All language subtitles for Mysteries.of.the.Abandoned.S03E06.City.of.the.Damned.1080p.DISC.WEB-DL.AAC2.0.H.264-DoGSO_track3_[eng]

*

Narrator:
A destroyed village pockmarked

And scarred that
Remembers its dead.

Meigs: you see a war zone kind
Of frozen in amber.

*

Narrator:
A ghostly fleet of ships

Lost in the wilderness
Heading towards destruction.

Bell: there's something really
Quite spooky about it.

Narrator:
And a bridge to nowhere

Hidden in the forest
That met a grizzly end.

Hidden in the forest
That met a grizzly end.

Agrawal:
It has this otherworldly
Quality to it

And it doesn't really feel
Like it should be in our world.

*

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?

And how,
And why were they abandoned?

*

*

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

Captions paid for by
Discovery communications

Among the arid plains
Of northern spain,

165 miles from its capital,
Madrid, lies a ghost town.

165 miles from its capital,
Madrid, lies a ghost town.

*

The town has a strange,
Savage beauty.

Everywhere are the ruins
Of hollowed-out buildings

With rubble piled up
In the empty streets.

The story goes that if
You listen hard enough

You can hear voices
From the past.

You see the ruins of a
City that clearly suffered

You see the ruins of a
City that clearly suffered

Some kind of a disaster,
Was it an earthquake?

You know what it some
Kind of rushed evacuation?

What knocked down
These buildings

And why were they never rebuilt?

Its name is belchite.

What's even stranger is
That there's another town

With the same name
Right next to it.

Why are these two
Towns side by side?

And what has happened
To cause such

Devastation to one of them?

Devastation to one of them?

Meigs: and then you look closer
And you see something odd

About some of these ruins --
They're not just eroded

By weather and gravity,
They're chipped away.

Look closer and you
Can see bullet holes,

Damage from mortar fire.

This is a unique form
Of erosion.

This is the erosion of war.

Narrator:
Which army was responsible

For pulverizing this town
And why was it never rebuilt?

*

*

[ mortar blasts ]

The answer lies
In a bloody civil war

That ripped spain apart
In the last century.

In 1936, spain was
A deeply divided country

That was politically torn
Between extreme right and left,

The fascists and anti-fascists.

Meigs: the spanish civil war
Started as a conflict

Within spain itself, you had
A very left-wing government

Within spain itself, you had
A very left-wing government

And then right-wing forces
In the military basically

Staged a coup against their
Own elected government.

Bell: by the following year,
These right-wing nationalist

Forces under general franco were

Controlling a large
Part of spain.

Narrator:
In an attempt to slow down
Their advance

Anti-fascists forces decided
To attack zaragoza

In august, 1937.

The city was the
Regional capital

The city was the
Regional capital

And communication center
For the aragon front.

Zaragoza itself isn't so
Strategically important,

But it was an
Important enough city

That it would have been a real
Blow to nationalist morale.

Narrator: on the way to
Zaragoza was belchite.

The original plan was
To bypass the village,

But that wasn't what happened.

Instead, the anti-fascist
Forces attacked.

Instead, the anti-fascist
Forces attacked.

Corum: so here you have belchite
With a few thousand

Not elite spanish
Nationalist troops

But they're supplied well
Enough, armed well enough

That they turn the town
Into a small fortress.

Instead of going
Straight for zaragoza,

Which they could have
Taken, they get bogged down

In this village of 3800 people.

Narrator: who were the men who
Fought to take belchite?

Narrator: who were the men who
Fought to take belchite?

And what was their connection to

A fighting unit
From the united states?

When the world learned
That franco and his fascist

Compatriots were trying to
Overthrow the elected government

Of spain, there was
Really a lot of outrage,

And a lot people wanted to come

And help this beleaguered
Government.

And so a lot
Of people from the west came

To volunteer and assist.

Narrator: around 3000
Of those anti-fascist volunteers

Narrator: around 3000
Of those anti-fascist volunteers

Were from the u.S.

They formed the
Abraham lincoln brigade

And made their way to belchite.

Corum: by belchite, the abraham
Lincoln battalion

Has been through a couple
Of major campaigns.

They are really veterans.

They're first rate
Troops at this time.

They weren't when they started,

But at this point they
Have learned on the job,

And they're pretty
Effective soldiers.

