Original subtitles

Narrator: This is the story of america...

Seen in color for the first time.

The american west.

A land steeped in legend...

Children: Woo-hoo!

Narrator: Where cowboys roam the range...

Their exploits made famous by buffalo bill...

And annie oakley.

Many come to make their fortunes...

Unleashing decades of brutality

And a struggle for law and order.

[gunfire]

[horse neighing]

Man: The police are after the fiends

Who did this rotten job.

Narrator: Hollywood mythologizes its past.

The battle to tame the vast region

Pushes the limits of modern technology.

Franklin roosevelt: The mighty waters of the colorado

Were running unused to the sea.

Narrator: But in the west,

Nature never yields unless people pay a price.

Man: I saw the ship disintegrate before my eyes.

Narrator: This is the story of america's wild west

As you have never seen it before.

[men whooping]

♪

♪

Narrator: As the 20th century dawns,

The lands west of the mississippi

Are largely wild and untamed.

The popular portrait of the west

Is drawn by heroic frontier figures...

Like william f. Cody...

Better known as buffalo bill.

♪

His traveling cowboy show

Romanticizes the glory days of the wild west.

♪

Buffalo bill's show brings history to a crowd.

♪

But some sketches aren't for the faint-hearted...

[screaming]

Such as the battle of summit springs--

A notorious engagement of 1869.

Bill was present at the battle,

And many believed him responsible

For the death of cheyenne chief tall bull.

A star attraction in bill's show,

The legendary sharpshooter annie oakley.

Here she takes out clay pigeons with her winchester.

And she even gets her trusty dog dave

In on the act.

Bill takes his show on the road,

Touring cities in the u.S. And europe

For more than 30 years...

Spreading his heroic vision of the west

As a place that modern civilization

Is destined to conquer and control.

Among the many smitten by the romance of the west

Is president theodore roosevelt.

His love affair with nature is born in tragedy.

In 1884, on the very same day,

He loses both his wife and his mother.

Distraught, roosevelt moves 1,500 miles

From new york to the badlands, in the dakota territory.

He embraces the wide-open spaces and becomes a rancher.

He once wrote,

"I owe more than I can express to the west."

♪

In 1905, roosevelt is serving his second term.

On a trip through oklahoma, he meets jack abernathy--

A man famed for catching wolves with his bare hands.

A live wolf means big bucks.

He can sell them for $50 each--

More than $1,000 in today's money.

He delivers over a thousand wolves

To zoos and traveling shows.

He never gets bitten

And earns the nickname "catch 'em alive jack."

The region that's given rise

To such larger-than-life characters

Is a place of imposing mountain ranges,

Treacherous rivers,

Forests,

And deserts.

Among the biggest challenges settling here is water.

There is either too much of it

Or none at all.

To tame the west,

President roosevelt understands

He must bring water under control.

He commits federal funds

To irrigate 20 of america's western states.

In 1911, the first project opens on the salt river in arizona.

It's named the theodore roosevelt dam.

At a cost of $190 million today,

It symbolizes his commitment

To extend man's dominion over the west.

At the dedication ceremony, he tells the arizona crowd,

"I believe we will see 75,000 to 100,000 people here."

♪

His prediction comes true.

55 miles away, a small desert city of 11,000

Will be one of the first to benefit

From the power and water the dam provides.

Phoenix will signify the dawn of a new american west.

But this new west

Has little room for its original inhabitants.

In 1900, american indians number only 230,000.

Over the previous century, 400,000 have died,

Killed by the wars and disease inflicted on them

By the newcomers to their continent.

Now most tribes have been forced by the government

To live on reservations,

Where many aren't recognized as u.S. Citizens.

[horse neighing]

White america not only takes the american indians' land;

It also tries to erase their culture.

In 1913, a group of east coast millionaires

Funds an expedition to persuade dozens of tribes

To adopt the white man's ways.

Under the watchful eye of a military escort,

Its leaders claim to offer better treatment

For american indians.

In return,

The tribes must demonstrate allegiance to the government

And its flag.

The expedition is led by photographer joseph dixon,

A man concerned with what he calls

"the vanishing race."

Here, the oglala sioux

At the pine ridge reservation in south dakota

Host the delegation.

