All language subtitles for Mysteries.of.the.Abandoned.S03E04.Underwater.Ghost.Prison.1080p.DISC.WEB-DL.AAC2.0.H.264-DoGSO_track3_[eng]

Narrator: the remains of a
Sinister walled complex

Lost to the freezing waters...

Why was this area flooded?

What did it used to be?

Narrator:
...A forgotten passageway

Leading into the
Depths of a mountain

Baffles anyone
Who may happen by...

This gaping hole
In the rock face

That looks like some kind of
Entrance into the underworld.

Narrator: ...And strange
Military structures

Hidden in
A snow-covered forest...

Hidden in
A snow-covered forest...

Caldwell-evans:
There's something not quite
Right about this structure.

At first sight, you think
You know what it is.

And then when you get closer,
It doesn't quite add up.

*

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 why were they abandoned?

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

Captions paid for by
Discovery communications

*

*

In estonia, an eastern
European country

Formerly occupied
By communist russia,

Is a complex with
A troubled past.

*

*

It's a sprawling,
Guarded compound

Partly immersed in the
Freezing lake next to it.

Gough:
This is such a curious site.

There's this lovely lake.

Only one problem --
There's big concrete structures

In the middle of the lake.

Jerram: what you see is
This weird landscape

Nature's essentially
Kind of taken over.

Nature's essentially
Kind of taken over.

The way they sit there,

There's almost something
Apocalyptic about them.

Narrator: in the depths of the
Lake is a bizarre sight --

Forgotten machinery,
Lengths of barbed wire,

And walls topped
With floodlights.

The building's
Scrawled in graffiti,

Juts imposingly out of the lake,

And a hill that looks
Strangely out of place

In what is otherwise
Very flat terrain.

In what is otherwise
Very flat terrain.

Narrator: sharp veins carved
Out of the steep slope

Lead up to a tree-covered
Ridge high above.

Could they give a clue as
To why these structures

Have been left
To just crumble away?

It was not a place
Anybody wanted to be.

*

Narrator:
The answers are linked

To the decades that followed
The 1940 occupation of estonia

To the decades that followed
The 1940 occupation of estonia

By communist russia.

The soviets were implementing
Huge infrastructure projects

Across their empire,
But this created

A desperate need
For construction materials,

And this partly submerged
Site was vital to the answer.

This is murru prison.

But how was this site linked

To the soviet's search
For construction materials?

When the soviet union
Begins to occupy

When the soviet union
Begins to occupy

The baltic regions and estonia,
In particular,

It gets really
Ugly very quickly.

Anyone who voices
Opposition to the soviets,

More often than not,
They're put into a prison.

This was one of the
Most oppressive prisons

In all of europe.

It was not a place
Anybody wanted to be.

The prisoners lived and
Worked in inhumane conditions

The prisoners lived and
Worked in inhumane conditions

And were treated harshly.

*

Gough: it was a place where you
Were put as punishment,

And the punishment
Was very severe.

Narrator:
But in soviet russia,

Prisons weren't just used
To lock up inmates.

They were brutal places
Of hard labor.

So, what did they need
An army of workers for

So, what did they need
An army of workers for

Here at murru prison?

Gough: this part of estonia
Is really famous

For its limestone quarries
That produce this material

That was really easy to process.

Jerram: pure ones have this
Kind of marble-like quality.

They're very light in color.

They don't have many impurities.

And it means when you want to
Use them for things like cement

And when you want to use them
In the paper industry and so on,

They're the ideal
Type of limestone.

They're the ideal
Type of limestone.

Narrator:
It may not look like much now,

But in 1938, a quarry
Was built here at murru prison.

Its aim was simple -- to dig
For vast amounts of limestone.

And the size of
This strange hill

Is a clear sign that this
Was a huge operation.

In terms of mining,
A slag heap is essentially

The rocks that you don't want,

And so as you process
The rocks and mine them,

And so as you process
The rocks and mine them,

If you've got an area
Which you're collecting

And say 50% of
The rocks are good

And the stuff that you want,
And the rest is really rubbish,

If the mine has a
Long life to it,

These slag piles can be
Almost like small mountains.