And they're pretty
Effective soldiers.

Narrator: but if they were such
Effective soldiers,

Why is there so little
Left of the town?

Juan simon, a tour guide
In the old town,

Explains how the american
And other anti-fascist troops

Attacked the town.

[ mortars blast ]

The civilians who
Were unable to escape

Hid in the cellars
As the battle raged above them.

The town was
Essentially under siege.

They were cut off
From the outside, food, water,

It was really quite a
Brutal way to take a city

Without much concern
For the lives

Or the welfare of the civilians
Who were trapped inside.

Or the welfare of the civilians
Who were trapped inside.

Narrator: but the fascist forces
Had a strategic advantage.

From the top of this tower,
Now battered by shellfire,

They had a clear line of fire

On to the anti-fascist
Troops below.

Once the anti-fascist
Troops had taken

Out the machine gun,
The abraham lincoln

Battalion was able
To force its way

In through the church
Of st. Augustine.

*

The anti-fascist forces may have
Entered belchite,

But would they succeed
In taking over the town?

*

*

Narrator:
In 1937, during the spanish
Civil war,

Anti-fascist forces have broken
Through into belchite.

These are really the
Worst kinds of battles.

It's up close and it's personal.

The noise, the explosions,
You're going building

To building, and that means
Throwing hand grenades,

That means demolishing things,

That means setting
Fire to buildings,

To actually,
Literally burn your enemy out.

To actually,
Literally burn your enemy out.

It's a high-casualty
Form of warfare.

*

Narrator:
After two weeks of intense

And bloody conflict,
The american

And other anti-fascist forces
Took control of the town.

Meigs: it was very bloody,
Very devastating

To the local population.

When ernest hemingway,
Who was covering

When ernest hemingway,
Who was covering

The spanish civil war
For american newspapers,

When he arrived
In belchite, he said

The city was less a town
Than a bad smell.

Narrator: bodies from both sides
Piled up in the streets

And decayed in the
Blistering summer sun.

In total, 3,000 people died,
But was it worth the bloodshed?

Corum: abraham lincoln
Battalion talked of this

As one of their toughest fights
In the war,

As one of their toughest fights
In the war,

And they aren't sure
Why their elite brigade

Was diverted to
A house to house battle.

But somehow it happened.

It was really one of the
Big screw ups of the war,

Is the offensive, they
Gained a little territory

And literally accomplished
No strategic effect at all.

Narrator: six months later,
The tables were turned

When the fascist forces
Took back belchite.

When the fascist forces
Took back belchite.

But why was it never rebuilt?

Meigs: franco didn't want
Belchite to be restored

Because he knew it
Had propaganda value.

This was of the great battles
That the nationalists lost.

You would think
That you would want

To celebrate your victories,
But no.

If you're a dictator,
And you can point

To a horrific disaster where
Many civilians lost their lives,

Then you can stand up and stay,

If it weren't for me,
This would keep happening.

If it weren't for me,
This would keep happening.

*

Franco wouldn't let the local
Population rebuild the city,

But eventually they
Decided that they

Just needed to build
A new town next door.

*

Narrator: today, the town stands
As a memorial

To the thousands who lost
Their lives here,

And a stark reminder
Of the particular brutality

Of civil war.

Of civil war.

*

When you see belchite today,
You see a war zone,

Kind of frozen in amber.

You see the effects,
You see the bullet holes,

You see where
The mortar shells fell,

And you see the tragedy
Of war, and how so often,

Wars aren't just fought
Between armies,

They're often fought
Between armies

With civilians
Caught in the middle,

And that's what happened here.

That's what makes
It so heartbreaking.

That's what makes
It so heartbreaking.

*

Narrator:
On the western coast of canada,

In powell river, a small
Town a 105 miles from vancouver

Is an astonishing site.

*

Ships that stretch across
The water, one connected

To the other, listing gently
Towards the shore.

*

Bell: it looks like a
Decaying ghost fleet

Bell: it looks like a
Decaying ghost fleet

With their crews
Mysteriously missing.

There's something really
Quite spooky about it.

Selwood:
They're covered in barnacles,
And moss, and seaweed,

It almost as if nature is
Claiming them back again.

Narrator: heavy rusted chains
Extend across their decks,

Their crews long since vanished,
But still they hint

At secrets yet to be revealed.

