All language subtitles for Mysteries.of.the.Abandoned.Hidden.America.S03E06.1080p.WEB.h264-FREQUENCY_track3_[eng]

[narrator] A fortress
on the Great Plains

where savagery
ripped a town apart.

[Michele] There was a time
when the poor residents of
this town

must have felt like
they were living
in a war zone.

[narrator] An Alaskan venture

where nature won over greed.

A huge geyser of water
shot up into the air

and then, the tunnels flooded.

[narrator]
And a forgotten street
in the Big Easy

where a national icon
learned his trade.

This ground is a sacred place
in American cultural history.

[narrator] Scattered across
the United States
are abandoned structures

and those who know
their stories.

These forgotten ruins

reveal the past of this land

and its people.

These are the secrets
of hidden America.

In Western Montana
lies a small town

that's past has been dominated
by one violent institution.

The building looms
large and ominous

at the end of the town's
one street.

[Michele] From some angles,
it looks like a castle
or fort,

but from other angles,
it looks like a train depot
or station.

It's not immediately obvious,
that's for sure.

[Linda Rodriguez McRobbie]
One of the buildings
feels almost like a theater

with this beautiful facade
and these impressive columns.

[narrator] News coming
from the facility

was of great interest
to the local community.

If you lived in Deer Lodge,
Montana, chances are
you know someone

who worked here. That wasn't
necessarily a good thing.

[narrator]
Control of the complex
was once completely lost.

Someone took over
this facility,
and you couldn't imagine

a worse person for it to
fall into the hands of.

All we knew is that
there was one dead.

[narrator] A violent battle
for supremacy erupted,

sending shockwaves
around the country
and beyond.

For 36 hours, it was
utter madness.

They were going to set
the staff on fire.

He had a bazooka
and he shot a bazooka
at one of the towers.

[explosion]

[narrator] Built close to
the center of a small town,

a priority for this complex

has always been to
contain the chaos.

For 130 years,

the perimeter wall has
been an effective last line
of defense.

It's 24 feet high
and it stands underground

approximately four feet.

[narrator] Ray Worthy has
spent decades working in
facilities like this

and knows the value
of secure defenses.

There'd been a lot of attempts
to tunnel under it,

but none of 'em were ever
successful at getting
under it.

The man responsible
for constructing this
incredibly impressive wall

is a local legend.

[narrator] Frank Conley
first arrived in Deer Lodge
in 1886

as a 22-year-old
deputy sheriff

from Eastern Montana.

Within four years,

he had risen to the top
of this facility's hierarchy.

[Sascha] Frank Conley was
now in charge of 198 men

who called this place home.

But it wasn't a home
any of them dreamed
of inhabiting.

[narrator] This is
the old Montana State Prison.

Opened in 1871,

it was an attempt
to tame the Wild West

and rid Montana of
the bandits and vigilantes

who were leaving a path
of death and destruction.

Under Warden Conley's rule,

it was no
ordinary penitentiary.

Conley routinely held
meetings with his prisoners
to hear grievances.

[narrator] For years,

this policy worked
in Conley's favor.

But one day,
his openness backfired.

Four men burst into
Conley's office,

the leader wielding a knife.

[Ray] He had
the forethought to have
a Colt revolver in his drawer,

and it probably
saved his life.

[narrator]
Conley fired twice,
wounding the assailants,

but not enough to prevent them
launching an attack.

They savagely slit
the throat of his deputy

John Robinson,

before turning their eyes
on Conley himself.

[Michele] Conley was
lucky to be alive.

One of the slashes came
within an eighth

of an inch of
his jugular vein,

and he required 103 stitches.

[Linda] The inmates survived.

Conley waited for them to heal

and then, they were
sentenced to death.

Conley personally
oversaw the hangings.

[narrator] Undeterred
by this ordeal,

Warden Conley instigated

a massive prison expansion
and modernization project.

Conley was a firm believer
that idleness
bred insurrection,

so most of
the prison was built by
the inmates themselves.