Among those who participate, two moons,

Who commanded the cheyenne

Against lieutenant colonel custer

At the legendary battle of the little bighorn.

The tribes are told

That allegiance will bring them a better tomorrow.

But for decades to come,

Many of america's original inhabitants

Will lead lives of poverty and isolation.

The fight to dominate the west

Also brings america into conflict with mexico.

In 1916,

America's 2,000-mile border with its neighbor

Is a flashpoint.

[boom]

Mexico is engulfed in a violent revolution.

[men yelling]

The u.S. Backs a faction led by venustiano carranza.

But his opponent, former bandit pancho villa,

Won't back down.

On March 9th, villa's men cross the border

And attack the town of columbus, new mexico,

Hoping to force the u.S. Into the war.

18 americans die.

The country witnesses the carnage in newsreels.

And pancho villa gets his wish.

General john pershing leads 14,000 troops and aircraft

Deep into america's rugged landscape

To flush villa out.

By April 1916,

U.S. Forces are pouring into mexico,

And the fighting is intense.

[guns fire]

Skirmishes continue until January 1917,

When diplomacy wins out and pershing withdraws.

Pancho villa evades capture

And never strays north of the border again.

But for the u.S.,

The conflict with mexico has consequences

That endure for decades.

Thousands of mexicans flee the violence in their country

And look for work on the farms of the american southwest,

Where the irrigation projects kicked off by theodore roosevelt

Have been making the dry land fertile.

Mexican immigrants provide the cheap labor to work it.

♪

Agriculture flourishes with control of the west's water,

But this precious resource will become a battleground.

♪

Los angeles, 1920.

With over 500,000 inhabitants,

It's the west's biggest city.

The discovery of oil 20 years earlier,

Near present-day dodger stadium,

Fuels the city's development

And an ever-growing population.

But to sustain that growth,

The city still needs something just as important--

Water.

Demand in l.A. Exceeds the supply.

The legendary engineer william mulholland

Discovers a potential new source--

Owens lake,

Over 160 miles northeast,

On the eastern flank of the sierra nevada.

To divert the lake's water down to the city,

Mulholland builds a vast system

Of pipes, sluices, and spillways.

It's an engineering marvel,

But one that leaves less water for farmers.

Man: More trouble, and it's not the first time, either.

And ranchers objecting to the cities

Cutting across their property

Are suspected.

Narrator: Angry farmers

Sabotage the aqueduct with dynamite.

Man: The police are after the fiends

Who did this rotten job.

Let's hope they get 'em.

Narrator: L.A. Repairs the aqueduct

And keeps the water flowing,

But by 1926, the owens lakebed is dry.

Today it's a salt flat.

Water scarcity shapes the history of the west.

But so does the abundance of a different natural resource.

♪

Over 800 miles north of los angeles

Lies portland, oregon.

The once-sleepy city now houses over 250,000 people.

[crash]

With its dense forests, the pacific northwest

Is home to one of the west's biggest industries--

Timber.

By 1920,

The region is the source of a third of america's wood.

It's transported across a vast railroad network

That's also a steady customer for wooden ties.

In wyoming's medicine bow national forest,

The thompson family films itself preparing ties.

They transport their haul free of charge,

Down the laramie river

To processing plants.

♪

Nature can be bountiful in the west.

But people's determination to bend it to their will

Can have unforeseen consequences.

By 1921, in rain-starved arizona,

Irrigation gives rise to some 30,000 farms.

At first they thrive.

Banks offer easy credit to farmers.

Many invest in new machinery.

But these would-be masters of nature

Are victims of their own success.

Farmers grow more than they can sell,

Fall into debt, and face crisis.

Years before the devastating dust bowl of the 1930s,

Bankruptcy threatens a quarter of farms across the country.

It is known as the agricultural depression.

Many are ruined.

The west's next boom

Always seems to be just around the corner.

♪

In the mid-1920s,

Eugene standing bear makes these home movies

Of the american indian osage nation.

He's married to mary,

The daughter of chief fred lookout.

Forced out of one place after another,

The osage are relocated here to northern oklahoma,

Near the town of pawhuska.

Their new land seems to be worthless.

But in 1894...

Vast oil reserves are discovered on their territory.

So the operators who lease the land

Have to pay royalties to the osage nation--

Money that offers the tribe

All the time they want on the golf course.

