WAS FREDERICK WYLLYAMS 263 00:18:42,158 --> 00:18:48,114 WHO HAD COME ALL THE WAY FROM ENGLAND IN SEARCH OF ADVENTURE. 264 00:18:48,181 --> 00:18:52,385 ANOTHER ENGLISHMAN, AN AMATEUR ETHNOLOGIST, 265 00:18:52,452 --> 00:18:55,505 PHOTOGRAPHED HIS COUNTRYMAN'S CORPSE. 266 00:18:55,571 --> 00:18:59,392 THE MUSCLES OF THE RIGHT ARM, HACKED TO THE BONE, 267 00:18:59,458 --> 00:19:02,412 SPEAK OF THE CHEYENNES, OR "CUT ARMS." 268 00:19:02,479 --> 00:19:05,065 THE NOSE SLIT DENOTED THE "SMELLER TRIBE," OR ARAPAHO, 269 00:19:05,131 --> 00:19:08,318 AND THE THROAT CUT BEARS WITNESS 270 00:19:08,384 --> 00:19:11,605 THAT THE SIOUX WERE ALSO PRESENT. 271 00:19:13,906 --> 00:19:18,178 IT WAS EVIDENT, FROM THE NUMBER OF DIFFERENT DEVICES, 272 00:19:18,244 --> 00:19:20,847 THAT WARRIORS FROM SEVERAL TRIBES 273 00:19:20,914 --> 00:19:25,351 HAD EACH PURPOSELY LEFT ONE IN THE DEAD MAN'S BODY -- 274 00:19:25,418 --> 00:19:27,320 DR. WILLIAM A. BELL. 275 00:19:27,387 --> 00:19:32,058 Narrator: FINALLY, 5,000 TROOPS WERE SENT WEST 276 00:19:32,125 --> 00:19:37,080 TO PROVIDE THE RAILROAD WORKERS WITH PROTECTION. 277 00:19:37,147 --> 00:19:40,200 THE CREWS WENT BACK TO WORK. 278 00:19:44,571 --> 00:19:48,425 [ GUNSHOT ] 279 00:19:54,547 --> 00:19:58,985 WHILE THE UNION PACIFIC MOVED WEST AGAIN 280 00:19:59,052 --> 00:20:00,487 ACROSS THE GREAT PLAINS, 281 00:20:00,554 --> 00:20:04,691 IN CALIFORNIA THE CENTRAL PACIFIC, AFTER A FAST START, 282 00:20:04,757 --> 00:20:07,377 HAD GOTTEN STUCK IN THE SIERRA NEVADAS. 283 00:20:07,444 --> 00:20:11,815 THE MOUNTAINS SEEMED IMPENETRABLE, 284 00:20:11,882 --> 00:20:13,483 AND TO MAKE MATTERS WORSE, 285 00:20:13,550 --> 00:20:18,772 CHARLES CROCKER, WHOSE JOB IT WAS TO BREAK THROUGH THEM, 286 00:20:18,839 --> 00:20:21,441 COULD NOT SEEM TO HOLD ON TO HIS WORKERS. 287 00:20:21,507 --> 00:20:23,676 THREE OUT OF FIVE STUCK WITH HIM JUST LONG ENOUGH 288 00:20:23,743 --> 00:20:26,563 TO GET A FREE RIDE TO THE RAILHEAD, 289 00:20:26,630 --> 00:20:30,083 THEN SET OUT ON THEIR OWN FOR THE NEVADA GOLD FIELDS. 290 00:20:30,150 --> 00:20:36,956 HIS PLANS CALLED FOR A WORK FORCE OF 5,000. 291 00:20:37,023 --> 00:20:39,909 HE HAD FEWER THAN 600. 292 00:20:39,976 --> 00:20:44,314 DESPERATE, HE SUGGESTED TO HIS SUPERINTENDENT OF CONSTRUCTION, 293 00:20:44,380 --> 00:20:47,433 JAMES STROBRIDGE, THAT HE TRY THE CHINESE 294 00:20:47,500 --> 00:20:49,402 WHO WERE EKING OUT A LIVING 295 00:20:49,468 --> 00:20:53,640 WORKING THE GOLD AND SILVER TAILINGS ABANDONED BY OTHERS. 296 00:20:53,706 --> 00:20:55,708 STROBRIDGE WAS AGAINST IT -- 297 00:20:55,775 --> 00:20:59,445 HE THOUGHT THE CHINESE WERE TOO SMALL, TOO FRAIL. 298 00:20:59,512 --> 00:21:03,066 THEY HAD NO EXPERIENCE BUILDING RAILROADS. 299 00:21:03,133 --> 00:21:07,471 CROCKER TOLD STROBRIDGE TO GIVE THE CHINESE A CHANCE. 300 00:21:07,537 --> 00:21:13,076 "AFTER ALL," HE SAID, "THEY HAD BUILT THE GREAT WALL OF CHINA." 301 00:21:17,681 --> 00:21:21,717 THE FIRST CHINESE BEGAN TURNING UP IN EARLY 1865, 302 00:21:21,784 --> 00:21:23,403 EAGER TO WORK. 303 00:21:23,470 --> 00:21:27,106 THEY WERE ALREADY ORGANIZED INTO WORK GANGS, 304 00:21:27,173 --> 00:21:29,342 EACH WITH ITS OWN HEADMAN. 305 00:21:29,408 --> 00:21:35,464 Man: CROCKER EXPECTED THAT THESE FELLOWS WOULD COME UP THERE 306 00:21:35,531 --> 00:21:37,834 IN ONES AND TWOS LIKE THE OTHER NATIONALITIES, 307 00:21:37,901 --> 00:21:41,054 AND HE FOUND THAT THE CHINESE SORT OF MARCHED UP THERE 308 00:21:41,121 --> 00:21:44,006 AS ONE GROUP AND ALL HE HAD TO DO 309 00:21:44,073 --> 00:21:48,344 WAS TO DEAL WITH THE FOREMAN OF THAT GROUP. 310 00:21:48,411 --> 00:21:52,515 OF COURSE, HE WOULD BE THE CLAN LEADER. 311 00:21:52,582 --> 00:21:57,337 Narrator: BEFORE LONG, 11,000 CHINESE WERE AT WORK 312 00:21:57,403 --> 00:21:59,472 ON THE CENTRAL PACIFIC, 313 00:21:59,539 --> 00:22:04,260 AND CROCKER WAS ADVERTISING FOR MORE IN CHINA. 314 00:22:04,327 --> 00:22:05,679 [ EXPLOSION ] 315 00:22:05,745 --> 00:22:10,650 BUT HARD WORK ALONE WAS NO MATCH FOR THE SIERRA NEVADAS. 316 00:22:10,717 --> 00:22:14,304 STROBRIDGE WORRIED THAT HIS CENTRAL PACIFIC 317 00:22:14,370 --> 00:22:16,573 WAS FALLING EVEN FURTHER BEHIND 318 00:22:16,623 --> 00:22:19,659 IN THEIR RACE WITH THE UNION PACIFIC, 319 00:22:19,726 --> 00:22:23,230 AND SOON ARMED THE CHINESE WITH BLACK POWDER 320 00:22:23,296 --> 00:22:25,565 TO BLAST THEIR WAY THROUGH. 321 00:22:25,632 --> 00:22:29,819 [ EXPLOSION ] 322 00:22:29,885 --> 00:22:34,457 IT TOOK 500 KEGS OF IT A DAY, WEEK AFTER WEEK, 323 00:22:34,508 --> 00:22:38,495 TO CARVE CUTS THROUGH THE FOOTHILLS. 324 00:22:44,050 --> 00:22:47,853 AND THEN THEY CAME UP AGAINST A FACE THEY CALLED CAPE HORN -- 325 00:22:47,920 --> 00:22:49,689 SOLID ROCK, NEARLY STRAIGHT UP AND DOWN, 326 00:22:49,756 --> 00:22:52,326 2,000 FEET ABOVE A RAGING RIVER. 327 00:22:52,392 --> 00:22:55,294 THERE WERE NO FOOTHOLDS, 328 00:22:55,361 --> 00:23:00,016 BUT THE CHINESE WERE TOLD TO MAKE A LEDGE IN THE CLIFF 329 00:23:00,082 --> 00:23:01,568 WIDE ENOUGH FOR A TRAIN. 330 00:23:01,635 --> 00:23:06,072 Woman: MY GRANDFATHER WAS ONE OF THE PEOPLE 331 00:23:06,138 --> 00:23:10,243 THAT THEY PUT IN THE BASKETS BECAUSE HE WAS SMALL AND LIGHT, 332 00:23:10,310 --> 00:23:11,527 AND WHAT THEY DID WAS -- 333 00:23:11,594 --> 00:23:14,548 THEY WOULD BE LOWERED OVER CLIFFS 334 00:23:14,614 --> 00:23:16,683 AND THEY WOULD DRILL HOLES, 335 00:23:16,750 --> 00:23:19,452 AND THEN THEY'D SET THE DYNAMITE IN THEM. 336 00:23:19,519 --> 00:23:21,888 AND THEN THEY'D LIGHT THE DYNAMITE, 337 00:23:21,955 --> 00:23:25,625 AND THEN THEY'D PULL THEM UP BY THESE, UH, BY THE BASKETS. 338 00:23:25,692 --> 00:23:28,194 AND THEN THEY HAD TO GET OUT OF THERE 339 00:23:28,261 --> 00:23:30,330 BEFORE THE DYNAMITE EXPLODED. 340 00:23:30,396 --> 00:23:35,034 [ EXPLOSION ] 341 00:23:35,102 --> 00:23:37,470 Man:HUGE MASSES OF ROCK AND DEBRIS 342 00:23:37,536 --> 00:23:40,323 WERE RENT AND HEAVED UP IN THE COMMOTION. 343 00:23:40,390 --> 00:23:42,992 THEN CAME THE THUNDERS OF THE EXPLOSION 344 00:23:43,058 --> 00:23:44,793 LIKE A LIGHTNING STROKE, 345 00:23:44,861 --> 00:23:48,415 REVERBERATING ALONG THE HILLS AND CANYONS, 346 00:23:48,481 --> 00:23:53,869 AS IF THE WHOLE ARTILLERY OF HEAVEN WAS IN PLAY. 347 00:23:53,936 --> 00:23:55,304 [ EXPLOSION ] 348 00:23:55,371 --> 00:23:58,341 Narrator: BEFORE THE CENTRAL PACIFIC 349 00:23:58,392 --> 00:23:59,842 COULD GET THROUGH THE SIERRAS, 350 00:23:59,909 --> 00:24:02,612 THE CREWS HAD TO GOUGE OUT 15 TUNNELS. 351 00:24:02,679 --> 00:24:05,147 [ EXPLOSION ] 352 00:24:05,214 --> 00:24:07,601 THEY WORKED IN SHIFTS AROUND THE CLOCK, 353 00:24:07,667 --> 00:24:10,769 BUT AVERAGED JUST EIGHT INCHES A DAY, 354 00:24:10,837 --> 00:24:16,826 AND THEY HAD TO KEEP AT IT IN EVERY KIND OF WEATHER. 355 00:24:16,892 --> 00:24:23,266 SNOW STORMS, 44 IN NUMBER, VARIED IN LENGTH 356 00:24:23,333 --> 00:24:27,737 FROM A SHORT SNOW SQUALL TO A TWO-WEEK GALE. 357 00:24:27,804 --> 00:24:30,640 THE HEAVIEST STORM OF THE WINTER, 358 00:24:30,706 --> 00:24:33,259 BEGAN FEBRUARY 18th, AT 2 P.M., 359 00:24:33,325 --> 00:24:39,248 AND SNOWED STEADILY UNTIL 10 P.M. OF THE 22nd, 360 00:24:39,315 --> 00:24:43,804 DURING WHICH TIME SIX FEET FELL -- 361 00:24:43,870 --> 00:24:46,372 JOHN R. GILLS. 362 00:24:54,363 --> 00:24:58,201 Man: CHARLES CROCKER HAD TO PUNCH THE LINE 363 00:24:58,267 --> 00:25:03,456 THROUGH THE SIERRAS THAT WINTER, THE WINTER OF '66, 364 00:25:03,523 --> 00:25:07,893 AND THE CHINESE THEN HAD TO BUILD THE RAILROAD, 365 00:25:07,960 --> 00:25:09,628 LAY THE TRACKS. 366 00:25:09,695 --> 00:25:12,999 SO THEY BUILT THESE TUNNELS UNDER THE SNOW 367 00:25:13,066 --> 00:25:16,452 TO KEEP ADVANCING THE LINE. 368 00:25:16,519 --> 00:25:18,604 AND SOMETIMES THERE WOULD BE SNOW SLIDES 369 00:25:18,671 --> 00:25:22,525 AND ENTIRE CREWS OF CHINESE WOULD BE TRAPPED 370 00:25:22,591 --> 00:25:23,710 UNDER TONS OF SNOW, 371 00:25:23,776 --> 00:25:27,379 AND THEIR BODIES WOULD BE LEFT THERE 372 00:25:27,446 --> 00:25:30,500 AND FOUND THE FOLLOWING SPRING. 373 00:25:30,567 --> 00:25:35,188 SOMETIMES THE BODIES WERE FOUND 374 00:25:35,271 --> 00:25:39,709 WITH THE PICKS AND THE SHOVELS STILL IN THEIR HANDS. 375 00:25:39,776 --> 00:25:43,413 NarratPRECISE COUNT, 376 00:25:43,479 --> 00:25:48,084 BUT MORE THAN 1,200 CHINESE DIED DIGGING AND BLASTING 377 00:25:48,151 --> 00:25:52,321 FOR CHARLES CROCKER AND THE CENTRAL PACIFIC. 378 00:25:52,388 --> 00:25:54,107 Chen: WHEN SOMEBODY DIED, 379 00:25:54,173 --> 00:25:56,626 YOU JUST DIDN'T DIG A GRAVE FOR HIM 380 00:25:56,692 --> 00:25:58,595 AND PUT HIM DOWN IN THE GRAVE. 381 00:25:58,661 --> 00:26:01,531 YOU WENT TO A LOT OF TROUBLE 382 00:26:01,598 --> 00:26:05,401 TO GET HIS REMAINS BACK TO THE VILLAGE THAT HE CAME FROM 383 00:26:05,467 --> 00:26:08,388 BECAUSE A CHINESE DOESN'T WANT TO BE BURIED ANYWHERE. 384 00:26:08,455 --> 00:26:11,024 HE WANTS TO BE BURIED WHERE HIS ANCESTORS WERE BURIED 385 00:26:11,090 --> 00:26:13,426 BECAUSE HE WANTS TO STICK TOGETHER. 386 00:26:17,163 --> 00:26:19,232 Narrator: FINALLY, IN 1868, 387 00:26:19,299 --> 00:26:24,436 AFTER THREE LONG YEARS OF BACK-BREAKING, DANGEROUS LABOR, 388 00:26:24,503 --> 00:26:27,090 THE CENTRAL PACIFIC CREWS DID WHAT FEW HAD BELIEVED 389 00:26:27,156 --> 00:26:30,409 ANYONE COULD DO -- 390 00:26:30,476 --> 00:26:34,714 THEY BROKE OUT OF THE HIGH SIERRAS. 391 00:26:34,781 --> 00:26:38,668 Man:JOHN CHINAMAN, WITH HIS PATIENT TOIL, 392 00:26:38,718 --> 00:26:44,807 DIRECTED BY AMERICAN ENERGY AND BACKED BY AMERICAN CAPITAL, 393 00:26:44,874 --> 00:26:47,243 HAS BROKEN DOWN THE GREAT BARRIER AT LAST, 394 00:26:47,309 --> 00:26:51,213 AND OPENED OVER IT THE GREATEST HIGHWAY YET CREATED 395 00:26:51,280 --> 00:26:54,984 FOR THE MARCH OF COMMERCE AND CIVILIZATION 396 00:26:55,051 --> 00:26:55,985 AROUND THE GLOBE -- 397 00:26:56,036 --> 00:26:59,054 "THE TERRITORIAL ENTERPRISE." 398 00:26:59,121 --> 00:27:01,757 Narrator: THE HARDEST PART WAS BEHIND THEM. 399 00:27:01,824 --> 00:27:04,944 THE CENTRAL PACIFIC WAS BACK IN THE RACE. 400 00:27:09,365 --> 00:27:15,221 [ NATIVE AMERICAN CHANTING ] 401 00:27:15,287 --> 00:27:18,825 Old Lady Horse:WE HIDATSAS BELIEVE THAT "ONLY MAN" 402 00:27:18,891 --> 00:27:23,662 AND "FIRST CREATOR" SPLIT UP THE JOB OF CREATION. 