*

Narrator: but without giving
The inmates heavy machinery,

How did they get
The limestone out?

Jerram: they'd actually just
Blast the areas with dynamite

And collect the
Limestone accordingly.

And collect the
Limestone accordingly.

The reason why the
Soviets built a prison

Next to this quarry is that

Really you just a need
Sort of brute force

To get the rocks
Into smaller pieces

So you can transport them away.

So, if you can have
A large labor force,

They don't have to be
Particularly that skilled,

That can attack the
Rock mass in terms of

Breaking it down
Into smaller pieces

So you can take it away,
Then that's ideal for you.

Narrator:
Keeping them from escaping,

The site was protected
By security fences

The site was protected
By security fences

Lined with barbed wire.

But as demand increased, they
Soon faced a new complication.

Could this overuse of labor

Have somehow lead to
The site's flooding?

Jerram: as you go further, and
As you potentially go deeper,

Then you might
Encounter some problems.

For example, you might start
To get into ground water,

And this is clearly an issue
That happened at rummu.

Narrator:
As they dug down,

Water would've poured in
Creating dangerous conditions

Water would've poured in
Creating dangerous conditions

And bringing the work
To a grinding halt.

To clear it out, pumps were
Installed in a central building.

Jerram: working the mines
Here would've been

A very physical challenge,

And, clearly,
If you're in an environment

Where it can go
Below zero in winter,

They're constantly
Pumping ground water out,

You're not being fed very much,

This would've been very harsh
Conditions for anyone to work.

This would've been very harsh
Conditions for anyone to work.

The sheer amount of ground water

That's flooded
Back into the mine

Shows you just how
Far they were going

To extract the resource.

Narrator: the site was
Originally constructed

To house just 400 inmates.

But when they struggled
To fulfill their quotas,

The police had a simple solution

To increase the
Number of workers.

The way the soviets coped
With the acute labor shortages

Was by forced
Labor imprisonment,

Was by forced
Labor imprisonment,

Forced labor of things
That nobody wanted to do

Even if you paid them well,
'cause they're difficult,

They're back-breaking,
And they're long, long hours.

No one's gonna sign up for that,
So what do you do?

You make 'em do it.

You put 'em in prison and say,
"This is your job."

*

Whenever they
Needed more workers,

There'd be more arrests
For hooliganism.

Many of the prisoners were
Sentenced for social crimes,

Effectively,
Public-order offenses.

Effectively,
Public-order offenses.

*

Narrator:
According to a c.I.A. Report,

The local area was home
To three labor camps.

Together, they had a combined
Work force of 5,200 prisoners.

Many prisoners died
Because of cruel treatment,

Poor food, and appalling
Working conditions.

Gough:
There were rooms dedicated

Gough:
There were rooms dedicated

To psychic and physical torture,

And if you resisted too much,

They took you into another room

Where they asked
You to kneel down

And put your head
Against the wall,

And they shot you in
The back of the head.

[ gunshot ]

*

Narrator: so, how did this
Reign of terror

Finally come to an end,

And what caused
This site to be lost

Beneath the surface
Of the water?

*

Narrator: in the waters
Beside murru prison,

A former soviet
Forced-labor camp,

Are the remains of
A limestone quarry,

The site where
The inmates once worked

Under brutal conditions.

But how did this place end up
In its watery grave?

When the cold war ended
And russia vacated estonia,

There was no political appetite
Of any kind

There was no political appetite
Of any kind

To maintain what
They had created.

And why would there be?

It was a place of oppression.

It was a place of death.

And so, they just let it go.

Narrator:
As communism withdrew,

Conditions at the
Prison began to improve.

Forced labor was stopped,
The quarry site was closed,

And the pumps were switched off.

If you're excavating below
The level of ground water,

If you're excavating below
The level of ground water,

And you're pumping the
Ground water out to suppress

That ground water
From flooding the mine,

Obviously, the minute
You turn the taps off,

It's gonna start flooding again.

*

Narrator: the rising waters

Swallowed up machinery
And buildings

Before they could be saved,

But the surviving
Section of murru prison

Remained in use
For another 20 years,

Finally being abandoned
For good in 2012.

