Original subtitles

Narrator: a symbol of The american dream left rotting

In the amazon jungle.

Hang on. What the heck Is this doing here?

Narrator: Concrete structures scattered Across a forest in europe.

Who needed to build something So well-protected?

Narrator: A fortified corridor of death

Stretching for miles Across germany.

Corum: To keep the country existing,

They had to turn the entire Country into a prison.

They had to turn the entire Country into a prison.

Narrator: once they were some Of the most advanced structures

And facilities on the planet,

At the cutting edge Of design and construction.

Today, they stand abandoned, Contaminated,

And sometimes deadly.

But who built them and how,

And why were they abandoned?

*

*

*

-- captions by vitac -- Www.Vitac.Com

Captions paid for by Discovery communications

On the edge of the amazon Rainforest in brazil,

Down the tapajós river, is A utopian dream frozen in time.

*

*

2.5 million acres of this hilly, Rocky, and infertile land

Was once its own sovereign state Run by a foreign corporation.

Imagine rowing down a brazilian River and you come to this site

And you see these Abandoned buildings,

And all of a sudden You come across

A purely american fire hydrant.

You would be quite surprised To see cape cod cottages,

You would be quite surprised To see cape cod cottages,

Swimming pools existing in the Middle of the brazilian jungle.

It would be Quite a stark contrast.

Narrator: Towering above these houses Is a 164-foot iconic water tower

That dominates the landscape.

Gough: This is some kind of movie set.

It would really play With your head

Because you would be Wondering what the heck

Is this doing here.

Narrator: who built this replica American midwestern town

Narrator: who built this replica American midwestern town

In the middle Of the amazon rainforest,

And why was it deserted?

The roots of this town Can be traced back

To the technological revolution At the dawn of the 20th century.

The global expansion Of the motor industry

Is hampered by The british monopoly on rubber.

Nowhere is this felt More than in america.

Henry ford, the father Of the affordable motor car,

Has a vision for his empire -- To make it self-sufficient.

Has a vision for his empire -- To make it self-sufficient.

But how can ford obtain enough Rubber at a decent price

To sustain His automobile company?

Henry ford is The consummate businessman.

He's producing cars.

Cars require tires, And rubber is expensive.

So he has this idea,

"I'm not going to pay High prices for rubber.

I'm going to cut out The middleman

And create my own Rubber factory,

Because after all, It grows on trees

In the brazilian rainforest."

In the brazilian rainforest."

Narrator: the solution lies Over 3,000 miles away

From the car plants in michigan,

Amongst the rubber trees Of the brazilian jungle.

This is henry ford's American dream,

A home away from home -- Fordlandia.

Gough: everyone knew that Henry ford thought big.

That was his reputation.

So when he sets out To build a factory,

No one is surprised When he actually says,

"No, I'm going to build An entire town."

"No, I'm going to build An entire town."

Dickrell: the purpose of Building the town there would be

To create A rubber tree plantation

In which a large Concentration of rubber trees

Could be cultivated

And farmed as a cheap source Of rubber for tires.

Narrator: in 1929, ford starts His ambitious plan

To build the largest Rubber plantation in the world

That will meet the growing Demands of his automobiles.

But will ford's desire for An exclusive source of rubber

But will ford's desire for An exclusive source of rubber

From the amazon actually work?

Will fordlandia be a success?

Fordlandia was actually Quite large for its location.

It housed over 2,000 people, Had a dance hall, a hospital,

Almost as if you took An american city

And plopped it down in the Middle of the brazilian jungle.

It was quite a vision.

Narrator: Ramundo de souza lisboa Lives here in fordlandia

And is familiar with The mechanical beating heart

And is familiar with The mechanical beating heart

Around which the town Used to revolve.

[ speaking portuguese ]

Interpreter: This was a factory warehouse, A saw mill, a workshop.

They also generated Electricity here for the town.

It was the center Of the whole thing.

Narrator: This sprawling plantation,

The size of connecticut,

Boasts many Of the benefits enjoyed

By ford's workers Back in america.

By ford's workers Back in america.

But can this outpost Of american engineering

Take root in the middle Of the rainforest?

Can american values and work Ethics succeed so far from home?