403 00:27:23,729 --> 00:27:28,818 THEY MADE THE RIVER AND THE PLAINS AND THE BADLANDS. 404 00:27:28,885 --> 00:27:34,474 TO POPULATE THEM, "FIRST CREATOR" MADE THE BUFFALO. 405 00:27:34,540 --> 00:27:37,960 BUT "ONLY MAN" CREATED A WHITE MAN 406 00:27:38,027 --> 00:27:42,615 AND THE SPOTTED COWS THE WHITE MAN RAISED. 407 00:27:42,682 --> 00:27:47,487 WHEN "FIRST CREATOR" SAW WHAT "ONLY MAN" HAD DONE 408 00:27:47,553 --> 00:27:52,174 HE SAID, "YOU ARE FOOLISH TO MAKE THESE THINGS. 409 00:27:52,241 --> 00:27:56,212 "THE WHITE MEN ARE A QUEER KIND OF MEN, 410 00:27:56,279 --> 00:27:59,432 AND THEY WILL ALWAYS BE GREEDY." 411 00:27:59,499 --> 00:28:03,169 "THAT IS SO," SAID ONLY MAN, 412 00:28:03,236 --> 00:28:05,988 AND SO HE OPENED A HOLE IN THE EARTH 413 00:28:06,055 --> 00:28:11,094 AND SENT ALL THE SPOTTED COWS DOWN UNDERGROUND. 414 00:28:16,049 --> 00:28:20,319 "BUT WHEN THE BUFFALO ARE ALL GONE," HE SAID, 415 00:28:20,386 --> 00:28:25,324 "THE SPOTTED COWS WILL COME AGAIN 416 00:28:25,391 --> 00:28:28,677 AND COVER THIS EARTH AS THE BUFFALOES DID." 417 00:28:31,264 --> 00:28:35,051 [ CATTLE MOOING ] 418 00:28:46,946 --> 00:28:51,283 ABOVE ALL THINGS, THE PLAINSMAN HAD TO HAVE A SENSE, 419 00:28:51,350 --> 00:28:53,419 AN INSTINCT FOR DIRECTION. 420 00:28:53,486 --> 00:28:56,189 FEW MEN HAVE THIS INSTINCT. 421 00:28:56,255 --> 00:29:00,142 YET IN THE FEW, IT IS TO BE TRUSTED 422 00:29:00,209 --> 00:29:05,464 AS ABSOLUTELY AS THE HOMING INSTINCT OF A WILD GOOSE. 423 00:29:05,531 --> 00:29:09,702 I NEVER HAD A COMPASS IN MY LIFE. 424 00:29:09,769 --> 00:29:11,337 I WAS NEVER LOST -- 425 00:29:11,404 --> 00:29:13,505 CHARLES GOODNIGHT. 426 00:29:13,572 --> 00:29:19,662 Narrator: CHARLES GOODNIGHT WAS USED TO TOUGH TIMES. 427 00:29:19,713 --> 00:29:22,081 A DIRT FARMER'S SON, HE HAD RIDDEN BAREBACK 428 00:29:22,147 --> 00:29:28,454 ALL THE WAY FROM ILLINOIS TO TEXAS AT THE AGE OF NINE, 429 00:29:28,521 --> 00:29:32,859 AND HAD BEEN WORKING FULL TIME TO SUPPORT HIS WIDOWED MOTHER 430 00:29:32,926 --> 00:29:34,226 SINCE HE WAS 11. 431 00:29:34,310 --> 00:29:38,814 AT 19, HE AND HIS BROTHER WENT INTO THE CATTLE BUSINESS. 432 00:29:38,881 --> 00:29:41,551 STILL TOO POOR TO BUY THEIR OWN HERD, 433 00:29:41,617 --> 00:29:46,221 THEY AGREED TO WATCH OVER SOMEONE ELSE'S -- 434 00:29:46,272 --> 00:29:48,574 RECEIVING EVERY FOURTH CALF AS PAY. 435 00:29:48,641 --> 00:29:52,495 GOODNIGHT HAD MANAGED TO COLLECT 180 HEAD OF HIS OWN 436 00:29:52,562 --> 00:29:55,264 BY THE TIME THE CIVIL WAR BROKE OUT, 437 00:29:55,330 --> 00:29:58,868 BUT HE LEFT HIS CATTLE TO JOIN THE TEXAS RANGERS 438 00:29:58,934 --> 00:30:01,203 AND FIGHT FOR THE CONFEDERACY. 439 00:30:01,270 --> 00:30:04,556 WHEN HE RETURNED TO HIS RANCH AT THE END OF THE WAR, 440 00:30:04,624 --> 00:30:07,259 HE FOUND THE CATTLE BUSINESS IN RUINS. 441 00:30:07,327 --> 00:30:10,479 TEXAS HERDS HAD MULTIPLIED WILDLY -- 442 00:30:10,547 --> 00:30:14,483 FROM THREE-AND-A-HALF MILLION TO SIX MILLION -- 443 00:30:14,550 --> 00:30:18,821 SO MANY THAT BEEF PRICES FELL TO NEARLY NOTHING. 444 00:30:22,074 --> 00:30:24,410 Goodnight:IT LOOKED LIKE 445 00:30:24,477 --> 00:30:27,346 EVERYTHING WORTH LIVING FOR WAS GONE. 446 00:30:27,413 --> 00:30:30,216 THE ENTIRE COUNTRY WAS DEPRESSED. 447 00:30:30,282 --> 00:30:31,884 THERE WAS NO HOPE. 448 00:30:31,951 --> 00:30:36,289 Narrator: THE ONLY WAY TO SURVIVE AS A CATTLEMAN, 449 00:30:36,356 --> 00:30:38,007 GOODNIGHT DECIDED, 450 00:30:38,074 --> 00:30:41,911 WAS TO TAKE HIS HERDS NORTH TO BETTER MARKETS -- 451 00:30:41,978 --> 00:30:46,281 THE INDIAN RESERVATIONS, COLORADO MINING CAMPS, 452 00:30:46,348 --> 00:30:51,087 AND THE UNION PACIFIC RAILROAD CREWS 453 00:30:51,153 --> 00:30:54,023 NOW WORKING THEIR WAY ACROSS WYOMING. 454 00:30:54,090 --> 00:30:59,562 TO REACH THEM, HE AND HIS PARTNER OLIVER LOVING, 455 00:30:59,628 --> 00:31:02,498 WITH 18 COWBOYS AND 2,000 CATTLE, 456 00:31:02,565 --> 00:31:05,784 BLAZED A NEW TRAIL IN 1866. 457 00:31:05,851 --> 00:31:09,789 AND WHENHE LONG DRIVE WAS DONE, 458 00:31:09,872 --> 00:31:14,443 THE PARTNERS CLEARED $24,000, 459 00:31:14,510 --> 00:31:19,231 MORE THAN THEY HAD EVER DREAMED OF GETTING. 460 00:31:19,298 --> 00:31:21,751 THEY HURRIED BACK TO TEXAS TO BUY MORE CATTLE, 461 00:31:21,818 --> 00:31:23,402 THEN HEADED RIGHT BACK UP 462 00:31:23,469 --> 00:31:26,655 THE NEWLY NAMED GOODNIGHT-LOVING TRAIL, 463 00:31:26,722 --> 00:31:31,427 BEFORE ANYONE ELSE COULD BEAT THEM TO IT. 464 00:31:31,477 --> 00:31:36,081 Goodnight:LOVING WAS A MAN OF RELIGIOUS INSTINCTS 465 00:31:36,148 --> 00:31:39,018 AND ONE OF THE COOLEST AND BRAVEST MEN I HAVE EVER KNOWN, 466 00:31:39,101 --> 00:31:41,303 BUT DEVOID OF CAUTION. 467 00:31:41,370 --> 00:31:44,656 Narrator: LOVING PUSHED ON AHEAD 468 00:31:44,723 --> 00:31:49,228 TO GET IN THE PARTNERS' BID FOR NEW GOVERNMENT CONTRACTS. 469 00:31:49,295 --> 00:31:54,483 BUT COMANCHES CAUGHT HIM ON THE OPEN PLAIN, 470 00:31:54,550 --> 00:31:58,136 SHOT HIM IN THE WRIST AND SIDE, AND CHASED HIM TO A RIVERBANK, 471 00:31:58,204 --> 00:32:01,090 WHERE HE HELD THEM OFF FOR SEVERAL DAYS 472 00:32:01,157 --> 00:32:05,361 BEFORE HE CRAWLED TO SAFETY IN THE NIGHT. 473 00:32:05,427 --> 00:32:08,230 HE WAS PICKED UP BY A PASSING WAGON 474 00:32:08,297 --> 00:32:12,918 AND TAKEN TO AN ARMY HOSPITAL, BUT IT WAS TOO LATE TO SAVE HIM. 475 00:32:15,204 --> 00:32:16,522 THE NIGHT LOVING DIED, 476 00:32:16,588 --> 00:32:21,510 HE CALLED HIS PARTNER TO HIS SIDE. 477 00:32:21,576 --> 00:32:25,914 Goodnight:HIS MIND TURNED BACK TO TEXAS, 478 00:32:25,982 --> 00:32:28,117 AND AT LAST HE SAID, "I REGRET TO HAVE TO BE 479 00:32:28,184 --> 00:32:29,501 LAID AWAY IN A FOREIGN COUNTRY." 480 00:32:29,568 --> 00:32:33,172 I ASSURED HIM THAT HE NEED HAVE NO FEARS -- 481 00:32:33,239 --> 00:32:35,975 THAT I WOULD SEE THAT HIS REMAINS WERE LAID 482 00:32:36,042 --> 00:32:38,461 IN THE CEMETERY AT HOME. 483 00:32:38,527 --> 00:32:41,096 HE FELT THIS WOULD BE IMPOSSIBLE, 484 00:32:41,164 --> 00:32:43,949 BUT I TOLD HIM IT WOULD BE DONE. 485 00:32:46,819 --> 00:32:49,771 Narrator: GOODNIGHT ORDERED HIS MEN 486 00:32:49,839 --> 00:32:53,225 TO FASHION A TIN CASKET OUT OF FLATTENED CANS. 487 00:32:53,292 --> 00:32:56,245 THEY PUT LOVING'S WOODEN COFFIN INSIDE, 488 00:32:56,312 --> 00:32:59,632 COVERED IT WITH CHARCOAL, SEALED THE TOP, 489 00:32:59,699 --> 00:33:01,868 AND PLACED IT IN A WAGON. 490 00:33:01,934 --> 00:33:04,270 FLANKED BY A COWBOY ESCORT, 491 00:33:04,337 --> 00:33:10,175 GOODNIGHT STARTED BACK SOUTH FOR TEXAS. 492 00:33:10,242 --> 00:33:15,481 WORD OF THEIR PROFITS HAD SPREAD THROUGHOUT CATTLE COUNTRY, 493 00:33:15,547 --> 00:33:19,885 AND OTHER OUTFITS WERE ALREADY STREAMING NORTH -- 494 00:33:19,952 --> 00:33:22,771 HEADED NOW FOR THE NEAREST RAILHEADS 495 00:33:22,838 --> 00:33:26,591 FROM WHICH THEY COULD SHIP THEIR STEERS EAST. 496 00:33:26,676 --> 00:33:29,778 A NEW INDUSTRY HAD BEEN BORN. 497 00:33:29,845 --> 00:33:34,216 BUT IN FEBRUARY OF 1868, CHARLES GOODNIGHT, 498 00:33:34,266 --> 00:33:36,768 THE MAN WHO HAD HELPED START IT ALL, 499 00:33:36,835 --> 00:33:41,073 WAS HEADED IN THE OTHER DIRECTION. 500 00:33:41,140 --> 00:33:45,644 KEEPING HIS PROMISE TO HIS DEAD PARTNER, 501 00:33:45,711 --> 00:33:49,715 HE WAS TAKING OLIVER LOVING HOME. 502 00:34:02,161 --> 00:34:03,729 [ WHISTLE BLOWS ] 503 00:34:03,796 --> 00:34:08,717 RAILWAYS, MULTIPLIED AND SPANNING THE CONTINENT, 504 00:34:08,784 --> 00:34:12,471 ARE ESSENTIAL DOMESTIC INSTITUTIONS -- 505 00:34:12,538 --> 00:34:16,008 MORE POWERFUL AND MORE PERMANENT THAN LAW, 506 00:34:16,075 --> 00:34:19,328 OR POPULAR CONSENT, OR POLITICAL CONSTITUTIONS, 507 00:34:19,395 --> 00:34:23,082 TO THOROUGHLY COMPLETE THE GRAND SYSTEM 508 00:34:23,149 --> 00:34:26,535 WHICH FRATERNIZES US INTO ONE PEOPLE -- 509 00:34:26,602 --> 00:34:29,555 WILLIAM GILPIN. 510 00:34:30,472 --> 00:34:32,325 Narrator: BY THE SPRING OF 1869, 511 00:34:32,391 --> 00:34:35,811 THE COMPETITION BETWEEN THE CENTRAL PACIFIC 512 00:34:35,878 --> 00:34:40,349 AND THE UNION PACIFIC WAS CONVERGING ON NORTHERN UTAH. 513 00:34:40,415 --> 00:34:45,804 RIVAL ARMIES OF RAILROAD MEN VIED TO COVER THE MOST GROUND 514 00:34:45,871 --> 00:34:48,524 AND EARN THE MOST MONEY FOR THEIR EMPLOYERS 515 00:34:48,591 --> 00:34:53,061 BEFORE THE TWO LINES FINALLY MET. 516 00:34:53,128 --> 00:34:56,448 THEY TRIED TO OUTDO ONE ANOTHER, 517 00:34:56,532 --> 00:34:58,701 FIRST LAYING FIVE MILES OF TRACK IN A SINGLE DAY -- 518 00:34:58,768 --> 00:35:03,355 THEN SIX, THEN SEVEN, AND THEN TEN MILES -- 519 00:35:03,422 --> 00:35:07,626 A PACE OF RAILROAD-BUILDING SUCH AS THE WORLD HAD NEVER SEEN. 520 00:35:10,462 --> 00:35:15,033 NO FIXED RENDEZVOUS POINT HAD EVER BEEN ESTABLISHED. 521 00:35:15,100 --> 00:35:17,553 GRADING CREWS FOR THE TWO COMPANIES, 522 00:35:17,619 --> 00:35:20,122 WORKING FAR AHEAD OF THE TRACK LAYERS, 523 00:35:20,189 --> 00:35:22,825 PASSED EACH OTHER IN OPPOSITE DIRECTIONS 524 00:35:22,875 --> 00:35:25,510 AND PUSHED ON FOR HUNDREDS OF MILES -- 525 00:35:25,594 --> 00:35:30,032 SOMETIMES WORKING SO CLOSE TO ONE ANOTHER 526 00:35:30,099 --> 00:35:34,569 THAT EXPLOSIONS SET OFF BY ONE WORK GANG 527 00:35:34,636 --> 00:35:37,957 SPATTERED ITS RIVALS WITH DIRT. 528 00:35:38,040 --> 00:35:41,426 FINALLY, THE GOVERNMENT INTERVENED 529 00:35:41,493 --> 00:35:45,380 AND PICKED PROMONTORY SUMMIT, 56 MILES WEST OF OGDEN, 530 00:35:45,447 --> 00:35:49,251 AS THE PLACE WHERE THE TWO LINES WOULD MEET. 531 00:35:49,318 --> 00:35:56,492 THE RACE ACROSS THE WEST WAS COMING TO A CLOSE AT LAST. 532 00:35:56,559 --> 00:36:02,481 ON MAY 10, 1869, EVERYTHING WAS READY. 533 00:36:02,547 --> 00:36:07,336 A TELEGRAPHER STOOD BY TO SIGNAL TO BOTH COASTS 534 00:36:07,403 --> 00:36:12,858 AND ALL POINTS IN BETWEEN THE DRIVING OF THE FINAL SPIKE. 535 00:36:12,925 --> 00:36:17,029 [ MORSE CODE ] 536 00:36:17,095 --> 00:36:19,431 Telegrapher:TO EVERYBODY, KEEP QUIET. 537 00:36:19,498 --> 00:36:22,851 WHEN THE LAST SPIKE IS DRIVEN AT PROMONTORY POINT, 538 00:36:22,918 --> 00:36:23,602 WE WILL SAY "DONE!" 539 00:36:23,669 --> 00:36:25,387 DON'T BREAK THE CIRCUIT, 540 00:36:25,454 --> 00:36:27,223 BUT WATCH FOR THE SIGNALS OF THE BLOWS OF THE HAMMER. 