All language subtitles for Butterfly.Effect.S02E03_English

- [Narrator] Texas,
December 19, 2017.

Tuco Benedicto
Ramirez has just been

elected president of Mexico.

Emerging victorious from an
unprecedented electoral
battle.

He is finally free to
launch his flagship project,

build a great wall to
protect his country

from American illegals.

Since the discovery
of gold in California

at the end of the 19th century,

Mexico has become the richest

and most powerful
country in the world.

For millions of Americans
in search of a better life,

the border city of
Dallas has become

the entry point into El Dorado.

Dodging the Mexican
surveillance patrols,

people smugglers charge
sky-high
prices for their services.

For the newly elected president,

it's high time to
put a stop to it.

But none of this ever happened.

In 1848, a tiny grain of sand

would decide the
fate of California

and tip the balance
in America's favor.

Our history is no more than a
series of incredible events.

Every one of us can
influence its course.

(mid-tempo riveting music)

The most infinitesimal
of our decisions

can influence the
future of humanity.

To know the past is
to foresee the future.

1846, the American congress
votes the annexation of Texas.

The United States declares war

on the neighboring
state, Mexico.

January 24, 1848, at the foot
of the Californian Mountain,

James Marshall discovers gold
nuggets of the American River.

On February 2, 1848,
California officially becomes

a territory of
the United States.

These three intimately
connected events

are the key moments
of the Gold Rush.

They will decide the
future of California

and of the United States.

16th century, somewhere
off the west coast

of the North American continent,

Francisco de Ulloa,

and explorer for
the Spanish crown,

observes this vast territory
stretching out before him.

He has just provided the proof

that this is not an
island, but a peninsula.

Who knows?

Those mountains could well
conceal rich and fertile
lands,

and maybe even El Dorado.

But for the moment,

the only thing known
about this region

is its name, California.

Ever since the arrival
of Christopher Columbus

in the Caribbean in 1492,

the conquistadors of
the kings of Spain

have sailed to conquer
the American continent.

Braving the unknown,

attacking the mighty
pre-Columbian empires,

they have carved out an empire

with the points of their rapiers

and the fire from their muskets.

But the glory of
the Spanish kingdom

was not their only motivation.

The conquistadors were
thirsty, thirsty for gold.

Feeding off the
myth of El Dorado,

many of them ended up
bristled with poisoned arrows

on the banks of the Amazon

or the rocky slopes of
the Andes Cordillera.

For centuries, the Spanish
explore again and again.

That is how they will
discover California.

In the 19th century,

Spanish California is
a far vaster territory

than the current America state.

It covers the north of
the Mexican peninsula,

but also Nevada, Arizona,
Utah, and Colorado.

A mountainous region,

it stretches from the
Rockies to the Pacific Ocean.

But in 1810, the
Mexico colony rebels

against the Spanish crown.

10 years later, it
gains its independence.

California is a part
of this new state.

Far from the major cities,

it is home mainly to large
land owners, the Californios.

Raising cattle, they
cohabit peacefully

with the Indian tribes.

The province doesn't seem
to interest many people.

- [Narrator] Welcome to
the memory of humanity.

Here, we can control
time, analyze, and compare

billions of events
and alter them

to rewrite history endlessly.

All the events in our history,

however minute they might be,

are memorized and
interconnected.

It only requires
one to be changed

for all the others to
be shaken to the core.

For example, let's
go back 15,000 years.

At this period, around
5,000,000 people

inhabit the earth, mainly
in Africa and Asia.

The America continent is
entirely empty of human life.

The earth then
undergoes an ice age.

Waters are trapped
in huge glaciers.

The sea level falls.

In the north, the
Bering Straight is dry.

The first migrants
use it to walk across.

For the first time
in their history,

men set foot on the
soil of America.

These nomadic Asiatic
tribes were moved

to follow the venison they hunt.

Progressively, they will
colonize the entire
continent,

and establish great societies,

such as that of the
Olmec and the Maya.

When Christopher Columbus
discovers the continent,

he believes he's reached Asia.