To make sure it works, ford does More than build a city,

He creates an independent state

Geared towards Rubber extraction.

So, the extraction of latex And rubber trees

Is very interesting.

Is very interesting.

Over the course of the day,

The latex will rise up Into the tree,

So the workers would have to Go out early in the morning

When the latex was very low, Tap the tree, and extract it.

Narrator: the liquid latex is Then mixed with diluted acid

Which coagulates To form rubber slabs

That are pressed through rollers

Removing excess water.

Today, the traces Are all but gone,

But once, these factories Were set up

To process thousands Of tons of rubber a year.

To process thousands Of tons of rubber a year.

So, what happened To this strange place?

Dickrell: the achievement That henry ford reached

With the brazilian government

Would be that fordlandia Was almost a sovereign state

Within a sovereign state,

That no intervention Would occur,

And they would have Almost carte blanche

To run the town as he saw fit.

This might be a classic case Study in cultural insensitivity.

Henry ford looks and sees What is working in america

Henry ford looks and sees What is working in america

And I'm going to Superimpose that in brazil.

Narrator: exporting mainstream America to the brazilian jungle

Starts to cause problems.

Interpreter: the discipline Was military style.

Everything was very strict, Very disciplined.

They weren't allowed To drink alcohol.

They were expected to garden, Attend regular square dances,

Eat specific food,

Eat specific food,

Clearly alien to the people That were living in fordlandia.

And guess what, It doesn't turn out so well.

Narrator: trouble is brewing Deep in the amazon rainforest,

Could an uprising Amongst the workers

End henry ford's utopian dream?

*

Narrator: in the middle Of the brazilian rainforest,

On the banks Of the tapajós river

Are the remains of henry ford's Rubber town, fordlandia.

Equipped with All-american mod cons,

This should have been A working man's paradise.

But ford's dream soon becomes A repressive nightmare

For the town's residents.

Things reach Boiling point in 1930.

Things reach Boiling point in 1930.

There is complete mutiny.

They go out and they cut The telegraph wires.

They chase the managers And the cook into the jungle.

The brazilian army has to Come in and sort things out.

They had simply had enough.

So, these strict guidelines Ultimately backfired

Because the people of fordlandia Just refused to live

In such a fashion that was So strict and draconian.

In such a fashion that was So strict and draconian.

No one wanted to be In that place for any longer

Than they could.

Narrator: It's not just fordlandia's town

That is doomed to destruction,

Its plantation Is not far behind.

Interpreter: they cut down the Forest and didn't plant

Rubber trees At the same time.

Rubber trees are Susceptible to disease,

And that is what happened.

And that is what happened.

Narrator: ford knows Automobiles, but not biology.

His team in the amazon consists Of top ford factory-trained men,

But lacks rubber specialists, And his bid to industrialize

The biological world Ends in catastrophe.

Henry ford failed In his attempt to manufacture

An alternative rubber source.

They planted the trees Side by side.

That's not how you do it.

They're prone to disease And there's a domino effect.

When they're too close Together, they all die.

When they're too close Together, they all die.

The whole thing just wasn't Very well thought out.

Narrator: already teetering, Ford's high hopes for fordlandia

Finally come crashing down

As synthetic rubber Floods the market.

For all of his $20 million investment,

Virtually no rubber is produced.

Fordlandia ultimately failed,

Not only due to The lifestyle restrictions,

But also economic reasons.

Synthetic rubber came about, Such that the economic advantage

Synthetic rubber came about, Such that the economic advantage

Of growing your Own rubber trees,

That advantage No longer existed.

In 1945, fordlandia is sold back To the brazilian government

For only a little Over $200,000.

Its saw mill, hospital, houses, And streets are abandoned.

For 60 years, It laid eerily derelict,

A ghost town Of enormous proportions.

A ghost town Of enormous proportions.

But today, fordlandia has been Partially reclaimed

By the local population As a ready-made place to live.

American culture has been Exported to the entire world,

But that was done by choice.

People chose little bits of it

Because it was Intriguing to them.

But we have forgotten The era where we attempted

To superimpose what we thought Was best on other cultures.

We did do that, and fordlandia Might be the best example

We did do that, and fordlandia Might be the best example

Of that cultural insensitivity,

And I don't think We should forget that.