541 00:36:27,289 --> 00:36:32,628 Man:WE UNDERSTAND. ALL ARE READY IN THE EAST. 542 00:36:32,695 --> 00:36:35,264 Narrator: FOUR SPIKES -- TWO GOLD, ONE SILVER 543 00:36:35,314 --> 00:36:38,901 AND THE FOURTH A BLEND OF GOLD, SILVER AND IRON -- 544 00:36:38,968 --> 00:36:43,138 WERE TO BE TAPPED GENTLY INTO POSITION WITH A SILVER MAUL 545 00:36:43,205 --> 00:36:44,824 TO MARK THE OCCASION. 546 00:36:44,890 --> 00:36:46,792 AND THEN A FINAL SPIKE -- 547 00:36:46,859 --> 00:36:50,963 AN ORDINARY ONE BUT WIRED TO THE TELEGRAPHER'S KEY -- 548 00:36:51,030 --> 00:36:54,233 WAS TO BE HAMMERED INTO THE GROUND. 549 00:36:54,300 --> 00:36:56,335 Telegrapher:ALMOST READY. 550 00:36:56,402 --> 00:36:59,188 HATS OFF -- PRAYER IS BEING OFFERED. 551 00:36:59,254 --> 00:37:03,892 Preacher:WE DESIRE TO ACKNOWLEDGE THY HANDIWORK... 552 00:37:03,959 --> 00:37:06,762 Telegrapher:THE SPIKE WILL SOON BE DRIVEN. 553 00:37:06,829 --> 00:37:11,133 Preacher:...THAT MIGHTY ENTERPRISE MAY BE UNTO US 554 00:37:11,200 --> 00:37:13,035 AS THE ATLANTIC OF THY STRENGTH, 555 00:37:13,102 --> 00:37:16,522 AND THE PACIFIC OF THY LOVE, 556 00:37:16,589 --> 00:37:19,208 THROUGH JESUS THE REDEEMER, AMEN. 557 00:37:19,275 --> 00:37:20,659 Telegrapher:WE HAVE GOT DONE PRAYING. 558 00:37:20,726 --> 00:37:23,912 THE SPIKE IS ABOUT TO BE PRESENTED. 559 00:37:23,979 --> 00:37:28,384 Narrator: THE FINAL SPIKE WAS SLID INTO PLACE. 560 00:37:28,450 --> 00:37:31,420 LELAND STANFORD OF THE CENTRAL PACIFIC 561 00:37:31,487 --> 00:37:35,123 WAS TO HAVE THE HONOR OF DRIVING IT HOME. 562 00:37:35,190 --> 00:37:37,893 Telegrapher:THE SIGNAL WILL BE THREE DOTS 563 00:37:37,959 --> 00:37:40,713 FOR THE COMMENCEMENT OF THE BLOWS. 564 00:37:40,779 --> 00:37:43,148 Narrator: STANFORD SWUNG THE HAMMER HIGH ABOVE HIS HEAD, 565 00:37:43,215 --> 00:37:45,150 BROUGHT IT DOWN -- AND MISSED. 566 00:37:45,217 --> 00:37:48,303 THE TELEGRAPHER CLOSED THE CIRCUIT, ANYWAY. 567 00:37:48,370 --> 00:37:50,205 [ THREE DOTS ] Telegrapher:DONE! 568 00:37:50,272 --> 00:37:55,928 [ CHEERING ] 569 00:37:55,995 --> 00:37:58,497 Narrator: IN WASHINGTON, A GREAT CHEER WENT UP 570 00:37:58,564 --> 00:38:00,115 FROM THE BIG CROWD IN FRONT OF THE TELEGRAPH OFFICE, 571 00:38:00,182 --> 00:38:04,220 AND AN ILLUMINATED BALL DROPPED FROM THE DOME OF THE CAPITOL. 572 00:38:04,286 --> 00:38:06,955 AT INDEPENDENCE HALL IN PHILADELPHIA, 573 00:38:07,022 --> 00:38:08,891 THE LIBERTY BELL WAS RUNG -- 574 00:38:08,958 --> 00:38:12,094 GINGERLY, SO THAT ITS CRACK WOULD NOT WORSEN. 575 00:38:12,160 --> 00:38:14,596 AND IN SAN FRANCISCO, 576 00:38:14,663 --> 00:38:17,415 A HUGE BANNER WAS UNFURLED THAT PROCLAIMED -- 577 00:38:17,483 --> 00:38:20,902 "CALIFORNIA ANNEXES THE UNITED STATES." 578 00:38:23,555 --> 00:38:27,960 THE VAST DISTANCES OF THE WEST HAD AT LAST BEEN CONQUERED. 579 00:38:28,026 --> 00:38:32,264 A JOURNEY THAT HAD ONCE TAKEN MONTHS 580 00:38:32,331 --> 00:38:35,183 COULD NOW BE ACCOMPLISHED IN A MATTER OF DAYS. 581 00:38:37,820 --> 00:38:41,473 Watkins: ONCE THE RAILS WERE JOINED AT PROMONTORY, 582 00:38:41,540 --> 00:38:46,411 I THINK YOU CAN SAY THAT WE BEGAN FOR THE FIRST TIME, TRULY, 583 00:38:46,478 --> 00:38:51,050 TO THINK OF OURSELVES AS A CONTINENTAL NATION. 584 00:38:51,117 --> 00:38:58,057 IT WAS A KIND OF A REACH OF THE NATIONAL CONSCIOUSNESS 585 00:38:58,123 --> 00:39:03,979 INTO A PLACE THAT HAD ONCE ONLY BEEN OCCUPIED BY DREAMS, 586 00:39:04,046 --> 00:39:06,348 AND MYTHS AND IMAGINATION, AND HERE WAS 587 00:39:06,415 --> 00:39:10,719 THE GREAT TECHNOLOGICAL MARVEL OF ITS TIME, 588 00:39:10,785 --> 00:39:13,221 CRASHING THROUGH THOSE MYTHIC BARRIERS 589 00:39:13,272 --> 00:39:14,239 AND GOING INTO A VERY REAL PLACE. 590 00:39:20,312 --> 00:39:24,450 Momaday: THAT MOMENT, AT PROMONTORY POINT 591 00:39:24,516 --> 00:39:26,852 IS A MOMENT OF TREMENDOUS SIGNIFICANCE, 592 00:39:26,918 --> 00:39:30,106 BECAUSE ON EITHER SIDE OF THAT MOMENT 593 00:39:30,172 --> 00:39:34,609 WERE VASTLY DIFFERENT WORLDS, RADICALLY DIFFERENT WORLDS. 594 00:39:34,676 --> 00:39:38,247 IT FORETOLD THE WHOLE STORY OF TECHNOLOGY -- 595 00:39:38,313 --> 00:39:40,616 THE COMING OF THE MACHINE -- 596 00:39:40,682 --> 00:39:43,485 AND WHAT COULD BE MORE SYMBOLIC OF THAT NEW AGE 597 00:39:43,536 --> 00:39:45,971 THAN THE COMPLETION OF THE RAILROAD 598 00:39:46,038 --> 00:39:48,440 AND THE DRIVING OF THE GOLDEN SPIKE. 599 00:39:51,527 --> 00:39:55,047 NOTHING WOULD EVER BE THE SAME IN THE WEST. 600 00:40:03,321 --> 00:40:09,662 ♪ OUR CAMP IS UNITED WE ALL LABOR HARD ♪ 601 00:40:09,728 --> 00:40:14,299 ♪ AND IF WE ARE FAITHFUL WE'LL GAIN OUR REWARD ♪ 602 00:40:14,365 --> 00:40:18,871 ♪ OUR LEADER IS WISE AND A GREAT LEADER, TOO ♪ 603 00:40:18,937 --> 00:40:22,941 ♪ AND ALL THINGS HE TELLS US WE'RE RIGHT GLAD TO DO ♪ 604 00:40:23,008 --> 00:40:27,679 ♪ HURRAY, HURRAH, THE RAILROAD'S BEGUN ♪ 605 00:40:27,746 --> 00:40:29,848 ♪ THREE CHEERS FOR OUR CONTRACTOR ♪ 606 00:40:29,915 --> 00:40:31,232 ♪ HIS NAME'S BRIGHAM YOUNG ♪ 607 00:40:31,283 --> 00:40:36,905 ♪ HURRAY, HURRAH, WE'RE LIGHTHEARTED AND GAY ♪ 608 00:40:36,972 --> 00:40:41,593 ♪ JUST THE RIGHT KIND OF BOYS TO BUILD A RAILWAY ♪♪ 609 00:40:41,660 --> 00:40:47,098 Narrator: BRIGHAM YOUNG HAD BROUGHT HIS MORMON PEOPLE WEST 610 00:40:47,165 --> 00:40:50,118 IN SEARCH OF SANCTUARY FROM THE REST OF THE UNITED STATES, 611 00:40:50,185 --> 00:40:53,121 BUT THE NEW TRANSCONTINENTAL RAILROAD 612 00:40:53,188 --> 00:40:55,323 NOW RAN RIGHT THROUGH UTAH. 613 00:40:55,390 --> 00:40:59,278 AND IT BEGAN BRINGING THOUSANDS OF NEW SETTLERS 614 00:40:59,344 --> 00:41:01,246 INTO YOUNG'S KINGDOM -- 615 00:41:01,313 --> 00:41:04,733 NON-BELIEVERS WHO THREATENED HIS AUTHORITY 616 00:41:04,800 --> 00:41:10,222 AND DEPLORED THE MORMON PRACTICE OF PLURAL MARRIAGE -- POLYGAMY. 617 00:41:10,288 --> 00:41:13,174 Watkins: THE MORMONS MUST HAVE VIEWED THE COMPLETION 618 00:41:13,241 --> 00:41:16,595 OF THE TRANSCONTINENTAL RAILROAD WITH AN INCREDIBLE AMBIGUITY. 619 00:41:16,662 --> 00:41:20,465 ON THE ONE HAND, THEY WERE A VERY COMMERCIAL PEOPLE. 620 00:41:20,532 --> 00:41:23,351 THEY UNDERSTOOD PRECISELY HOW IMPORTANT THE RAILROAD 621 00:41:23,418 --> 00:41:27,589 WAS GOING TO BE TO THE GROWTH OF BUSINESS AND INDUSTRY IN UTAH. 622 00:41:27,656 --> 00:41:33,545 ON THE OTHER HAND, BEING ABLE TO SUSTAIN THEIR WAY OF LIFE 623 00:41:33,612 --> 00:41:37,199 DEPENDED ALMOST ABSOLUTELY ON A POWERFUL DEGREE OF ISOLATION. 624 00:41:37,265 --> 00:41:40,319 THE RAILROAD DESTROYED THAT, 625 00:41:40,385 --> 00:41:42,621 THE RAILROAD OPENED UP THE GATES. 626 00:41:42,687 --> 00:41:43,806 THE RAILROAD LET THE WORLD IN -- 627 00:41:43,872 --> 00:41:48,443 AND SOMETIMES LET THE MORMONS OUT -- 628 00:41:48,494 --> 00:41:51,163 AND IT HAD TO HAVE BEEN A TERRIBLE BLOW 629 00:41:51,230 --> 00:41:53,565 TO THE BASE OF THE SOCIETY'S CONFIDENCE IN ITSELF. 630 00:41:53,631 --> 00:41:54,916 [ GAVEL BANGING ] 631 00:41:54,983 --> 00:41:58,169 Narrator: IN 1870, SOME 5,000 MORMON WOMEN 632 00:41:58,254 --> 00:42:03,057 HELD AN "INDIGNATION MEETING" IN THE SALT LAKE TABERNACLE. 633 00:42:03,125 --> 00:42:06,678 THEY WERE PROTESTING AGAINST THOSE NON-BELIEVERS 634 00:42:06,744 --> 00:42:09,732 WHO HAD DARED CRITICIZE PLURAL MARRIAGE. 635 00:42:09,798 --> 00:42:14,720 THE WORLD SAYS POLYGAMY MAKES WOMEN INFERIOR TO MEN -- 636 00:42:14,786 --> 00:42:16,789 WE THINK DIFFERENTLY. 637 00:42:16,855 --> 00:42:20,442 POLYGAMY GIVES WOMEN MORE TIME 638 00:42:20,509 --> 00:42:22,211 FOR THOUGHT, FOR MENTAL CULTURE, 639 00:42:22,277 --> 00:42:26,481 MORE FREEDOM OF ACTION, A BROADER FIELD OF LABOR, 640 00:42:26,548 --> 00:42:29,968 AND LEADS WOMEN MORE DIRECTLY TO GOD 641 00:42:30,035 --> 00:42:32,237 THE FOUNTAIN OF ALL TRUTH -- 642 00:42:32,304 --> 00:42:34,139 EMMELINE WELLS. 643 00:42:34,205 --> 00:42:37,892 Narrator: ONE OF THE KEYNOTE SPEAKERS AT THE RALLY 644 00:42:37,959 --> 00:42:41,896 WAS A DETERMINED, HARD-WORKING WOMAN NAMED EMMELINE WELLS. 645 00:42:41,963 --> 00:42:43,899 BORN IN MASSACHUSETTS 646 00:42:43,965 --> 00:42:47,118 AND GRADUATED FROM A SELECT GIRLS' SCHOOL, 647 00:42:47,185 --> 00:42:51,957 WELLS HAD CONVERTED TO MORMONISM AND MOVED TO NAUVOO, ILLINOIS 648 00:42:52,024 --> 00:42:54,359 WHERE SHE LOST HER FIRST CHILD 649 00:42:54,426 --> 00:42:57,479 AND WAS ABANDONED BY HER HUSBAND -- 650 00:42:57,546 --> 00:42:59,881 ALL BEFORE THE AGE OF SIXTEEN. 651 00:42:59,948 --> 00:43:01,917 A SECOND HUSBAND DIED. 652 00:43:01,984 --> 00:43:07,139 THEN SHE BECAME THE SEVENTH WIFE OF DANIEL WELLS, 653 00:43:07,206 --> 00:43:08,907 THE MAYOR OF SALT LAKE CITY. 654 00:43:08,974 --> 00:43:11,576 NOW, SHE LIVED IN HER OWN SMALL HOUSE, 655 00:43:11,643 --> 00:43:14,697 AND HELPED TO SUPPORT HERSELF AND HER FAMILY 656 00:43:14,763 --> 00:43:16,832 WHEN WELLSFINANCES SUFFERED. 657 00:43:16,898 --> 00:43:19,751 "I HAVE NO STRONG ARM TO LEAN UPON, 658 00:43:19,818 --> 00:43:23,038 NO PROTECTION OR COMFORT IN MY HUSBAND," 659 00:43:23,104 --> 00:43:25,841 SHE WROTE PRIVATELY IN HER DIARY. 660 00:43:25,907 --> 00:43:32,413 AND YET, HER COMMITMENT TO PLURAL MARRIAGE WAS UNSHAKEABLE. 661 00:43:32,480 --> 00:43:36,118 Woman: I ACTUALLY THINK THAT SOME OF THE GREAT FEMINISTS 662 00:43:36,184 --> 00:43:37,702 WERE WOMEN IN POLYGAMY. 663 00:43:37,769 --> 00:43:40,655 MY GREAT-GREAT-GRANDMOTHER IS AMONG THEM. 664 00:43:40,722 --> 00:43:43,391 IF THERE WAS A WOMAN WHO EXCELLED IN TEACHING, 665 00:43:43,442 --> 00:43:45,127 SHE HAD HER OWN LIFE. 666 00:43:45,193 --> 00:43:48,646 IF THERE WAS ANOTHER WOMAN WHO EXCELLED IN COOKING OR FARMING, 667 00:43:48,713 --> 00:43:49,765 SHE HAD HER LIFE. 668 00:43:49,831 --> 00:43:52,450 AND EVERYONE HAD KIND OF THEIR OWN FOCUS. 669 00:43:52,517 --> 00:43:55,420 THERE WAS A TREMENDOUS SENSE OF SISTERHOOD. 670 00:43:55,487 --> 00:43:58,406 AND IN MANY WAYS THE MEN WERE IMMATERIAL. 671 00:43:58,473 --> 00:44:01,410 Narrator: THROUGHOUT THE UNITED STATES, 672 00:44:01,476 --> 00:44:04,345 WOMEN WERE DENIED THE RIGHT TO VOTE, 673 00:44:04,412 --> 00:44:07,132 AND WELLS, AS THE OUTSPOKEN EDITOR 674 00:44:07,199 --> 00:44:10,018 OF A POPULAR MORMON NEWSPAPER FOR WOMEN, 675 00:44:10,085 --> 00:44:11,936 WANTED TO CHANGE THAT. 676 00:44:12,003 --> 00:44:15,707 Wells:"THE WOMAN'S EXPONENT," VOLUME 1, NUMBER 1. 