Original subtitles

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- Our journey across Arkansas begins in Stamps,

a small town that was both birthplace

and subject to writer, Maya Angelou.

In the town of Hope,

we take a look at the childhood home

of President Bill Clinton.

Heading north, we reach Diamond State Park,

an open mine where tourists can seek out

some of America's largest diamonds.

Continuing to the east, we find Lake Hamilton,

a spectacular manmade lake

and a popular destination for water sports.

To the north, we discover the vast Ozark National Forest,

an extraordinary wilderness

that confirms Arkansas's reputation as the natural state.

Finally, we reach the historic Fort Smith,

once a violent frontier town of the Wild West,

that was nicknamed Hell on the Border.

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In the state of Arkansas, on the shores of Lake June,

is the small town of Stamps.

It was named after an early settler, Hardy James Stamps.

Surrounded by forests,

it became a center for the lumber industry.

At one point, it had the largest sawmill

in the American South.

Stamps is most famous as the birthplace of Maya Angelou.

Angelou was born here in 1928

during the Jim Crow era of brutal racial segregation

in the southern United States.

She wrote of her experiences growing up here

in her acclaimed book, "I know Why the Caged Bird Sings".

She said that the high spots in Stamps

were usually negative,

droughts, floods, lynchings, and deaths.

Angelou grew to become an internationally acclaimed author,

poet, and civil rights activist.

West of Stamps is the Red River

which flows for over 2,000 kilometers from Northern Texas,

through Arkansas, and on to Louisiana.

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People have been living on the banks

of the Red River for thousands of years.

This was once home to a dense population

of the Caddo Nation,

the Native American tribes that lived here

before European settlers arrived.

The River Valley has a number

of important archeological sights,

including Native American mines and saltworks.

Over the past 70 years,

the Red River has deposited vast amounts of silt,

reducing its capacity and making it more prone to flooding.

Heading north, we cross into the county of Hempstead

and find Route 30 which runs through most of Arkansas.

Trucks remain a vital part of the American economy,

and nearly 70% of haulage,

over eight billion tons of freight

is delivered by truck each year,

and this requires almost three million

Class 8 trucks like this one.

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Route 30 runs through the town of Hope,

which was created in 1872

when the Cairo and Fulton Railway

built a station on their line.

Today the building is a museum

and also the Hope Visitor's Center.

The town got its name from one of the railway executives

who named it after his daughter, Hope.

The town is famous for two reasons.

It hosts a contest for the world's largest watermelon,

and it's the birthplace

of the 42nd president of the United States of America,

William Jefferson Clinton or Bill Clinton.

Born in 1946,

Clinton spent the first four years of his life here,

living with his widowed mother and her parents.

In 1978, at the age of 32,

he became the youngest governor of Arkansas,

and in 1992, President of the United States.

In 1994, this, his former house, became a national landmark,

and today it houses a public exhibition

showing Clinton's early years,

including childhood photographs, books, and toys.

As we follow the railway out of Hope,

we find in the distance an enormous

storage depot for mobile homes.

These trailers are owned by FEMA,

the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

They are used to give shelter

to American citizens displaced

from their homes in a disaster,

such as flooding or tornado damage.

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Many of these were bought to give aid

to the people of New Orleans

during the Hurricane Katrina disaster of 2005.

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FEMA has about 46,000 trailers in total,

and almost 10,000 are stored here,

a land belonging to Hope Municipal Airport.

We continue on our journey

to find a small town of Washington,

which is on historic Southwest Trail,

the earliest road across the state,

and it was a stopover

for some of America's most famous frontiersmen,

including Davy Crockett and Jim Bowie,

inventor of the Bowie Knife.

It was to become a symbol of Arkansas

and the American Frontier.

In 1973, the town established

the historic Washington State Park,

conserving buildings such as this Methodist church,

the oldest in Arkansas,

and the grand 1874 Courthouse,

which operated up until 1939.

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Today it serves as the state park's

visitor center and gift shop.

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Seven million hectares, 50% of Arkansas is forest,

more than all other land types combined,

and this natural resource has long been

an integral part of the state's economy.

Here we find a machine known as a knuckleboom loader,

as it is used to prepare timber for processing.

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Logging employs more than 43,000 people in Arkansas.

