All language subtitles for Gold Rush s01e05 The Rush of Riches.engg

(exciting music)

- [Voiceover] The place
for gold was all but gone.

It was getting harder and harder

to strike it rich on one's own.

Fortunes had been
won for some men

but for many others,
a life lived in luxury

from their findings
in the gold fields

remained an illusive dream.

Instead, what many of
these Americans found

was a new life in the
virgin state of California.

It was not what they
initially set out to find,

but it was one claim that
no one could take from them.

An event like the
California Gold Rush

doesn't just end overnight.

There's no shut off switch,

no running out of the clock.

By 1858, the intensity

of California's gold
fever was dwindling.

There were still large
finds being discovered,

like the Dogtown Nugget

but discoveries such as this

were becoming fewer
and farther between.

New and unexpected discoveries
for these argonauts

were resting on the horizon.

- [Voiceover] There
was no Pacific Railroad

in those fine times
10 or 12 years ago.

Not a single rail of it.

I only proposed to stay
in Nevada three months.

I had no thoughts of
staying longer than that.

I meant to see all I could
that was new and strange

and then hurry home to business.

Now I little thought I
would not see the end

of that three-month
pleasure excursion

for six or seven
uncommonly long years.

Mark Twain, "Roughing It".

- [Voiceover] In the year 1859,

it was made public that
there was a discovery

of a lode of silver ore
under the eastern slope

of Mount Davidson, which was
then in the Utah territory,

but would soon become
the state of Nevada.

Once again, American's
collectively buzzed

with the hope of
potential wealth.

People from San Francisco,

along with those from
all over the world,

create another rush to riches.

It's yet again the
impetus which brings

about major changes
in the country.

The discovery of silver

creates a rebirth of excitement

for miners in California
who had given up

finding their wealth
in the Sierra Nevadas

and it sparks
light in the hearts

of the new prospectors
throughout the states.

A young, former
steamboat captain

by the name of Samuel
Langhorne Clemens,

later known more widely
by his nom de plume,

Mark Twain, along with
his older brother, Orion,

are among the throngs who rushed

to this newfound discovery
of silver in the west.

The nation has yet to build

the mighty
Transcontinental Railroad

so the Clemens boys take
a series of stagecoaches

out along their
journey westward.

Samuel Clemens' time
as a silver prospector

is fruitless and short-lived.

He quickly moves
on to Virginia City

to become a reporter for the
Nevada Territorial Enterprise.

The life of a prospector was one

that was ill-suited for
Mr. Clemens from the start.

While his brief sojourn

into the field of
Nevada silver mining

pays no financial dividends,

the entire western
adventure creates

great fodder for the writer.

Clemens would have
far greater success

in mining the depths
of the human psyche

and its experience than he
would looking for silver

in a hole in the
side of a mountain.

The culmination
of his experiences

with his brother
Orion ultimately lead

to the creation of two
famous pieces of literature.

Samuel Clemens
recounts his calamities

and adventures out west
in the book Roughing It,

and he gains much notoriety

from his adaptation
of a folk tale

by adapting it into
a short story called

The Celebrated Jumping
Frog of Calaveras County.

In his heart, Clemens
knew that his fate was not

to be won or lost
in a mine shaft.

His purpose was more akin to
one who observes the heavens

rather than one who buries
his head underground.

For Samuel Clemens,
his interest was not

in the distant
planets but rather,

his subjects were human beings.

His works would speak about
life and human condition.

Very early on, Sam Clemens
knew that there was

a potency and a value in
these great expansions

of the American people.

The California Gold Rush,
and now the Silver Rush

were events that caused people

to create great
upheaval in their lives.

While events such as
these are catalysts

for migration and the
formation of territories

into states within
the United States,

there are some
things that change

at a more glacial pace.

The prejudices and
bigotry of men and women

are vile traits that are not
easy to escape the grasp of.

They cling to the human spirit

and inhibit the
progress of mankind.

One step in the direction
of change was travel.

The great migration, which
was the California Gold Rush,

brought thousands of people

into vast, uncharted
territories.

These people never envisioned
leaving their homes

until the promise of
quick riches reached

the thresholds of
their doorsteps.