677 00:44:15,773 --> 00:44:20,011 MILLIONS OF INTELLIGENT WOMEN ARE DEPRIVED OF THE VOTE 678 00:44:20,078 --> 00:44:24,049 SIMPLY BECAUSE NATURE QUALIFIED THEM TO BECOME MOTHERS 679 00:44:24,116 --> 00:44:26,034 AND NOT FATHERS OF MEN. 680 00:44:26,101 --> 00:44:28,486 THEY MAY OWN PROPERTY, PAY TAXES, 681 00:44:28,553 --> 00:44:31,089 ASSIST IN SUPPORTING THE GOVERNMENT, 682 00:44:31,156 --> 00:44:34,208 REND THEIR HEARTSTRINGS IN GIVING FOR ITS AID 683 00:44:34,276 --> 00:44:36,711 THE CHILDREN OF THEIR AFFECTIONS, 684 00:44:36,778 --> 00:44:39,330 BUT THEY ARE DENIED ALL RIGHT TO SAY 685 00:44:39,397 --> 00:44:41,399 WHO SHALL DISBURSE THOSE TAXES, 686 00:44:41,466 --> 00:44:44,202 HOW THAT GOVERNMENT SHALL BE CONDUCTED, 687 00:44:44,269 --> 00:44:47,823 OR WHO SHALL DECIDE ON A QUESTION OF PEACE OR WAR 688 00:44:47,889 --> 00:44:50,525 WHICH MAY INVOLVE THE LIVES 689 00:44:50,592 --> 00:44:55,263 OF THEIR SONS, BROTHERS, FATHERS AND HUSBANDS. 690 00:44:55,330 --> 00:44:58,917 Narrator: IN HER PUSH FOR THE VOTE IN UTAH, 691 00:44:58,983 --> 00:45:02,070 WELLS FOUND A MOST UNLIKELY ALLY -- 692 00:45:02,136 --> 00:45:06,007 THE MORMON PATRIARCH HIMSELF, BRIGHAM YOUNG. 693 00:45:06,074 --> 00:45:08,911 HE WAS CERTAIN THAT ADDING MORMON WOMEN 694 00:45:08,977 --> 00:45:13,414 TO THE VOTERS' ROLLS WOULD ONLY STRENGTHEN HIS HOLD ON UTAH. 695 00:45:13,481 --> 00:45:18,286 ON FEBRUARY 12, 1870, WITH YOUNG'S BACKING, 696 00:45:18,353 --> 00:45:25,092 THE UTAH TERRITORIAL LEGISLATURE GRANTED WOMEN THE RIGHT TO VOTE. 697 00:45:25,160 --> 00:45:28,880 TWO DAYS LATER, THEY EXERCISED IT. 698 00:45:28,964 --> 00:45:31,633 YOUNG'S NIECE VOTED FIRST, 699 00:45:31,700 --> 00:45:35,504 FOLLOWED BY ONE OF HIS DAUGHTERS. 700 00:45:35,571 --> 00:45:39,291 EVENTUALLY, EMMELINE WELLS JOINED THE LEADERSHIP 701 00:45:39,358 --> 00:45:42,277 OF THE NATIONAL SUFFRAGE MOVEMENT, 702 00:45:42,343 --> 00:45:45,696 DETERMINED TO WIN FOR ALL AMERICAN WOMEN 703 00:45:45,764 --> 00:45:48,066 THE RIGHT NOW ENJOYED IN UTAH. 704 00:45:48,133 --> 00:45:52,137 BUT SHE NEVER STOPPED LOBBYING FOR ANOTHER CAUSE, 705 00:45:52,203 --> 00:45:54,172 JUST AS PRECIOUS TO HER -- 706 00:45:54,239 --> 00:45:57,559 THE RIGHT TO REMAIN A PLURAL WIFE. 707 00:46:02,146 --> 00:46:05,534 ALL HONOR AND REVERENCE TO GOOD MEN, 708 00:46:05,600 --> 00:46:07,669 BUT THEY AND THEIR ATTENTIONS 709 00:46:07,736 --> 00:46:11,572 ARE NOT THE ONLY SOURCE OF HAPPINESS ON THE EARTH 710 00:46:11,639 --> 00:46:15,126 AND NEED NOT FILL UP EVERY THOUGHT OF WOMAN. 711 00:46:15,193 --> 00:46:17,395 AND WHEN MEN SEE THAT WOMEN CAN EXIST 712 00:46:17,462 --> 00:46:19,697 WITHOUT THEIR BEING CONSTANTLY AT HAND, 713 00:46:19,764 --> 00:46:22,316 IT WILL PERHAPS TAKE A LITTLE OF THE CONCEIT 714 00:46:22,383 --> 00:46:25,337 OUT OF SOME OF THEM -- 715 00:46:25,404 --> 00:46:28,890 EMMELINE WELLS. 716 00:46:38,316 --> 00:46:39,784 Narrator: FOLLOWING THE LEAD 717 00:46:39,851 --> 00:46:42,571 OF THE UNION PACIFIC AND CENTRAL PACIFIC, 718 00:46:42,638 --> 00:46:47,775 OTHER RAIL LINES SOON SPREAD THROUGHOUT THE WEST -- 719 00:46:47,842 --> 00:46:50,812 THE KANSAS PACIFIC, NORTHERN PACIFIC, 720 00:46:50,878 --> 00:46:52,280 AND DENVER PACIFIC, 721 00:46:52,347 --> 00:46:58,737 THE TEXAS AND PACIFIC, THE DENVER AND RIO GRANDE, 722 00:46:58,803 --> 00:47:02,490 AND AS THE RAILROADS MOVED ONTO THE GREAT PLAINS, 723 00:47:02,557 --> 00:47:06,694 THEY BROUGHT WITH THEM PEOPLE WHO HAD NEVER SEEN THE WEST, 724 00:47:06,761 --> 00:47:10,348 OR ITS MOST MAGNIFICENT ANIMAL, THE BUFFALO. 725 00:47:10,415 --> 00:47:13,634 AT FIRST, THEY SHOT THE BUFFALO FOR SPORT -- 726 00:47:13,701 --> 00:47:15,803 BANGING AWAY AT THE HUGE HERDS 727 00:47:15,870 --> 00:47:18,740 FROM THE WINDOWS OF PASSENGER CARS. 728 00:47:18,807 --> 00:47:21,392 ONE CHURCH GROUP FROM LAWRENCE, KANSAS, 729 00:47:21,477 --> 00:47:24,045 ORGANIZED A TWO-DAY HUNTING EXCURSION 730 00:47:24,111 --> 00:47:26,781 TO RAISE MONEY FOR THE CONGREGATION -- 731 00:47:26,848 --> 00:47:30,067 300 PEOPLE SIGNED UP. 732 00:47:31,186 --> 00:47:35,823 WHEN THE WHITE MEN WANTED TO BUILD RAILROADS, 733 00:47:35,890 --> 00:47:40,028 OR WHEN THEY WANTED TO FARM OR RAISE CATTLE, 734 00:47:40,095 --> 00:47:44,015 THE BUFFALO STILL PROTECTED THE KIOWAS. 735 00:47:44,082 --> 00:47:48,452 THEY TORE UP THE RAILROAD TRACKS AND THE GARDENS. 736 00:47:48,537 --> 00:47:52,090 THEY CHASED THE CATTLE OFF THE RANGES. 737 00:47:52,156 --> 00:47:55,126 THE BUFFALO LOVED THEIR PEOPLE 738 00:47:55,193 --> 00:47:58,713 AS MUCH AS THE KIOWAS LOVED THEM. 739 00:47:58,780 --> 00:48:02,167 THEN THE WHITE MEN HIRED HUNTERS 740 00:48:02,234 --> 00:48:06,204 TO DO NOTHING BUT KILL THE BUFFALO -- 741 00:48:06,271 --> 00:48:07,956 OLD LADY HORSE. 742 00:48:08,006 --> 00:48:12,410 [ NATIVE AMERICAN CHANTING, DRUM BEATING ] 743 00:48:14,062 --> 00:48:15,547 [ GUNSHOT ] 744 00:48:15,630 --> 00:48:18,099 THE BUFFALO DIDN'T BELONG TO ANYBODY. 745 00:48:18,166 --> 00:48:21,819 IF YOU COULD KILL THEM, WHAT THEY BROUGHT WAS YOURS. 746 00:48:21,886 --> 00:48:26,024 THEY WERE WALKING GOLD PIECES -- 747 00:48:26,091 --> 00:48:28,492 FRANK H. MAYER. 748 00:48:28,560 --> 00:48:31,612 Narrator: FRANK MAYER WAS HANGING AROUND 749 00:48:31,679 --> 00:48:35,533 DODGE CITY, KANSAS, IN THE HEART OF BUFFALO COUNTRY, 750 00:48:35,617 --> 00:48:38,787 LOOKING FOR WORK, WHEN HE MET TWO HUNTERS 751 00:48:38,837 --> 00:48:41,606 WHO OFFERED TO SHOW HIM THEIR BRAND-NEW TRADE. 752 00:48:41,673 --> 00:48:45,560 "I WAS YOUNG. I NEEDED ADVENTURE," 753 00:48:45,627 --> 00:48:49,114 HE REMEMBERED, "HERE WAS IT." 754 00:48:49,181 --> 00:48:53,251 THE NEW RAIL LINES MEANT THAT BUFFALO ROBES AND BUFFALO MEAT 755 00:48:53,318 --> 00:48:55,787 COULD BE TAKEN TO EASTERN MARKETS 756 00:48:55,853 --> 00:48:58,573 IN GREATER NUMBERS, AT LOWER COSTS. 757 00:48:58,640 --> 00:49:02,260 AND MANUFACTURERS HAD PERFECTED TECHNIQUES 758 00:49:02,327 --> 00:49:06,831 FOR TURNING STIFF BUFFALO HIDES INTO SOFT LEATHER -- 759 00:49:06,897 --> 00:49:10,735 IDEAL FOR SHOES, CUSHIONS, CARRIAGE TOPS, 760 00:49:10,802 --> 00:49:15,890 AND THE BELTS THAT TURNED MACHINERY IN EASTERN FACTORIES. 761 00:49:15,957 --> 00:49:19,544 FRANK MAYER WAS DETERMINED TO BE AMONG THE FIRST 762 00:49:19,611 --> 00:49:21,980 TO PROFIT FROM THE BUFFALO BOOM. 763 00:49:22,046 --> 00:49:26,418 HE SANK EVERYTHING HE OWNED INTO A HUNTING OUTFIT -- 764 00:49:26,484 --> 00:49:30,355 WAGONS, MULES, CAMP EQUIPMENT, AND FIREARMS. 765 00:49:30,421 --> 00:49:36,427 THEN HE HEADED OUT ONTO THE PLAINS. 766 00:49:36,494 --> 00:49:40,699 WHEN I WENT INTO THE BUSINESS, I SAT DOWN AND FIGURED 767 00:49:40,765 --> 00:49:45,420 THAT I WAS INDEED ONE OF FORTUNE'S CHILDREN. 768 00:49:45,487 --> 00:49:49,174 JUST THINK -- THERE WERE 20 MILLION BUFFALO, 769 00:49:49,240 --> 00:49:52,660 EACH WORTH AT LEAST $3 -- $60 MILLION. 770 00:49:52,727 --> 00:49:57,281 AT THE VERY OUTSIDE, CARTRIDGES COST 25 CENTS EACH, 771 00:49:57,348 --> 00:49:59,550 SO EVERY TIME I FIRED ONE, 772 00:49:59,617 --> 00:50:03,337 I GOT MY INVESTMENT BACK 12 TIMES OVER. 773 00:50:03,404 --> 00:50:05,923 I COULD KILL A HUNDRED A DAY. 774 00:50:05,990 --> 00:50:13,047 THAT WOULD BE $6,000 A MONTH -- OR THREE TIMES WHAT WAS PAID, 775 00:50:13,114 --> 00:50:16,668 IT SEEMS TO ME, THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES. 776 00:50:16,735 --> 00:50:19,955 WAS I NOT LUCKY THAT I DISCOVERED 777 00:50:20,021 --> 00:50:23,508 THIS QUICK AND EASY WAY TO FORTUNE? 778 00:50:23,574 --> 00:50:25,443 I THOUGHT I WAS -- 779 00:50:25,510 --> 00:50:27,312 FRANK H. MAYER. 780 00:50:27,378 --> 00:50:29,764 [ GUNSHOT ] 781 00:50:29,831 --> 00:50:30,531 [ GUNSHOT ] 782 00:50:30,598 --> 00:50:32,050 [ GUNSHOT ] 783 00:50:41,475 --> 00:50:44,429 Man:WE HAD A MOTLEY ARRAY OF NEIGHBORS. 784 00:50:44,495 --> 00:50:48,082 ON ONE SIDE A GERMAN, WHO COULD SCARCE SPEAK ENGLISH, 785 00:50:48,149 --> 00:50:49,684 MARRIED TO A BOHEMIAN, 786 00:50:49,751 --> 00:50:53,304 WHO COULD SPEAK LITTLE ENGLISH AND NO GERMAN. 787 00:50:53,370 --> 00:50:56,458 ON ANOTHER SIDE, A FAMILY OF SWEDES 788 00:50:56,524 --> 00:50:58,860 FRESH FROM THE OLD COUNTRY. 789 00:50:58,926 --> 00:51:03,431 ON AN ADJOINING FARM, A SCOTSMAN WITH A MISSOURI WIFE. 790 00:51:03,498 --> 00:51:05,667 NEARBY A FAMILY FROM IOWA. 791 00:51:05,733 --> 00:51:08,119 ANOTHER FAMILY FROM ILLINOIS. 792 00:51:08,186 --> 00:51:13,024 SOME OLD, SOME YOUNG, SOME ILLITERATE, SOME WELL-EDUCATED. 793 00:51:13,091 --> 00:51:16,928 YET, ALL ENGAGED IN THE SAME ENTERPRISE. 794 00:51:16,995 --> 00:51:19,664 Narrator: AS MORE AND MORE RAILROADS 795 00:51:19,731 --> 00:51:21,432 EXPANDED INTO THE WEST, 796 00:51:21,499 --> 00:51:26,037 AN INTENSE COMPETITION BETWEEN THEM BEGAN. 797 00:51:26,103 --> 00:51:29,957 SETTLERS WERE SOUGHT WHO WOULD PROVIDE BUSINESS 798 00:51:30,024 --> 00:51:31,542 FOR THEIR FREIGHT TRAINS, 799 00:51:31,609 --> 00:51:34,796 AND BUY THE LAND THE RAILROADS HAD BEEN GIVEN 800 00:51:34,863 --> 00:51:36,664 AS GOVERNMENT SUBSIDIES. 801 00:51:36,732 --> 00:51:40,085 "YOU CAN LAY TRACK TO THE GARDEN OF EDEN," 802 00:51:40,151 --> 00:51:43,338 SAID THE HEAD OF THE NORTHERN PACIFIC, 803 00:51:43,404 --> 00:51:47,374 "BUT WHAT GOOD IS IT IF THE ONLY INHABITANTS ARE ADAM AND EVE?" 804 00:51:47,441 --> 00:51:51,245 WESTERN STATES ALSO CONTENDED WITH ONE ANOTHER 805 00:51:51,313 --> 00:51:52,981 FOR NEW RESIDENTS. 806 00:51:53,048 --> 00:51:57,068 THE HOMESTEAD ACT PROMISED 160 ACRES OF PUBLIC LAND 807 00:51:57,135 --> 00:52:01,373 TO ANY PERSON WHO FILED A CLAIM, PAID A $10 FEE, 808 00:52:01,439 --> 00:52:05,543 AND AGREED TO WORK THE PROPERTY FOR FIVE YEARS. 809 00:52:05,610 --> 00:52:11,515 IN THE 1870s, KANSAS GREW BY MORE THAN HALF A MILLION PEOPLE. 810 00:52:11,582 --> 00:52:15,953 NEBRASKA'S POPULATION QUADRUPLED. 811 00:52:16,020 --> 00:52:18,056 200 SCOTTISH FAMILIES 812 00:52:18,123 --> 00:52:21,242 SETTLED ON THE KANSAS-NEBRASKA BORDER. 