Finally being abandoned
For good in 2012.

*

Three miles southeast
Of waynesboro, virginia,

In the blue ridge mountains
Is an ominous site.

*

In the depths of the
Forest is a hidden archway

Cut straight into the
Middle of a hillside.

You're faced with this
Gaping hole in the rock face

You're faced with this
Gaping hole in the rock face

That looks like some kind of
Entrance into the underworld.

Once you get inside,
All you can make out

Is this dark passageway

Disappearing off
Into the distance.

Narrator:
Almost a mile away,

Buried far inside the woods,

Is a second entrance
To this underground lair.

Bell: there's something
Pretty spooky about it.

You wouldn't want to go
Wandering off

On your own too far.

Narrator: but deep inside,
A wall blocks the route.

Narrator: but deep inside,
A wall blocks the route.

Did the two sides ever connect?

And what exactly was this
Underground site built for?

The clues are wrapped up in the
History of the united states

As it underwent a
Dramatic transformation

Around 200 years ago.

The east coast
Towns were booming,

But the blue ridge mountains,

Part of the mighty appalachians,

Formed a natural barrier to
The heart of the continent,

Formed a natural barrier to
The heart of the continent,

All but cutting off trade
Links to those central lands.

Jerram: as a mountain range,
They're not particularly big,

But they're made up of
Very, very hard rocks.

There's old metamorphic rocks,

There's granites in there,

And so, any topography like that
Becomes a big, big problem.

Bell:
To travel across the mountains,
You had two choices --

Either along a canal
At a painful four miles an hour

Or in a bone-rattling
Stagecoach.

Or in a bone-rattling
Stagecoach.

Narrator:
To speed up the crossing,

Plans for a new tunnel
System were quickly drawn up,

And in 1850, work started
On this unique design.

That's quite an unusual
Shape to have for a tunnel.

We're used to having quite
Rounded, gradual curves.

It's narrow and high --
16 feet by 21 feet.

Narrator: could its unusual
Shape have been its undoing?

Narrator: could its unusual
Shape have been its undoing?

*

Allen hale is a local expert

On the history
Of this structure.

Initially, the impetus
Was to build canals,

But, ultimately, it was seen

That the best means
Of transportation

As it came towards the
Middle of the 19th century

Were railroads.

Narrator: it was planned to be

A near mile-long
Underground track.

A near mile-long
Underground track.

Masterminded by french
Engineer claudius crozet,

This would become known
As the crozet tunnel.

Jerram: this is a real feat
Of engineering

And they did it by hand,
By sweat, blood, and tears

With only, essentially,

Gunpowder to help them
On the way.

Narrator: but there are
No rail tracks here today,

And walls inside
Block off the tunnel.

So, what happened?

So, what happened?

When you want to build a tunnel

From one side of a
Mountain to another,

You look at the rock types.

Ideally, you want
A soft enough rock

That you can carve into,

But it has to be hard
Enough to maintain a tunnel.

And in the blue ridge mountains
There's a particular problem

Because the rocks
Are quite hard.

You've got granites on one side,

And you've got
Greenstones on another,

This kind of metamorphic
Volcanic rock

That's very, very hard.

Narrator:
How would they cut through
Almost a mile of solid rock?

Narrator:
How would they cut through
Almost a mile of solid rock?

Bell: construction techniques
For tunnels at the time

Were a far cry from what
We've got available today,

So much so that progress went

About one foot a day
Into the mountainside.

*

Hale:
This tunnel was drilled by hand.

You can see remnants
Of these drill holes.

Here's one up on the wall there.

One man swinging a sledgehammer
And another holding a bit,

One man swinging a sledgehammer
And another holding a bit,

Which turned and
Turned and turned.

They would be about
Three feet at the most

And then shot with black powder.

*

Narrator: so, would they ever
Make it through to other side?

Or would the use of black powder
Spell disaster for the project?

*

Narrator: during the 1850s in
Virginia's blue ridge mountains,

Work on a tall rail tunnel
Cutting straight through

Almost a mile of solid rock

Was moving at an
Incredibly slow pace.