[Michele] This large
red brick building

was known as Cell Block One
or the 1912 Cell Block.

It was built entirely
by prisoners

and just in 11 months.

This is an impressive feat.

[narrator] But Conley's
strategy of using
a prisoner workforce

would ultimately become
his downfall.

[Ray] He was very innovative.

By 1917,

he had 60% of the inmates

working outside
the prison walls.

[Linda] Conley loaned
his prisoners out to building
sites across the state.

The unions were furious

because Conley was
taking jobs away from
not-incarcerated men,

from union members.

[Michele] Eager
to please the unions,

the governor promptly
removed Conley from
his position as warden.

[narrator] He served as
warden for 30 years

before one of the longest
reigns in U.S. prison history
came to an end.

In the post-Conley era,
standards nosedived,

and the institution became
dangerously overcrowded.

[Michele] A state
investigation in 1931

found one of the cell blocks
to be, quote,

"a disgrace to civilization."

[Sascha] The atmosphere inside

was understandably roiled.

It must have felt
like a tinderbox

just waiting for
a spark to ignite it.

[narrator] Poorly-trained
and underequipped guards

meant life inside
was unofficially

run by a select few inmates.

For one power-hungry criminal
who dreamed of controlling
his own prison,

Montana State was perfect.

[Michele] Jerry Myles
is what you would call
a career prisoner.

He spent most of his life
bouncing between

various institutions.

[Linda] Myles had heard
that the Montana State Prison

had fairly relaxed rules,

and he thought that it would
be the perfect place

to fulfil his dream

of running a prison
from the inside.

The only problem was
Myles was living in Georgia

as a free man at the time,

so he hatched a plan.

[Michele] He purchased
a bus ticket to Butte,

which is about
40 miles from here,

was promptly arrested
for burglary

and then sentenced
for five years

in Montana State Prison.

[Linda] Myles,
despite his history of violent
and even psychotic behavior,

was placed within
the general population
at the prison.

Now, this was just trouble
waiting to happen.

[narrator] Ten months later,

his plan to take control
of the prison was ready.

The heavily outnumbered
guards, meanwhile,

were ill-prepared.

[Ray] The 1959 riot,

how they think it started
was through inmate Myles.

They took some
flammable liquid

and threw on a guard
and they threatened
to burn the guard

unless they give him a rifle.

Would he rather be burned up
than give him a rifle?

[narrator] Myles and his
21-strong inmate mob

then rounded up as many
prison staff as they could

and locked them in the cells.

They took the mattresses off,

soaked 'em in
flammable liquids,

and left 'em in there
and they say,

"Well, if you don't
let us out,

all we have to do is
throw a match in there

and they'll burn to death."

With control of the prison,
an armed Myles headed to
the deputy warden's office.

Myles burst into his office
wielding a cleaver.

[narrator] On the 16th
of April, 1959,

a deranged inmate
at the Montana State Prison

named Jerry Myles,
and his accomplice,
Lee Smart,

had taken 18 prison
employees hostage

and began a vicious attack
on the deputy warden.

He managed to deflect
the first few blows,

but he couldn't do anything
to stop Myles' right-hand man,

Smart, from firing a rifle
right into his chest.

[narrator] The rioters allowed
the deputy's body to be
removed from the prison.

For Marlene
and her friend Phyllis,

whose parents both
worked inside,

it's a moment
neither of them
will ever forget.

[Marlene] Cops came up
and they said,

"Girls, we need to take you
over to the prison.

There's been problems."

We were right over
across from Tower Seven.

Just as we were
watching the door open,

the inmates had
brought the body out.

Phyllis looked over
and she said,

"Oh, my God, Marlene,
I hope that's not anybody
we know."

And it was her dad.
We didn't know that
at the time,

but it was her dad.

Wives and families of guards
who were hostages

were starting to gather
and they were asking
uncomfortable questions.

[narrator] The warden knew
entering the prison was
the only way

to bring the mayhem to an end.

