Original subtitles

routinely stocked with striped bass,

living so close to the river comes with tremendous risk.

before the army corps of engineers

began trying to control the flow of the river,

the big muddy routinely flooded its banks each year

and has gradually shifted course over time.

sometimes entire curves of the river

are simply lopped off

when the water finds a more direct route south.

that's what happened here.

this bow-shaped body of water

used to be a curve in the mississippi river.

but 400 years ago, the river shifted course,

cutting off this curve and turning it into a lake.

it's now known as "false river."

in this swampy land.

it's a haven for sportsmen.

oxbow lakes aren't the only odd shapes

in this watershed.

a pattern of strange lines carved into a louisiana swamp,

perfectly visible from the air,

they look like the spokes of giant wheels,

the markings of an ancient society.

in fact, they are hundred-year-old scars

made by loggers.

at the turn of the 20th century,

the lack of roads and frequent floods

made it hard to extract trees

vast watery forests. from louisiana's

9 out of 10 prisoners will die here.

in 1995 alone,

there were 800 violent attacks among inmates.

warden burl cain took over that's when

and things began to change.

the warden made christianity a dominating focus.

he built new chapels,

offers bible classes-- over 400 a month--

and plays christian radio all day long.

at a new prison seminary,

inmates can even become ministers

and are encouraged to preach to other prisoners.

cain says he's just trying to restore hope

to a group that has none.

with an average sentence length of 92 years,

so loggers, or "swampers," as they were called,

another of the warden's programs

allows inmates to make their own wooden coffins.

when their final day comes,

each prisoner is given a dignified funeral procession

with a hand-carved hearse

and a cortege of singing prisoners,

bearing them away.

very few inmates

have ever succeeded in escaping from angola.

dense swamps line one side of the prison

and the big muddy circles the other--

not an easy place to make a run for it.

from building weekend escapes but that doesn't stop hunters

leaving the open ocean at new orleans' doorstep.

at the end of this long, wide shipping channel,

environmental engineers have constructed

a series of narrow islands

that fan out from the mouth of the channel.

from the air, they look like branches of a tree.

as "the jaws." it's a project known

these islands should grow over time

as they trap sediment flowing out of the mouth of the channel.

this project alone is expected to create

2,000 acres of new land.

anti-erosion projects and it's just one of many

along louisiana's coast.

scientists believe that by 2050, if they're not successful,

700 more square miles of delta could disappear,

before it disappears.

in the 18th century,

freedom-seeking refugees from acadia,

or what's now canada,

arrived in these coastal bayous.

their descendants, known as cajuns,

are famous for their unique blend of peppery spices.

and louisiana's avery island

is home to one spicy sauce that's conquered the globe.

in this brick factory, the mcilhenny family

runs a hundred-million-dollar- a-year business,

turning chili peppers, salt, and other seasonings

into tabasco sauce.

but the mcilhennys didn't come to avery island

but while the mississippi

carved canals through the marsh.

cut all the nearby trees, then they'd fan out,

and drag them back to the boats,

so they could be towed to the mills.

these deep dragging scars have never healed.

but soon, they,

and vast stretches of southeastern louisiana,

could disappear forever.

6,000 years ago, this area was still just sea water.

then, over millennia,

the mud and sediment that flowed out of the mississippi river

gradually built up a vast stretch of land,

reaching into the gulf of mexico.

until recently, angola was america's bloodiest prison.

may have created southeastern louisiana naturally

over thousands of years,

human intervention is now causing it to disappear

at a terrifying speed.

over the past 80 years, the state has lost

nearly 2,000 square miles of shoreline to erosion--

an area equivalent in size to the state of delaware.

deltas erode naturally from storms and tidal forces,

but man-made shipping channels like this one

speed up that rate of erosion.

fast-flowing water pulls mud and sediment

right out into the gulf of mexico.

is working to trap sediment that's why the government

was increasing the size of lsu, one of long's greatest legacies

and he built more than a hundred bridges,

including the huey p. long bridge

that crosses the mississippi at baton rouge.

its mile-long span

sits just over a hundred feet above the water--

not quite high enough

for giant freighters to pass underneath.

legend has it that long did that on purpose

to keep larger ships

from unloading their cargo further north

so that louisiana could maintain its hold on shipping.

even today, freight heading upriver

has to be transferred first onto barges

at baton rouge.

of nearly 16,000 miles of roads and highways.

louisiana state university in baton rouge,

by doubling the faculty

and tripling the number of students.

is now close to 30,000. lsu's student body

among its graduates:

professional basketball player shaquille o'neal,

musician stephen stills,

and former vice president, hubert humphrey.

today it's quiet over tiger stadium,

but with 92,000 seats for fans, the roar can be deafening.

for visiting teams. it's a frightening venue

so much so, it's nicknamed "death valley."

was cut short. but huey p. long's work

decided that louisiana needed a more impressive state house.

legislators look out over their biggest taxpayer.