In a bid to speed
Up the process,

They used an unstable
Explosive called black powder.

Black powder is
Dangerous because, at best,

It's unpredictable.

It's unpredictable.

Many deaths, many casualties

Would've occurred
Because of that.

Narrator: but this was not
The only danger they faced.

As you tunnel
Through a rock mass,

The nature of that
Rock mass changes,

And where you get faults
Or cracks within the rocks

Or you might get two
Different rock types

Against each other,

You can actually have water
Coming into those gaps.

The worry is that these areas

Where the water's coming
Through are actually weak.

Agrawal: so, what they had to do
Was to shore that up,

Agrawal: so, what they had to do
Was to shore that up,

So they put in a
Thick wall of bricks

To essentially line that
Portion of the tunnel

To ensure that it
Remained safe and stable.

Jerram: the dangers of rock fall
Are paramount.

This is indeed what caused
Many of the injuries

And fatalities during
The excavation of the tunnel.

Narrator: at least 14 men would
Die whilst working here

And many more would be injured.

And many more would be injured.

So, as we delve into
The tunnel here,

You will see that all of
This is through solid rock

And basically nothing has
Changed here from the 1850s

When this was bored
Through the mountain.

Narrator: as one of
The six contending lines

Racing to cut through
To the central states,

This virginia route had to be
Completed quickly.

To double the speed,

They went at it from
Both sides at once.

They went at it from
Both sides at once.

But did the slender
Design of the tunnel

Offer another solution?

Agrawal: the idea was, in these
Very difficult conditions

With the hard material,

To try and maximize
The amount of area of material

That the men were working
On at any one point.

People really doubted crozet

And whether his design
Was actually gonna work,

Whether he could
Really pull this off.

Narrator: the tall shape meant
Two separate crews

Narrator: the tall shape meant
Two separate crews

Could work inside the tunnel.

First, the header crew made
A start on the roof section.

Next, the floorer crew
Cleared away the debris below

To create the lower
Level of the route.

It would help to slash
The construction time.

But as they were digging
From both sides at once,

Would the two tunnels line
Up and meet in the middle?

So, nearly seven years
Had gone by.

The workers had
Been working in very

The workers had
Been working in very

Back-breaking conditions,

There were unstable explosives,

They had one of the
Coldest winters on record,

They were hit by cholera,

But one day, they
Actually got to the point

Where they created
About a two inch hole,

And you could see through

From one side of the tunnel
To the other.

Jerram:
They were only a few inches out.

They were almost dead on message

In terms of where
They were predicting

The one tunnel
Meeting the other.

Amazing engineering
Feat for that time.

Amazing engineering
Feat for that time.

Narrator: when it opened,

It was the longest mountain
Railroad tunnel in the world,

Stretching 4,264 feet.

Slashing the time it took

To send goods across
The mountains,

The valuable market in the west
Was now open for business.

Despite its great success,

As freight trains and
Carriages grew larger,

Crozet's ingenious design
Became outdated and too small.

Crozet's ingenious design
Became outdated and too small.

Eventually, over 80 years later,

This alternative route
Was opened.

So, if the tunnel was completed,

Then why do the two
Sides not connect today?

Hale: the 1950s, a gas company
Was planning to store gas

In the center of the tunnel

And what you see here is a
Reinforced concrete bulkhead,

Which seals off the interior
2,000 feet of the tunnel.

Which seals off the interior
2,000 feet of the tunnel.

Narrator:
Ultimately, that project failed,

But the walls blocking
This tunnel remain.

Today, the crumbling
Tunnel entrances

Are a reminder of
The sacrifices made

And the bold ambition
Of the engineers

Who hoped to build a better
Future for the united states.

*

28 miles from finland's
Capital, helsinki,

28 miles from finland's
Capital, helsinki,

Is a pair of abandoned towers.

*

Located in a
Snow-covered forest,

These identical structures
Stand hidden amongst the trees.

At first sight, you'd assume

This was just a standard
European medieval church,

But there's something
Not quite right.

But there's something
Not quite right.