813 00:52:21,309 --> 00:52:26,881 THE HEBREW IMMIGRANT AID SOCIETY LURED JEWS FROM EASTERN EUROPE 814 00:52:26,947 --> 00:52:30,685 TO OREGON, COLORADO, KANSAS, THE DAKOTAS. 815 00:52:30,752 --> 00:52:35,223 GERMAN-RUSSIAN MENNONITES, SWEDISH, DUTCH, FRENCH, 816 00:52:35,290 --> 00:52:38,843 BOHEMIAN, IRISH, AND NORWEGIAN FAMILIES 817 00:52:38,927 --> 00:52:42,513 WERE SOON SCATTERED ACROSS THE PLAINS. 818 00:52:46,985 --> 00:52:49,553 Man: IN THE VILLAGES OF EUROPE YOU MIGHT BE 819 00:52:49,620 --> 00:52:52,173 ONLY A FEW STEPS AWAY FROM YOUR NEIGHBORS, 820 00:52:52,240 --> 00:52:54,341 CERTAINLY WITHIN HEARING DISTANCE. 821 00:52:54,408 --> 00:52:57,311 YOU COULD HEAR THE VILLAGE'S CHURCH BELLS RINGING 822 00:52:57,362 --> 00:52:58,846 ON A SUNDAY MORNING. 823 00:52:58,914 --> 00:53:00,915 SUDDENLY, HERE THEY WERE ISOLATED 824 00:53:00,982 --> 00:53:03,551 MANY MILES FROM NEIGHBORS AND FROM VILLAGES 825 00:53:03,617 --> 00:53:07,055 WITH LONG PERIODS OF TIME BETWEEN ANY KIND OF INTERACTION. 826 00:53:07,121 --> 00:53:09,891 THEY HAD "WIND SICKNESS," THEY CALLED IT, 827 00:53:09,958 --> 00:53:12,910 FROM THE CONSTANT BLOWING OF THE WIND. 828 00:53:12,994 --> 00:53:15,513 THEY PLANTED TREES AROUND THEIR HOUSES 829 00:53:15,580 --> 00:53:18,566 NOT SIMPLY FOR THE SHADE OR FOR THE BEAUTY, 830 00:53:18,633 --> 00:53:22,404 BUT TO PROTECT THEM FROM THE IMMENSITY OF THE LANDSCAPE. 831 00:53:25,239 --> 00:53:27,275 Narrator: THEY STARTED TOWNS 832 00:53:27,341 --> 00:53:29,811 LIKE LINDSBORG AND HOFFNUNGSTHAL, 833 00:53:29,878 --> 00:53:32,663 NEW ALEXANDERWOHL AND DANNEBROG -- 834 00:53:32,730 --> 00:53:37,502 SOME WITH THE SAME STREET PLANS AS THEIR OLD VILLAGES IN EUROPE. 835 00:53:37,569 --> 00:53:40,689 AND THEY PLANTED WHEAT THEY HAD BROUGHT ALONG 836 00:53:40,755 --> 00:53:42,607 FROM AS FAR AWAY AS RUSSIA. 837 00:53:42,673 --> 00:53:46,344 IT FLOURISHED AS NO OTHER DOMESTIC CROP EVER HAD BEFORE 838 00:53:46,411 --> 00:53:48,180 ON THE SEMI-ARID PLAINS, 839 00:53:48,246 --> 00:53:52,650 AND WOULD ONE DAY HELP MAKE THE UNITED STATES 840 00:53:52,717 --> 00:53:56,437 THE AGRICULTURAL WONDER OF THE WORLD. 841 00:53:56,504 --> 00:53:58,506 Welsch: THE MEN HAD FARMED, 842 00:53:58,573 --> 00:54:01,359 IN MANY CASES, MOST OF THEIR LIVES. 843 00:54:01,426 --> 00:54:04,712 THEY HAD TO STRUGGLE AGAINST ROOTS AND ROCKS 844 00:54:04,779 --> 00:54:08,633 AND ALL THESE THINGS THAT MADE FARMING DIFFICULT. 845 00:54:08,699 --> 00:54:11,602 THEY LOOKED AROUND THEM HERE, AND THERE WERE THOUSANDS, 846 00:54:11,669 --> 00:54:14,589 TENS OF THOUSANDS, HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS OF ACRES 847 00:54:14,655 --> 00:54:15,907 WITHOUT A ROOT OR A ROCK. 848 00:54:15,973 --> 00:54:18,376 THEY COULD PUT THEIR PLOW IN THE GROUND 849 00:54:18,442 --> 00:54:20,611 AND GO MILES AND MILES STRAIGHT AHEAD 850 00:54:20,695 --> 00:54:22,514 WITHOUT WORRYING ABOUT A HILL. 851 00:54:22,580 --> 00:54:26,717 THIS WAS GRASS, GROUND, EARTH THAT HAD NEVER BEEN TURNED 852 00:54:26,784 --> 00:54:30,604 IN ALL OF HISTORY EXCEPT MAYBE BY A BUFFALO'S HORN. 853 00:54:30,671 --> 00:54:34,942 THEY SAID THE FIRST TIME A PLOW WENT THROUGH THAT GROUND, 854 00:54:35,009 --> 00:54:38,362 IT SOUNDED LIKE THE OPENING OF A GIANT ZIPPER 855 00:54:38,429 --> 00:54:42,918 FROM THE GRASS ROOTS TEARING AS THE PLOW WENT THROUGH IT. 856 00:54:42,984 --> 00:54:47,255 TO THEM, THIS WAS A DREAM COME TRUE. 857 00:54:51,108 --> 00:54:54,128 [ WIND BLOWING ] 858 00:55:01,035 --> 00:55:08,225 Woman: WE SELDOM STOP TO THINK HOW DESPERATELY LONELY IT WAS. 859 00:55:08,292 --> 00:55:09,344 ONE OF THE TALES I LIKE THE BEST 860 00:55:09,410 --> 00:55:13,131 WAS ABOUT A WOMAN WHO LIVED OUT WEST TEXAS. 861 00:55:13,197 --> 00:55:16,867 SHE SELDOM SAW ANYBODY UP IN THE PANHANDLE. 862 00:55:16,934 --> 00:55:20,822 A COWBOY CAME THROUGH ONE TIME AND BROUGHT HER A SACK 863 00:55:20,872 --> 00:55:23,374 THAT HAD THREE CHICKENS IN IT. 864 00:55:23,441 --> 00:55:27,512 AND SHE COULD NOT BRING HERSELF TO KILL THOSE CHICKENS. 865 00:55:27,579 --> 00:55:32,082 SHE SAID, "YOU WILL NEVER KNOW WHAT GOOD COMPANY THEY WERE." 866 00:55:32,149 --> 00:55:35,936 THERE WAS SOME CORE OF THAT WOMAN 867 00:55:36,004 --> 00:55:39,257 THAT EMBRACED THIS RAW COUNTRY, 868 00:55:39,323 --> 00:55:42,177 BUT YOU SEE IT WAS HER LOT. 869 00:55:42,243 --> 00:55:47,081 HER HUSBAND GOES OFF TO ROUND UP THE CATTLE, 870 00:55:47,148 --> 00:55:52,270 ON WHATEVER ADVENTURE THAT HE MIGHT HAVE BEEN ON 871 00:55:52,336 --> 00:55:56,941 AND IT WAS HER LOT TO KEEP THE HOMESTEAD, 872 00:55:57,008 --> 00:56:01,762 TO RUN THE RANCH, TO CARE FOR HIS FAMILY. 873 00:56:01,829 --> 00:56:06,434 AND SO I THINK OF THAT WOMAN OFTEN WITH THOSE THREE CHICKENS. 874 00:56:06,500 --> 00:56:09,403 AND I BET THEY WERE GOOD COMPANY. 875 00:56:13,341 --> 00:56:16,561 SURELY THE HAND OF PROVIDENCE MUST BE IN THIS, 876 00:56:16,627 --> 00:56:18,429 AS IT SEEMS THIS "DESERT" -- 877 00:56:18,495 --> 00:56:21,132 AS IT HAS BEEN TERMED SO LONG -- 878 00:56:21,198 --> 00:56:24,736 HAS BEEN SPECIALLY RESERVED FOR THE POOR OF OUR LAND 879 00:56:24,802 --> 00:56:28,556 WHERE THEY CAN FIND A HOME FOR THEMSELVES AND FAMILIES. 880 00:56:28,623 --> 00:56:30,291 AND WHERE THEY CAN ENJOY 881 00:56:30,358 --> 00:56:33,161 THE COMPANIONSHIP OF THEIR LOVED ONES, 882 00:56:33,227 --> 00:56:36,730 UNDISTURBED BY THOSE THAT HAVE HERETOFORE HELD THEM 883 00:56:36,797 --> 00:56:39,400 UNDER THE MOST EXCLUSIVE CONTROL -- 884 00:56:39,467 --> 00:56:43,271 URIAH OBLINGER. 885 00:56:43,337 --> 00:56:45,556 Narrator: IN THE SUMMER OF 1872, 886 00:56:45,623 --> 00:56:48,776 A UNION VETERAN NAMED URIAH WESLEY OBLINGER 887 00:56:48,843 --> 00:56:51,796 LEFT HIS RENTED FARM IN ONWARD, INDIANA, 888 00:56:51,862 --> 00:56:55,649 AND SET OUT WITH HIS BROTHER AND TWO BROTHERS-IN-LAW 889 00:56:55,716 --> 00:56:58,403 FOR NEBRASKA, TO CLAIM THE HOMESTEAD 890 00:56:58,469 --> 00:57:01,889 TO WHICH HIS MILITARY SERVICE ENTITLED HIM. 891 00:57:01,956 --> 00:57:05,643 HIS WIFE, MATTIE, AND INFANT DAUGHTER, ELLA, 892 00:57:05,709 --> 00:57:09,664 WERE TO WAIT AT HOME UNTIL HE SENT FOR THEM. 893 00:57:09,730 --> 00:57:13,835 Oblinger:OCTOBER 6, 1872 DEAR WIFE AND BABY -- 894 00:57:13,901 --> 00:57:18,572 WELL I SUPPOSE THE FIRST QUESTION YOU WOULD ASK ME NOW 895 00:57:18,639 --> 00:57:22,110 WOULD BE, "HOW DO YOU LIKE NEBRASKA?" 896 00:57:22,176 --> 00:57:26,714 WIFE, YOU CAN SEE JUST AS FAR AS YOU PLEASE HERE, 897 00:57:26,781 --> 00:57:32,419 AND ALMOST EVERY FOOT IN SIGHT CAN BE PLOWED. 898 00:57:32,486 --> 00:57:34,722 THE LONGER I STAY HERE, THE BETTER I LIKE IT. 899 00:57:34,788 --> 00:57:36,657 THERE ARE MOSTLY YOUNG FAMILIES, 900 00:57:36,724 --> 00:57:39,393 JUST STARTING IN LIFE THE SAME AS WE ARE, 901 00:57:40,661 --> 00:57:44,215 AND I FIND THEM VERY GENEROUS, INDEED. 902 00:57:44,282 --> 00:57:47,535 WE WILL ALL BE POOR HERE TOGETHER. 903 00:57:47,602 --> 00:57:51,622 I AM HUNTING A HOME FOR US WHERE WE CAN ENJOY OURSELVES 904 00:57:51,689 --> 00:57:55,443 WITHOUT BEING BOTHERED DOING AS OTHER PEOPLE SAY. 905 00:57:55,509 --> 00:57:59,079 I CAN GET ALONG WELL ENOUGH THROUGH THE WEEK, 906 00:57:59,146 --> 00:58:03,701 BUT WHEN SUNDAY COMES, I FEEL A LITTLE LONESOME WITHOUT YOU. 907 00:58:03,767 --> 00:58:06,988 GIVE BABY A KISS -- YES, TWO OF THEM -- 908 00:58:07,055 --> 00:58:10,625 AND TAKE ONE YOURSELF. 909 00:58:10,691 --> 00:58:14,395 [ TRAIN WHISTLE BLOWS ] 910 00:58:14,462 --> 00:58:17,849 Narrator: AFTER MORE THAN A YEAR OF SEPARATION, 911 00:58:17,915 --> 00:58:20,634 URIAH OBLINGER'S LONG WAIT ENDED. 912 00:58:20,701 --> 00:58:23,404 HIS WIFE MATTIE AND DAUGHTER ELLA, 913 00:58:23,471 --> 00:58:27,241 ALONG WITH A CRATE CONTAINING ALL THEIR WORLDLY GOODS 914 00:58:27,308 --> 00:58:30,310 AND ANOTHER FILLED WITH LIVE CHICKENS, 915 00:58:30,361 --> 00:58:33,431 FINALLY ARRIVED ABOARD THE MORNING TRAIN. 916 00:58:33,497 --> 00:58:36,384 URIAH TOOK THEM TO THEIR NEW HOME, 917 00:58:36,450 --> 00:58:41,055 BUILT FROM PRAIRIE SOD WITH HIS OWN HANDS, 918 00:58:41,122 --> 00:58:41,638 TO BEGIN THEIR NEW LIFE. 919 00:58:47,328 --> 00:58:50,547 DEAR MOTHER AND FATHER -- 920 00:58:50,614 --> 00:58:53,016 AT HOME IN OUR HOUSE AND A SOD AT THAT! 921 00:58:53,084 --> 00:58:54,819 WE MOVED IN LAST WEDNESDAY -- URIAH'S BIRTHDAY. 922 00:58:54,885 --> 00:58:58,105 IT IS NOT QUITE SO CONVENIENT AS A NICE FRAME, 923 00:58:58,172 --> 00:59:02,376 BUT I WOULD AS SOON LIVE IN IT AS THE CABINS I HAVE LIVED IN. 924 00:59:02,443 --> 00:59:04,912 I RIPPED OUR WAGON SHEET IN TWO, 925 00:59:04,979 --> 00:59:09,783 HAVE IT AROUND THE SIDES AND HAVE SEVERAL PAPERS UP. 926 00:59:09,850 --> 00:59:11,585 IT LOOKS REAL SWELL. 927 00:59:11,652 --> 00:59:16,390 THE ONLY OBJECTION I HAVE IS THAT WE HAVE NO FLOOR YET -- 928 00:59:16,440 --> 00:59:18,059 MATTIE OBLINGER. 929 00:59:18,126 --> 00:59:22,245 Uriah:WHAT A PLEASURE IT IS TO WORK ON ONE'S OWN FARM 930 00:59:22,330 --> 00:59:26,701 FOR YOU CAN FEEL THAT IT'S YOURS AND NOT FOR SOMEONE ELSE. 931 00:59:26,768 --> 00:59:29,736 I WOULD RATHER LIVE AS WE DO THAN HAVE TO RENT 932 00:59:29,803 --> 00:59:33,440 AND HAVE SOMEONE BOSSING US AND TELLING US WHEN TO MOVE... 933 00:59:33,507 --> 00:59:35,977 Mattie:WE HAVE JUST COME IN FROM THE TRUCK PATCH 934 00:59:36,043 --> 00:59:38,446 AND FOUND THE GOPHERS HAD ABOUT CLEANED THE PEAS 935 00:59:38,512 --> 00:59:39,914 OFF ALL THE VINES, 936 00:59:39,981 --> 00:59:41,499 BUT OUR SQUASH VINES ARE FULL OF BLOOM. 937 00:59:41,565 --> 00:59:42,967 WE BROUGHT IN BEETS JUST NOW 938 00:59:43,034 --> 00:59:45,052 THAT MEASURED ONE FOOT IN CIRCUMFERENCE 939 00:59:45,103 --> 00:59:47,839 AND POTATOES ALMOST AS LARGE AS A GOOSE EGG... 940 00:59:47,905 --> 00:59:50,908 Ella:DEAR GRANDPA -- I HAVE LEARNED MY LETTERS 941 00:59:50,975 --> 00:59:53,995 AND CAN SPELL "AX" AND "CAT" AND "DOG" AND "GIRL." 942 00:59:54,061 --> 00:59:58,115 I BOTHER MA AND PA CONSIDERABLE TO GET THEM TO LEARN ME. 943 00:59:58,182 --> 01:00:01,268 I AM LEARNING "TWINKLE, TWINKLE, LITTLE STAR." 944 01:00:01,335 --> 01:00:03,855 LOTS OF LOVE AND KISSES -- ELLA. 945 01:00:03,921 --> 01:00:06,690 Mattie:URIAH IS REPAIRING THE MINUTES 946 01:00:06,757 --> 01:00:08,726 OF THE LAST LITERARY SOCIETY 947 01:00:08,792 --> 01:00:11,562 WHICH WAS HELD LAST SATURDAY NIGHT. 