In error, he calls the
inhabitants Indians.

Which is partially true,

their distant
ancestors did, in fact,

come from that region.

Let's continue.

- [Narrator]
California, now Mexican,

doesn't appear to
interest many people.

And yet, on April 25th,

on the Rio Grande, an
American calvary patrol

intrudes onto Mexican land.

For several months,
relations between

the two countries
have been strained.

The least clash could set
the powder keg alight.

At the beginning of
the 19th century,

the young United States
is still a small country.

Nothing in comparison to
the one we know today.

Wedged in between the
Atlantic to the East,

Canada to the north,
French Louisiana,

and California to the west,

the Americans very soon
implement a policy of
expansion.

War, colonization,
buying territories.

In 1803, they doubled
their land surface

with the purchase of
Louisiana from France.

A few years later, the annex
Florida, then Texas and Oregon.

These huge territories
hold a promise,

a promise of rich and
generous land, still virgin,

and just asking to be
discovered and exploited.

The west in the
minds of Americans,

rapidly becomes the wild west.

An idea emerges,
that of a frontier,

separating the civilized
world from the savage world.

This frontier will constantly
be pushed back ever further.

This is the conquest of
the American frontier.

Very quickly, a conviction
grips the United States.

Conquering these
vast territories,

is their manifest destiny.

In the early 1840s,
thousands of settlers

will set out on a
formidable human adventure.

Aboard their heavy wagons,
whole families will leave

everything behind
them to set out

upon the assault of
the great plains.

Traveling thousands of miles,
subject to foul weather

and attacks from bandits,

these pioneers will forge
the American spirit.

Americans of course,
but also Irish,

German, French, or
even Chinese will shape

the multi ethnic face
of the United States.

Gradually, they
reached the west coast,

and the Mexican
territory of California.

Confrontation between the
former Spanish colony,

and the young American
nation is inevitable.

The Mexican American war
of 1846 is very short.

Mexico is quickly forced into
seeding half of its territory.

California becomes
an American territory

on February second, 1848.

But history has an irony of
fate in store for Mexico.

A few days earlier in the
heart of the Sierra Nevada,

at a place called Sutter's Mill,

a man has just made a discovery.

While out inspecting the
progress of work on a saw
mill,

James Marshall notices
some shiny flecks

on the bed of the stream, in
barely six inches of water.

He picks up several
of them at random.

- [Narrator] We have just
reached a turning point.

A turning point is a key event
across roads in our history,

where the world swings
one way or the other.

In almost simultaneous fashion,

California becomes
American, and they discover

one of the largest
deposits of gold ever seen.

What would have happened
if James Marshall

had made his discovery
several days,

or several weeks earlier?

The news would soon
have reached the ears

of the Mexican government,
which would probably

have refused to abandon
this new El Dorado.

The war could have
lasted for months,

and ended with an
American defeat.

California would then have
remained a Mexican territory.

Today, California
has become the sixth

richest state in the world.

If it were Mexican,
the balance of power

on the world chess board
would be totally reversed.

We can imagine the
construction of a great wall

along the Mexican
American border

to prevent American illegals
from sneaking onto the soil

of the most powerful country
in the world, Mexico.

- [James] Gold, Gold, there's
gold in them there hills!

- [Narrator] At once,
workers at Sutter's Mill

abandoned their posts
and go looking for gold.

It's first come, first serve.

They try to keep the
information secret,

but the rumor spreads
like wildfire.

On March 15th, the newspaper
The Californian carries

the headline that large
quantities of gold

have been discovered
at Sutter's Mill.

Samuel Brannan, a businessman
gets wind of the information.

He rushes to acquire
the maximum of land

on the site of the discovery.

He knows that the money
will soon be flowing in.

On May 12th, holding a bottle

of gold dust in his hand,
he announces the news

to the neighboring
city of San Francisco,

which is soon emptied
of its population.

California has only just been
associated with United States.

It has no authority
yet, no law, no army.

For the moment, the
gold is out of control.

It belongs to
whoever can grab it.