They become the richest people per capita in the world.

Many own more than 10 cars.

Some can even fly.

A rare skill in the 1920s.

But many american indians are nowhere near as lucky.

They live in poverty,

And some still aren't even american citizens.

In June 1924,

President calvin coolidge signs the indian citizenship act.

But some still won't have voting rights for decades

And remain skeptical of the government

That treats them so badly.

The land they call home

Is attracting more and more people from the east

To fuel the west's newest industry--

Tourism.

In 1925, most who make the trek to the west

Travel by train.

There are few roads,

But the rail network boasts a quarter-million miles of track

Spreading all through the west.

The northern pacific and union pacific

Can drop you in the midst of spectacular beauty.

[horse neighing]

Top of the must-see list are the new national parks.

Theodore roosevelt, a passionate conservationist,

Adds 5 national parks and 150 forests

To the roster of public land--

Most protected to this day by the federal government.

Films like this one by burton holmes from chicago

Capture the grand canyon and rocky mountain national park.

A world-famous traveler,

Holmes pioneers the travelogue--

Movies and accompanying lectures shown to audiences back east.

Over the years, he gives 8,000 talks

About his travels around the world.

In the 1920s,

He inspires a whole generation to head west for adventure.

And it's not just the vast landscapes.

Americans want to experience buffalo bill's old west

For themselves.

In 1926, ernest miller of the elkhorn ranch in montana

Convinces max goodsill of the northern pacific railroad

That they should work together.

Their partnership sparks a new industry.

Railroad companies offer the enthusiastic tourist

A stopover with an authentic twist.

The host ranchers

Nickname the city-slickers playing cowboys "dudes."

The name sticks, and a business booms--

Dude ranches.

Woman: Whee! Ha ha ha!

Narrator: They can bone up on essential cowboy skills.

[laughter]

And dudes need new duds.

Woman: No ranch is complete without the youngsters.

And no youngster is happy

Unless he or she has complete rig

That makes them feel like honest-to-goodness cowboys.

Children: Woo-hoo!

[clapping]

Narrator: Home movies from the late 1920s

Capture the lupfer family from ohio,

Out near wickenburg, arizona,

On their dude ranch vacation.

[ringing]

There's something for everyone in the family.

For those with enough nerve,

A ride on a bucking bronco.

And no cowboy fantasy would be complete

Without american indians putting on a show.

[drumming and chanting]

But new traditions have also begun.

In 1927, in gallup, new mexico,

Thousands gather for a special event.

The town borders navajo, hopi, acoma, and zuni reservations--

Tribes who have long come to the town to trade.

This is the sixth annual gathering.

It's held every August

And known as the intertribal ceremonial.

Tribes parade through the town and down route 66.

[whooping]

Thomas seymour of the smithsonian institution

Captures rare footage

Of an event that continues to this day.

[ululating]

♪

Celebrating history

Will help ensure the survival of many small western towns...

Such as tombstone, arizona.

Once famous for its silver,

It now faces the fate of many exhausted mining communities--

Becoming a ghost town.

So it turns to its other claim to fame--

Being home to the most famous lawman of the west,

Wyatt earp,

And location of the infamous shootout at the ok corral.

[gunfire]

Now tourists can experience the gunplay first-hand,

Re-enacted in the exact spot

Where three of the clanton-mclaury gang

Were killed by doc holliday and his friends, the earp brothers,

47 years earlier.

♪

In 1928, now age 79,

The real wyatt earp lives in mid-city, los angeles.

His gun-slinging days over,

He works as a technical consultant

For the burgeoning movie industry.

Hollywood has a huge appetite for westerns,

And his knowledge is priceless.

On set one day,

He meets an aspiring young actor named marion morrison,

Who's eager to walk and talk like a real cowboy.

Later, he'll take the stage name john wayne.

Earp helps hollywood

Crystallize the romantic image of the wild west

That still endures today.

But while the myth is being harnessed,

Nature, as always in the west, proves harder to tame.

For 1,500 miles,

The colorado river cuts through the west...

From the rocky mountains to the gulf of california.

It's a powerful force of nature

And is historically prone to flooding.

In 1922, it submerges 35,000 acres of farmland

In california's palo verde valley.