It would not be
farfetched to assume

that for most of
these argonauts,

their goals within the confines

of the Gold Rush were myopic.

There was no careful thought

as to the people that were
indigenous to the lands

that they'd be traveling
through to reach the gold.

There was no care taken
to preserve the land

from which the precious
gold was extracted.

There were no means,
only the desired hand.

Despite all this
lack of foresight and personal reflection,

the Gold Rush is a
subconscious stimulant

for change in the
American people.

The movement of such
vast amounts of people

away from their homes

inevitably forces many
of these Americans

to encounter people and places

they would have never
otherwise encountered

in their normal lives.

- [Voiceover] Travel is
fatal to prejudice, bigotry

and narrow-mindedness
and many of our people

need it sorely on
these accounts.

Broad, wholesome, charitable
views of men and things

cannot be acquired by
vegetating in one little corner

of the earth all one's lifetime.

Mark Twain.

- [Voiceover] It
would take generations

for substantive change to occur

in the collective psyche
of the American people,

in regard to those who
were seen as foreigners

or those simply who had
a different skin tone.

But the Gold Rush
and the Silver Rush

pushed all these diverse
ethnicities of people

together in such a way that
would never have happened

if not for these major events.

Cities like San Francisco
and Virginia City

had populations that
were great amalgamations

of human beings.

The initial discovery of silver,
which drew the Clemens boys

and thousands others out west

became known as
the Comstock Lode.

The facts behind the discovery
of the Comstock Lode,

as it came to be named,
are still foggy at best.

What is known is that the
brothers Ethan Allen Grosh

and Hosea Ballou Grosh
established a cabin in the area

to seek out potential
veins of gold and silver.

They were veterans of
the California Gold Rush,

trained minerologists and sons
of a Pennsylvania clergyman.

In 1857, Hosea died of sepsis

from a pickaxe
injury to his foot.

The remaining brother, Ethan,

along with an associate
named Richard Maurice,

set out for California with
gold and silver samples

and maps of the claim from where
the samples had been taken.

They left Henry Comstock,
an uneducated sheepherder

and prospector with
the charge of caring

for the cabin in their absence.

Inside the cabin
was a locked chest

that contained both silver
and gold ore samples

and papers documenting
the brothers' discovery.

The duo never completed
their journey to California.

They faced hardship after
hardship along the way.

Both men lost limbs as
a result of frostbite

while crossing the
Sierra Nevada mountains.

Ethan Allen Grosh died
on December 19, 1857.

Richard Maurice Bucke
survived the ordeal

but once he recovered
from his wounds,

he chose instead to
return home to Canada

instead of heading
back to the claim.

When Henry Comstock learned

of the deaths of
Ethan and Richard,

he immediately took
for his own their cabin

and the chest
containing the samples.

Since he was an uneducated man

and could not read the documents

that were left with the samples,

he gave them little credence
and simply discarded them.

The men had not
shared with Comstock

the location of their find

so he set out to find it
and claim it for his own.

His life may have been
quite a bit different

if he could have
read these documents.

The papers that were in that
chest are lost to history

but they may have
led Henry Comstock

right to the motherlode.

Without knowing exactly

where the Grosh brothers
made their finds,

Henry knew the fertile
ground was still unclaimed.

He would hear of a
discovery on Gold Hill

and set up a claim
right beside it.

His efforts there brought
him meager results.

There was nothing of any
substance that he found.

On another occasion,
in the spring of 1859,

Comstock caught wind of yet
another find by two miners

by the names of Patrick
McLaughlin and Peter O'Riley.

These men had moved to the
head of Six Mile Canyon

after finding almost every
other spot worth digging

was already claimed.

They were about to give
up hope and move on

when they discovered
at the bottom

of one of the holes they used
to fill their rocker with,

that the water contained a
layer of rich, black sand.

The black sand was concentrate

from a vein higher up the hill.

Upon hearing of their discovery,

Comstock immediately jumped in

and insinuated himself
into the situation,

declaring that he had
already laid a claim

to this very spot
for grazing purposes.

Henry was unhappy
with the results

coming out of the claim
he was currently working

and being the bold and
brazen braggart that he was,

Comstock made threats
toward the men,

if they did not make him
a partner in the find.