One in six manufacturing jobs,

and each year contributes

more than four billion dollars

to the state's economy.

This wood is used for everything

from paper to packaging, lumber, and plywood.

Since World War II,

the Arkansas timber industry has been sustainable,

and today yearly growth is about 25% more

than is harvested for both pine and hardwood trees.

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To the north, near the city of Murfreesboro,

is the crater of Diamond State Park.

This is the world's only diamond producing sight

open to the public.

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Here these visitors dig for the gems

and can keep what they find.

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The largest diamond ever discovered

in the United States was found here in 1924,

and in 2015 a tourist happened upon

an eight and a half carat diamond lying in the dirt.

The sight also has a water park

giving dusty treasure hunters the chance a cool off.

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Nearby, in one of the most picturesque parts of Arkansas,

we find DeGray Lake.

This manmade reservoir was created by a dam built in 1972.

Today it's a favorite for tourism and recreation.

It's famed for its fishing,

and draws anglers from across the country.

It has several species of bass, catfish, and bluegill.

We continue on our journey northwards

passing through the county of Malvern.

These wooded ridges are formed

from the natural clay deposits

that lie throughout the area.

This resource, an important building material,

makes a contribution to the local economy.

And Malvern is known as the brick capital of the world.

We now reach the spectacular Lake Hamilton.

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This vast lake was formed in 1932

by the construction on the Ouachita River

of the Carpenter Hydroelectric Dam.

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And the lake is named after the dam's builder,

Hamilton Moses, president of Arkansas Power and Light.

It's one of the states most popular

tourist and recreational sights.

Visitors come to go swimming, fishing, and boating.

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The shores of the 30 square kilometer lake

are ringed with holiday homes and luxury hotels.

There are a number of five star resorts

giving guests the chance to enjoy

the spectacular scenery in luxurious comfort.

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This area is the most popular

tourist destination in the state

with several million visitors a year

and it's easy to see why.

They also come to visit the town of Hot Springs,

and before we take a look,

we need to refuel at Memorial Field Airport.

It was built in 1946 after the Second World War

to help bring injured American servicemen

to a local rehabilitation hospital for treatment.

Close by is the town of Hot Springs.

It is long being called The American Spa,

and it brings visitors from around the world

to take the healing waters.

But the town isn't only famous for health.

It also has a history as a center for gambling.

Started in 1905, this is Oaklawn Jockey Club.

This horseracing course was once the only

legal gambling establishment in Hot Springs.

It's now considered an elite venue for horseracing,

one of the most important in the United States.

Hot Springs has a number of other tourist attractions,

including this 65 meter high observation tower.

Giving spectacular 360 degree views

across the Ouachita Mountains.

Dominating the town is the Arlington Hotel.

Built in 1875, it has hosted presidents, sports stars,

and famously, the gangster, Al Capone,

who took an entire floor just for his bodyguards.

At the heart of Hot Springs is Bathhouse Row,

a street lined with bathhouses and spas.

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This is Lamar Bathhouse.

Built in 1923, it was unique in offering

different tub lengths for people of different heights.

Further down is Morris Bathhouse, built in 1912.

It was once considered Hot Springs

most hygienic technologically advanced bathhouse.

Next door is the Fordyce,

and the Quapaw Bathhouse.

With its blue awnings, the Buckstaff Bathhouse,

completed in 1912,

is the only spa on the row still in active use.

Treatments range from mineral baths

to Swedish body massages.

Hot Springs is headquarters for the nearby

Ouachita National Forest.

Designated in 1907, this is the oldest

official national forest in the southern United States.

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The forest is over 7,200 square kilometers.

Its name, Ouachita, is a French corruption

of the Native American word for good hunting grounds.

With its vast scale and rugged terrain,

much of this area is accessible only by air

at small airfields like this one

where we are due to meet another form of transport.

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America is still a country where the car is king,

and today this 1930 Chevrolet

is a reminder of how automobiles

transformed the country in the 20th Century.

Although petrol cars have existed since the mid 1880s,

it was the American, Henry Ford, who made them affordable.

With the release of his Model T in 1908,

Ford put car ownership within reach

of millions of working people.

The car went on to define America.