*

Narrator: over 5,000 miles away In the german countryside

Lies the remnants Of an epic structure.

Surrounding the town Of hotensleben are strips

Of plowed earth,

Knotted metal, And crumbling concrete.

Knotted metal, And crumbling concrete.

A very unique And specialized structure.

Narrator: nine feet high Concrete fortified walls

Topped with barbed wire Enclose swathes of open land

All watched over By menacing towers.

What are all these Deadly elements used for

And why are they still here?

Their purpose can be traced back

To the demise Of the third reich.

To the demise Of the third reich.

To stop nazi germany Rising again,

The country is divided amongst The conquering powers,

Split down the middle, Democratic western germany

Is ruled by the allies

And communist eastern germany By the soviets.

The borders are open And there are no walls.

How, then, does the soviet union Protect their border

And their ideology in the shadow

Of their greatest Western rivals?

Of their greatest Western rivals?

At first, the west germans Did not recognize the existence

Of east germany And would openly defy the border

In terms of provocative visits,

As well as things that It would do to intentionally do

To irritate east germans.

Narrator: With the cold war in full swing,

The openness of the border Dramatically changes

On may 26, 1952.

To protect the eastern zone,

The soviets build A true manifestation

The soviets build A true manifestation

Of the iron curtain, The inner german border defense,

One of the deadliest Borders in history.

When winston churchill said

"An iron curtain has Descended across europe,"

This is what He was talking about.

32 times longer Than the berlin wall,

It runs for 866 miles,

It runs for 866 miles,

Cutting through The whole country.

Dickrell: the scale of the Border defense was enormous.

It went from the baltic All the way south

To the center of germany.

Some places kilometers wide With stretches of land

That were completely Devoid of trees

To prevent people From gaining any cover.

Man: from somewhere behind this steel barrier that attack

would come should the communists employ armed force

to press their dream of world domination.

to press their dream of world domination.

Narrator: but this defense wall Isn't what it seems.

It serves an altogether More sinister purpose.

But was it keeping the people Of eastern germany out

Or was it stopping Foreigners from coming in?

*

Narrator: Still standing long after The fall of the soviet union,

The largest preserved stretch Of the real iron curtain

Borders the town Of hotensleben in east germany.

This is the inner german Border defense.

But is defense Really its purpose?

This had nothing to do With a military defense line,

Whatever the east german Government said.

Whatever the east german Government said.

This was totally oriented, As the berlin wall was,

Against their own people.

Narrator: the communist regime Dictates every aspect of life

In east germany,

Enforced by the stasi, The repressive secret police.

Many people want to escape To the democratic west,

But a mass exodus

Will destabilize The east german economy.

East germany was A pretty vicious place.

East germany was A pretty vicious place.

To keep their country going, Existing,

They had to essentially turn the Entire country into a prison.

man: this is where the free world ends

and the communist dominion begins,

for this is the frontier of freedom.

Narrator: to stop escapees, the Soviets start construction

In 1952 of what they called The anti-imperialist wall,

But will this alone be enough?

But will this alone be enough?

The construction of the border Defenses came in phases.

Early on, it was very small And modest,

But then as tensions grew Between the east and west,

Significant effort was Put into making the border

Defenses larger And more fearsome.

Dr. Susan baumgartl and Her family lived in east germany

Behind this very wall.

Baumgartl: the fortification Consisted of two fences,

One to the western side Was called enemy watts

One to the western side Was called enemy watts

And was a metal grid fence.

Next to this outer fence Was an anti-vehicle barrier,

And the front of this Was a six meter plowed strip

To see footprints of refugees.

Narrator: Citizens fleeing across the Border are treated as criminals,

And if caught are heavily fined

And imprisoned For up to three years,

But none of this discourages People from attempting

This dangerous crossing.

*

*

In addition to a wall, you had Watchtowers, command posts,

Electronic sensors.

They cleared brush, trees, Villages, everything

So that they had A clear line of sight,

And, sadly, A clear line of fire.

Narrator: Now a manicured stretch of land,

It is hard to imagine That this was once a death strip

It is hard to imagine That this was once a death strip

That was indiscriminate.