And he still had an ace
up his sleeve.

Here's where the subterranean
tunnel system comes into play.

Down the end of this hallway,

you can see a set
of stairs that's going up.

Those are ones that goes
up to the main entrance

where there's a metal door
in the floor.

The negotiator and prison
officials would have
came down,

worked their way
all the way to the end
of this tunnel

to where the chapel is.

The tunnel was perfect
'cause you could
secretly enter

from the outside

and end up right in
the middle of the prison.

And right here is
where they would have been,

both, the negotiators
on this side,

the rioting inmates
on the other side,

and they would have been
talking to each other.

Meanwhile,
National Guard forces

were gathering at
a gymnasium just
four blocks away.

The city switchboards were
being overrun with calls,

some of them from
as far away
as London, England.

[narrator] Reporters
descended on the town.

The eyes of the world
were on Deer Lodge,

and no one knew how
the riot was going to end.

Myles and his right-hand man,
Smart, were holed up
in the Southwest tower

of the 1912 Cell Block.

Now, this tower would
soon become known
as the death tower.

At about 4:45 a.m.
on the 18th of April,

36 hours after
the riot had began,

the National Guard
sprang into action.

This tower here is where
they had the National Guard
with a bazooka.

-Over on the west side,
I heard, boom!
-[explosion]

It's where the first one hit,
which was a little too high,

so then, they tried
a second one,
readjusting their aim.

-[explosion]
-[Ray] And it
came down and hit

the right side
of the right window.

Firing bazookas,
a weapon designed
to take out tanks,

at a prison

seems like something straight
out of an over-the-top
action film.

As Myles and Smart were
reeling from the explosion,

a team of guardsmen
stormed the tower.

[narrator] Myles and Smart
were found dead,

the result of
a murder-suicide.

The guards taken hostage
were rescued from their cells,

physically unharmed,
but mentally scarred.

[Sascha] A lot of people
stopped working at the prison
after the '59 riot,

but for some, it was
a lifestyle that they had
no intention of giving up.

[narrator] The last few
decades of the prison passed
by relatively peacefully.

In 1974,

construction began
on a new facility on
the outskirts of town.

And five years later,

the last inmates at
the old Montana State Prison
were transferred.

Today, the prison
has reopened to tourists,

with guides like Ray
entertaining visitors

with stories of the incredible
events that took place here.

[Linda] Deer Lodge
has had a long
and special relationship

with the prison.

And I imagine that
the residents here
are probably pleased

that this new chapter
is a much more peaceful one.

[narrator] In
the last frontier,

there's a set of ruins

which sparked one of
America's greatest
treasure hunts.

[Jim Geraghty] This is a place
that not many people
even in Alaska

are aware exists.

And yet, this was
the beginning of

a tremendous industry.

This is Douglas Island,

and it's separated from
Alaska's capital, Juneau,

by a body of water known
as the Gastineau Channel.

[narrator] Rising out
of the shallows

is a structure like no other.

[Martin K.A. Morgan] This is
one of the weirdest abandoned
buildings that I've ever seen.

There's no obvious way
in or out.

There's a door,
but the door's
way up high.

Doesn't seem to
be related to anything.
What's it doing here?

[narrator] One clue lies in
the thick temperate rainforest

on the island shore.

Hidden under the layers
of vegetation are all these
concrete buildings.

These structures are now
just shells of the buildings
that were once here.

They're clearly very old.

Among them,
there's debris that suggests
an industrial origin.

[narrator] Once, this was
a glittering dream
that put Alaska

on the world map.

[Dr. Greg Szulgit] People
flocked here from all over

and they experienced things
never seen before.

[narrator] But greed turned
this rich landscape into
a nightmare.

They weren't sure
what was happening,

but a huge geyser
of water shot up.

[narrator] Jim Geraghty
is exploring a set of ruins

he's known since he was a boy.

[Jim] This was my playground.

My grandparents lived
just down the street

and I was over here most days.

[narrator] Today,
this is on the edge

of Juneau's growing suburbs.