To keep the west's future on track,

The colorado will have to be tamed.

[explosion]

So in 1929,

President herbert hoover finances a colossal new project,

Up river, at black canyon, nevada.

The boulder dam,

Later to be renamed the hoover dam.

♪

To accommodate the dam's workforce,

The u.S. Government builds a new town

8 miles from the construction site.

Boulder city.

This sudden injection of jobs couldn't be more timely.

Westerners have been hit hard by the great depression.

Urban unemployment is over 30 percent...

While western mining output has been cut in half.

Farmers still suffering from the agricultural depression

Have been brought to their knees.

For people desperate for work,

The dam is a godsend.

The scale of the project

Dwarfs anything in the nation's history.

It requires six different companies

To come together to build it.

Among the contractors is the henry j. Kaiser company.

One of the west's top industrialists,

Kaiser notches successes across the region,

Building roads, bridges, and pipelines.

At the peak of construction,

The dam offers work to over 5,000,

Including a handful of apaches

Who are among the few american indians to get work.

They join a team of "high scalers,"

Swinging from the rock face,

Where they prepare dynamite charges.

On September 30, 1935,

Hoover's successor, president franklin d. Roosevelt,

Dedicates the dam.

Franklin roosevelt: The mighty waters of the colorado

Were running unused to the sea.

Today we translate them

Into a great national possession.

Narrator: Cameras capture the moment

When the 12 outlet valves open for the first time.

When the dam finally comes online in 1936,

Its 17 turbines

Produce over 4 billion kilowatts of power each year,

Supplying the vast regions

Of arizona, southern nevada, and southern california.

The hoover dam's success inspires fdr,

And he green-lights six more,

Providing more electricity and jobs for the west.

♪

Elsewhere in the west,

Another power source is set to explode.

In texas, the discovery of oil back in 1901 made many wealthy.

So when the east texas oilfield gushes in 1930,

The future looks bright.

These are the home movies of edwin b. Hopkins,

Geologist and oil man.

This is his newly found oilfield

Outside the boomtown of kilgore.

Nearby, the town of new london

Pulls in revenue from taxes on oil land--

Money that in 1932 helps build

This multi-million-dollar high school.

$13 million today.

But even the wealthy cut corners sometimes,

With devastating effects.

To save money, the school board taps directly

Into the local oil well's natural gas supply.

In the mid-1930s, the gas is odorless.

So on March 18, 1937,

When there is a leak, no one notices.

By chance, one class of kids moves from the high school

To an off-site gymnasium,

Where they are filmed practicing the mexican hat dance.

At 3:17, a spark caused by a shop teacher

Triggers an explosion.

300 students and staff die.

Woman: I looked up just as the explosion occurred.

It seemed to me that the big roof and debris

Were blown three times higher

Than any of the derricks around the schoolhouse.

Narrator: After the tragedy,

The industry adds a smell to natural gas

To make it detectable--

A safety measure still in place today.

In other parts of the west,

The bold and ambitious find their own ways

To counter the hardships of the depression.

[horn blows]

The new record-breaking streamliner train

Is launched by union pacific chairman

W. Averell harriman.

W. Averell harriman: This is the first step

In the developing

Of a high-speed transcontinental train

To run from chicago to the pacific coast.

Narrator: Passengers are delivered

To another of his creations--

The first destination ski resort for wealthy vacationers.

Sun valley.

Nestled in idaho's smoky mountains,

It's a haven of winter fun for america's elite.

It opens in 1936

And attracts hollywood celebrities

Like claudette colbert...

Errol flynn...

And his wife, lili damita.

And international playboys, like the future shah of iran.

The west, once seen as savage and remote,

Can now be a playground for the rich and famous.

♪

The west may becoming tamer,

But some still seek to settle confrontations the old way.

A dispute over rights to colorado river water

Leads to a standoff

Between the states of california and arizona.

The federal government gives california

A bigger share of the resources

From its proposed new dam.

Formidable state senator nellie t. Bush

Speaks up for arizona.

Nellie t. Bush: Water is the very life

Of every foot of fertile land in the state of arizona.

The waters skirting along the banks of arizona

Should be divided or shared equally.

Narrator: On November 10th,

The arizona national guard moves in to halt construction.