Running through farms, Coal mines, towns,

And even houses, Nothing could stand in its way.

So, similar to the berlin wall

That split berlin Basically in half,

The defense border split Communities along the border,

In some ways Completely destroying homes,

And the economic activity was Completely destroyed, as well.

By 1961, east germans, a country Of 17 million people,

By 1961, east germans, a country Of 17 million people,

They're leaving east germany At the rate of a million a year.

Narrator: Over time, the border develops From a protected frontier

Into an elaborate Fortification system,

Which reduces the number Of escapees by 75%.

So, as the border defenses Were increased in size,

The buffer zone between The border itself

The buffer zone between The border itself

And almost like A no-man's land was increased.

More guard towers were added.

Mine fields were introduced.

Tremendous amount of resources Were put into creating

An effectively iron curtain

In between east And west germany.

Narrator: in the 1970s and '80s, It reaches its peak,

With 30 guards patrolling Each 3œ-mile stretch.

This is the inner metal Grid fence facing the east.

This is the inner metal Grid fence facing the east.

It has on the inside there Are thin layers of wire

That were electrified.

People were trying To climb over the fence.

They would touch these wires And an alarm would go off.

Narrator: the development Of 60,000 antipersonnel mines

Specifically To deter border crossings

Reduces escape success To less than 1%.

Over its life, Hundreds of people were killed

Trying to cross over from East germany to west germany.

Trying to cross over from East germany to west germany.

They were shot, stepped on land Mines, attacked by guard dogs.

Narrator: but it isn't just Civilians who try to flee.

Even the east german Border guards desert their posts

In the hope of making it Into west germany.

Will the east german people

Rise up against Their soviet overlords,

And why was this wall abandoned?

*

Narrator: These remains were once part Of the inner german border,

An elaborate fortification System built during the cold war

By the soviets to imprison The citizens of east germany

For over 30 years, But on november 9, 1989,

A series of revolutions In the satellite states

Of the u.S.S.R. Cause A chain reaction

Of the u.S.S.R. Cause A chain reaction

That results in the demise Of this iron curtain,

Immortalized by the fall Of the berlin wall.

Anchorman: the beginning of The end of the soviet empire.

Within two years, east and west Germany were reunited,

In many ways coming full circle

And ending what World war ii had produced.

Everybody remembers the images Of the berlin wall coming down.

The inner defenses, It wasn't quite so dramatic.

Dickrell: with the reunification Of germany,

Many of the fences In this border zone

Many of the fences In this border zone

Just fell into disuse.

Many were dismantled trying To encourage economic activity

Between east and west germany.

Narrator: most of the inner German defense is dismantled,

Creating 1.7 million tons Of debris.

45 years after its construction,

The wall is officially Abandoned.

Today, this section is A memorial to its dark past,

As well as a unique Nature reserve.

Once a notorious death strip,

It is now home to a wealth Of diverse habitats and species.

The preservation Of the border defense

Structures with the barbed wire And the towers

I think are helpful reminders For future people about

What the history of east and West german relations were like.

What the history of east and West german relations were like.

Today, it doesn't necessarily Look all that impressive

Or all that scary.

It's just a strip of greenery With a little road

Running through it.

But you have to remember That when it was active

It was a death zone For anyone who tried to escape.

Narrator: over 1,000 miles away In east poland

Is a secret forest complex.

*

*

Hidden under the canopy,

Camouflaged amongst The pine trees,

Mammoth structures sprawl Across 1,500 square miles.

You're in the middle of a polish Forest and you're hiking along,

The last thing you expect To find is a concrete jungle.

What's this doing here?

Meigs: these just suddenly Appear from amidst the trees.

Who needed to build something So well protected?

Who needed to build something So well protected?

Narrator: These immense windowless giants

Grow in size to 43 feet high And 69 feet wide,

With no hints To their true purpose.

Gough: the walls are so thick

It's as though they've been Built to withstand

Some sort of apocalypse, But what?

Narrator: why build this Foreboding complex

In the middle of nowhere,

And why has it been Abandoned to nature?

And why has it been Abandoned to nature?

The answer lies back at The beginning of world war ii.