But in 1880,
when its story began,

it was a wild frontier.

But Alaska was about
to change forever.

[Martin] The United States
was dealing with this
gold rush fever.

This is just 30 years after
the heyday of the California
gold rush.

People still know that
fortunes can be made.

All you have to do
is find the gold.

[narrator] With
the precious metal
running dry in California,

prospectors were hunting
for their next payload.

And two men made
a discovery here that would
put this place on the map.

[Jim] They found gold
in large quantities,

they said, that looked
like peas and beans in size.

[narrator] Almost overnight,

others came wanting
their share of the fortune.

Among them was John Treadwell.

[Martin] John Treadwell
was a Canadian miner

who was working for
a wealthy man in California.

[Greg] When he heard
about the gold in Alaska,

he wanted a piece of the pie

and he headed north
to seek his fortune.

Soon after arriving
and buying his claim,

John Treadwell found gold.

[Martin] He dug down,
discovered a motherlode.

But there was a twist.

[narrator] John's discovery
began a chain of events

that would bring catastrophe
to this island.

They had no idea
how wrong it was
going to go.

[narrator] In the late
19th century,

John Treadwell struck
gold on his claim

on Douglas Island, Alaska.

But that's not all.

[Martin] He discovered
a gold vein, but he
discovered also

that that vein stretched
beneath adjacent properties

that he did not own.

[Greg] Normally,
when prospectors struck gold,

they would shout it
from the rooftops.

But John Treadwell was
much more clever.
He kept his mouth shut.

He then consolidated as
many claims as he could
on the island.

[narrator] By 1882,

much of the gold vein
was under John's control,

and excavations began.

This is the Treadwell
goldmine complex.

This open pit here
is the glory-hole
of the Treadwell mine.

This was the first part
of the mining.

After this,
there were some much more
extensive works underground.

[Greg] The ground became
like a rabbit's warren
of tunnels.

Some even went down
as far as 2,500 feet.

That's a half a mile.

[Bell] At its peak,
this place operated
24 hours a day

and processed 35,000 tons
of ore a week.

It became the largest
operating hard rock goldmine
in the world.

[narrator] But key
to its success

was a resource that
would also bring about
the mine's downfall.

[Jim] This building was
the pump for the saltwater.

They would pump saltwater
from the shore here
at high tide

up into the mill to be
used to process gold.

Water is used in
the mining process
after the ore is crushed down

and when you run
the water through it,
you can dissolve out gold.

[narrator] While the pumphouse
kept the mine running,

no one could have predicted
the engineering revolution

that this place would
bring to Alaska.

Hidden underneath
the blue mussels on the beach

is one of the
narrow gauge rail cars.

But this would have run
back and forth on the tracks
here at Treadwell.

[Bell] The whole of
the Treadwell mine complex

was really advanced
for the time.

It even had Alaska's
first railway.

[narrator] Despite the railway
helping to make
the mine profitable,

in 1889, John Treadwell
did something unexpected.

John Treadwell got out
while he was ahead.

He sold his business
to a group of industrialists,

including the Rothschilds.

And he left with what
would be the equivalent
in today's money

of more than $40 million.

[narrator] The new owners
put the mine in the control
of a man ahead of his time.

[Bell] The running of the mine
was taken over by
Frederick Worthen Bradley.

He's considered one of
the finest mining engineers

the world has ever seen.

In the 19th century,
he would have been
the equivalent of

Steve Jobs or Elon Musk today.

[narrator] But Bradley didn't
just bring a technological
revolution to Alaska.

It's something known well
to local resident,
Paulette Simpson.

[Paulette] Bradley wanted
to take good care
of his people.

And the Treadwell mine
paid well.

In 1914, it was paying better
than the Ford Motor Company.

[Bell] With wages of
$100 a month,

the Treadwell mining complex
attracted workers

from as far as Europe,

places like Scandinavia
and Italy.

[narrator] Yet it wasn't
just high wages

enticing workers to come
to this desolate corner
of Alaska.