The first to arrive
hit the jackpot.

We even see one man take our
50 pounds of gold in a week.

You just need to bend
down and turn over

a few rocks on a riverbed to
fill your hat with nuggets.

Brannan's announcement
creates a sensation.

All activity in
California not related

to prospecting for gold, ceases.

From schools to carpenter
shops, it's all abandoned,

except for the manufacture
of picks and shovels.

There are soon 6,000
Americans, Californios,

and Indians panning
the riverbeds

in search of the
precious nuggets.

Makeshift camps soon
become villages.

On August 19th the New York
Herald publishes the news.

In December, the president

of the United States
himself confirms it.

The real rush begins.

By 1849, the whole
world is aware.

From all over the United States,

but also from South
America, Europe and China,

thousands of people
leave their homes

to try their luck and
become gold prospectors.

The journey itself
is an adventure.

By land from the east
coast of the United States,

you have to cross the 2,000
miles of the great plains

and the Rockies
in covered wagons.

By boat, you have to brave
the fury of Cape Horn,

or hack through the jungle
on the Panama Isthmus.

Once anchor is dropped
in San Francisco harbor,

the sailers desert to
become gold prospectors.

Even the sails are
recycled into tents.

The region soon turns into
a huge construction lot.

Everywhere they're
panning, digging,

turning over,
crushing and raking.

For hours on end, standing
in freezing water,

they shovel tons of mud to
extract a few ounces of gold.

Millions of dollars are
ripped
out of the mountainsides,

in the form of flecks,
dusts, or nuggets,

73 tons of gold are extracted
in less than two years.

There's not one square
foot of ground that isn't

turned over and inspected,
even several times in a row.

The area swarms with
hundreds of thousands

of prospectors of every type.

From the American farmer
of the great plains,

to the Californio
cattle breeder.

From the Amerindian trapper,

to the impoverished
German doctor.

From the Chinese cook, to
the French wine grower,

all have abandoned
their former lives

in the hope of a better future.

They've all caught gold fever.

- [Narrator] What
is rare is precious.

Over thousands of years,
gold appears to have

fascinated human beings.

Whether a bargaining chip,
or an offering to the gods,

the yellow metal has always
been the object of greed,

in both west and east alike.

Why?

Unchanging,
incorruptible, dense,

easy to work, an
electrical conductor.

Gold is a metal with
extraordinary properties.

It's as equally suited to
the creation of jewelry,

as to the manufacture of
electronic components.

Its other advantage
is that it is rare,

difficult to obtain,
and everybody agrees

in saying that it's precious.

So, it can be used as currency.

For a long time, national
currencies were indexed to
gold,

which means that
they only had value

if the states that
issued them possessed

the equivalent in gold reserves.

Even today in the age of
virtual money and speculation,

states still cling jealously
to their stock of gold.

In case of a financial crisis,

gold remains a safe investment.

- [Narrator] Hiram
Pierce was a blacksmith.

In 1849, he was living modestly

with his wife and
seven children.

To improve life for his family,

he decided to try his
luck in California.

A year later, suffering
from scurvy and fatigue,

he realizes the reality.

He came too late.

The man who thought
he could send money

to his family regularly,
finds himself piling up
debts.

He will return home,
ruined, and worn out.

His story is far from
being an isolated case.

For gold, like any resource,
is not inexhaustible.

If the first to arrive
only had to bend down,

the more time passed, the
deeper you needed to dig

to find a mere few crumbs.

Wild stories of success give way

to real stories of bankruptcy.

Disappointment and
frustration exacerbate

the lowest instincts of men
who
are weary and far from home.

Alcoholism, theft,
racism, murder.

Faced with the flood
of new arrivals,

and the seam running out,

the prospectors grouped
together by nationality.

Very quickly, the American
consider that the foreigners

are stealing their gold.

Raids and intimidation
force the Californios

and the Amerindians to
abandon their concessions.

Weapons normally used for
protection against wild
animals

now become the means
to settle scores.

Subject to harsh
living conditions,

the men find a little comfort
in alcohol at the saloons.