948 01:00:11,629 --> 01:00:14,248 THEY HAVE SOME BIG TIMES DEBATING. 949 01:00:14,314 --> 01:00:17,368 I GO ONCE IN A WHILE TO HEAR THEM SPOUT. 950 01:00:17,435 --> 01:00:19,703 WE HAD RATHER A NICE TIME OVER THE HOLIDAYS. 951 01:00:19,770 --> 01:00:22,139 WE HAD A CHRISTMAS TREE AT THE SCHOOLHOUSE... 952 01:00:22,206 --> 01:00:25,959 Ella:WE ALL WENT TO A CHRISTMAS TREE ON CHRISTMAS EVE 953 01:00:26,010 --> 01:00:29,496 AND EACH OF US GIRLS GOT A NEW RED DRESS, AND A DOLL, 954 01:00:29,563 --> 01:00:32,783 AND A STRING WITH CANDY AND RAISINS ON IT. 955 01:00:32,849 --> 01:00:35,118 FROM YOUR GRANDCHILD -- ELLA. 956 01:00:35,186 --> 01:00:37,738 Mattie:I SUPPOSE YOU WOULD LIKE TO KNOW 957 01:00:37,804 --> 01:00:40,258 IF WE HAVE BEEN GRASSHOPPERED AGAIN. 958 01:00:40,324 --> 01:00:42,993 THEY WERE HERE SEVERAL DAYS PRETTY THICK 959 01:00:43,060 --> 01:00:45,429 AND INJURED THE CORN CONSIDERABLE. 960 01:00:45,513 --> 01:00:48,182 NEBRASKA WOULD HAVE HAD A SPLENDID CROP 961 01:00:48,248 --> 01:00:51,135 IF THE GRASSHOPPERS HAD STAYED AWAY A WHILE -- 962 01:00:51,202 --> 01:00:55,773 MATTIE OBLINGER. 963 01:00:55,839 --> 01:01:00,560 Narrator: THE OBLINGERS HAD TWO MORE DAUGHTERS, 964 01:01:00,628 --> 01:01:02,463 STELLA AND MAGGIE, 965 01:01:02,529 --> 01:01:06,250 BUT AFTER SIX YEARS ON THE PRAIRIE, 966 01:01:06,316 --> 01:01:09,236 THINGS HAD NOT GOTTEN EASIER. 967 01:01:09,304 --> 01:01:13,373 AND BY 1879, MATTIE WAS PREGNANT AGAIN. 968 01:01:13,440 --> 01:01:18,379 SHE WAS CONFINED TUESDAY EVENING ABOUT 4:00, 969 01:01:18,445 --> 01:01:22,216 AND ABOUT 8:00 SHE TOOK A FIT VERY SUDDEN 970 01:01:22,283 --> 01:01:25,770 AND NEVER SPOKE AFTER THE FIRST ONE. 971 01:01:25,836 --> 01:01:30,691 THE DOCTORS WERE COMPELLED TO PERFORM A SURGICAL OPERATION 972 01:01:30,758 --> 01:01:33,461 BY RELIEVING HER OF THE CHILD. 973 01:01:33,527 --> 01:01:37,097 THE LORD CALLED FOR SISTER MATTIE 974 01:01:37,164 --> 01:01:40,033 THIS EVENING AT 4:15. 975 01:01:40,100 --> 01:01:45,122 AND SHE IS NOW RESTING WITH THE ANGELS IN HEAVEN. 976 01:01:45,189 --> 01:01:50,011 THE CHILD IS ALSO DEAD AND WILL BE BURIED WITH HER 977 01:01:50,077 --> 01:01:51,846 SOME TIME SUNDAY. 978 01:01:51,912 --> 01:01:56,149 URIAH SAID HE COULD NOT STAND TO WRITE NOW. 979 01:01:56,216 --> 01:01:59,654 I DON'T KNOW WHAT HE WILL DO YET. 980 01:01:59,720 --> 01:02:03,724 IT'S LEFT HIM AND HIS THREE LITTLE GIRLS 981 01:02:07,961 --> 01:02:11,999 GILES S. THOMAS. 982 01:02:12,066 --> 01:02:16,003 Uriah: DEAR FATHER AND MOTHER -- 983 01:02:16,070 --> 01:02:20,607 I TRY TO BEAR THE TROUBLE CHEERFULLY, 984 01:02:20,674 --> 01:02:24,745 THOUGH THE TASK IS HARD AT TIMES. 985 01:02:24,812 --> 01:02:29,884 I HARDLY KNOW HOW TO MANAGE. 986 01:02:29,950 --> 01:02:34,588 Narrator: URIAH EVENTUALLY TOOK THE TRAIN BACK EAST TO MINNESOTA 987 01:02:34,655 --> 01:02:36,190 AND REMARRIED, 988 01:02:36,257 --> 01:02:39,176 BUT HE NEVER GAVE UP HIS DREAM. 989 01:02:39,243 --> 01:02:43,997 HE RETURNED TO THE PLAINS TO START OVER -- 990 01:02:44,048 --> 01:02:48,986 NEBRASKA, THEN KANSAS, THEN NEBRASKA AGAIN. 991 01:02:49,052 --> 01:02:53,140 HE SPENT THE LAST FEW MONTHS OF HIS LIFE BEING CARED FOR 992 01:02:53,191 --> 01:02:56,877 BY HIS DAUGHTER, ELLA -- THE SAME GIRL, NOW GROWN, 993 01:02:56,944 --> 01:03:00,782 HE HAD ONCE BEEN SO ANXIOUS TO BRING OUT TO NEBRASKA, 994 01:03:00,848 --> 01:03:03,183 WITH HER MOTHER. 995 01:03:08,789 --> 01:03:13,226 [ COWS MOOING ] 996 01:03:13,293 --> 01:03:15,963 HERE WAS ALL THESE CHEAP LONG-HORNED STEERS 997 01:03:16,029 --> 01:03:17,764 OVERRUNNING TEXAS. 998 01:03:17,832 --> 01:03:19,667 AND HERE WAS THE REST OF THE COUNTRY 999 01:03:19,733 --> 01:03:21,451 CRYING OUT FOR BEEF -- 1000 01:03:21,518 --> 01:03:24,105 AND NO RAILROADS TO GET THEM OUT. 1001 01:03:24,171 --> 01:03:26,239 SO THEY TRAILED THEM OUT, 1002 01:03:26,306 --> 01:03:30,344 ACROSS HUNDREDS OF MILES OF WILD COUNTRY -- 1003 01:03:30,411 --> 01:03:32,295 TEDDY "BLUE" ABBOTT. 1004 01:03:32,362 --> 01:03:35,933 Narrator: FROM THE SOUTHERNMOST TIP OF TEXAS, 1005 01:03:36,000 --> 01:03:38,452 CATTLE TRAILS POINTED NORTH -- 1006 01:03:38,519 --> 01:03:43,391 THE SHAWNEE, THE CHISHOLM, THE WESTERN, THE GOODNIGHT-LOVING. 1007 01:03:43,457 --> 01:03:45,759 THEY ALL LED TO RAILHEADS, 1008 01:03:45,826 --> 01:03:49,930 WHERE THE CATTLE WERE LOADED INTO FREIGHT CARS 1009 01:03:49,997 --> 01:03:52,400 BOUND FOR EASTERN MARKETS. 1010 01:03:52,466 --> 01:03:54,235 IN LESS THAN TWO DECADES, 1011 01:03:54,301 --> 01:03:57,889 SIX MILLION STEERS AND COWS WERE HERDED NORTH. 1012 01:03:57,955 --> 01:04:00,223 "SO MANY," ONE TRAIL DRIVER SAID, 1013 01:04:00,290 --> 01:04:04,395 "THAT IN PLACES THE DUST WAS KNEE-DEEP TO THE CATTLE." 1014 01:04:04,461 --> 01:04:07,798 THE MEN WHO BROUGHT THEM TO THE RAILROADS 1015 01:04:07,865 --> 01:04:11,118 WERE GIVEN A NEW NAME -- COWBOYS. 1016 01:04:11,185 --> 01:04:15,689 THEY WERE A MIXED GROUP -- FORMER CONFEDERATE CAVALRY MEN 1017 01:04:15,756 --> 01:04:19,943 AND IMMIGRANTS WHO HAD ONLY RECENTLY LEARNED TO RIDE. 1018 01:04:20,027 --> 01:04:23,881 THERE WERE INDIAN COWBOYS AND AFRICAN-AMERICANS, 1019 01:04:23,947 --> 01:04:27,001 AND MEXICAN VAQUEROS, WHOSE ANCESTORS 1020 01:04:27,067 --> 01:04:31,505 HAD INTRODUCED CATTLE TO THE WEST CENTURIES EARLIER. 1021 01:04:31,572 --> 01:04:34,457 "A COWBOY," ONE WESTERNER OBSERVED, 1022 01:04:34,524 --> 01:04:36,960 "IS JUST A PLAIN BOWLEGGED HUMAN 1023 01:04:37,027 --> 01:04:41,031 WHO SMELLED VERY HORSY AT TIMES." 1024 01:04:43,434 --> 01:04:46,654 IN PERSON, THE COWBOYS WERE MOSTLY 1025 01:04:46,721 --> 01:04:49,373 MEDIUM-SIZED MEN, QUICK AND WIRY, 1026 01:04:49,440 --> 01:04:52,309 AND AS A RULE, VERY GOOD-NATURED. 1027 01:04:52,376 --> 01:04:56,096 IN FACT, IT DID NOT PAY TO BE ANYTHING ELSE. 1028 01:04:56,163 --> 01:05:00,034 IN CHARACTER, THEIR LIKE NEVER WAS OR WILL BE AGAIN -- 1029 01:05:00,100 --> 01:05:01,835 TEDDY "BLUE" ABBOTT. 1030 01:05:01,902 --> 01:05:06,707 Narrator: EDWARD C. ABBOTT WAS BORN IN CRANWICH, ENGLAND, 1031 01:05:06,774 --> 01:05:10,912 AND BROUGHT TO THE WEST BY HIS PARENTS AS A BOY. 1032 01:05:10,978 --> 01:05:14,831 HOPING THE OPEN AIR WOULD IMPROVE HIS FRAIL HEALTH, 1033 01:05:14,898 --> 01:05:18,419 HIS FATHER LET HIM HELP DRIVE A HERD OF CATTLE 1034 01:05:18,469 --> 01:05:22,589 FROM TEXAS TO NEBRASKA WHEN HE WAS JUST 10 YEARS OLD. 1035 01:05:22,656 --> 01:05:25,509 "THE EXPERIENCE," ABBOTT SAID LATER, 1036 01:05:25,575 --> 01:05:27,594 "MADE A COWBOY OUT OF ME. 1037 01:05:27,661 --> 01:05:31,165 NOTHING COULD HAVE CHANGED ME AFTER THAT." 1038 01:05:31,232 --> 01:05:34,084 Abbott:MY FAMILY AND I WENT SEPARATE WAYS, 1039 01:05:34,151 --> 01:05:36,904 AND THEY STAYED SEPARATE FOREVER AFTER. 1040 01:05:36,971 --> 01:05:38,889 MY FATHER WAS ALL FOR FARMING, 1041 01:05:38,956 --> 01:05:42,309 AND ALL MY BROTHERS TURNED OUT FARMERS EXCEPT ONE, 1042 01:05:42,376 --> 01:05:45,162 AND HE ENDED UP THE WORST OF THE LOT -- 1043 01:05:45,228 --> 01:05:49,500 A SHEEPMAN, AND A REPUBLICAN. 1044 01:05:49,566 --> 01:05:53,287 Narrator: THE COWBOYS' AVERAGE AGE WAS 24. 1045 01:05:53,353 --> 01:05:57,658 THEY WERE PAID SO BADLY AND WORKED SO HARD 1046 01:05:57,725 --> 01:06:02,679 THAT TWO-THIRDS OF THEM MADE ONLY ONE TRAIL DRIVE 1047 01:06:02,746 --> 01:06:05,416 BEFORE FINDING SOMETHING BETTER TO DO. 1048 01:06:05,482 --> 01:06:11,321 THEY OWNED THEIR SADDLE, BUT NOT THE HORSE THEY RODE -- 1049 01:06:11,388 --> 01:06:14,191 AND THEY RODE IT DAY AND NIGHT. 1050 01:06:14,257 --> 01:06:15,542 FOR A MAN TO BE STOVE UP AT 30 1051 01:06:15,609 --> 01:06:18,395 MAY SOUND STRANGE TO SOME PEOPLE, 1052 01:06:18,461 --> 01:06:21,281 BUT MANY A COWBOY HAS BEEN SO BUNGED UP 1053 01:06:21,348 --> 01:06:25,302 THAT HE'S HAD TO QUIT RIDING THAT EARLY IN LIFE. 1054 01:06:25,369 --> 01:06:30,590 MY ADVICE TO ANY YOUNG MAN OR BOY IS TO STAY AT HOME 1055 01:06:30,657 --> 01:06:35,846 AND NOT BE A RAMBLER, AS IT WON'T BUY YOU ANYTHING -- 1056 01:06:35,912 --> 01:06:38,315 JAMES EMMIT McCAULEY. 1057 01:06:38,381 --> 01:06:41,001 [ THUNDER CRASHES ] 1058 01:06:41,067 --> 01:06:43,804 Abbott:IF A STORM COME AND THE CATTLE STARTED RUNNING, 1059 01:06:43,870 --> 01:06:46,624 YOU'D HEAR THAT LOW RUMBLING NOISE ALONG THE GROUND. 1060 01:06:46,690 --> 01:06:49,760 THEN YOU'D JUMP FOR YOUR HORSE AND GET OUT THERE IN THE LEAD, 1061 01:06:49,827 --> 01:06:52,179 TRYING TO HEAD THEM AND GET THEM INTO A MILL 1062 01:06:52,246 --> 01:06:54,715 BEFORE THEY SCATTERED TO HELL AND GONE. 1063 01:06:54,782 --> 01:06:57,317 IT WAS RIDING AT A DEAD RUN IN THE DARK, 1064 01:06:57,383 --> 01:07:00,404 WITH CUT BANKS AND PRAIRIE DOG HOLES ALL AROUND YOU, 1065 01:07:00,471 --> 01:07:02,206 NOT KNOWING IF THE NEXT JUMP 1066 01:07:02,272 --> 01:07:04,708 WOULD LAND YOU IN A SHALLOW GRAVE. 1067 01:07:04,775 --> 01:07:11,381 ♪ I RIDE AN OLD PAINT AND I LEAD AN OLD DAN ♪ 1068 01:07:11,448 --> 01:07:18,155 ♪ I'M GOIN' TO MONTANA TO THROW THE HOOLIHAN ♪ 1069 01:07:18,222 --> 01:07:20,457 Abbott:THE SINGING WAS SUPPOSED TO SOOTHE THE CATTLE, 1070 01:07:20,524 --> 01:07:22,025 AND IT DID. 1071 01:07:22,092 --> 01:07:23,693 THE TWO MEN ON GUARD WOULD CIRCLE AROUND 1072 01:07:23,760 --> 01:07:26,313 WITH THEIR HORSES ON A WALK, IF IT WAS A CLEAR NIGHT 1073 01:07:26,379 --> 01:07:28,448 AND THE CATTLE WAS BEDDED DOWN AND QUIET, 1074 01:07:28,515 --> 01:07:30,383 AND ONE MAN WOULD SING A VERSE OF A SONG, 1075 01:07:30,450 --> 01:07:32,352 AND HIS PARTNER ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE HERD 1076 01:07:32,419 --> 01:07:33,871 WOULD SING ANOTHER VERSE. 1077 01:07:33,937 --> 01:07:36,106 AND YOU'D GO THROUGH A WHOLE SONG THAT WAY. 1078 01:07:36,173 --> 01:07:39,659 I HAD A CRACKERJACK OF A PARTNER IN '79. 1079 01:07:39,726 --> 01:07:41,561 I'D SING AND HE'D ANSWER, 1080 01:07:41,628 --> 01:07:45,648 AND WE'D KEEP IT UP LIKE THAT FOR TWO HOURS. 1081 01:07:45,715 --> 01:07:48,368 BUT HE WAS KILLED BY LIGHTNING. 