[Martin] Bradley created this
club wherein they could go,

cultivated the idea
of a communal spirit

and keeping his workers happy,

the mine remained productive.

[Paulette] So
the Treadwell Club was

like the community Y.M.C.A.

They showed movies,

there were Turkish baths,

a bowling alley. It had
Alaska's first swimming pool.

[narrator] For nearly
three decades,

this remote mine
hit rich paydirt,

digging and refining
almost 100 tons of gold.

But everything was about
to come crashing down.

By 1917, the mine
had gotten so deep

that they really weren't
making any money

by going down deeper.

[Martin] In an effort
to increase productivity,

they had mined into some
of the load-bearing structures

that were below the surface.

[narrator] This decision
turned the mine into
a ticking time-bomb.

And it gave an ominous warning
of the impending destruction.

[Paulette] When the ladies
were swimming in
the swimming pool one day,

all of a sudden,
the water drained out
of the pool.

The workmen came to see
what was going on.

They sounded the alarm and
they got all the miners out.

Water draining out
of the swimming pool
is a bad sign,

but I don't think anyone
could have known where
it was gonna go next,

because at that point,
a huge geyser shoots up

out of the Gastineau Channel.

[Jim] Water started pouring in
to the upper works

and soon became a torrent

and poured huge waterfall
the size of Niagara

into the mines

for hours until
everything was flooded.

[narrator] With the alarm
having been raised in time,

miraculously, no one
died during this disaster.

But for most of
the Treadwell mine complex,
the dream was over.

[Bell] One section of the mine
avoided being flooded

and continued to operate
for a few years.

But with the vein running out,

the final nugget of gold
was removed here in 1922.

[narrator] Despite over
a century passing since
the closure of the mine,

its legacy is still
found across the state.

[Greg] The mining industry
is still going strong
in Alaska.

It's currently worth about
$4.5 billion a year.

[narrator] But tailings
from the mines here

have transformed
the landscape,

and today,
it's a historical trail

enjoyed by the people
of Juneau.

When we're walking over
this nice sandy beach,

all of this is crushed
to remove the gold.

If it wasn't for the mines,
there would be no beach here.

We'd have a rocky shore.

[narrator] In New Orleans,

the origin story of
a cherished part
of American culture

lies in an unexpected place.

It was along this strip,
a few orphaned buildings

where America's greatest
gift to the world

really took shape.

[Dr. Kyle A. Thomas]
We're really close
to the French Quarter

and the heart of
downtown New Orleans,

but this little area is just
nothing but parking lots

and concrete.

Makes you wonder
why any buildings
have survived at all.

[narrator] Two
forgotten structures

once attracted the city's
most exciting performers.

[Dr. Corina Kwami] The cast
of characters who
frequented this street

make for a very
impressive list.

[Linda] These are empty,
abandoned-seeming spaces now,

but 100 years ago,

these would have been
full of people having
the time of their lives.

[narrator] For one
world-famous musician,

it was on this street
where everything began.

[John McCusker]
They gave him the tool
to carry out his dream.

Would be as important
as the person

who first put a paintbrush
in the hands of Picasso.

[narrator] In New Orleans,

one street hides
the birthplace of
a new musical genre.

John McCusker is
a proud New Orleanian

whose curiosity about
the musical history
of his city

turned into a professional
hunt for answers.

After decades of neglect
during Hurricane Ida,

this structure went down.

This was owned by
the Karnofsky family.

And if you look,

you can still see the tile
from their old business,
The Model Tailors.

[narrator] It was here that
a famous name spent

some of his most
formative years.

The Karnofsky family was
a Lithuanian Jewish family

that lived in this area.

And they employed a young man
that grew up here
named Louis Armstrong.

Louis was the errand boy.

A young Louis Armstrong
would not go on to be
the person that he was

if he did not have the support

of his employer,
the Karnofsky family.

[John] He would have dinner
with them every day.

And after eating kosher,

they would sing
Yiddish lullabies

to get the children to sleep.

