Original subtitles

(majestic music)

- Our journey begins in an isolated frontier town,

Lost Cabin, before heading north to Medicine Lodge,

among Wyoming's most important archeological sites.

It contains rock art by Native Americans created

over thousands of years.

To the east we find Sheridan and its famous inn,

once home to wild West legend Buffalo Bill.

Traveling south we reach the town of Buffalo,

backdrop to some of the wild West's most celebrated stories.

Heading east we discover an historic

Native American hunting site, the Vore Buffalo Jump,

before arriving at the magnificent

and dramatic Devil's Tower, sacred to Native Americans

and the U.S.A.'s first national monument.

In the Midwest of America, in the State of Wyoming,

is the town of Lost Cabin, and, at its heart,

a house known as the Big Teepee.

Built in 1901, it belonged to John B. Okie,

a local businessman.

Okie started out as a poor, working cowboy,

but he designed it not to follow the herd.

Instead of cattle, he raised sheep.

Sheep farming may never be as romantic,

but it was certainly more lucrative.

Okie's fortune built him this house.

In its day it was the height of luxury,

16 rooms, a veranda on three sides,

and an octagonal tower on the corner.

Today the mansion belongs to an oil and gas company,

Conoco Phillips, which operates this nearby facility,

Lysite Gas Plant.

The hills around Lost Cabin are filled

with natural gas drilling wells,

some pumping gas from a depth of over eight kilometers.

When it comes out of the ground,

the gas is mixed with carbon dioxide

and poisonous chemicals such as hydrogen sulfide.

To remove these, the gas is brought

to sweetening plants like this

before piped to consumer's homes as methane.

(upbeat music)

After Alaska, Wyoming has the lowest population density

of any state in America and vast areas

of underdeveloped land are crisscrossed by

over 12,000 kilometers of dirt track such as this one,

Norwood Road. (upbeat music)

Norwood Road crosses the remote county of Washakie

and passes Lonetree Ranch, a traditional cattle spread.

(soothing violin music)

Wyoming is known, along with Texas, as the cowboy state.

In the 1860s, ranchers realized that

with its vast, publicly-owned ranges

they could graze their cattle here for free.

(soothing violin music)

People flocked to Wyoming in search of a fortune,

and it led in 1892 to one of the old West's

greatest showdowns, the Johnson County War.

Established cattle barons accused immigrant homesteaders

of rustling their animals,

so they hired a gang to kill them.

In return, the homesteaders formed a 200 strong posse

to protect themselves.

After a deadly shootout, the president

of the United States intervened to restore peace.

The story has been a staple of wild West novels,

films and TV programs.

At the base of the Big Horn Mountains

is the town of Ten Sleep.

Legend has it that the town's name came

from Native Americans who sometimes measured distances

by the number of sleeps needed on a journey to walk there.

Many of the residents of Ten Sleep today

are the descendants of 19th century cattle ranchers.

And their traditions live on in the Ten Sleep Rodeo,

famous for its 4th of July festival.

The town is a favorite with climbers,

who use it on their way to explore

the extraordinary landscape of the surrounding area.

Just to the north of Ten Sleep

is this remarkable rock formation.

Made of sandstone, a sedimentary rock,

this structure is part of an anti-climb,

an upwards fold in the layers of the earth's crust

that has eroded to form these slopes.

As well as being good for climbing,

anti-climbs are considered the perfect places

to drill for oil and gas.

And since the 19th century,

this area has been surveyed many times,

finding vast quantities of coal, gas and carbon fuels.

The area around Ten Sleep is rich with fossils.

Fossilized plants, sea life and even dinosaurs

are often found in the area.

To the north, on the western slope of the Big Horn Mountains

in Northern Wyoming is one of the state's

most important archeological sites,

Medicine Lodge State Park.

Deep canyons with green valleys are overlooked

by dramatic escarpments.

However, the site is most famous

for its Native American rock art.

(majestic music)

The area was occupied by homesteaders over 100 years ago,

who were aware of these carvings but largely ignored them.

It was only later, in 1969,

that the full archeological wealth was discovered.

It includes designs carved into the stone,

known as petroglyphs and painted using natural dyes

and animal blood known as pictograms.

On one cliff, art covers the rock face

for over 200 meters and shows images of people,

animals and abstract symbols.

Excavations of the site have found evidence

of human habitation stretching back over 10,000 years.

At the end of this shallow, dry canyon

is a dramatic red escarpment.

(majestic music)

Wyoming is known for its red rocks.

The color comes from the natural presence of iron oxide,

or rust, in the ground.

These rocky outcrops are an icon of the American West

and a favorite backdrop for tales of cowboys and Indians.