Senator bush provides ferries for transport,

Becoming the first admiral

Of landlocked arizona's temporary navy.

Bush: I believe the people of the state of arizona

Are justified in using drastic means

To circumvent this action

Until its legality is established.

Narrator: But unlike the days of the wild west,

No shots are fired.

After a promise of future irrigation projects,

Arizona backs down.

Interstate war is averted.

The courts are the new battlegrounds

Of the developing west.

[explosion]

The huge construction projects of the 1930s

Help the west survive the depression

But produce too much electricity.

One congressman complained

That "there is no one to sell the power to

Except the jackrabbits and the rattlesnakes."

But change is looming.

The west is poised to become the nation's powerhouse

And lifeline.

[ship horn blows]

January 6, 1942.

America is a month into a global war

For which it is poorly equipped.

With enemies in europe and across the pacific,

It has only a fraction of the material it will need

To win the war.

Fdr, aware of the monumental military

And manufacturing effort required,

Reaches out to industry in his state of the union speech.

Roosevelt: This production of ours in the united states

Must be raised far above present levels,

Even though it will mean

The dislocation of the lives and occupations

Of millions of our own people.

Narrator: Americans head west to work in armaments factories,

Which are now proliferating across the region.

For industrialist henry kaiser,

The war opens up a spigot of new federal spending.

The west receives $60 billion from washington

For war projects,

With shipbuilding a priority.

Along the coasts in california, oregon, and washington,

Kaiser owns seven shipyards--

Each one with enough dry docks to launch a ship a day.

In November 1942,

His yard in richmond, california,

Wins a competition to build a ship in the shortest time.

Announcer: Now mr. Kaiser views his latest achievement,

The 10,000-ton robert e. Peary,

Built in 4 days, 15 hours, and 29 minutes.

A world production record

Beyond the dreams of shipbuilding experts.

Narrator: In portland, in a span of two years,

The kaiser shipyard churns out

Over a thousand liberty and victory ships.

The expansion of shipyards and ports on the west coast

Stimulates its economy for decades to come.

♪

East of san francisco, in port chicago,

African american sailors

Stock ships destined for the pacific

With live munitions.

It's dangerous work,

And little attention is paid to their safety.

Racial discrimination is still rampant.

On July 17, 1944,

The s.S. E.A. Bryan,

Loaded with more than 4,500 tons of ammunition,

Explodes.

This footage captures the aftermath

Of the devastating accident.

Falling debris lands two miles away.

Man: I saw the ship disintegrate before my eyes.

Pieces of steel and flames

Shot hundreds of feet up in the air.

The next thing I knew I was flying through the air,

Lost my rifle, I landed in a ditch.

Narrator: More than 300 sailors die instantly--

Two-thirds of them african american.

During all of world war ii,

It is the deadliest incident on mainland american soil.

The practices that caused it

Reflect the prevailing racism in the military.

Hundreds of african americans strike

Until the dangerous working conditions change.

50 are court martialed for mutiny, convicted,

And sentenced to up to 15 years' hard labor.

In 1946, in an act of clemency,

President harry truman sets the men free.

Their stand for racial justice

Helps push the navy to be the first military service

To begin desegregation.

♪

During the war, unlike african americans,

American indians served in the same units

With white soldiers.

[gunfire]

Arizona's navajo

Bring a special skill to the battlefield.

Like all american indian tribes, they speak a unique language--

One which enemy forces can't understand.

Commanders realize their potential

To provide a perfect natural code.

The marine corps trains them in military protocol,

And american indians become "code talkers."

In the battle for iwo jima,

Six navajo code talkers send 800 messages

In the first 48 hours alone--

Communications crucial to the capture of the island.

♪

In mid-1945,

The fate of the war in the pacific

Looks protracted and bloody.

But the government hopes

That its top-secret manhattan project,

With sites sprinkled across the west,

Can change that.

For three years,

Scientists have been developing the world's first atomic bomb.

In the desert in washington state

Rises a mysterious part of the project--

A multi-million-dollar complex

Built by the industrial giant dupont.

They make this rare film,

A unique insight into the facility known as hanford.

The site becomes a mini city,

Which on the surface,

Has all the trappings of normal american life,

But only a handful of its inhabitants

Know the facility's true purpose.

It transforms uranium mined in colorado

Into a byproduct called plutonium.