By 1940, hitler's expansion Of the third reich westwards

Is well underway, But within a year, his attention

Turns to conquering The eastern front.

He needs a fully functioning Base of operations

Near this new front line.

His top-secret solution Lies in the mamerki forest.

His top-secret solution Lies in the mamerki forest.

Nusbacher: hitler knows That he is going to be fighting

Modern industrial warfare.

And when his people create Command and control facilities,

They make the most Technologically-enabled

Facilities that you see anywhere In the second world war.

Narrator: The largest and most impressive

Of these fortified Command centers is this --

Of these fortified Command centers is this --

Mauerwald, the german army hq

That will control the war On the eastern front.

It was a fully functional Military town

And had to be defended,

So it had barbed wire, A mine field,

A post for gunners.

What they built In the forest of poland

Is a mirror image of berlin.

Hitler himself has got his own Bunker and staff facilities,

Hitler himself has got his own Bunker and staff facilities,

And that ensures that When hitler is away from berlin,

Running the war,

Hitler is still able To retain his tight grip

On power over the nazi empire.

Narrator: 11 miles from hitler's bunker,

Nicknamed the wolf's lair,

Top secret construction Of mauerwald

Starts in the fall of 1940.

To prepare the site,

The military engineers Must drain marshland

The military engineers Must drain marshland

And cut down swathes of trees in This mosquito-infested forest.

But why did they spread out The location of these bunkers?

It was to reduce the risk.

If you had an attack Of paratroopers or a bomb,

It could have decimated The entire thing at once,

So they spread them out To reduce that chance.

Narrator: will this nazi complex Be discovered by the enemy?

Could this be why It was abandoned?

*

Narrator: amongst the trees Of mamerki forest in poland

Lies the scattered remains Of what was once

A sprawling nazi military city.

This is mauerwald.

The compound is made up Of three sections,

Code-named fritz, Brigitt-anna, and quelle,

Each dedicated to operations, Logistics, and communications.

Each dedicated to operations, Logistics, and communications.

It was all very orderly And laid out as if it was

Some kind of Bureaucratic operation

And not a central hub Of brutal warfare.

Narrator: items of most Importance were housed

Inside the reinforced Concrete bunkers.

While staff and personnel were Billeted in more temporary

Accommodation Made of brick or wood.

Born and raised In the local area,

Born and raised In the local area,

Bartek plebanczyk Manages the site.

Real thought goes into The camouflage of this complex.

There are artificial trees for Different months of the year

To coincide With changes in season.

To coincide With changes in season.

Gough: the bunkers were Extremely well-fortified.

But what was really unique about These monolithic structures,

The rooms themselves Were very tiny.

It's as though they anticipated Some sort of military cataclysm

And they were built To withstand it.

Narrator: To reduce the chance of russian And allied aerial bombardment,

Narrator: To reduce the chance of russian And allied aerial bombardment,

The engineers add seagrass To the concrete mix,

Will accelerates The growth of moss,

Providing the bunkers with A natural and fast camouflage.

But it also has an unexpected Engineering benefit.

Seagrass was able to incorporate Into the outer surfaces

Of the buildings in order To stop the concrete chipping.

Narrator: in the summer of 1941, 40 generals and 1,500 officers

Narrator: in the summer of 1941, 40 generals and 1,500 officers

And personnel Move into mauerwald

And work in secrecy Both day and night,

Managing the ever-expanding Nazi army.

German traditions Of command and control mean

That the general Goes off in a car

Or a tank And commands in the field,

But that he's backed up By a chief of staff

And a huge number Of staff officers

Who stay back in a headquarters, In radio contact,

Who stay back in a headquarters, In radio contact,

And run the army while The general runs the battle.

Narrator: to keep up morale Deep in this polish forest,

Hitler insists That this concrete fortress

Is made a home away from home.

Meigs: one thing that's striking Is just how big it was.

200 buildings, bunkers, Air-raid shelters,

But also a lot of things You would associate

With a small resort city.

With a small resort city.

They had a movie theater.

They had a casino Close to the front lines

On the eastern front.

Narrator: Hidden in this remote location

Away from important towns And transport routes,

This complex needs To be fully independent.

As a military headquarters, It had to be self-sufficient.

So they had Their own power plant.