His baseless yet
bold move worked

and the men cut him in to
their claim as a partner.

This pattern of appropriating
and inserting himself

into other's
hardworked endeavors

with little more than
loud, empty claims

would run throughout the
life of Henry Comstock.

Comstock would eventually
end up selling his shares

of all the mines in
which he was a partner.

While he sold his shares
for thousands of dollars,

the amount he made
was a mere fraction

of what was in the lode
that came to bear his name.

He, along with the other men

who initially held
ownership of the mines,

sold for two main reasons.

They believed that what would
be harvested from the mines

would most likely be
a modest sum at best,

like most other mines.

They also did not have the
capital means nor the technology

to harvest the silver ore
that was deep within the mine.

This was no placer gold
that could be easily panned

or knocked out of some
exposed outcropping.

This metal would take a more
advanced approach to obtain.

In Henry's case, there
was a third reason

for his selling of his shares.

He was a man who held little
to no foresight in his life

or in his business dealings.

He wanted to get rich quick

and he wanted to do it with
as little effort as possible.

Henry Comstock
would use his money

to open a few general
stores in Virginia City,

but having no education nor
inherent business sense,

he soon lost everything.

He would spend some
time prospecting

in Idaho and then in Montana,

each time having no
success in his endeavors.

Some years later near
Bozeman, Montana,

he would end his
life with a pistol,

having never truly
struck it rich.

- [Voiceover] The time
for compromise is now past

and the South is determined
to maintain her position

and make all who oppose
her smell Southern powder

and feel Southern steel.

Jefferson Davis.

- [Voiceover] The coming
years would see the election

of a tall, lanky
young Illinois senator

by the name of Abraham
Lincoln to the presidency.

His tenure as president
of the United States

is arguably one of, if
not the most important

and influential our
nation has ever seen.

California voted largely
Democratic in the 1860 election,

yet Abraham Lincoln managed

to pull out a
victory in the state.

This was accomplished
less by his own abilities

and more so by a divide
within the Democratic Party.

The California
Democratic vote was split

between Northerner Douglas

and Southerner Breckenridge.

This division in the
Democrats' voting

could be seen in other
states across the nation,

which ultimately contributed

to the election of
Abraham Lincoln.

His Republican Party
presented a platform

that called for a Homestead Act,

which would make western
land available to settlers

for $0.25 per acre.

The party promised not
to meddle in the affairs

of the established states in
regard to the issue of slavery

but it was opposed to slavery
within the territories.

They hoped to at
least stop the growth

of the cancer which was slavery.

With the discovery
of gold in California

and now silver in what
was soon to become Nevada,

there was a dire need to
link the east to the west

with travel in a safer,
more expedited manner.

Communication could take months.

These lapses kept
the burgeoning nation

in a state of disconnect.

These issues, coupled
with the tensions

bubbling in Washington
and across the nation,

intensified efforts
for the funding

and immediate construction of
a transcontinental railroad,

which would accomplish this feat

and thus make communication
and transport of goods

much more efficient
and practical.

The ideals and values
that the Republicans held

could be better implemented
in the rapidly growing west

if these states and
territories could feel

like they were more
a part of the Union.

Rails and telegraph lines
were the means by which

to make this a reality.

Traversing this great nation

was about to fundamentally
change forever.

Paths through the wilderness

that were once cut by solitary
trappers on horse or mule

then broadened by
pioneers and wagons

were about to be
set in iron rails.

From horses to carts
and now to machines,

the nation was getting
smaller and smaller,

even when it seemed
that the north

and the south could not
be any further apart.

Though Abraham Lincoln
and the Republican Party

narrowly won the electoral
votes in California,

the southern-leaning sentiments
that ran through the state

could not be denied.

California state legislature
had even taken the step

of authorizing a secession
within the state itself.

It would allow all of California

that was below the
Missouri Compromise line

to detach itself from
the rest of the state.

This southern portion
was to be called Colorado

and slavery would be
implemented there.

California Democrat Gwin even
went so far as to predict

that if the south
seceded from the Union,

all of California would
follow suit and be with her.