At secrets yet to be revealed.

Dennston:
People think there's still
Treasure somewhere deep inside

And if they can just get in
There and see what's there,

Maybe they'll find something
Really interesting.

Narrator:
It's hard to tell how old
These ships are

Or where they're from,

But there's one thing
They all have in common.

Selwood: the really unusual
Thing about these boats

Is that unlike most
They're not made of steel.

These ones are made of concrete.

These ones are made of concrete.

Dennston:
They've definitely inspired a
Sense of mystery growing up.

You start to wonder,
Like, what are these things?

Where did they come from?

What is their story?

Narrator:
And how are they connected

To one of the
Deadliest weapons ever?

*

The answer lies in
The desperate days

Towards the end of
The first world war.

The u.S. Navy urgently
Needed to expand its fleet

The u.S. Navy urgently
Needed to expand its fleet

But was running out
Of raw materials

And had to find
Another solution.

They come up with the idea,
Let's try concrete.

Well the problem with most
Concretes is they're too heavy.

Now, they had to develop,
And they succeeded

In developing a new
Type of concrete

That was light but still very,
Very strong.

That was light but still very,
Very strong.

Selwood: during world war I,
They were a go-to option

Because they didn't take up
The important raw materials

Like steel that were
Needed for the war effort

And they could be made cheaply

And much more functionally
Out of concrete,

And concrete, of course,
Does float.

*

These ships so impressed
The u.S. Government

That they ordered 24 of them.

*

Corum: and they're completed
Just as the war ends.

Corum: and they're completed
Just as the war ends.

But they're put into service and

They actually
Worked pretty well.

Once you've made
A concrete ship,

It is actually quite
A long-lasting thing.

Concrete, unlike steel,
Doesn't get metal fatigue,

Doesn't wear out,
It doesn't rust.

So, potentially, you have a very
Easy-to-maintain kind of ship.

*

*

Narrator: in fact, these ships
Were so effective

That when there was a shortage
Of steel during

The second world war,
Naval architects,

Once again, turned to concrete.

All of them had a very similar
Purpose which was mainly

To access freight ships
And for storage

Because they're very good
At holding large amounts

Of material and keeping it dry.

*

Narrator:
But what are 10 cargo ships

From two world wars doing
Here in british columbia?

From two world wars doing
Here in british columbia?

This ghostly fleet that
The local's call the hulks.

Around the beginning of the
Last century, paper mills sprung

Up all along the coast,
Including here at powell river.

Bell: the logs used to make the
Paper were transported

To the mill by water and then
Unloaded into a log pond.

It had to be big enough
To store the logs

It had to be big enough
To store the logs

And be protected
From the elements

To keep it safe for the workers.

The only problem
Here is it's exposed

To severe winds from both
The north and the south

And they needed to find a way
To shelter the log pond.

Narrator:
So the mill owners decided

To build a breakwater,
A barrier built into the sea

To protect the log pond
From the force of the waves,

As mechanical engineer,
Matthew denniston, explains.

As mechanical engineer,
Matthew denniston, explains.

Dennston:
So typically a breakwater
Structure would be made

Of large rocks
Dumped in big piles,

And they would build
Up from the sea floor

To make that protection,
Where in our case,

It's far too deep to make
This type of breakwater.

So I think the light
Bulb just came on,

Hey, why not
Use ships instead?

Steel being in saltwater
In the ocean

Deteriorates very quickly
If it's not protected

And we found that, we would
Have a steel ship that would

Come in and it would
Maybe last 20 years before

Come in and it would
Maybe last 20 years before

It had to be decommissioned,
Where these concrete ships

Were already 40 years old
Coming in to replace them

And have still lasted
Another 50-plus years.

*

Narrator: in 1948, the first
Concrete ships arrived

In powell river.

But how effective would they be

At protecting from the elements?

Bell: the ships were anchored
Down and chained together

To form a sort
Of artificial reef.

To form a sort
Of artificial reef.

To help them withstand the
Elements, they were weighed down

With gravel,
And they list to one side

So their decks are angled
Towards the shore.

Selwood: they're actually much
Heavier than ordinary ships.

They're much more
Effective in keeping

The water and the weather
At bay.

*

Narrator:
But if the concrete ships

Make such an
Effective breakwater,

Why are there now plans
To get rid of them?