exxonmobil alone pays $100 million a year

into louisiana's coffers.

baton rouge has been the state capital since 1849.

its first state house still stands

on a bluff overlooking the mississippi.

mark twain frequently passed this spot

as a ship captain in the 1850s

and called the building and its medieval facade

"a monstrosity."

in 1930,

huey p. long, louisiana's governor

also known as the "kingfish,"

on the evening of september 8, 1935,

the charismatic long got the project funded

right in the middle of the great depression.

finished in 29 months,

this art deco-style skyscraper rises 450 feet,

making it the tallest state capitol in the u.s.

the grand staircase at its entrance

features 50 steps--

one for every state in the union.

the capitol building

was just one of many ambitious projects

long undertook as governor.

antiquated infrastructure, tackling the state's

he ordered the construction

meant a trip to the infamous red hat cellblock.

where many of its slaves were captured

and forcibly transported to the u.s.

for much of its history,

hard physical labor has been used

to maintain order at the prison.

40 hours a week,

toil beneath the louisiana sun, most of angola's 5,000 convicts

all under the watchful eye of armed guards on horseback.

another method of control is camp j, "solitary."

a place rarely seen by outsiders,

especially from above.

a few hours a week, prisoners can leave their cells,

but must remain alone inside chain-link cages.

in an earlier time, getting sent to solitary

named for the african country

it was built in 1933,

bloodiest escape, after angola's

led by charlie frazier,

an outlaw who ran with pretty boy floyd

and bonnie and clyde.

red hats windows have only bars,

which made punishment here during the winter

particularly harsh.

but the toughest place to be at angola is death row.

it's a place that's inspired

most notorious prison movies: some of hollywood's

"dead man walking," "the green mile,"

and "monster's ball."

most notorious prison, at louisiana's

inside a corridor of the state house,

a man named carl weiss,

the son-in-law of a political opponent,

greeted long with a pistol and a fatal shot

before being gunned down himself by long's bodyguards.

at least, that's the official story.

some claim that it was the bodyguards themselves

that killed long

and set up weiss.

huey p. long is buried here,

in a park just outside the state house.

and been convicted, had long's killer lived

chances are he would have done time here

for chilies.

a place known as "the farm."

imagine a prison for violent offenders

not by perimeter walls, that's surrounded

but by dense forest, river, and swamp.

this is angola,

the largest maximum-security prison

in the united states today.

located on 18,000 acres,

the island of manhattan, it's bigger than

and most of it is covered by fields of corn, soybeans,

and cotton,

which is why angola is also known as "the farm."

it was once a pre-civil war plantation,

on a 1.8-mile-long crescent-shaped surge barrier

african-africans evacuees out to keep new orleans's

primarily white suburbs. of one of the city's

but not everything here has returned to normal.

in the neighborhoods of the 9th ward,

evidence of katrina's terrifying force

remains clearly visible.

foundations still lie bare

after 20 feet of hurricane floodwater

surged from the gulf,

leaving the entire neighborhood underwater.

many who once lived here have never returned.

after katrina, the u.s. army corps of engineers

set out to storm-proof the city.

they began construction

and that the police were only trying

across lake borgne.

lake borgne lies east of new orleans.

within hours after hurricane katrina came ashore,

a wall of water, primarily from the lake,

filled city canals,

and then broke through flood walls,

rushing into the lower 9th ward

and nearby communities,

wiping houses right off their foundations.

to try and keep that from happening again,

the u.s. army corps of engineers

has been building a flood barrier

that spans the lake.

the iconic superdome now stands on dry ground,

there was no city in america as vulnerable as new orleans.

it was literally surrounded by water,

but without adequate barriers to keep that water out

in the event of catastrophe.

to the north, the vast lake pontchartrain,

a giant body of salt water,

crossed by the second longest causeway in the world.

on all other sides, 「the big muddy」 mississippi.

water has even been known to bubble up under city streets.

many of them lie below sea level.

from above, sites that became headline news in august 2005

after katrina came ashore,

appear, amazingly, unchanged by the storm.

civil works project it's part of the largest

and once again hosts home games of the new orleans saints

and concerts of major entertainers.

but in 2005,

30,000 katrina survivors, with nowhere else to turn,

flooded into the dome,

seeking a "refuge of last resort."

commuters have returned to the crescent city connection.

it was across this bridge that hundreds fled on foot

after the storm subsided,

hoping finally to get out of town.

but they were quickly turned back

by a wall of armed policemen.

many claimed it was an act of racism

natives harry connick, jr. and branford marsalis,

his "make it right" foundation

brought together architects from around the world

to design and build

dozens of eco-friendly flood-resistant houses

so families from the lower 9th ward

can return home with dignity.

powered by solar energy,

no two of these homes are the same.

the foundation is also helping rebuild streets and gardens.

in a city where music is king,

it's not surprising

that one of the first and biggest post-katrina projects

was to help displaced musicians.

in the upper 9th ward,

he vowed to help.