Leland Stanford, a
Republican and future founder

of the Ivy League school that
would come to bear his name,

is elected as the
governor of California

around the time of
Lincoln's own election.

Even though Stanford
is a Republican,

he's able to win his office.

He accomplishes this
feat by running more so

on a Unionist platform

rather than
approaching the office

from a strictly
Republican standpoint.

Shortly after winning office,

he makes a point of sending

the newly appointed president
a message via the telegraph.

This relatively new and
revolutionary technology

was developed by Samuel Morse

as well as others in the 1840s.

Morse sends the first ever

electronically
transmitted message,

"What had God wrought?"

between the US capital
and Baltimore in 1844.

The message is sent using
a series of dots and dashes

that relate to an alphanumeric
code of his design

and shall bear his name.

The dots and dashes

are mechanically
depressed onto the paper.

This technique would give
way to ink soon enough.

The transcontinental
telegraph sees its completion

just weeks after Stanford's
election in 1861.

This new form of communication
brings east and west together

in a way that was
unheard of before.

Communication over vast
stretches of our country

has now and forever
become instantaneous.

News which could take weeks
to get from point A to point B

now can be sent along metal
wires with the blink of an eye.

The new technology puts the
short-lived Pony Express boys

out of business a mere two
days after its completion.

It would turn out to be a
vital resource for the Union

and its communications
throughout the Civil War.

Stanford's message
to Lincoln read ...

- [Voiceover] Today, California
is but a second's distance

from the national capital.

Her patriotism with electric
current throbs responsive

to that of her sister states

and holds civil liberty
and union above all price.

- [Voiceover] While this
statement has Stanford pledging

all of California
to the Union cause,

the reality of this
young state's loyalty

was far less strident
and far less complete

than Mr. Stanford would
like Lincoln to believe.

It was wishful thinking at most

and exaggeration at best.

The issue of slavery has long
been smoldering for years

within the political realms
of the United States.

It was a point of contention

when the populous and
the political parties

spent years locked in
a cold war of words.

The South had threatened
to secede from the Union

in 1856 if a Republican
was elected to office.

They were prepared to
hold the nation hostage

if they found themselves
on the losing end

once the ballot boxes
were emptied and counted.

Luckily, James
Buchanan, a Democrat

beat out John C. Fremont
and Millard Fillmore

and the South
remained in the Union.

The attitudes in
Washington were set

and half a nation can only
be pacified but for so long

if it has its mind
set on secession

and is only seeking any
excuse to use as a match

to light the fire
of its opposition.

That inevitable
blaze would begin

four years later in 1860.

The nation would be torn asunder

with the election of the
Republican from Illinois.

The South does in
fact follow through

with its threat to secede,

which we can now
see was inevitable.

It removes itself
from the Union.

The nation was on the
brink of open Civil War

and the United States was
about to be turned on its head.

The issue of slavery could no
longer be swept under the rug.

Many in California pledged
to aid the Southern cause,

even if it was through
indirect means.

Abraham Lincoln had only
carried the state of California

because the two
Democratic candidates,

Breckenridge and
Douglas split the vote,

leaving enough for
Lincoln to pick up

that state's electoral votes.

This was something that
happened in other states as well

and would aid in his victory.

California could not be allowed
to become a slave state.

The North could not let it fall

under the sway of the
Confederate states.

While politically
and ideologically,

the North and the South could
not be any further apart

and the United States
was about to be embroiled

in the bloodies conflict it
would ever see on its own soil,

plans to create a
transcontinental railway system

that would connect
the east and the west

were already under way.

It was a tumultuous time

but there were those
who still had their eyes

set on the decades to come.

The future was a railway system

that could link the eastern
half of the United States

with the frontier out west.

While Leland Stanford's
telegram to Lincoln

speaking of California's
fervor to stand

with the North and the
Union was a delicate piece

of political exaggeration
to say the least,

the North still
had a card to play

that would persuade
this new state

to hold fast with the Union,

a card that was strong enough

to dissuade them from
their Confederate leanings.

It was a promise of the
Transcontinental Railroad.

With the Democrats willfully
removing themselves

from the Union of
the United States,

there was no longer one of
the major sticking points

holding up construction
of the railroad.