They had their own Heating plant.

They had their own Supply of water.

They could live, They could survive cut off

They could live, They could survive cut off

From their supplies For a long period of time.

Narrator: it is here at Mauerwald that a large number

Of eastern front Decisions are made.

When hitler made His intent clear

In the briefing rooms Of the wolfsschanze,

The senior officers would then Get into their cars,

Drive over to mauerwald, and They would put it into practice.

Narrator: for three years, these Structures successfully hide

The nazi army personnel Through bitter polish winters

The nazi army personnel Through bitter polish winters

And scorching summers,

But the turning tide of World war ii changes everything.

Nusbacher: no matter how good The german officers are

Who worked in the mauerwald,

They could not fulfill The twisted,

Unrealistic ambitions of hitler.

Narrator: by fall 1944,

The nazis are fighting Losing battles on two fronts,

And with the advancing red army Hot on their heels,

And with the advancing red army Hot on their heels,

There is only one option left

For hitler's forces At mauerwald.

The germans had no choice But to retreat, and quickly.

So, mauerwald was just Left intact, a ghost town.

Narrator: hitler's retreating Army has only 48 hours

To escape stalin's forces,

Leaving no time to sabotage Their concrete city.

Mauerwald is abandoned To the wilds of the forest.

Mauerwald is abandoned To the wilds of the forest.

Today, these concrete monoliths Are virtually forgotten,

But survive as the most Complete example

Of hitler's forest Command centers.

What we see today is just The scale of the ambition

Of the nazis to dominate europe.

And the time they were willing To put into building

Infrastructure And everything else they needed

To extend their military reach

Is impressive and horrifying At the same time.

Is impressive and horrifying At the same time.

Narrator: across europe In southwest france,

Lying in the region of montech, Is a bizarre structure.

*

Cutting through This deceptively flat land

Is a 20-feet wide Concrete channel

That is over 400 feet long And partially filled with water.

That is over 400 feet long And partially filled with water.

Bell: engineers come from all Around the world to see this,

Because there's something Quite maybe hypnotic,

Mesmerizing about it.

Narrator: As you travel up its length,

The water drops off to reveal A ramp that ascends 43 feet.

It sort of defies Logical explanation,

But yet they built it.

Flanking this channel Are two eight-wheeled vehicles

Connected by a metal frame And wedge

Connected by a metal frame And wedge

Weighing 200 tons Suspended over water.

This might be A terribly impractical design

But it's also Kind of inspiring.

Interpreter #2: it's a unique And exceptional system.

Bell: It's so heath robinson.

We're all used to seeing water Cascading down under gravity,

Whereas suddenly we're using A very simple mechanism

To get water uphill.

Narrator: what is this bizarre Structure in the middle

Narrator: what is this bizarre Structure in the middle

Of the french countryside, And why was it abandoned?

The surprising answer stems From the sea trade

Between the atlantic and the Mediterranean during the 1600s.

To avoid the treacherous Month-long passage

Around the coast of spain,

The 270-mile two seas canal

Is cut through france To speed up commerce.

But on the canal at montech Is a flight of five locks

But on the canal at montech Is a flight of five locks

Across a distance

Of over one-and-a-half miles That creates congestion.

How can they overcome this?

The canal lock, The ability to take a boat

And raise it or lower it

So it can travel by water Up and over hills

Is one of the great advances In technological history.

The problem is each one needs To be filled or emptied

As you go through the process, And it's time consuming.

As you go through the process, And it's time consuming.

Interpreter #2: an experimental System was built that's allowed

Commercial barges To bypass a series of five locks

Using a unique system.

Narrator: it takes nearly 300 years before french engineer

Professor jean aubert comes up

With this revolutionary Contraption

To speed up the process At montech,

The pente d'eau or water slope.

The french water slope

Was an absolutely Revolutionary alternative

Was an absolutely Revolutionary alternative

To the traditional way Of using locks.

They brought the boat into this Section, bottom of the slope,

Enclosed basically a very large Puddle of water around the boat

And then move the puddle up the Slope with powerful locomotives.

In a way, it's absolutely crazy, But it's also kind of brilliant.