Why are there now plans
To get rid of them?

*

*

Narrator:
Off the coast of british
Columbia is a fleet

Of 10 concrete ships, chained
Together to form a breakwater.

One of the ships is the quartz
And it has a hidden past.

Dennston:
So one of the most unique
Things about this ship is that

It was actually a part of some
Of the first nuclear testing

That the u.S. Military did
On bikini atoll, and this

That the u.S. Military did
On bikini atoll, and this

Ship specifically was part
Of the nuclear test, baker.

[ bomb explodes ]

Narrator:
The bomb propelled a dome

Of water about a mile
Wide into the sky.

It created a wall of radioactive
Mist that contaminated many

Of the surrounding ships,
Including the quartz.

Corum: they were simply there
To see the effect

Of the nuclear blast on ships.

So, you know they had ships
Of every type and description

So, you know they had ships
Of every type and description

At bikini atoll and they wanted

To get radioactivity readings,

They also wanted to see the
Blast effect that different

Nuclear weapons would
Have at different ranges.

*

Narrator: 10 years later and
Radiation-free, she arrived

At powell river to join
The other concrete ships.

Dennston: the service life was
Supposed to be only 15 years

Dennston: the service life was
Supposed to be only 15 years

When in reality here
We are 75 years later

And they're still
Holding strong.

*

Narrator: so why are there
Now plans to sink some of them?

*

Today the paper mill no longer
Needs such a large log pond.

Selwood:
The plans now are to sink
Some or most of the ships

And allow them to become
A natural reef, bringing

To life again the underwater
Maritime colony and community.

To life again the underwater
Maritime colony and community.

The ships are an extraordinary
Story of creation

And technology.

They were borne out
Of desperation,

Out of a need to find a way to
Build ships with new materials,

And yet when that need was gone,
They found another use here

Acting as a breakwater, and when
Even that role is completed,

They're now gonna
Find another one

Down on the sea bed as reefs.

They really are a testimony
To the creativity and creation

They really are a testimony
To the creativity and creation

Of what could be done
With new materials.

*

Narrator:
Hidden deep within woodland

In southeast germany, 376
Miles from its capital, berlin,

Is a strange and
Unexpected site...

*

A cold and bleak landscape
Disfigured by charred rock.

A cold and bleak landscape
Disfigured by charred rock.

Bell: there's a real
Air of foreboding.

You can tell that
Something bad happened.

Narrator:
It looks entirely natural

Until you see metal spikes
Puncturing the stone.

Agrawal: you're walking along,

And suddenly the floor turns
To concrete

And then you see
An embedded footprint there

And you keep walking,
And then further along

There's another footprint.

There's another footprint.

And immediately you think,
Just what went on here?

Who made these footprints?

And what happened to them?

*

Narrator: the mystery deepens
The further you go.

Rusted, corroded steel and
Badly weathered concrete

Twisted violently out of
Any recognizable shape.

*

Bell: whatever happened here
Would take one heck

Of a force to cause
This much damage.

Of a force to cause
This much damage.

Narrator: and there's more.

Concealed beneath the forest
Floor is a mysterious tunnel.

Nearby are strange depressions

Just visible through the trees.

But what's most sinister is
An arch, a bridge to nowhere.

How is it all connected?

*

Nusbacher: you've got what looks
Like a giant rib of some

Nusbacher: you've got what looks
Like a giant rib of some

Massive dinosaur sticking
Out of the earth.

Agrawal:
There really is something
Fantastical about it.

It has this otherworldly
Quality to it

And it doesn't really feel
Like it should be in our world.

Narrator: who built this arch?

Why did its builders
Die in their thousands?

And what cataclysmic event
Caused its destruction?

*

*

*

The answer lies in the final
Years of the second world war

When the allied bombing campaign
Against germany

Reached its peak.

Corum:
The germans have lost control,
Not only the airspace

Over france and the allied
Landing areas, but they've

Lost control of the airspace
Over their own country.

Narrator: allied bombs are
Decimating german factories

Narrator: allied bombs are
Decimating german factories

And severely disrupting
Their ability to fight.

Corum: so the germans have
To find some way

To defend themselves against
The allied onslaught.

[ bombs explode ]

Narrator: how would the germans

Combat this threat
From the skies?

And how was it connected
To this sinister site?