Two questions remained.

One, what course should it take?

And two, where
should the eastern

starting point be located?

The Lincoln administration
leverages its power

and threatens to
keep the construction

of this railroad from California

if they should
secede from the Union

or help in the aid
of the South cause

by more subversive measures.

It is by far in
California's best interest

to have such a
railroad system built

as they start to see
agriculture begin to swell

and become the most
sustainable and profitable

means by which to make
a living in the state.

- [Voiceover] The
necessity that now exists

for constructing
lines of railroad

and telegraphic communication

between the Atlantic and
Pacific coasts of this continent

is no longer a
question for argument.

It is conceded by everyone.

In order to maintain
our present position

on the Pacific, we must
have some more speedy

and direct means of intercourse

than is at present
afforded by the route

through the possessions
of a foreign power.

Select committee on the
Pacific Railroad and Telegraph.

- [Voiceover] Before tempers
in the North and South

had reached their
boiling points,

there was much
planning and debate

in regards to the starting point

for a transcontinental railroad

and the route that it would take

to make the journey out
to the Pacific Ocean.

From the years of 1853 through
1855, the United States,

through an appropriation
in the War Department,

carried out a series of surveys

under the guidance
of the Secretary of War, Jefferson Davis.

The same Jefferson
Davis who would soon aid

in the secession of the South

and become the president
of the Confederacy.

The surveys were
voluminous in nature

and they covered the
wildlife, geography,

and the native peoples
living in the west.

The information that the Pacific
Railroads surveys amassed,

covered over 400
thousand square miles

of the western territory.

The findings were
published in 1861

but by now, the country
was entangled in civil war.

This most unfortunate
event did however,

eliminate the southern
political objections

as to where the
railway should begin.

With the South seceded
from the Union,

this allowed Abraham
Lincoln to begin

the lengthy and
costly construction

in the location of his choosing.

- [Voiceover] The
project for constuction

of a great railroad
through the United States

of America, connecting the
Atlantic with the Pacific Ocean

has been an agitation
for over 15 years.

It is the most magnificent
project ever conceived.

Theodore Judah.

- [Voiceover] He
was a man obsessed,

a man of one vision, and
that's exactly what was needed.

The construction of a
transcontinental railroad

was going to be a
feat that required

massive amounts of money,
industry, manual labor,

ingenuity, and most
importantly tenacity.

Theodore Judah was a
railroad and civil engineer

who, once fixed on the
idea of building a railroad

that married the
west to the east,

could not be shaken
from that notion.

Crazy Judah, as he
was sometimes called,

because of his
singlemindedness in regard

to building a railway through
the Sierra Nevada Mountains,

had a friend who
was a storekeeper

by the name of Daniel Strong.

Strong invites Judah
on a two-day trek

up into the Sierras to a spot

where he believes a
railroad could pass.

In many places in
the Sierra Nevada,

there is a double summit.

Once you reach the apex of the
first, there's a valley below

and then another mountain
ridge opposite you.

But in this particular location

that Daniel Strong
had taken Judah to,

there's only one summit.

This spot just so
happens to be the path

where the Donner Party passed.

Judah sees the engineering
importance of this location

and sees that this is the route

through which a
railroad can make it out

to Virginia City, to the
Comstock Lode, and beyond.

Judah needed money though.

He drew up papers for the
Central Pacific Railroad Company

and was able to
convince merchants

to help fund the project.

Collis P. Huntington,
Mark Hopkins,

Charles Crocker,
and Leland Stanford,

while these men were
well off businessmen,

they by no means had the
gargantuan amount of capital

that was needed to construct

the entirety of the
railroad system.

Judah convinced them
and the men gave him

just enough money
to conduct surveys.

Once completing his
surveys in October of 1861,

Judah knew that it was time

to seek out federal
authorization

and convince the government
to back this endeavor.

He headed east.

In 1862, Congress passes
the Pacific Railway Act.

The Union Pacific
Railroad Company

is commissioned to
lay railroad track

along with telegraph
lines westward

starting at Council
Bluffs, Iowa.

The Central Pacific
Railway Company

would build track
and telegraph lines

eastward from the eventual
terminus of the railway,

Sacramento, California.