Well, Louis doesn't understand
a word of Yiddish.

Yet he wrote that,
"I credit that Jewish family

with teaching me to sing
from my heart."

[narrator] This is the 400
block of South Rampart Street.

A young Louis Armstrong
stomping ground,

and once one of
New Orleans' most important
entertainment hubs.

[Kyle] You could find
theaters, music halls,
brothels, saloons,

all kinds of entertainment

that was largely enjoyed
under the cover of darkness.

[narrator] When Louis wasn't
with the Karnofskys,

there was a good chance
he could be found on
the corner of the block,

listening to the sounds
coming from a now abandoned
music venue.

Through here was
the Eagle Saloon,

operated by Frank Dusen
of the Eagle Band.

[Kyle] The Eagle Band was
one of the most important
and influential jazz line-ups

of all time.

[Corina] The list of musicians
who at one point in time

played in the Eagle Band
is super impressive.

I mean, it includes people
like Bunk Johnson,

Sidney Bechet, Baby Dodds.

[narrator] The Eagle Band
grew out of an earlier group

who played on the third floor
of this building.

Their leader was Buddy Bolden.

[Kyle] Buddy Bolden.
He's often considered
by music historians

to be the inventor of jazz.

[John] If you came down here
around nighttime,

you might hear a cornet blast
from the third story
of this building,

and that would be
Buddy Bolden.

The responses of
the crowd were very emotional.

They'd say,
"Oh, play it, Mr. Bolden.
Play it for us, Buddy."

[narrator] But this was also
the site of a near tragedy

that could have changed
the course of music history.

For a young Louis Armstrong,
it was on the corner
outside the Eagle Saloon

that a dramatic event occurred

that threatened not only
his musical career,

but also his life.

[narrator] The date was
New Year's Eve 1912.

Historically, the revelry
of New Year's Eve

included noise, costumes,

and the shooting of guns.

When a couple of kids
across the street pulled a gun

and fired into the air
to mark the New Year.

Louis had also snuck
a gun out of his house

and his friends
knew he had it,

so when the kid
across the street fired,

they said, "Get him, Louis."

So he pulled out his gun
and fired it in the air.

[gunshot]

[Philip] Louis could
have been killed by law
enforcement officers,

but he was spared.

[Corina] He was arrested
before being packed off

to a punishment home
for wayward children.

[narrator] A 12-year-old
Louis Armstrong

arrived at
the Colored Waifs Home

and would spend
18 pivotal months here.

Well, Louis got his first
major exposure to
music education

while he was incarcerated,

and he eventually became
leader of the Colored Waifs
Home brass band.

On his release, Louis had
just one thing on his mind.

Owning his own cornet.

And it was just
a few steps away

from where he was arrested
that his dream came true.

[narrator] The Eagle Saloon
wasn't the only tenant
in this building.

[John] Well, it was bustling.
There were so many
businesses here.

You had barrooms,
a loan shop, a pawn shop.

This part of the Eagle Saloon

was part of Jake Itzkovitch's
pawn shop.

And it was here that
14-year-old Louis Armstrong

first came to pick out
a horn to have to play.

What an incredible moment
in music history

and to be standing
in the same space
where that happened.

[narrator] Two doors down
from the Eagle Saloon,

a new theater
would be the place

where Louis first revealed his
musical genius to the world.

This is foundational
American history.

[narrator] South Rampart
Street played a crucial role

in the birth of jazz

and the shaping of
a young Louis Armstrong.

Beginning in 1914,

this was a solid bet
to come and get entertained.

This was the Iroquois Theater.

They had silent movies
and vaudeville performances.

These would all
be rows of seats

just like you would have
in any theater.

[Kyle] People could go
and catch a variety of
different kinds of acts,

everything from
slapstick comedy

to Shakespeare,
to trained animals and magic.

[John] They had
talent shows at the Iroquois

and local performers would
get up there and try out.

One of those people was little
teenage Louis Armstrong.