In San Francisco,
there are 137 saloons

against a mere 12 churches.

With a population that is 97%
men, prostitution explodes.

A prostitute can make as much as

five times the
earnings of a miner.

To survive, the prospectors form

themselves into
mining companies.

In numbers, they can divert
rivers and dig even deeper.

A lot of money is
invested, often in vain.

The California Gold Rush
lasts for eight years.

Of the 300,000 prospectors,
only a few thousand appear

to have covered their expenses.

And yet, more than $600,000,000
in gold was gathered.

So where did this money go?

As they said at the time,
gold digging is for idiots.

Levi Strauss made a fortune by
selling his sale cloth pants.

Brannan made as much as
$2,000,000 current dollars

per month from his businesses.

The big winners of the
Gold Rush are not those

who swung the picks, but above
all, the men who sold them.

- [Narrator] Mushroom towns.

In 1848, San Francisco
is a tiny coastal town

of barely 850 residents.

The following year,
it numbers 20,000.

To house the new arrivals,
makeshift lodgings

are hastily constructed.

Sometimes using parts of the
ships deserted by their crews.

Other towns see
spectacular growth.

They call them, mushroom towns.

In the beginning, they
looked like refugee camps.

In our day, they would
be the shanty towns

on the outskirts of
certain major cities,

like Deli and Johannesburg.

A poor population living
in a mish mash of dwellings

built of whatever is to hand,

and fueled by a
subsistence black market

that operates outside the law.

A far cry from the
American dream.

- [Narrator] Before 1848,

California was a distant
Mexican province.

Less than 10 years later, it
has become one of the richest

states of the United States,
and its gold provides

massive finances for the union
forces during the civil war.

Thanks to the Gold Rush,
its population explodes,

its villages become cities.

Small concessions give way
to large mining businesses.

To make crossing the
continent faster,

they begin construction
of a railroad line

linking east to west.

It's the Transcontinental.

The invention of
repeater weapons means

they can slaughter ever more
bisons to feed the workers.

The wild west is tamed
with picks and revolvers.

Nature is seen as a resource.

The territory's as virgin...

But the problem, is
that they're not.

When the Europeans arrive,

the North American
territory has a population

of 7,000,000 Amerindians
divided
into 350 different tribes.

After the early
peaceful contacts,

relations between the
peoples rapidly deteriorate.

In California, during
the 20 years following

the discovery of gold, 4/5
of the Amerindian population

are massacred or die of disease.

And this is only the beginning.

December 29th, 1890,
Wounded Knee camp.

A few years earlier,
gold was discovered here,

in the black hills,
right in the middle

of sacred Indian territory.

Gold prospectors
rapidly flooded in.

War was inevitable.

Today, surrounded by a large
number of American soldiers,

the last resistors are
handing over their weapons.

- [Man] Kill them all!

- [Narrator] The
massacre at Wounded Knee

is the last act in a tragedy.

The near annihilation
of the Native Americans.

But that is another story.

- [Narrator] Gold forms in
the heart of dying stars.

When they explode,
they scatter the gold

into the immensity of space.

A tiny part falls
upon the earth.

In 2010 it is estimated
that 173,000 tons of gold

has already been extracted.

Exploitable reserves are
estimated at 51,000 tons.

At the current
rate of extraction,

these will be totally
exhausted within 16 years.

The California Gold Rush
is one of the key moments

in the building of
the United States.

A formidable human adventure,
it was also one of the drivers

of the near disappearance
of the local Indian tribes.

During eight years
of gold fever,

hundreds of thousands
of prospectors

ended up poorer than when
they set out on the adventure.

Dreams were shattered,
families destroyed.

But California still embodies
the American dream today.

Because after enduring
war, colonization,

and the massacres
of populations,

California, in 2017 is
modern, multiethnic,

and one of the most tolerant
of the United States.

From Silicon Valley,
to Hollywood,

it is a beacon to the world.

A wild land that
became the world's

sixth most powerful economy.

A place where
anything is possible.

(adventurous music)