The two companies would
meet in Promontory, Utah

in May of 1869, where the
final spike was driven in

by none other than
Leland Stanford.

The ceremony saw him
drive the golden spike

into a tie made of
California laurel.

The act was purely for show

but it symbolized the completion

of a great American undertaking.

Theodore Judah was
not lucky enough

to live to see his
great vision completed.

He passed away from Yellow Fever

on November 2, 1863,

while in Panama on a
voyage with his wife.

They were on their
way to New York City.

The purpose for their
journey was to find backers

to help Judah buy
out the Big Four,

Collis P. Huntington,
Mark Hopkins,

Charles Crocker,
and Leland Stanford.

The men had been at odds

almost from the start
of the railroad project.

Once they saw that the
endeavor was in fact feasible,

they pushed Theodore Judah back

into the background
whenever possible.

In the summer of 1863,
they approached Judah,

still the chief engineer

of the Central Pacific Railroad
Company, with an ultimatum.

Either he was to buy them out

or they would buy him out.

So his only recourse
was to seek out others

to help him buy
out the Big Four.

Who these potential
partners could have been

is something lost to history.

The fever took him shortly
after her reached New York.

Although he did not live to
see the railway's completion,

he did help set in motion

a metaphorical
union of the nation.

The railway companies
would eventually

lay a total of 1,774
miles of track,

which followed a
centrally located route.

The man in charge of
deciding where that route

would begin in the east

was none other than the
president, Abraham Lincoln.

His choice in
Council Bluffs, Iowa

was like most all of
Lincoln's political decisions,

a calculated one.

He knew that the
route across Nebraska

would be reasonably easy
as well as inexpensive.

He also had old political favors
to repay to those in Iowa.

He was indebted to them because
many of the Iowa delegates

switched over to him
during the 1860 election

after he'd been trailing
William Henry Seward

in the first two ballots.

Placing the eastern terminus

for the transcontinental
railroad

would serve as payment
for their past favor.

The railroad would
see its completion

but it did not come
without compromise

and shrewd business
decisions by many

who were involved
in the process.

- [Voiceover] Not
withstanding our precaution

not to be observed, as soon
as we came back to the mill,

we noticed by the excitement
of the working people

that we had been dogged out

and to complete
our disappointment,

one of the Indians
who had worked

at the goldmine in the
neighborhood of La Paz

cried out in showing us some
specimens picked up by himself.

Oro! Oro! Oro!

John Sutter.

- [Voiceover] The
great migration and evolution of a nation

that was the
California Gold Rush

cannot be distilled
into a few words

or simple turn of phrase.

The event fundamentally changed

the shape of the United States,

the way its people thought

and the lives of an
innumerable amount

of Americans and
native inhabitants.

This one event was comprised
of thousands upon thousands

of smaller personal
experiences and undertakings,

many of them forever
lost to history.

These small sacrifices
are the drops of water

that make up the river
that rushes onward.

Lives of common men
and women and children

were shaped around
the discovery of gold.

Men were made and remade
and families torn apart

by the strains of the
California Gold Rush.

People made large sweeping
life changes overnight,

all for the promise of hope

and a chance at a
better tomorrow.

Although sometimes misguided,

the spirit of the American
rings true in this notion.

The American spirit
cannot be shaken

of the hope of better
days on the horizon,

of a chance to take one's
own life into one's hands

and craft it into something
bigger, brighter, and better.

It is one of the
prevailing reasons

why people have always
been drawn to its shores.

The United States of
America has always been

a symbol of hope and
a large part of it

was due to the
California Gold Rush.

It set in motion great movements

of people from around the world.

They poured into California,

clamoring into the gold fields

and not only
carving out the land

but also a place in the
state and the nation

many would adopt
and call their home.

Without the Gold Rush,

the makeup of California's
cultural diversity

is not what it is today.

The argonauts, in
their search for gold

and the potential that
the mountains held

forever shaped
California's landscape

for better or for worse.

The effects of the miners'
actions can still be seen today.

It also served as a
catalyst for bridging

the transportation
and communication gaps

that the east had with the west.

California began as a
distant and abstract dream

to many back east.