1082 01:07:48,435 --> 01:07:52,539 Narrator: AFTER UP TO FOUR STRAIGHT MONTHS IN THE SADDLE, 1083 01:07:52,606 --> 01:07:55,259 OFTEN IN THE SAME CLOTHES EVERY DAY, 1084 01:07:55,326 --> 01:07:58,228 EATING EVERY MEAL AT THE CHUCK WAGON, 1085 01:07:58,312 --> 01:08:01,247 DRINKING NOTHING BUT COFFEE AND WATER, 1086 01:08:01,314 --> 01:08:04,067 THE COWBOY'S JOB WAS FINALLY DONE -- 1087 01:08:04,134 --> 01:08:08,172 HE WAS PAID FOR HIS WORK, AND TURNED LOOSE IN TOWN. 1088 01:08:08,239 --> 01:08:10,457 ♪ NOW COME ALONG BOYS AND LISTEN TO MY TALE ♪ 1089 01:08:10,524 --> 01:08:12,359 ♪ AND I'LL TELL YOU OF MY TROUBLES ♪ 1090 01:08:12,425 --> 01:08:13,677 ♪ ON THE CHISHOLM TRAIL ♪ 1091 01:08:13,744 --> 01:08:16,263 ♪ COME-A TI-YI-YIPPY YIPPY-YI YIPPY-YAY ♪ 1092 01:08:16,330 --> 01:08:18,498 ♪ COME-A TI-YI-YIPPY YIPPY-YAY ♪ 1093 01:08:18,565 --> 01:08:21,417 ♪ I STARTED UP THE TRAIL OCTOBER 23rd ♪ 1094 01:08:21,485 --> 01:08:23,987 ♪ LEFT OLD TEXAS WITH A TWO-MULE HERD ♪ 1095 01:08:24,054 --> 01:08:26,539 ♪ COME-A TI-YI-YIPPY YIPPY-YI YIPPY-YAY ♪ 1096 01:08:26,606 --> 01:08:28,875 ♪ COME-A TI-YI-YIPPY YIPPY-YAY ♪♪ 1097 01:08:36,617 --> 01:08:37,284 [ FLASHBULB POPS ] 1098 01:08:37,351 --> 01:08:39,603 [ FLASHBULB POPS ] 1099 01:08:39,670 --> 01:08:40,921 [ FLASHBULB POPS ] 1100 01:08:40,988 --> 01:08:43,189 Abbott: I BOUGHT SOME NEW CLOTHES 1101 01:08:43,256 --> 01:08:44,808 AND GOT MY PICTURE TAKEN. 1102 01:08:44,875 --> 01:08:47,861 I HAD A NEW, WHITE STETSON HAT THAT I PAID $10 FOR 1103 01:08:47,928 --> 01:08:51,614 AND NEW PANTS THAT COST $12 AND A GOOD SHIRT AND FANCY BOOTS. 1104 01:08:51,699 --> 01:08:54,301 LORD, I WAS PROUD OF THOSE CLOTHES! 1105 01:08:54,368 --> 01:08:56,670 WHEN MY SISTER SAW ME, SHE SAID, 1106 01:08:56,737 --> 01:09:00,641 "TAKE YOUR PANTS OUT OF YOUR BOOTS AND PUT YOUR COAT ON. 1107 01:09:00,707 --> 01:09:02,392 YOU LOOK LIKE AN OUTLAW." 1108 01:09:02,459 --> 01:09:04,094 I TOLD HER TO GO TO HELL, 1109 01:09:04,161 --> 01:09:07,047 AND I NEVER DID LIKE HER AFTER THAT. 1110 01:09:07,113 --> 01:09:10,317 Narrator: COWBOYS WERE BIG SPENDERS, 1111 01:09:10,384 --> 01:09:12,887 BUT WHILE BUSINESSES PROFITED, 1112 01:09:12,953 --> 01:09:15,906 ALL THE COW TOWNS SOON BECAME WILDER 1113 01:09:15,972 --> 01:09:19,559 THAN THEIR PERMANENT RESIDENTS LIKED. 1114 01:09:19,626 --> 01:09:21,361 Man:"ABILENE CHRONICLE." 1115 01:09:21,428 --> 01:09:24,514 THE MARSHAL HAS POSTED UP PRINTED NOTICES, 1116 01:09:24,581 --> 01:09:27,434 INFORMING ALL PERSONS THAT THE ORDINANCE 1117 01:09:27,500 --> 01:09:31,188 AGAINST CARRYING FIREARMS OR OTHER WEAPONS IN ABILENE 1118 01:09:31,255 --> 01:09:34,107 WILL BE ENFORCED. THAT'S RIGHT. 1119 01:09:34,174 --> 01:09:37,077 THERE'S NO BRAVERY IN CARRYING REVOLVERS 1120 01:09:37,144 --> 01:09:39,146 IN A CIVILIZED COMMUNITY. 1121 01:09:39,213 --> 01:09:43,450 Narrator: GUN-CONTROL ORDINANCES WERE COMMON. 1122 01:09:43,517 --> 01:09:48,539 COWBOYS WHO INSISTED ON CARRYING THEIR SIX-SHOOTERS IN TOWN 1123 01:09:48,605 --> 01:09:51,558 RISKED FINES AND IMPRISONMENT. 1124 01:09:51,624 --> 01:09:53,927 TO MAKE SURE THE LAWS WERE OBEYED, 1125 01:09:53,994 --> 01:09:57,898 SOME COW TOWNS RESORTED TO HIRING NOTORIOUS GUNMEN -- 1126 01:09:57,965 --> 01:10:01,852 WYATT EARP, BAT MASTERSON, AND WILD BILL HICKOK -- 1127 01:10:01,918 --> 01:10:03,520 TO KEEP THE PEACE. 1128 01:10:03,587 --> 01:10:07,740 Man:MORALLY, AS A CLASS, COWBOYS ARE FOULMOUTHED, 1129 01:10:07,807 --> 01:10:11,978 BLASPHEMOUS, DRUNKEN, LECHEROUS, UTTERLY CORRUPT. 1130 01:10:12,045 --> 01:10:15,498 USUALLY HARMLESS ON THE PLAINS WHEN SOBER, 1131 01:10:15,565 --> 01:10:18,134 THEY ARE DREADED IN THE TOWNS, 1132 01:10:18,201 --> 01:10:21,905 FOR THEN LIQUOR HAS AN ASCENDANCY OVER THEM -- 1133 01:10:21,972 --> 01:10:24,441 "CHEYENNE DAILY LEADER." 1134 01:10:24,508 --> 01:10:26,676 Narrator: ONE BY ONE, THE COW TOWNS 1135 01:10:26,743 --> 01:10:30,380 WOULD DECLARE THEMSELVES OFF-LIMITS TO THE TEXAS HERDS 1136 01:10:30,447 --> 01:10:32,882 AND THE COWBOYS WHO CAME WITH THEM. 1137 01:10:32,950 --> 01:10:33,866 [ GUNSHOT ] 1138 01:10:33,933 --> 01:10:35,702 Abbott:THEN I WENT HOME. 1139 01:10:35,769 --> 01:10:38,672 AFTER I GOT HOME MY FATHER SAID TO ME ONE NIGHT, 1140 01:10:38,739 --> 01:10:43,527 "YOU CAN TAKE OLD MORGAN AND PLOW THE WEST RIDGE TOMORROW." 1141 01:10:43,593 --> 01:10:46,330 LIKE HELL I'D PLOW THE WEST RIDGE. 1142 01:10:46,396 --> 01:10:50,667 AND WHEN MY FATHER WOKE UP NEXT MORNING, TEDDY WAS GONE. 1143 01:10:55,789 --> 01:11:01,645 [ TRAIN ENGINE PUFFING ] 1144 01:11:01,712 --> 01:11:04,781 I CROSS THE LARAMIE PLAINS. 1145 01:11:04,865 --> 01:11:08,101 I SEE IN GLIMPSES AFAR OR TOWERING IMMEDIATELY ABOVE ME 1146 01:11:08,151 --> 01:11:11,705 THE GREAT MOUNTAINS. 1147 01:11:11,772 --> 01:11:15,875 I SEE THE WIND RIVER AND THE WASATCH MOUNTAINS. 1148 01:11:15,942 --> 01:11:20,213 I SEE THE MONUMENT MOUNTAIN AND THE EAGLE'S NEST. 1149 01:11:20,280 --> 01:11:24,451 I PASS THE PROMONTORY. I ASCEND THE NEVADAS. 1150 01:11:24,518 --> 01:11:28,222 I SEE THE CLEAR WATERS OF LAKE TAHOE. 1151 01:11:28,288 --> 01:11:31,442 I SEE FORESTS OF MAJESTIC PINES. 1152 01:11:31,508 --> 01:11:35,162 MARCHING THROUGH THESE AND AFTER ALL 1153 01:11:35,229 --> 01:11:37,731 IN DUPLICATE SLENDER LINES, 1154 01:11:37,798 --> 01:11:42,669 BRIDGING THE THREE OR FOUR THOUSAND MILES OF LAND TRAVEL, 1155 01:11:42,736 --> 01:11:46,222 TYING THE EASTERN TO THE WESTERN SEA, 1156 01:11:46,289 --> 01:11:52,195 THE ROAD BETWEEN EUROPE AND ASIA -- 1157 01:11:52,262 --> 01:11:54,765 WALT WHITMAN. 1158 01:11:54,832 --> 01:11:58,452 Narrator: FROM THE TIME OF COLUMBUS, 1159 01:11:58,518 --> 01:12:02,722 EXPLORERS HAD SEARCHED IN VAIN FOR A PASSAGE 1160 01:12:02,789 --> 01:12:07,427 THAT WOULD CONNECT THE ATLANTIC WITH THE PACIFIC. 1161 01:12:07,494 --> 01:12:11,965 THE CENTURIES-OLD DREAM HAD FINALLY COME TRUE. 1162 01:12:12,032 --> 01:12:17,354 NO SUCH PASSAGE EXISTED, SO THE AMERICANS HAD BUILT ONE. 1163 01:12:17,420 --> 01:12:22,291 [ TRAIN ENGINE PUFFING ] 1164 01:12:22,376 --> 01:12:27,463 Watkins: IF YOU WERE LOOKING FOR THE DEFINITIVE SYMBOL 1165 01:12:27,530 --> 01:12:32,569 OF THE CONFLICT BETWEEN THE CULTURES THAT HAD EXISTED 1166 01:12:32,652 --> 01:12:37,190 IN THE AMERICAN WEST FOR AT LEAST 10,000 YEARS, 1167 01:12:37,257 --> 01:12:39,159 AND MAYBE LONGER, 1168 01:12:39,226 --> 01:12:42,028 AND THE CULTURE THAT WAS JUST A-BUILDING 1169 01:12:42,095 --> 01:12:44,097 EAST OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER, 1170 01:12:44,164 --> 01:12:46,984 THIS CULTURE OF TECHNOLOGY, OF COMMERCE, 1171 01:12:47,050 --> 01:12:50,370 OF GRASPING AFTER TOMORROW BEFORE IT ARRIVES, 1172 01:12:50,437 --> 01:12:55,642 YOU COULDN'T COME UP WITH TWO MORE POWERFUL SYMBOLS 1173 01:12:55,709 --> 01:12:59,396 THAN THE RAILROAD AND THE BUFFALO, 1174 01:12:59,462 --> 01:13:03,867 BECAUSE WHEN THE RAILROAD MET THE BUFFALO, 1175 01:13:03,934 --> 01:13:07,153 THE IRON AGE MET THE STONE AGE. 1176 01:13:07,220 --> 01:13:11,675 THE MACHINE ARRIVED IN THE GARDEN, 1177 01:13:11,741 --> 01:13:16,329 AND THE WEST WAS CHANGED FOREVER. 1178 01:13:28,574 --> 01:13:32,712 Momaday: THERE WAS A MAN WHO KILLED A BUFFALO BULL 1179 01:13:32,779 --> 01:13:37,150 TO NO PURPOSE, ONLY HE WANTED ITS BLOOD ON HIS HANDS. 1180 01:13:37,217 --> 01:13:39,786 IT WAS A GREAT, OLD NOBLE BEAST, 1181 01:13:39,852 --> 01:13:43,857 AND IT WAS A LONG TIME BLOWING ITS LIFE AWAY. 1182 01:13:43,924 --> 01:13:46,326 ON THE EDGE OF THE NIGHT, 1183 01:13:46,393 --> 01:13:49,729 THE PEOPLE GATHERED THEMSELVES UP 1184 01:13:49,796 --> 01:13:52,199 IN THEIR GRIEF AND SHAME. 1185 01:13:52,266 --> 01:13:53,967 AWAY IN THE WEST, 1186 01:13:54,034 --> 01:13:58,938 THEY COULD SEE THE HUMP AND SPINE OF THE HUGE BEAST 1187 01:13:59,006 --> 01:14:03,443 WHICH LAY DYING ALONG THE EDGE OF THE WORLD. 1188 01:14:03,509 --> 01:14:07,014 THEY COULD BRIGHT BLOOD RUN INTO THE SKY 1189 01:14:07,080 --> 01:14:10,667 WHERE IT DRIED, DARKENING, AND WAS AT LAST FLECKED 1190 01:14:10,734 --> 01:14:13,520 WITH FLAKES OF LIGHT. 1191 01:14:16,523 --> 01:14:19,443 [ GUNSHOT ] 1192 01:14:19,509 --> 01:14:22,028 THE THING WE HAD TO HAVE, 1193 01:14:22,095 --> 01:14:25,548 WE BUSINESSMEN WITH RIFLES, WAS ONE SHOT KILLS. 1194 01:14:25,615 --> 01:14:27,134 WE BASED OUR SUCCESS 1195 01:14:27,200 --> 01:14:30,487 ON THE OVERWHELMING STUPIDITY OF THE BUFFALO, 1196 01:14:30,553 --> 01:14:34,625 UNQUESTIONABLY THE STUPIDEST GAME ANIMAL IN THE WORLD. 1197 01:14:34,691 --> 01:14:38,762 IF YOU WOUNDED THE LEADER, THE REST OF HER HERD, 1198 01:14:38,829 --> 01:14:41,431 WHETHER IT WAS THREE OR THIRTY, 1199 01:14:41,498 --> 01:14:44,167 WOULD GATHER AROUND HER AND STUPIDLY MILL. 1200 01:14:44,234 --> 01:14:47,604 [ GUNSHOT ] 1201 01:14:47,671 --> 01:14:52,175 ALL YOU HAD TO DO WAS PICK THEM OFF ONE BY ONE. 1202 01:14:52,242 --> 01:14:56,312 I ONCE TOOK 269 HIDES WITH 300 CARTRIDGES. 1203 01:14:56,379 --> 01:14:57,648 [ GUNSHOT ] 1204 01:14:57,714 --> 01:14:59,132 ADVENTUROUS? 1205 01:14:59,198 --> 01:15:03,920 NO MORE THAN SHOOTING A BEEF CRITTER IN THE BARNYARD. 1206 01:15:03,986 --> 01:15:07,991 IT WAS A HARVEST. WE WERE THE HARVESTERS -- 1207 01:15:08,058 --> 01:15:09,842 FRANK H. MAYER. 1208 01:15:09,909 --> 01:15:12,346 [ GUNSHOTS ] 1209 01:15:19,202 --> 01:15:22,088 Narrator: FRANK MAYER AND THOUSANDS OF OTHER 1210 01:15:22,155 --> 01:15:25,942 BUFFALO HUNTERS SWARMED ONTO THE PLAINS. 1211 01:15:26,008 --> 01:15:29,096 SOME STOPPED SHOOTING JUST LONG ENOUGH 1212 01:15:29,162 --> 01:15:32,315 TO COOL THEIR OVER-HEATED RIFLE BARRELS 1213 01:15:32,382 --> 01:15:34,318 WITH CANTEENS OF WATER. 1214 01:15:34,384 --> 01:15:36,353 WHEN THE WATER RAN OUT, 1215 01:15:36,419 --> 01:15:40,590 THEY URINATED DOWN THE BARREL AND KEPT SHOOTING. 1216 01:15:40,656 --> 01:15:44,744 UP AND DOWN THE PLAINS THOSE MEN RANGED. 1217 01:15:44,811 --> 01:15:50,684 BEHIND THEM CAME THE SKINNERS WITH THEIR WAGONS. 1218 01:15:50,751 --> 01:15:53,419 THEY PILED THE HIDES AND BONES INTO THE WAGONS 1219 01:15:53,486 --> 01:15:56,907 UNTIL THEY WERE FULL, 1220 01:15:56,973 --> 01:16:00,260 AND THEN TOOK THEIR LOADS TO THE NEW RAILROAD STATIONS 1221 01:16:00,310 --> 01:16:02,579 TO BE SHIPPED EAST TO MARKET. 1222 01:16:02,645 --> 01:16:08,651 SOMETIMES THERE WOULD BE A PILE OF BONES AS HIGH AS A MAN, 1223 01:16:08,718 --> 01:16:13,507 STRETCHING A MILE ALONG THE RAILROAD TRACK -- 1224 01:16:13,573 --> 01:16:15,541 OLD LADY HORSE. 