Heading west we pass over the town of Greybull

before reaching the south Big Horn County Airfield

for a much needed refuel.

Also here is the Museum of Flight and Aerial Firefighting.

The museum contains some of the last remaining examples

of World War Two bombers and transport aircraft.

Many of these were converted by Hawkins

and Powers Aviation, a local company,

to fight fires in the forests around Wyoming.

The museum is currently seeking donations

to open a permanent building and allow year round access.

To the east we discover Shell Canyon,

along which winds Highway 14,

one of the most scenic drives in the State of Wyoming.

(majestic music)

Shell Canyon is named after the fossil shells

discovered in the area.

The canyon was formed about a million years ago

when a fault split the bedrock,

creating a natural channel for the water.

Over the years the flowing river cut downwards.

The canyon walls now expose over two

and a half billion years of geological history,

revealing the granite bedrock above the earth's molten core.

It's easy to see why Highway 14 is one

of the most popular routes.

And drivers along the road can pause at rest areas

to admire the spectacular scenery.

One of the most popular stopping places is

by the Shell Canyon Falls.

This is one of the largest waterfalls in Wyoming.

Here, Shell Creek tumbles more than 36 meters

down steep granite rocks into the waters below.

We now head northeast into the Big Horn National Forest.

Designated as a reserve in 1897,

it's one of the oldest protected forests in America.

(sweeping majestic music)

It mainly consists of pine trees and occupies

more than four and a half thousand square kilometers

and is home to a variety of wildlife,

including elk, moose and black bears.

The eastern edge of the forest is a high escarpment

overlooking a flat plain and Sheridan County,

and its largest city is Sheridan.

(bright fiddle music)

It's named after General Philip Sheridan,

a Union leader in the American Civil War.

The town boomed when the railway arrived in 1892.

Local farmers, miners and merchants

used the stopping point to export their goods.

In the 20 years after the railway was built,

the town grew five times in size.

But this time Sheridan's social life centered

on Main Street and its bars, brothels, pool halls

and its most famous establishment, Sheridan Inn.

Opened in 1893, it was said to be the finest hotel

between Chicago and San Francisco.

And it soon became the headquarters for William F. Cody,

better known as Buffalo Bill.

From the Sheridan's wide porch,

Buffalo Bill auditioned acts for his circus show.

And many of the wild West legendary figures

stayed in the hotel.

The Sheridan Inn has since hosted American legends,

including presidents, celebrities and famous writers.

Nearby is Trail End.

This spectacular mansion was built by cattleman

John B. Kendrick.

He rose from cowboy to company owner

and later became governor of Wyoming.

Built in 1913, Kendrick planned Trail End

down to the smallest detail.

Its building materials were shipped in by railroad

at great expense.

Foundations from Montana, bricks from Kansas,

and stained glass windows from New York City.

The house even had an early vacuum cleaner,

a pump in the basement with suction tubes running

to all three floors of the house.

In 1970, Trail End was recognized

in the National Register of Historic Places,

and today it's open to visitors.

Heading south we come across a remarkable site,

the Big Horn Polo Club.

Polo has been played in Wyoming for over 100 years.

In the 19th century, many British aristocrats came

to the state to seek their fortune, and Oliver Wallop,

the fifth son of an earl, was one of them.

He raised cattle and later horses,

which he supplied to the British army

for calvary in the Boer War.

Today, polo is still part of the Big Horn sporting calendar

and visitors in the summer can watch matches

played twice a week.

Heading south into Natrona County,

we find the site of Fort Phil Kearny.

The fort was built in 1866 to protect the Bozeman Trail

from raids by Native Americans.

The trail brought settlers from the east of America

to Montana and its gold rush.

The arrival of these outsiders was felt

by Native Americans to be a catastrophe,

and they called Fort Kearny the hated post

on the little piney.

It was here that Captain Fetterman,

a brash Civil War hero, was lured into a trap

set by Native Americans.

His entire command, over 80 men, was slaughtered.

The Fetterman fight was a great victory

for the Native Americans.

It changed popular opinion and led to a peace treaty.

Continuing southwards, smoke can be seen rising

from the small fires in the Big Horn National Forest.

Fires break out here each year

and it's often thought they are caused by lightning strikes.

However, as many as 90% of wild land fires

in the United States are caused by humans,

often as a result from campfires left unattended,

the burning of debris, discarded cigarettes, and,

of course, intentional acts of arson.

Only 10% are started by lightning.

Big Horn has a number of fire fighting organizations,

but given the forest's vast size,

unless they threaten life or property,

they are monitored and mostly left to burn out on their own.