Only when you get
Close can you see

That this is not made of stone.

It's made of poured concrete.

It's got to be 20th century.

*

Narrator: locked up and sealed
Off for decades,

What past events were
The locals trying to forget?

The towers' construction
Hint at a sinister purpose,

Like their design to withstand
An apocalyptic event.

Like their design to withstand
An apocalyptic event.

*

The tower itself is
Very massively built.

I mean, it's really solid.

When you get to the
Top of the tower,

Instead of coming to a point,
You get a very obvious platform.

*

Narrator: seen from the top is
The village of rajamaki,

Dominated by a large
Industrial-looking building.

*

Wisdom: the tower looks
Like a castle tower,

Wisdom: the tower looks
Like a castle tower,

And it's for the same purpose --

It gives you a very high,
Elevated view

Of the ground around you,
But critically here,

It gives you a very high,
Elevated view

Of the air around you.

Narrator:
So, why were these towers built?

And why are they here, deep
In the finnish countryside?

*

Clues can be found
In a forgotten chapter

Of the second world war.

Of the second world war.

In 1939, the russians
Looked to push back

Their border with finland.

It was known as the winter war.

The finns were hopelessly
Outnumbered and outgunned.

The soviets had
Thousands of tanks.

The finns barely had any at all.

They were in desperate need
Of an effective defense.

Caldwell-evans: as far
As stalin's concerned,

There is no way a country
The size of finland

There is no way a country
The size of finland

With a tiny population
Is gonna say no

To the might
Of the soviet union.

Unfortunately,
The finns had other ideas.

*

One way of improvising
An anti-tank defense

Was the creation of
The molotov cocktail --

Simply a bottle filled with
Kerosine, tar, gasoline mixture,

And it could be ignited
By a sulfuric acid fuse.

And it could be ignited
By a sulfuric acid fuse.

*

Narrator: simpler versions of
Molotov cocktails

Made from a bottle of petrol
With a flaming rag in the top

Have been used in
Conflicts across the world

Ever since the 1930s.

But it was the finns
Who first realized

Their full potential as a
Weapon in guerrilla warfare.

Desperate times required
Desperate measures,

And the molotov cocktail
Ranks there pretty high

And the molotov cocktail
Ranks there pretty high

As a desperate weapon.

It's a very, very dangerous way
To attack the enemy.

Caldwell-evans: however likely
Armored a tank might be,

If all you've got is
A uniform, a rifle,

And a bottle full of petrol,

It takes a lot of guts
To try and sneak up on it,

To try and get close enough
To plant your petrol bomb

On its vulnerable area,

Which is the rear
Deck above the engine.

*

Narrator: but how are the towers
Linked to the molotov cocktails?

Narrator: but how are the towers
Linked to the molotov cocktails?

And why do they appear
To have been built

To withstand the full
Force of a soviet attack?

*

Narrator: hidden
In the finnish countryside

Are two concrete towers

Built near the village
Of rajamaki,

A key target
In the winter war of 1939.

[gunfire]

With few proper
Anti-tank weapons,

The finnish army were reliant

On the highly effective
Molotov cocktail.

But with the russians
Still advancing,

They desperately
Needed more of them.

They desperately
Needed more of them.

To manufacture enough
Molotov cocktails,

The finnish army go to the
State alcohol plant at rajamaki.

They take bottles of alcohol,

And there they are manufactured
Into molotov cocktails.

It's fire bombs
On an industrial scale.

Narrator: the soviets were
Suffering around three times

As many casualties as the finns.

But with their superior numbers,
They stepped up their attack...

But with their superior numbers,
They stepped up their attack...

And the molotov cocktail factory
Soon became a key target.

There's a problem, though.

Because this is
A state alcohol plant,

It's got the name of the
Alcohol plant on the cap.

When the soviets
Find these caps,

You might just as well have
Held up a big flag saying

"The enemy is here."

It's now very easy to find
Where these are being made,

And thus, it's very easy
For the soviet bombers

To arrive and target
The factory.

To arrive and target
The factory.

Narrator:
Plans were quickly drawn up

To bolster the
Village's defenses.