1225 01:16:15,608 --> 01:16:19,913 Narrator: THIRTY-TWO MILLION POUNDS OF BUFFALO BONES 1226 01:16:19,980 --> 01:16:24,250 MADE THEIR WAY FROM THE PLAINS TO EASTERN FACTORIES, 1227 01:16:24,317 --> 01:16:27,871 WHERE THEY WERE GROUND INTO FERTILIZER. 1228 01:16:27,938 --> 01:16:34,477 BUFFALO HORNS WERE TURNED INTO BUTTONS, COMBS, KNIFE HANDLES. 1229 01:16:34,544 --> 01:16:36,746 HOOVES BECAME GLUE. 1230 01:16:36,813 --> 01:16:41,118 ALL ACROSS WESTERN KANSAS, THE SLAUGHTER WENT ON -- 1231 01:16:41,184 --> 01:16:45,221 PERHAPS AS MANY AS THREE MILLION BUFFALO KILLED 1232 01:16:45,288 --> 01:16:49,593 IN THE TWO YEARS SINCE THE COMING OF THE RAILROAD. 1233 01:16:49,659 --> 01:16:54,581 WHERE THERE WERE MYRIADS OF BUFFALO THE YEAR BEFORE 1234 01:16:54,648 --> 01:16:58,435 THERE WERE NOW MYRIADS OF CARCASSES. 1235 01:16:58,501 --> 01:17:02,939 THE AIR WAS FOUL WITH A SICKENING STENCH, 1236 01:17:03,006 --> 01:17:04,774 AND THE VAST PLAIN, 1237 01:17:04,841 --> 01:17:08,811 WHICH ONLY A SHORT TWELVEMONTH BEFORE TEEMED WITH ANIMAL LIFE, 1238 01:17:08,878 --> 01:17:13,332 WAS A DEAD, SOLITARY, PUTRID DESERT -- 1239 01:17:13,399 --> 01:17:17,404 COL. RICHARD IRVING DODGE. 1240 01:17:20,690 --> 01:17:24,577 Narrator: MANY AMERICANS GREW ALARMED 1241 01:17:24,644 --> 01:17:26,046 AT THE EXTENT OF THE SLAUGHTER. 1242 01:17:26,112 --> 01:17:27,764 IN THE SPRING OF 1874, 1243 01:17:27,830 --> 01:17:31,568 CONGRESS PASSED A LAW TO PROTECT THE BUFFALO, 1244 01:17:31,634 --> 01:17:35,821 BUT PRESIDENT ULYSSES S. GRANT REFUSED TO SIGN IT, 1245 01:17:35,888 --> 01:17:38,124 AND THE KILLING CONTINUED. 1246 01:17:38,190 --> 01:17:41,744 HUNTERS HAD ALREADY MOVED SOUTH OF KANSAS, 1247 01:17:41,811 --> 01:17:46,466 ONTO HUNTING GROUNDS RESERVED BY TREATY FOR THE INDIANS. 1248 01:17:46,532 --> 01:17:49,602 THE GOVERNMENT DID NOTHING TO STOP THEM, 1249 01:17:49,669 --> 01:17:53,606 AND EVEN PROVIDED THE HUNTERS WITH FREE AMMUNITION. 1250 01:17:53,673 --> 01:17:58,161 [ NATIVE AMERICAN CHANTING, DRUM BEATING ] 1251 01:17:58,244 --> 01:18:00,215 YOU WHITE PEOPLE MAKE A BIG TALK, 1252 01:18:00,282 --> 01:18:01,998 AND SOMETIMES WAR, 1253 01:18:02,065 --> 01:18:05,068 IF AN INDIAN KILLS A WHITE MAN'S OX 1254 01:18:05,134 --> 01:18:08,671 TO KEEP HIS WIFE AND CHILDREN FROM STARVING. 1255 01:18:08,738 --> 01:18:12,592 WHAT DO YOU THINK MY PEOPLE OUGHT TO SAY AND DO 1256 01:18:12,659 --> 01:18:17,296 WHEN THEY ES SEE THEIR BUFFALO KILLED BY YOUR RACE 1257 01:18:17,363 --> 01:18:19,532 WHEN YOU ARE NOT HUNGRY? 1258 01:18:19,599 --> 01:18:20,934 LITTLE ROBE. 1259 01:18:21,000 --> 01:18:24,087 Mayer:THE INDIANS SENSED THAT WE WERE 1260 01:18:24,154 --> 01:18:26,423 TAKING AWAY THEIR BIRTHRIGHT, 1261 01:18:26,489 --> 01:18:29,876 AND THAT WITH EVERY BOOM OF A BUFFALO RIFLE 1262 01:18:29,926 --> 01:18:33,696 THEIR TENURE ON THEIR HOMELAND BECAME WEAKENED 1263 01:18:33,763 --> 01:18:35,531 AND THAT EVENTUALLY 1264 01:18:35,598 --> 01:18:39,502 THEY WOULD HAVE NO HOMELAND AND NO BUFFALO. 1265 01:18:39,569 --> 01:18:42,872 SO THEY DID WHAT YOU AND I WOULD DO 1266 01:18:42,939 --> 01:18:48,778 IF O WERE JEOPARDIZED -- THEY FOUGHT. 1267 01:18:48,845 --> 01:18:51,464 Narrator: IN THE SUMMER OF 1874, 1268 01:18:51,531 --> 01:18:55,902 THE KIOWAS, COMANCHES, ARAPAHOS AND SOUTHERN CHEYENNE 1269 01:18:55,969 --> 01:18:59,122 ROSE UP AND DROVE OUT THE HUNTERS -- 1270 01:18:59,188 --> 01:19:02,626 AND ANY OTHER WHITES THEY CAME ACROSS. 1271 01:19:02,692 --> 01:19:07,013 GENERAL PHILIP SHERIDAN ORDERED A MASSIVE CAMPAIGN, 1272 01:19:07,079 --> 01:19:09,699 DEPLOYING FIVE COLUMNS OF TROOPS 1273 01:19:09,766 --> 01:19:12,835 TO PURSUE THE INDIANS RELENTLESSLY 1274 01:19:12,919 --> 01:19:15,188 DURING THE SUMMER AND FALL, 1275 01:19:15,255 --> 01:19:19,826 DEPRIVING THEM OF REST, OR THE OPPORTUNITY TO HUNT. 1276 01:19:19,893 --> 01:19:23,813 [ BIRD CAWING ] 1277 01:19:28,284 --> 01:19:30,086 BY THE NEXT SPRING, 1278 01:19:30,153 --> 01:19:34,056 VIRTUALLY ALL OF THE RESISTING BANDS ON THE SOUTHERN PLAINS -- 1279 01:19:34,123 --> 01:19:36,159 DESPERATE NOW FOR FOOD -- 1280 01:19:36,226 --> 01:19:40,063 HAD BEEN DRIVEN BACK ONTO THE RESERVATIONS. 1281 01:19:40,130 --> 01:19:43,366 THE BUFFALO HUNTERS WENT RIGHT BACK TO WORK. 1282 01:19:43,432 --> 01:19:46,435 [ GUNSHOTS ] 1283 01:19:50,774 --> 01:19:54,293 WITHIN A YEAR, THE HERD ON THE SOUTHERN PLAINS 1284 01:19:54,360 --> 01:19:56,562 HAD VIRTUALLY DISAPPEARED. 1285 01:19:56,629 --> 01:20:02,001 ONE BY ONE, WE PUT UP OUR BUFFALO RIFLES, 1286 01:20:02,068 --> 01:20:04,404 AND LEFT THE RANGES. 1287 01:20:04,470 --> 01:20:09,158 AND THERE SETTLED OVER THEM A VAST QUIET. 1288 01:20:09,225 --> 01:20:11,661 THE BUFFALO WAS GONE. 1289 01:20:11,727 --> 01:20:18,301 MAYBE WE SERVED OUR PURPOSE IN HELPING ABOLISH THE BUFFALO. 1290 01:20:18,367 --> 01:20:21,588 MAYBE IT WAS OUR RUTHLESS HARVESTING OF HIM 1291 01:20:21,655 --> 01:20:24,941 WHICH TELESCOPED THE CONTROL OF THE INDIAN 1292 01:20:25,008 --> 01:20:26,977 BY A DECADE OR MAYBE MORE, 1293 01:20:27,043 --> 01:20:29,896 OR MAYBE I AM JUST RATIONALIZING. 1294 01:20:29,962 --> 01:20:34,017 MAYBE WE WERE JUST A GREEDY LOT WHO WANTED TO GET OURS, 1295 01:20:34,084 --> 01:20:38,321 AND TO HELL WITH POSTERITY, THE BUFFALO, OR ANYONE ELSE, 1296 01:20:38,387 --> 01:20:44,594 JUST SO WE KEPT OUR SCALPS ON AND OUR MONEY POUCHES FILLED. 1297 01:20:44,660 --> 01:20:48,732 I THINK MAYBE THAT IS THE WAY IT WAS -- 1298 01:20:48,798 --> 01:20:51,301 FRANK H. MAYER. 1299 01:20:57,974 --> 01:21:03,263 Momaday: IT WOULD BE HARD TO IMAGINE 1300 01:21:03,330 --> 01:21:05,631 ANYTHING MORE DEEPLY HURTFUL 1301 01:21:05,698 --> 01:21:11,021 THAN THE LOSS OF SOMETHING INEFFABLY SACRED. 1302 01:21:11,087 --> 01:21:13,990 ONE CAN ONLY GUESS AND IMAGINE. 1303 01:21:14,057 --> 01:21:18,161 WE CAN'T, WE CAN'T KNOW WHAT THAT IS NOW. 1304 01:21:18,228 --> 01:21:23,199 BUT CERTAINLY A CONFUSION, FIRST OF ALL, I SUPPOSE. 1305 01:21:23,283 --> 01:21:25,484 "WHY IS THIS HAPPENING? 1306 01:21:25,551 --> 01:21:28,672 "WHY ARE YOU KILLING THE BUFFALO? 1307 01:21:28,738 --> 01:21:30,523 "WE DO THAT, OF COURSE, 1308 01:21:30,590 --> 01:21:33,309 "BUT WE DO IT IN ORDER TO SURVIVE, 1309 01:21:33,375 --> 01:21:36,045 AND WE DO IT IN A SACRED MANNER." 1310 01:21:36,112 --> 01:21:39,616 BUT THIS WHOLESALE SLAUGHTER MUST HAVE BEEN, 1311 01:21:39,682 --> 01:21:41,634 FIRST, CONFUSING 1312 01:21:41,685 --> 01:21:45,938 AND THEN, YOU KNOW, A DEVASTATION -- 1313 01:21:46,005 --> 01:21:51,978 A WOUND IN THE HEART THAT WE CANNOT CONCEIVE OF NOW. 1314 01:21:52,044 --> 01:21:57,183 Old Lady Horse:THE BUFFALO SAW THAT THEIR DAY WAS OVER. 1315 01:21:57,250 --> 01:22:01,387 THEY COULD PROTECT THEIR PEOPLE NO LONGER. 1316 01:22:01,453 --> 01:22:05,491 SADLY, THE LAST REMNANT OF THE GREAT HERD 1317 01:22:05,558 --> 01:22:10,914 GATHERED IN COUNCIL, AND DECIDED WHAT THEY WOULD DO. 1318 01:22:10,980 --> 01:22:14,750 ONE YOUNG WOMAN GOT UP VERY EARLY 1319 01:22:14,817 --> 01:22:17,904 AND PEERING THROUGH THE HAZE, 1320 01:22:17,971 --> 01:22:23,944 SHE SAW THE LAST BUFFALO HERD APPEAR LIKE IN A SPIRIT DREAM. 1321 01:22:24,010 --> 01:22:29,204 STRAIGHT TO MOUNT SCOTT THE LEADER OF THE HERD WALKED. 1322 01:22:29,271 --> 01:22:33,786 BEHIND HIM CAME THE COWS AND THEIR CALVES, 1323 01:22:33,852 --> 01:22:38,324 AND THE FEW YOUNG MALES WHO HAD SURVIVED. 1324 01:22:38,391 --> 01:22:40,527 AS THE WOMAN WATCHED, 1325 01:22:40,593 --> 01:22:44,063 THE FACE OF THE MOUNTAIN OPENED. 1326 01:22:44,130 --> 01:22:49,034 INSIDE MOUNT SCOTT THE WORLD WAS GREEN AND FRESH, 1327 01:22:49,102 --> 01:22:53,440 AS IT HAD BEEN WHEN SHE WAS A SMALL GIRL. 1328 01:22:53,506 --> 01:22:57,910 THE RIVERS RAN CLEAR, NOT RED. 1329 01:22:57,977 --> 01:23:01,881 INTO THIS WORLD OF BEAUTY THE BUFFALO WALKED, 1330 01:23:01,947 --> 01:23:06,452 NEVER TO BE SEEN AGAIN. 1331 01:23:14,293 --> 01:23:18,164 -- CAPTIONS BY VITAC -- BURBANK, PITTSBURGH, WASHINGTON 1332 01:23:34,013 --> 01:23:37,049 ♪ NOW COME ALONG BOYS AND LISTEN TO MY TALE ♪ 1333 01:23:37,116 --> 01:23:38,551 ♪ NOW COME ALONG BOYS ANDOF MY TROUBLES ♪LE ♪♪ AN D I'LL TELL YOU 1334 01:23:38,618 --> 01:23:39,786 ♪ ON THE CHISHOLM TRAIL ♪♪ 1335 01:23:39,852 --> 01:23:42,354 ♪♪ COME-A TI-YI-YIPPY YIPPY-YI YIPPY-YAY ♪ 1336 01:23:42,422 --> 01:23:44,624 ♪ COME-A TI-YI-YIPPY YIPPY-YAY ♪ 1337 01:23:44,691 --> 01:23:47,276 ♪ I STARTED UP THE TRAIL OCTOBER 23rd ♪♪ 1338 01:23:47,343 --> 01:23:49,913 ♪ LEFT OLD TEXAS WITH A TWO-MULE HERD ♪ 1339 01:23:49,979 --> 01:23:52,581 ♪ COME-A TI-YI-YIPPY YIPPY-YI YIPPY-YAY ♪ 1340 01:23:52,648 --> 01:23:54,917 ♪ COME-A TI-YI-YIPPY YIPPY-YAY ♪ 1341 01:23:54,984 --> 01:23:57,187 ♪ OH A $10 HORSE AND A $40 SADDLE ♪ 1342 01:23:57,253 --> 01:24:00,055 ♪ I'M A-GONNA PUNCH THEM LONG-HORN CATTLE ♪ 1343 01:24:00,122 --> 01:24:02,892 ♪ COME-A TI-YI-YIPPY YIPPY-YI YIPPY-YAY ♪ 1344 01:24:02,959 --> 01:24:05,161 ♪ COME-A TI-YI-YIPPY YIPPY-YAY ♪ 1345 01:24:05,228 --> 01:24:07,363 ♪ WOKE UP ONE MORNING ON THE CHISHOLM TRAIL ♪ 1346 01:24:07,429 --> 01:24:10,266 ♪ WITH A ROPE IN MY HAND AND A COW BY THE TAIL ♪ 1347 01:24:10,333 --> 01:24:13,369 ♪ COME-A TI-YI-YIPPY YIPPY-YI YIPPY-YAY ♪ 1348 01:24:13,436 --> 01:24:15,972 ♪ COME-A TI-YI-YIPPY YIPPY-YAY ♪ 1349 01:24:24,880 --> 01:24:28,584 ♪ WELL WE ROUNDED 'EM UP AND WE PUT 'EM ON THE CARS ♪ 1350 01:24:28,651 --> 01:24:31,021 ♪ AND THAT WAS THE LAST OF THE OLD TWO-BARS ♪ 1351 01:24:31,087 --> 01:24:33,522 ♪ COME-A TI-YI-YIPPY YIPPY-YI YIPPY-YAY ♪ 1352 01:24:33,589 --> 01:24:35,825 ♪ COME-A TI-YI-YIPPY YIPPY-YAY ♪ 1353 01:24:35,892 --> 01:24:38,661 ♪♪ THEN I WENT TO THE BOSS FOR TO DRAW MY ROLL ♪♪ 1354 01:24:38,728 --> 01:24:40,963 $9 IN THE HOLE ♪ ♪ HE HAD IT FIGURED 1355 01:24:41,030 --> 01:24:43,499 ♪♪ COME-A TI-YI-YIPPY YIPPY-YI YIPPY-YAY ♪ 1356 01:24:43,566 --> 01:24:45,468 ♪ COME-A TI-YI-YIPPY YIPPY-YAY ♪ 1357 01:24:50,640 --> 01:24:53,276 ♪ SO I SOLD OLD BOLLY AND I HUNG UP MY SADDLE ♪♪ 1358 01:24:53,343 --> 01:24:56,345 ♪ AND I BID FAREWELL TO THE LONG-HORN CATTLE ♪ 1359 01:24:56,412 --> 01:24:58,948 ♪ COME-A TI-YI-YIPPY YIPPY-YI YIPPY-YAY ♪ 1360 01:24:59,015 --> 01:25:01,333 ♪ COME-A TI-YI-YIPPY YIPPY-YAY ♪♪