We now reach the town of Buffalo.

(upbeat banjo music)

On the surface, Buffalo looks like a typical,

modern American town.

Many of its inhabitants work in agriculture,

energy production and tourism.

But Buffalo's past features heavily

in the stories of the wild West,

particularly here at the Occidental Hotel.

(upbeat banjo music)

Founded in 1880, it was a favorite with cowboys.

Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid rode here

from their hideout nearby, called Hole in the Wall.

Calamity Jane, who traveled the Bozeman Trail,

stopped by often.

The street outside is thought to be the setting

for the first shootout in wild West literature

in the novel "The Virginian."

Over the years though, it became rundown.

It seemed likely it would be demolished.

But in 1997 it was bought and redeveloped.

Over the next 10 years it was restored to its former glory

and today it's possible to stay in the Occidental once more,

to drink a glass of sassafras and rub shoulders

with the ghosts of frontier legends.

(upbeat banjo music)

We continue to the east, passing this arid scenery.

Though barren on the surface, this landscape is rich

with natural gas, coal and oil.

Over the past decade, the rise of fracking,

or hydraulic fracturing, has meant a huge

economic boom for Wyoming, but the mineral wealth

of Wyoming has long been exploited,

such as here at Wyodack Mine.

(majestic music)

This vast, open cast mine was founded in 1923.

(majestic music)

It's believed to be the oldest continually operated

surface coal mine in the United States.

Each year the mine produces over five million tons of coal.

At this rate, it's expected to last

for the next 50 years.

Some of the coal is shipped to outside companies,

but the majority is sent directly

to the nearby Wyodack Power Plant.

It was commissioned in 1978.

At the time, it was the world's largest

air-cooled steam power plant.

The coal is transported here by trains

of extraordinary length, sometimes reaching

over two and a half kilometers.

(majestic music)

The coal is burned in a water boiler over 20 stories tall.

The steam it produces is piped to a turbine,

where it turns blades to produce electricity.

Once used, the steam is cooled to form water,

which is returned to the boiler

to again be heated back into steam.

The power plant burns two million tons of coal each year,

generating 335 megawatts of electricity,

enough to power over 50,000 homes.

Our journey continues towards Key Hole Reservoir.

This provides water for irrigation, fish

and wildlife conservation, recreation,

and domestic and industrial use.

Although located in Wyoming, the reservoir's waters

are mostly used by the neighboring state of South Dakota.

We reach now one of the most important archeological sites

of the American plains, the Vore Buffalo Jump.

The Jump is made from a natural sink hole formed

where the soil eroded.

This creates a pit about 12 meters deep and 60 meters wide.

Native American hunters would stampede buffalo

towards the pit.

As they reached the edge, they would be unable to stop.

The steep drop would kill or cripple the animals.

It was used for over 300 years until the early 19th century

by five or more American tribes.

The Jump was rediscovered in the 1970s

during the building of the Interstate 90 road.

It was excavated by the University of Wyoming,

who estimate that the pit contains the remains

of 20,000 buffalo.

Finally, on the west side of the Black Hills,

we reach one of the great sites of Wyoming,

the Devil's Tower.

(majestic music)

This outstanding natural rock formation is 386 meters tall.

In 1906, President Roosevelt declared it a national monument

the first in America.

The tower is sacred to Native Americans,

who also call it the Bear's Lodge.

The Lakota tribe say that the tower was formed

when two girls were playing in the woods.

They were attacked by an enormous bear

and climbed on top of a rock to escape.

But it was too small to save them,

so they knelt and prayed.

Hearing their pleas, the great spirit

made the rock rise upwards, creating the Devil's Tower.

In reality, it's actually the softer material

around the rock which has eroded away over time,

and continues to do so, giving the impression

of the tower growing in size.

The tower has a visitor center,

which welcomes around 400,000 people a year.

Here they will learn about the legends, the geology

and the first documented Caucasian visitors in 1859.

It was 16 years later that Colonel Richard Dodge,

who was part of a scientific survey party,

coined the name Devil's Tower.

And each year about 4,000 visitors come to climb it.

The parallel cracks make it one of the finest places

for traditional climbing in North America.

(majestic music)

A few routes are thought to be relatively easy.

Others are considered to be

amongst the hardest climbs in the world.

The tower is famous also for its starring role

in Steven Spielberg's 1977 film,

"Close Encounters of the Third Kind,"

where it was the backdrop for the climactic scenes.

The film's release was the cause of a large increase

in visitors and climbers to the monument.

This spectacular natural formation,

a place of both native and modern American legend,

is the perfect place to end this journey.

(majestic music)