If you're looking at finland,

One of the main
Problems the landscape offers

To any anti-aircraft gunner

Is that there are an awful
Lot of trees in the way.

The only way to
Extend your horizon,

To get yourself a clear field
Of fire for incoming bombers

Is to lift your anti-aircraft
Gun off the ground.

And that's why the only
Solution was to build a tower.

*

*

Narrator: standing less
Than half a mile away

From the bottling plant
Are the rajamaki towers,

Each built to hold
An anti-aircraft or flak gun,

Which could unleash
A barrage of fire power

Upon the approaching
Enemy aircraft.

*

A flak gun is simply
An artillery piece

Which is made with high
Elevation on the barrel

To bring aircraft down.

To bring aircraft down.

It'll shoot a shell
High into the air,

That shell will burst near
The aircraft, hopefully,

And the bursting fragments
Will bring the aircraft down.

*

Narrator: the towers could
Provide the ideal defense,

But with the soviet
Attack imminent,

Would they be ready in time?

Caldwell-evans:
The finns were rightly fearful.

The russians really
Didn't have the capability

To drop bombs with precision,

To drop bombs with precision,

So finnish towns would
Just be carpet-bombed.

*

Narrator:
For the war in the skies,

The finns would have to scramble
A strong defense once again.

*

In rajamaki, two
Bofors 40mm anti-aircraft guns

Were brought in
To defend the bottling plant

From the ground.

40mm bofors gun
Was probably the best,

40mm bofors gun
Was probably the best,

One of the best anti-aircraft
Weapons ever invented.

A very advanced
Gun for its time,

But not fully
Automatic by any means.

It had to be loaded by
The crew themselves.

In the finnish winter when
Everything is blanketed by snow,

It must've been freezing.

Any wind blasting
Across the landscape

Is going' to hit
That crew full on.

The gun layers themselves
Who were actually

Looking for targets,
Sighting targets,

The crew who were loading
Ammunition into it,

The crew who were loading
Ammunition into it,

Simply can't be standing there
Completely wrapped up in furs.

They've got to be mobile.

It must've been quite
Grim for that crew

Waiting hour after hour to
Be able to take on a bomber

And keep it away from
That vital bottling plant.

*

Narrator:
The platforms could offer

The perfect position
For the gunners,

But would the guns
Alone be enough

To defend against
A fleet of soviet bombers?

To defend against
A fleet of soviet bombers?

*

Narrator:
Amongst the treetops in the
Snow-covered finnish countryside

Stand the rajamaki towers,

Both built during
The second world war.

The hollow central
Shafts of the towers

Would allow large
Anti-aircraft guns

To be raised to the top,

Where they could then be set
Ready for action.

They could be
The vital last line of defense

Against the soviet air force.

Against the soviet air force.

Seppo petarinen works
For the local municipality,

And knows the history
Of these structures.

We are now on top
Of one of the towers,

And here is the shaft
Where the anti-aircraft gun

Has been lift up and placed here
On top of this shaft.

The gun can spin around
360 degrees,

Because the bombers can
Approach from any direction.

Because the bombers can
Approach from any direction.

Narrator:
But just over three months

After it had begun,
The winter war ended.

The area of rajamaki
Had been victim

Of nine separate
Russian bombing raids,

But the finns had held firm,
And the factory had survived.

The soviet air force,
Throughout the winter war,

The three months
Of the winter war,

Lost hundreds of aircraft.

In all, estimates
Are about 300 to 400

Being shot down by the finns,

Either by aircraft
Or ground defenses.

Either by aircraft
Or ground defenses.

Narrator: the following year,

With the guns now mounted
On the completed towers,

The war was suddenly back on.

The two towers
Would've been linked

By telephone lines, and
They would have been linked

To command,
To control center.

All through finland,
You would have people

With binoculars,
With rangefinders,

On top of buildings,

Because finland didn't
Have a radar system.

They relied on this
Fairly good observer system,

They relied on this
Fairly good observer system,

That would spot
Russian aircraft,

Give their altitude,
Give the position.

The flak guns would be alerted
To russian aircraft --

What route, what distance,
What speed.