Narrator: did this crazy Invention ever serve its purpose

Narrator: did this crazy Invention ever serve its purpose

And why is this pioneering Contraption left

To rust on the banks Of the canal?

*

Narrator: In the southwest of france Is the pioneering water slope

That draws engineers from all Over the world to its banks.

Built in 1974, This revolutionary water lift

Can carry fully loaded barges To its peak at 43 feet.

The principle of the water slope Is actually very simple.

The principle of the water slope Is actually very simple.

If you were trying to bail water Out of your sink for example,

You would just use your hand and Basically push the water out.

And what you're doing is You're raising the level

Of the water at some depth

And then it kind of Goes over the side.

With the water slope, you're Starting from a level plane

And you're going up An inclined slope.

So the principle is the same.

You use a mechanism To shunt the water up

And create a body of water That's deep enough for a boat

Or a barge to actually Float through.

Or a barge to actually Float through.

To push 52,972 cubic feet Of water up a slope along

With a loaded barge Takes masses of power.

Christian moretto, who works For french waterways,

Has an insight into the workings Of this mechanical beast.

Interpreter #2: it is powered By a v-12 engine here,

So it produces A thousand horsepower.

So it produces A thousand horsepower.

And this engine runs a generator

That provides the energy To move the machine.

What I love about the pente d'eau

Is that you can see Exactly how it works.

It's all there in front of you.

It's a channel that a barge Will come into

And a gate shuts behind it.

Narrator: once the gate Shuts behind the barge,

The wedge comes down To create a water-tight seal,

The wedge comes down To create a water-tight seal,

Trapping water in The now-enclosed canal.

Bell: and then, powered By two great locomotives

On either side of that canal,

They slowly roll forward On tracks,

Bringing the gate with it.

And as that gate pushes up Along the canal,

It pushes water with it.

The engine units travel at 1œ miles per hour,

Using a pushing effect Of 63 tons,

Equivalent to a whopping 127,000 pound-foot of torque.

Equivalent to a whopping 127,000 pound-foot of torque.

But how do you control This much raw power?

Interpreter #2: the pilot stands Here to operate it.

He needs to have a panoramic View of everything.

He particularly needs to keep An eye on the speed dial

That we can see here,

And he also controls Mechanically the movement

Of the machine Using this lever here.

That's it.

Narrator: moving over a thousand Feet on a concrete monorail,

These enormous wheels take six Minutes to complete the journey.

These enormous wheels take six Minutes to complete the journey.

Two locomotives on either side Of this trench start dragging

This dam up the hillside Until you get to the top,

Then you open the gates there

And the boat sails Happily on its merry way.

Narrator: thousands of boats Pass through the water slope,

Creating more trade,

But will it last and become The new way to bypass

Canal locks around the world?

I mean, I love this thing.

I mean, I love this thing.

I love the simplicity Of the engineering behind it.

But it's 1970s technology, These two whopping,

Great big diesel engines

Slowly pushing Canal boats uphill.

It just isn't 21st century technology.

Dickrell: Between the locomotives,

The construction of the slope,

The water seal To prevent the water

That's carrying the both From just running away,

All of these things put together

Make the reproduction Of this extremely difficult.

Make the reproduction Of this extremely difficult.

Narrator: For 35 years, the water slope

Serves the two seas canal, Lifting over 10,000 boats,

Travelling a distance Of over 13 million feet.

But in 2009, engine failure Seals its fate.

Being the only one in the world, Its unique design

And parts are Too expensive to reproduce.

Not every cool engineering idea

Really turns out to work In the real world.

Really turns out to work In the real world.

I think the water slope Is an example of that.

Agrawal: Really, it was out of its time.

So, had it come at the time When canals were really the life

Vein of the industrial world That we lived in,

Perhaps we would have seen Hundreds of examples.

Narrator: with lack of demand And repair costs

Amounting to over $5.5 million,

The water slope, While a brilliant concept,

Gathers dust in the middle Of this waterway.

Today, it lies disused On this canal,

A symbol of daring engineering That was sadly behind the times.

Agrawal: even if it Wasn't a particularly

Successful invention,

I think engineers need to be Reminded every so often

That they need to break out Of the tunnel vision of this

Is how things have been done For a long time

And actually create something Really extraordinary.