*

Narrator: in the final years
Of the second world war,

The allies were bombing
Germany's factories to oblivion.

So the nazi war
Machine decided to move

Production of some armaments
To caves.

The problem the germans
Have is that it's really,

Really hard to
Make caves in rock.

Their clever solution is
They're gonna make giant,

Their clever solution is
They're gonna make giant,

Artificial caverns where
There was no cave before.

Narrator:
And this is the result.

Weingut eins, a vast concrete
Structure that the germans

Hoped would allow them to
Keep the war machine running.

But what were they
Going to build here?

And why was its
Construction hidden deep

Within a forest
In southeast germany?

*

*

Local historian, dr. Erhard
Bosch, explains that the site

Had to match a very specific
Set of requirements.

*

Bosch: [ speaking german ]

Translator:
In order to be able to be able
To build concrete buildings,

You need gravel, water, cement,
And steel.

All that was here.

Narrator:
It needed so many resources
Because of its vast size.

Narrator:
It needed so many resources
Because of its vast size.

*

Bell:
This bunker presented all sorts
Of engineering challenges.

It would consist
Of 12 separate arches

That'd be a quarter
Of a mile long.

Each arch would be over
A hundred feet wide.

It's a major
Construction project.

Narrator: a workforce of over
10,000 was allocated,

And construction began in
July, 1944 on the first arch.

And construction began in
July, 1944 on the first arch.

Agrawal:
Building arches is a challenge.

They're very strong shapes
When they're actually finished

But while you're constructing
Them, you have to keep

Them supported in order
To keep it stable.

Narrator: usually you'd use
A timber or steel frame

But the lack of
Resources meant that

The builders had to
Find another solution.

*

Nusbacher: you need as much
Gravel as possible

Because the construction
Method you're gonna use

Because the construction
Method you're gonna use

Requires mountains of gravel.

Agrawal: they could pile up this
Gravel into an immense shape,

This arch shape, and then create

Their concrete arch
On top of that.

Narrator: but how would they
Move those vast mounds

Of gravel from one
Arch to another?

A few hundred feet away,
There's a clue.

Bell: this was an underground
Tunnel with mine carts

On a rail track.

On a rail track.

Once each arch was completed,

The gravel that was
Beneath it was dumped

Down through hatches
Into these waiting carts

Which would then
Take the gravel along

To the next construction site.

Narrator: the pressure was on
To finish the bunker

And start production of a plane

They hoped would change
The course of the war,

The world's first operational,
Jet-powered fighter aircraft,

The m.E. 262, beneath a roof
That was virtually bomb-proof.

The m.E. 262, beneath a roof
That was virtually bomb-proof.

Bosch: [ speaking german ]

Translator: we are here
Underneath the 7th archway.

The foundations to the left
And right go 17 meters deep

And the lean concrete
Layer above us,

It has broken away
In some places.

The first reinforcing
Rods can be seen.

They reinforce 5 meters
Of concrete.

*

Narrator:
When complete, the factory

Would have been
A production line

Would have been
A production line

On a massive scale.

Bosch: [ speaking german ]

Translator: they wanted to dig
Further down from here

And they would've had
Eight factory floors.

When you consider the overall
Area they would've had,

It would've amounted
To a 114,000 square meters

Of manufacturing area.

That's approximately
14 football pitches.

Narrator:
Who built these enormous arches?

And what was their connection
To these deep caverns?

And what was their connection
To these deep caverns?

Hollowed out of the ground,

Just over
One and a half miles away.

Bell: these craters are all
Over this particular area.

And it's hard to tell
Exactly what happened here

To create these holes
Just by looking at them.

But their size and
Their depth are ominous.

*

Narrator:
What were these craters?

And how are they linked
To thousands of deaths

Deep in the german woodland?

Deep in the german woodland?

*

Narrator: in southeast germany,
A huge concrete bunker,

Called weingut eins, had
Become a critical part

Of the war effort.

And slave laborers
From the death camps

Were forced to build it.

These holes were
Where their huts were.

Nusbacher: they had no heat.

They had no toilet facilities,

They had no washing facilities.

They didn't even
Have fresh water.

They didn't even
Have fresh water.

Bosch: [ speaking german ]

Translator:
They didn't have enough to eat.

So you can imagine they
Became emaciated very quickly.

If they did try to escape and
Were caught, they were shot.