On July 16, 1945,

It is hanford's plutonium

That fuels the world's first atomic bomb,

Tested in new mexico's remote alamogordo desert.

[explosion]

The atom bombs soon dropped on hiroshima and nagasaki

End the war in the pacific.

The atomic age is born in the american west.

♪

The utah-arizona border, 1946.

Oscar-winning hollywood director john ford,

Back from filming the war,

Is ready to reclaim and reinvigorate

The myth of the old west.

In ford's rare home movies,

We see him in monument valley, his favorite location.

In 1939, it was the setting for stagecoach,

His landmark western,

And john wayne's big break.

Now ford is making "my darling clementine,"

The definitive film about wyatt earp,

Starring henry fonda as the legendary lawman.

Announcer: The exciting action of reckless pioneer days,

The romantic conflicts

Of men and women who led perilous lives,

And the breathtaking beauty of scenes filmed

In the magnificence of the great southwest.

[gunshots]

Narrator: But ford's version of the wild west

Survives only in the movies now.

[horse neighing]

♪

While americans once headed west seeking adventure,

They now make the trek drawn by comfort and climate.

♪

That's what drives the phenomenal growth

Of phoenix, arizona--

A sprawling city,

Now one of the biggest in the region,

Only made possible by teddy roosevelt's irrigation

40 years before.

During the post-war years,

It experiences a population boom,

Quadrupling from 100,000 to over 400,000.

In the 1950s,

Industries take advantage of the growing workforce

And ample space to build.

Goodyear, which first moved here to make tires,

Now expands into aviation manufacturing.

Another fast-growing business

Springs from a recent invention--

Air conditioning...

Which makes life comfortable in a dry desert region

That in the summertime averages over 100 degrees.

It's not just white americans who live in phoenix.

There are also 16,000 mexican americans...

Including alfonso barrios,

A mexican american who was born in california.

♪

In the 1930s, he moves to phoenix,

Meets and marries dolores, and starts a family.

His 1950s home movies capture family life.

Alfonso served in the war

And films a parade

For a mexican-american veterans association

He supports...

Set up in 1945

To tackle discrimination against mexican americans.

A community that, in the west, is under siege.

Since 1942, mexico has been supplying contract laborers

To u.S. Agriculture

Under an agreement called the bracero program.

Some 200,000 mexican guest workers

Have been migrating legally each year...

Many arriving by train in border towns such as el paso.

But among them are those with no contract

Who cross illegally--

People vilified as "wetbacks"

For wading across the rio grande.

Now some in the west

Believe their problems stem from these immigrants.

Man: Here in the last few years since the war,

The nationals just came in and taken our jobs away from us

And have lowered our standard of living.

Narrator: Illegal migrants are welcomed by some farmers,

Happy to exploit their cheap labor.

In 1954,

President dwight d. Eisenhower decides to get tough.

He starts operation wetback.

In the summer, teams of agents fan out across the west

To launch a dragnet.

In the first year alone,

Over 250,000 migrants are apprehended

And sent back to mexico.

The deportations

Add to the strained relations with mexico...

For the population of the west is only rising.

♪

By 1955, this once remote and sparsely settled region

Of frontiersmen and cowboys

Is home to 33 million people.

Dynamic industries have spawned big cities,

And the days of outlaws and indian wars

Have receded into the history books.

But the image and myth of those times

Is firmly fixed in the hearts of americans.

Berry seller walter knott,

Who moved to california's orange county in 1920,

Sees a chance to cash in on the wild west.

To draw customers,

He installs old buildings

He's picked up from nearby ghost towns.

This rare home movie captures knott's re-creation.

Knott's berry farm draws the curious from miles around...

Eager to immerse themselves in nostalgia for the wild west.

[gunshot]

And becomes america's first theme park.

Knott adds even more fun

By putting in rides with western themes.

This 1968 home movie

By theme park designer bud hurlbut

Captures a 61-year-old john wayne

Taking the plunge on the newly opened log flume.

It's a rare moment

Of the old west embracing the new.

♪

From the frontier of american expansion,

The west has transformed

Into an economic and political powerhouse

That drives change across america

And the world.

But none of that has erased what made it so formidable--

The ruggedness and beauty of its land.

[men whooping]