It was some far-flung
place that some had gone to

and few had come back from

but by the end of the Civil War,

the Sierra Nevada Mountains

could be seen in
a matter of days

and a telegram could be
sent in a matter of moments.

The Gold Rush of
California would serve

as a template for
other rushes to riches

in various parts of the
world that would follow.

People now knew what
signs to look for

when they were in
search of gold.

They knew what the rock
formations looked like

and with that knowledge,
they could spot it again.

There were technological
advancements made

during the gold and
silver rushes in America

that made digging deeper
for the ore a possibility.

What began as an endeavor
mostly relying on luck

and a simple plan and
rudimentary tools such as a pan

and the natural flow of water

had now evolved into a science.

The Klondike and
Australian gold rushes

would see many parallels in
the actions that were taken

by those hasty people who swept
in and put steel to stone.

Most of those people
were only concerned

with what they could take
from the land for themselves.

The California
rush was not unique

when it came to
mankind's disregard

to the native inhabitants

and the balance of the
natural environment.

Man's greed knows no
borders and no boundaries.

For all the good that
these discoveries bring,

there was a dark element
to their disturbances

of the natural order and those
who lived not on the land

but in harmony with it.

The question will always remain.

What if they had left
well enough alone?

America's lofty and at
times misguided dream

of Manifest Destiny began
with Meriwether Lewis

and William Clark's
core of discovery.

Thomas Jefferson sent them

on a great expedition of
good will and adventure.

The information and specimens

that they gathered
and returned with

were the first that would
move the hearts of Americans.

Soon after, eager
pioneers headed westward

in their wagons on
the Oregon Trail.

They sought out a new life

and desired to carve a path

through the vast
expanses of the west,

leaving broken wheels,
cast iron skillets

and bones along the way.

Americans kept moving west,

even if it meant
leaving everything

that they once knew behind.

The sun may set in the west

but Americans have
always seen it

as a place where
a new day begins.

When James Marshall
took a routine survey

of the budding mill
that he was working on

in the American River
and happened upon

something that
glittered in the water,

he could not have imagined
just how important

that moment in his life would be

and what it would
mean for history.

Such great events often
start with a whisper

and in this case, it started
with one man's footsteps

pushing through the current
of the American River.

The explosion of
people that followed

would accelerate
American expansion

in a rate that it had
never seen before.

The country was
meant to be tamed

and the gold in the ground
was there for the taking.

Silver would come next

and the need for
a more efficient

means of communication
and travel

could no longer be ignored.

The telegram and the
Transcontinental Railroad

were the last great expansions

and expressions of
Manifest Destiny.

Lewis and Clark were
given the charge

of locating the
Northwest Passage.

Their journey was a
successful one in many regards

but no such passage
really existed.

Although in the end,

Americans built their own
Northwest Passage in a way.

They constructed a railway
across a desert of barren land,

land that was unoccupied
by anyone of significance

in the eyes of those who did
not deem the indigenous people,

the American Indian,
of any worth.

The Civil War tore
the nation apart

and thousands of Americans
would sacrifice their lives

for the Union and
the Confederacy

before the healing
process could begin.

The construction of
the railway system

would truly bring the
established states

and the budding new
ones out west together

in a way that was
impossible before.

The West became a place
that could be reached

in a matter of days, not months.

It was real now.

Commerce and communication
between the coasts

became the most efficient
it had ever been

and the rails were
a huge leap forward

in the eventual
mobilization of the nation.

So much was primed to happen,

so much change ready to occur.

The undercurrents of a nation

were about to sweep so many
away on a great journey

and it all began

on an ordinary January
morning in 1848.

The United States would soon see

a monumental movement of people

and great technological
advancement,

all from the subtle glimmer
of a few flakes of metal

in the American River.

James W. Marshall
began his morning

with a routine
that so many of us

experience in our
own daily lives.

He was out walking the
river, doing his job.

Perhaps he noticed the sound

of the breeze in the trees.

Perhaps he whistled a song.

Little did he know
that an entire nation

was forever changed
that morning.

That discovery quite
possibly changed the world.

It was a morning where the
only sound that could be heard

was the wind
through the branches

and water running over stone.

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