And he got on the stage
and did a little song
and dance routine.

And he won the contest.

[Corina] In his
later performances,

you can really observe
the influence

of the vaudeville showmanship
that he would have
picked up here.

[inaudible]

[narrator]
The Iroquois Theater
and Eagle Saloon

left an indelible mark
on Louis Armstrong

and inspired him to embark
on a musical career

that would end up
with him as one of
America's greatest artists.

[Linda] In 1918,

Armstrong began working
on the riverboats going
up and down the Mississippi.

And this is where
his music career really
began to take off.

[narrator] Louis left
New Orleans for Chicago
in 1922

to join a band headed
by Joe "King" Oliver,

an established musician
he first heard play

at the Eagle Saloon.

However, for
South Rampart Street,

its days as the city's top
destination for entertainment
were waning.

The 2,000-seat Lyric Theater

was beginning to
siphon audiences off
to the French Quarter.

[Kyle] Live performances
at the Iroquois Theater

wound down sometime
around 1920.

And it wasn't long after that
the Eagle Saloon followed.

[Corina] By the 1950s,

South Rampart Street's
days as an entertainment hub
were over.

[Kyle] A combination
of luck and passionate
preservationists

saved these two buildings
from destruction.

But they're largely
still unused

and sit desolate, waiting
for someone to do something
with them.

[narrator] In 2021,

the Karnofsky building
was destroyed by
Hurricane Ida.

[Linda] This was
a tragic loss for the city.

But this wasn't
the end of this
historic building's story.

[narrator] Drew Sparacia,
through his historic
real estate company,

is determined to preserve
as much as possible
from the rubble.

Knowing that these bricks
are part of history,

we instructed our folks
to clean them all

so we can use them
in the reconstruction

of the historic
Karnofsky shop.

[narrator] For
the Eagle Saloon,

there are hopes
it will soon be turned
into a jazz museum,

and for the Iroquois
to be reborn as
a music venue.

But for now, they remain
silent reminders

of a raucous
and pioneering time

in American music history.

[John] They are our
last monuments

to the place that
gave us jazz.

The place that
gave us Louis Armstrong.

[narrator] In what was once
known as the Empire State
of the South

lie the ruins of a place
that thrust civilians

into the middle of
a bloody conflict.

[Bell] We're in Georgia,
just on the edge of
metro Atlanta.

And there's this beautiful,
tranquil wilderness.

It's like you
step back in time
from the bustling city.

This must be what
this land was like
before humans came here.

It feels incredibly unspoiled.

[narrator] Among
the pristine forest hides
a dilapidated building.

[Bell] This huge building
looms over you.

It's completely in ruins.

It's like the skeleton
of a brick structure.

[Michael Gardner] When I first
came down here,

it was pretty amazing
to see a structure like this

the architecture,
aesthetic of it,

here out in the middle
of the woods next to
a beautiful creek.

Pretty astonishing.

[Katherine Alcock]
It's perched right
on the bank of the river,

almost like it could get
swept away at any moment.

[Michele] This peaceful place
hides a dark past.

Something that today would
see commanders go to prison
for war crimes.

[narrator] On the bank of
Sweetwater Creek in Georgia,

the remains of
a once imposing structure

still bear the scars
of its cruel fate.

Park ranger Michael Gardner

is making sure its story
is not forgotten.

[Michael] There's a lot
of history here.

People harnessed water power
to provide resources
for the South.

They made a lot of money here.

[narrator] But the rise
of this local industry
was paid for in blood.

[Michele] The great cash crop
that made Georgia

so economically powerful
at the time

was picked by enslaved people,
and it was cotton.

[narrator] In 1846,

construction began
on a cotton mill

to process the fiber
they called white gold.

[Michael] Back then,
there was no heavy machinery,

so everything had
to be animal-driven,

slaves made all the bricks
by hand.

The granite you see,
the walls here, that was
all brought in.

[narrator] This is
the New Manchester Mill.