Wisdom:
Put yourself in the position

Of someone on top of one
Of those flak towers.

You're above the tree line,
So there's very little

Camouflage and cover for you.

You're in a position where
The soviet bombers

Can see you are shooting
At them from.

They're gonna target you.

You are a sitting target.

You are a sitting target.

It's gonna take
Guts to be up there.

Caldwell-evans: although finnish
Defenses are very limited,

And for example,
Here at rajamaki,

A gun or two on towers
Is not going to ward off

Dozens of bombers if
They really want to get through.

The deterrent factor
Was such that,

Really, any kind of resistance
Would've had a major effect

On an attacking force.

Even one gun could
Make all the difference

Between protecting a site

And it being pulverized
By incoming bombers.

And it being pulverized
By incoming bombers.

Narrator: with the towers
And guns in place,

The soviets never
Targeted rajamaki again.

The only bombers to fly over

Kept themselves high above
And out of range.

The towers had done their job.

When the second world war ended,

Having teamed up with the nazis,

Finland was on the losing side.

The bottling plant
Had reverted back

To producing alcohol full-time,
Rather than molotov cocktails,

And the towers were
Locked up for good.

And the towers were
Locked up for good.

Wisdom: when you look
At the towers today,

They're a symbol
Of finnish resistance

Against the soviet union.

Everybody played their part,
And the towers

Really stand as testimony
To the efforts made

By the finnish people,
People who worked in factories,

People who fought the soviets
At the front,

They really are a testament

To the resilience
Of the people of finland.

*

Narrator: on the south coast
Of spain is the city

Narrator: on the south coast
Of spain is the city

Of almería, and near its heart,
Lies a huge industrial relic.

*

Stretching nearly 2,000 feet
Is a rusting rail line.

It's a long,
Snake-like structure

That extends out into the water
From the city.

Meigs: this elevated rail line

Meigs: this elevated rail line

Kind of winds
Through the port town,

And then just terminates
In this massive,

Monolithic contraption,

That just kind of juts out
Into the bay.

Narrator: here, a giant steel
Pier supports the rail line

As it splits into
Four separate tracks.

Meigs: almost like the eiffel
Tower lying on its side.

So, clearly it's old,
But what's its purpose?

So, clearly it's old,
But what's its purpose?

Where does it go?

*

Narrator:
Its story is closely tied

To the mass
Industrialization of europe

In the 19th and 20th centuries.

Steel was the material of choice
In the new machine age.

Its key ingredient is iron ore,

One of the most
Sought-after resources

In the world at that time.

But dark clouds were looming.

Tensions between
Nations were rising,

Tensions between
Nations were rising,

And the first world war was
Just over a decade away.

The old mines of southern spain

Just didn't have
The infrastructure

To meet the new demand.

The mines are located
Somewhere inland,

In a slightly
Mountainous terrain.

There's several hundred feet
Of topographic variation,

And that poses a problem,
Because it's somewhat inland.

It might be easy to
Locate the iron ore,

To essentially mine it
Out of the ground,

But you have to
Move it from there

To somewhere where
You can ship it,

To somewhere where
You can ship it,

So you have to get
It to the coast.

Narrator:
The first part was simple --

Build a railway line
Between the mines

In southern spain and almería,
The nearest port city.

But the real problems
Still lay ahead.

It's hard for most
People to imagine today

How low-tech ports used to be
In their operations.

Everything that went on a ship
Had to be handled by hand.

Transportation of the iron ore,

Transportation of the iron ore,

From the end of the rail
To the ships was

An extremely laborious process,

Because, by hand,
The iron ore was unloaded,

Stored, until a ship would come,

And then when the
Ship would come,

By hand, the iron ore was
Then loaded onto the ship.

Meigs: loading a ship full
Of iron ore might take a week.

It was an incredibly
Inefficient process.

What's so brilliant
About this project is

They completely reimagined
How you could load a ship.

*

*

Narrator: with the rise
Of political conflicts

Across europe, the old port
Just couldn't keep up

With the increased needs
Of a rapidly changing world.