In the 1930s, as part of the New Deal

to rescue America from the Great Depression,

President Roosevelt crisscrossed the country

with thousands of miles of road.

Motels, or motor hotels, became an American icon,

and the food of roadside diners,

burgers, fries, and milkshakes,

became the classic American fare.

Today, America has the highest car ownership in the world

with over seven cars for every 10 citizens.

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This is the mighty Arkansas River.

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A tributary of the Mississippi,

it is the sixth longest river in the United States,

flowing for 2,300 kilometers from the Rocky Mountains.

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On the river is the extraordinary Dardanelle Lock & Dam.

Built in 1960 by The Army Corps of Engineers,

the dam is a vital part of the areas flood defenses.

The lock allows the transport

of large barges and small ships,

and the dam is a source of hydroelectric power.

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Close at hand, is another source of power,

the Arkansas Nuclear One Power Plant.

Built between 1974 and 1980,

the plant provides electricity

to 25% of the state's population.

Spread over four square kilometers,

the sight was selected for the availability of water

and local transport lakes.

Regrettably, over the years,

the Arkansas Nuclear One Power Plant

has suffered a number of serious accidents.

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We continue north, reaching Johnson County,

and the magnificent Ozark National Forest.

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Created in 1908 by President Theodore Roosevelt,

the forest occupies over 4,800 square kilometers

of Northern Arkansas.

It's home to more than 500 species of tree.

The majority are hardwoods, particularly oak and hickory.

For the Native Americans,

this was an important hunting ground,

and traces of their presence are still visible

in the many rock paintings in caves around Ozark.

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When France claimed the region in the 17th Century,

it was explored by French hunters and fur trappers,

and it's thought that the name, Ozark,

is an abbreviation of the French for of Arkansas.

Today, the rugged Ozark National Forest

is a destination for adventurist travelers,

with trails for horseback riding,

mountain biking, and all-terrain vehicles.

Visitors can also go canoeing, rock-climbing, and caving.

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Agriculture is one of Arkansas's largest industries,

contributing around $16 billion a year

to the state's economy.

The average size farm is about 300 acres,

and there are nearly 50,000 of them,

and almost all are family owned.

And it's on farmland, roughly 300 square kilometers,

that the U.S. Army built an enormous camp, Fort Chaffee.

Established in 1941,

the fort was a training camp for American soldiers

awaiting deployment during World War II.

It later became a facility for German prisoners of war,

and after the war, home of the 5th Armored Division.

In 1975, it served as a center for Vietnamese refugees,

and in 1980, refugees from Cuba.

Though still in use today,

much of the land is being redeveloped.

The fort's most famous recruit arrived in 1958,

the most celebrated entertainer of his day, Elvis Presley.

Elvis had been drafted for service,

and had chosen to become a regular soldier.

It was here in Fort Chaffee building 803,

that Elvis got his first military haircut,

a regulation buzz cut.

A photograph was printed in major international newspapers,

and it was dubbed, the haircut heard around the world.

Today, tourists can visit the spot

where an icon was shorn, and a soldier born.

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Nearby, on the shores of the Arkansas River,

is the city of Fort Smith.

Fort Smith began in 1817 as a military post

on the frontier of the Wild West.

It was known as Hell on the Border.

Today it has grown to be

the second largest city in Arkansas.

Its frontier past though is still visible,

particularly here at Miss Laura's Social Club,

a former bordello.

Built as a hotel,

the building was converted in 1903

into a brothel by a madam called Laura.

It fell derelict in the 1950s and was almost demolished

until in 1973 it became the only former bordello

to be listed in the United States

National Register of Historic Places.

Today it has been restored as a visitor center.

Other tourist sights in Fort Smith

include the Trolley Museum

with its collection of vintage trains,

and the Nickel & Dime Diner,

and the Fort Smith National Historic Site.

Established in 1961, this site preserves the remnants

of the city's frontier past.

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It has a reconstruction of the gallows

used to execute outlaws and criminals.

It was here that the famous hanging judge of the Old West,

Isaac Parker, sentenced 160 people to death,

more than any other federal judge in American history.

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His original courthouse and jail

now serves as Fort Smith's Museum and Visitor's Center,

making this a place where rough justice

began to tame the American frontier,

where the Old West meets the new south.

The perfect place to end this journey.

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