[Katherine] Originally known
as the Sweetwater Mill

after the creek
it was built on,

the building was
48-by-120 feet,
five stories,

and was said to be taller
than any building in Atlanta.

[narrator] The mill
grew so successful

that a company town
was built around it.

[Bell] It became known
as New Manchester,

home of the New Manchester
Manufacturing Company.

This was a tribute
to the British city

that was so central
to the global cloth trade

that it became known
as Cottonopolis.

[Michael] There was about
200 workers or so
that worked in the mill.

They were self-sufficient.
A lot of 'em had farms.

They had a general store.

[narrator] But in 1861,

the Civil War
exploded into action,

providing the mill with
a new opportunity that
would prove to be

a double-edged sword.

[Katherine] At the beginning
of the war, the Confederate
Army placed an order

with the New Manchester Mill

or $25,000 worth
of army uniforms.

[Michele] Although
many prominent families
associated with this mill

had Union sympathies,

their sons did not.

And these sons enlisted
with Confederate forces

and they wore uniforms

made out of material
from this very mill.

[narrator] Little
did they know

this decision would
seal their fate.

[Bell] Uniforms were one of
the most important things

for the Confederate Army
after food and weapons.

And so, cotton mills
became high value targets

for the Union army
as it advanced.

[narrator] By 1864,

the Confederacy
was struggling,

and Atlanta's fall
looked all but certain.

Union General
William Tecumseh Sherman
was on the offensive,

putting the mill
in grave peril.

Sherman reached Atlanta.

They did have
Confederate troops here,

however, they withdrew
those troops to protect
the city of Atlanta.

The only thing left here
was the workers.

[narrator] The workers
had no choice but to
await their fate.

[Bell] Soldiers
entered the factory,

pulled the drive belts
out of the machinery

and removed
the cloth and threads

from the looms and spindles.

Initially, it seemed
to be a relatively
peaceful takeover.

[narrator] But just as
the mill workers thought
they might be spared,

chilling new orders
came from the top.

[Michael] The Union decided,
"We'll just burn it down,

deny the Confederacy
any assets."

Just up here you have
some remains from that burn.

You can see some of
the charred wood
from where the flooring was.

[Bell] Sherman had
ordered the New Manchester
mill workers

to be kidnapped
and deported to the North,

along with many others
from across the South.

[narrator] Unknown to them,

the workers had been
declared enemy operatives.

[Michael] The Union
took them as P.O.W.s

or refugees, depending on
whose side you wanna look at.

They marched them
all the way to Marietta,

which is just north of here,
and put them on boxcars,

sent 'em to Kentucky.

These civilians were
essentially charged
with treason,

but they were never
tried in court.

[Michele] Once in the north,
their situation
did not improve.

There was no work,
and many of the refugees
died from disease,

starvation, and exposure.

Just a handful would return
to Georgia after the war

and find their mill
and small company town
in ruins.

[narrator] Decimated
and abandoned,

the mill surrendered
to the forest around it.

Post-Civil War
and during Reconstruction,

the building was just
more or less forgotten about.

Throughout the years
and decades later,

locals used it
for target practice

or camping or recreation.

[narrator] But in
recent years,

the ruins of
the New Manchester mill

have served
an unexpected industry.

[Michael] We've had a lot
of film and TV productions
done here,

Hunger Games, they filmed
some scenes down here
by the creek.

[Katherine]
In Mockingjay - Part 1,

the mill is used as part of
a bombed out landscape.

Ironically, during a rebellion
of rural workers

fighting against
the elite in the Capitol.

[narrator] Today,
these ruins stand
as a testament

to this region's
incredible history.

But they will need
a helping hand

to survive in
Georgia's humid climate.

[Bell] Since 2016,

Georgia State Parks
have taken steps to
preserve the ruins

and prolong the life
of the structure.

[Michael] Southerners'
strength, apart from music
and food,

is probably their connection
with history,

all the good parts
and all the bad parts.

So, to me, preserving this
is an important piece of that

so people can learn from it.