So, would this new hulking
Mass of steel

Speed up the process,
Or seal its doom?

*

Narrator: in the south of spain,
Standing on the water's edge,

Is an imposing steel pier.

Hidden inside its shell is
A mechanized system designed

To bring this port
Into the 20th century.

But would this innovative
Approach be a success,

And would it be
Completed in time

To supply a europe coming
Close to a first world war?

To supply a europe coming
Close to a first world war?

*

Its construction began in 1902,

And it would become
known as el cable inglés,

The english pier.

*

It was solving a very
Fundamental problem,

Which was the amount
Of time and labor

It took to transport material.

They used engineering to try

And create a much more efficient
And better way to do that.

*

*

Well, the original design
in the cable inglés,

Was to be made out of wood,

But in that particular region,
With storms,

And other environmental
Conditions,

It was decided that metal
Would be more appropriate

And more suitable.

Jerram: southern spain seems
Somewhat idyllic to most of us,

But in the autumn
And winter months,

It can actually have some
Quite violent storms.

So, clearly, areas
Where you go from calm

To storm to calm to storm,

Those kind of surges mean
That a structure, for example,

Made out of wood, might
Not be good enough

Made out of wood, might
Not be good enough

To sustain
For a long period of time.

Narrator: the obvious choice
Of material was steel.

The invention of a
Modern steel-making process

Was kind of like the invention
Of the silicon chip,

It was one technological change

That then enabled
All these other changes.

They used the capabilities
Of this beautiful material

To help them mine more iron
And make more steel.

Narrator: but with the future
Of the spanish mining industry

Narrator: but with the future
Of the spanish mining industry

Relying on the success
Of this project,

Why was it called
The english pier?

England had the advanced steel
Mills that needed this ore.

They also had all the money.
They had all the capital.

So, they could afford to make
These massive investments

In countries like spain
And then a massive investment

In the infrastructure
To get that ore

To the port and onto the ships.

Narrator: designed
By leading british engineers,

Narrator: designed
By leading british engineers,

The idea was to leave
All the heavy lifting

To the rail cars
And the jetty alone.

Supposedly, the days of
Shoveling ore by hand were over,

But was there a new danger?

Instead of having to
Load the ships by hand,

They would roll
The rail car right out

To the end of this
High, elevated pier,

And they would dump
The contents directly

Into a big chute
That led straight

Into the hull of the ship.

Narrator:
Along the length of each side
Of the jetty are 20 hoppers.

Narrator:
Along the length of each side
Of the jetty are 20 hoppers.

Using gravity alone
To move the ore,

It would fall straight
Into those containers.

Then, by selecting
Which chutes to use,

It could be poured directly
Into the ship's hold.

But would the modern system
Save the local industry?

I think it's such
A neat solution

To have this system
Where the chutes take

This material from
A train to a ship.

This material from
A train to a ship.

Meigs: in many ways,
It reflected the modern,

More mechanized way
That major ports work today.

If you go to a container port,

Like the port of los angeles,

You'll see these giant
Containers getting loaded

On and off boats, no one needs
To touch the cargo at all.

Dickrell: it was a problem
That needed to be solved,

And the solution to that was
A great increase in efficiency.

It was a process
That used to take 10 days,

Now it only took 10 hours.

Now it only took 10 hours.

It was a quarter
Of the original cost,

Which was actually
A great savings.

Narrator: this technology helped
Spanish production

Of iron ore grow
From just half a million tons

In 1875 to almost 10 million on
The eve of the first world war

In 1913.

So, with all that growth,
Why does the english pier

Lie abandoned on the edge
Of the city today?

*

Meigs: it has its period when
It's perfectly optimized

Meigs: it has its period when
It's perfectly optimized

For the needs of the ships,

And then technologies move on,
Markets move on,

Other mines have opened
In other parts of the world.

Narrator: in september, 1970,
It runs for the last time.

*

Originally saved from demolition
For its historical value,

As costs spiraled, major plans

To convert the english pier
Failed to materialize,

To convert the english pier
Failed to materialize,

So for now,
The old structure

Continues to stand
Abandoned on the shore.