Narrator:
Out of 10,000 laborers,
A total of 4,000 died.

*

By the end of april 1945,
Only seven arches

By the end of april 1945,
Only seven arches

Had been completed.

But the allies were already
Sweeping through germany

And the entire site was
Placed under u.S. Military rule.

So why is there now only
One arch left standing?

The twisted steel
And concrete is a clue.

*

Bell:
If there were another world war,

The americans thought they
Might adopt a bunker like this

For their own military
Installations back in the u.S.

But first, they wanted to
See just how strong it was.

But first, they wanted to
See just how strong it was.

So, they decided to blow it up.

Narrator: the u.S. Blew the
Arches up, one by one,

Until they found out
How much explosive power

Each structure could withstand.

Nusbacher:
So all of the cold-war era
Nuclear bunkers

Are based, in their structure,
On tests that were done

In 1947 here at weingut eins.

In 1947 here at weingut eins.

Narrator:
After it was destroyed,
Weingut eins was abandoned.

*

Nusbacher: when I look at the
Ruins of weingut eins,

That terrible
Slave labor project

That was designed to keep
The nazi war machine going,

And I look at its failure,
And I know that when power

Is untrammeled by justice,
It can only go so far

Is untrammeled by justice,
It can only go so far

Before it destroys itself.

*

Narrator:
In a remote forest in maine,

At the northeastern tip
Of the united states,

Is something you don't
Expect to stumble across.

*

Meigs:
You're in this part of maine
That is overgrown with --

Meigs:
You're in this part of maine
That is overgrown with --

With trees and low forest
And it's very scenic.

And then in the middle of it,
You can see the remnants

Of old cables and machinery.

*

Gough: there are two identical
Structures made of metal,

Completely rusted out, with
What appears to be a pipe

Coming out of the back of it.

*

Meigs:
You can see a large, old engine.

Clearly something
Technical and industrial

Used to dominate this space.

Used to dominate this space.

*

Bell: it looks like some mad
Experiment gone wrong.

An eccentric scientist who
Decided to create something

Fantastical in the
Middle of nowhere.

Narrator: but what is it?

And how is it related to these
Two dilapidated locomotives?

Bell: you come across what
Looks like a pulley system

And these rusted and corroded
Pieces of metal which

And these rusted and corroded
Pieces of metal which

Looks like broken
Pieces of track.

*

Narrator: the entire woodland
Is full of mystery.

Normally, tracks
Connect something.

But these just end abruptly.

Are these structures connected?

And if so, how?

And then you have the fact
That it's so remote.

It's deep
In the maine wilderness,

Far from anything,
So the question is,

Far from anything,
So the question is,

What is it, and what
Is it doing here?

*

Narrator:
The answer lies in an industry

That helped to define maine
And make america great

In the 19th and
Early 20th centuries.

The logging industry.

*

Gough: northern maine has 18
Million acres of forest land.

Gough: northern maine has 18
Million acres of forest land.

And at the turn of
The last century,

It was the hub of
The logging industry.

At the time
When timber was king.

*

Narrator:
The country was growing
And it needed more wood.

And the forests
Were being cut down

In industrial quantities
By lumber barons

Who sought to profit from
This insatiable demand.

*

Matthew laroche,
Superintendent of the

Matthew laroche,
Superintendent of the

Allagash wilderness waterway,
Explains how it worked.

The loggers would come up the
River systems cutting pine

And as the pine got depleted,
They would just keep moving

Up the rivers.

*

Meigs: you know, cutting down
The tree is the easy part.

The hard part is
Getting that giant log

Out of wherever it fell and
Into some kind of transportation

System that can get it to the
Sawmill or the paper mill.

System that can get it to the
Sawmill or the paper mill.

Bell: the nearest sawmill was
In bangor, 145 miles away.

The only problem was,
They needed to find a way

To transport all these logs
Between one lake and another,

Across a really
Narrow strip of land.

Narrator:
This isolated stretch of land

Lay between eagle and
Chamberlain lakes.

*

And it was only
About 3,000 feet,

Just a little more
Than half a mile,

But if you were gonna drag
All those logs by oxen,

But if you were gonna drag
All those logs by oxen,

It might as well
Have been 50 miles.

*

Narrator: how would they haul
Thousands of logs

Across this narrow
Strip of land?

And would it work?

*

Narrator:
In northern maine, a narrow
Strip of land was preventing

Lumber barons from transporting
Their logs to market.

So they had to find a
Way of bridging the gap.

And this is what
They came up with.

An ingenious system of rails,
Cable, and iron,

Powered by the
Technology of the day.

It was called
Eagle lake tramway.

It was called
Eagle lake tramway.

*

Gough: essentially, the tramway
Was a small railway

That was pulled by a cable
Loop and powered by steam.

*

Narrator:
But this narrow neck of land

Was in the middle of nowhere.

How would they be able
To transport the parts?

Laroche:
So all the material came
By rail to greenville.

Up moosehead lake
With steamboats.

Up moosehead lake
With steamboats.

And then landed at
Northeast carry,

And from there it was brought
In with horses on sleds,

In the middle of the wintertime.

We're talking about
A 35 mile trip

With sleds and horses to
Get this material in here.

*

Narrator:
It took 12 arduous months
To assemble the tramway.

But would it actually work?

*

Meigs: when they originally
Put this together,

They had to bolt all of
These dollies to the cable,

They had to bolt all of
These dollies to the cable,

And it turned out that,
They tightened the bolts down

All the way, but it wasn't
Quite tight enough,

So everything slipped
And nothing worked.

And they then had to take
Thousands of bolts back out

And it turned out
The threads didn't go

Far enough down the
Bolt so they had to

Get out a filing system
And extend the threads

A little bit, one at a time.

And then put it
All back together.

[ birds chirping ]

Gough: once it was finished,
The workers watched nervously

As the trucks crawled
Along and they noticed

As the trucks crawled
Along and they noticed

It wasn't going as fact
As they had expected.

That was because
There was a bump

Along the path, and once
The logs got over the bump,

The weight of the logs
Helped it pick up steam

The rest of the way.

*

Narrator:
But how effective would it be

At moving thousands
Of logs over land,

Onto mills in bangor and beyond?

Laroche: the tramway ran on
These rails right here.

Laroche: the tramway ran on
These rails right here.

There was a top layer
And a bottom layer.

And these trucks, and
There's one right there,

The logs went onto those
Little pointed things.

The logs would be pulled
On on the eagle lake end

And they would travel
This top layer of rails

All the way to chamberlain
Lake and then roll off

The end of the tramway and
Dump into chamberlain lake

And from there it was
Log drive down to bangor.

*

Narrator: the logs moved at
3 miles per hour,

Powered entirely by steam.

Powered entirely by steam.

*

Laroche: these are the boilers
Which created steam.

Ran through these pipes up here,
Over to this engine,

That would drive this belt.

And the belt drove the
Machinery over here

And these reduction gears
And the big final drive

Over there with the
U-shaped cutouts in it

Was where the
Trucks fit into the,

The cable fit right
Into there and it

Would drove the, drove
The logs over there

And drop them right into
Chamberlain lake over there.

And drop them right into
Chamberlain lake over there.

It was quite an engineering
Marvel for the time.

*

Narrator: the tramway operated
From 1903 to 1909,

Carrying in total 100
Million board feet of timber.

But if it was so effective,
Why did the lumber barons

Abandon it after only six years?

*

Meigs: eventually a small
Railroad was built

That was able to move the logs

In an even more
Convenient fashion.

In an even more
Convenient fashion.

And in fact this was the way
That logging was being done

Across new england at that time.

There were dozens of small
Little rail lines being built

Into all kinds of
Wilderness areas,

For the sole purpose
Of extracting the timber.

Laroche: they did not remove the
Tramway from this location

When they stopped using it.

Primarily because it
Was such a remote area

That they couldn't
Really take it out.

I suppose they didn't
Really know if they

Would use it again,
But they never did.

Once they shut it down,
It never got used again.

Once they shut it down,
It never got used again.

*

Narrator: now, the tramway
Is rusting away.

And gradually being
Reclaimed by nature.

When I come here and I
See people looking at them

And they asking a
Bunch of questions,

How'd they get it here,
What did it do,

When did it work,
How much did it move?

That kinda renews your
Enthusiasm for the site.

Meigs:
When I see this kind of thing,

Meigs:
When I see this kind of thing,

It just makes me think
About the enormous effort,

The sweat, the ingenuity
That went into

These kinds of projects and
Into building the united states.

*