together with habitat for humanity,

built musicians village--

more than 70 new houses

clustered around a new community center.

since it was built,

this artist community has helped raised spirits and hope

and inspired others to return and rebuild

in the 9th ward and other hard-hit neighborhoods.

musicians in new orleans are leading the charge.

from the creatures that soar over its marshes...

to the men and women who drive its economy...

these are the passionate souls

that keep louisiana's spirit alive.

the largest drainage pump station in the world,

in the corps' history.

this much concrete

in the united states hasn't been poured continuously

since the construction of the hoover dam in the 1930s.

rising 26 feet above the water,

the barrier is built to keep surges from the gulf of mexico

from reaching new orleans.

south of the city, another giant project is underway.

than just a barrier. it's much more

if another katrina-sized storm were to hit,

flood waters would need to be funneled out of the city.

has chosen this spot that's why the army corps

to construct a giant pumping station.

by august 2005,

it took more than three million man hours

and 18 million pounds of rebar to build.

to build thirty 747 airplanes. that's as much steel as it takes

when the next tropical storm hits,

this facility will be able to pump

855,000 gallons of water per second out of the city.

these projects are part

of a 350-mile-long system of levees and floodgates

that the u.s. government hopes will storm-proof new orleans.

meanwhile, one section of the 9th ward is bouncing back

in typically colorful new orleans style.

these homes were the brainchild of actor brad pitt.

after visiting this devastated community,

back in the early 19th century,

but every bottle of the sauce

is still filled at this factory on avery island.

than salt and pepper. and there's more to this place

by 1892, edward avery mcilhenny, the son of tabasco's founder,

was concerned that the high demand

for feathered women's hats

snowy egret to extinction. was driving louisiana's

he waded into the swamp, caught eight young egrets,

and raised them himself in a rookery next to his house.

first wildlife preserve. it was louisiana's

today it's called bird city,

a nesting spot for 20,000 birds,

including snowy and great egrets,

blue herons, wood ducks, and geese.

come from mexico.

that first inspired it was louisiana's birds

most famous naturalists. one of america's

in 1821-- 36 years old at the time--

john james audubon arrived here at oakley plantation

to tutor miss eliza pirrie, the daughter of oakley's owners.

distinctive porches the plantation's

were designed in a west indies style

with elaborate jalousies to keep them cool

in louisiana's hot summer.

audubon spent only four months here,

but was inspired by the estate's magnolia trees,

and the many warblers and thrushes

that flew among their branches.

and when they returned,

200 years ago, they came here to raise sugarcane,

only to discover they were sitting on buried treasure.

their circular island

was actually the top of a giant dome of salt.

they started harvesting the salt--

still active today. an operation that's

1,600 feet underground,

miners detonate and collect pure rock salt

and then load it on river barges for shipment up the mississippi.

during the civil war,

avery island was a target of the union army

since salt was used in gunpowder.

the mcilhennys fled,

it was on his afternoon strolls through these grounds

they found their salt mines flooded

and the sugar cane fields burned.

but they noticed that red pepper plants

were flourishing.

being something of a gourmet,

edmund mcilhenny allowed the peppers to age and ferment

so he could make a spicy sauce.

in 1868, he sent samples to food distributors

in small cologne bottles,

hoping his hot pepper condiment was marketable.

he called it tabasco.

in more than 100 countries. now it's sold

these days, most of tabasco's peppers

a single bulb burning. there wasn't

waves of crude hit the pelican and spoonbill rookeries.

tar balls washed up on the beach.

clean-up crews search for and remove oil deposits

along grand isle.

thanks to their efforts,

the louisiana coast is bouncing back

after one of the worst oil spills on record here.

resiliency in the face of human and natural disasters

is a trademark of louisiana.

and the best place to see it on display

is back here in new orleans.

from the air,

sparkling lights stretch as far as the eye can see.

but on the night of august 29, 2005,

released a total of 185 million gallons.

had been knocked out, the city's electric grid

and a hurricane threatened to wipe new orleans off the map.

in a louisiana field stand reminders

of the vulnerability of this state

to natural disaster.

these are just a few hundred of the remaining fema trailers

that were sent to house temporarily

the thousands of residents who fled their homes

after one of the most destructive hurricanes

that ever hit the united states.

92,000 of these trailers were distributed

after hurricane katrina.

now empty, those in this field will soon be auctioned off.

but in 1963, there wasn't a single one left.

that he began painting portraits of birds.

when he left, he carried with him 32 drawings he'd made--

the start of a career that would make him

of birds and other wildlife america's best-known painter

and inspire the creation of the audubon society.

birds have thrived in louisiana's coastal wetlands

for millennia.

but today this ecosystem is threatened,

and with it, louisiana's state bird,

the brown pelican.

these plunge-diving fish-eating birds

used to be in great abundance

coastal marshes. along the state's

from the louisiana state house.

pelicans had become a victim of the chemical pesticide, ddt.

state biologists swung into action,

relocating 50 young pelicans here from florida

and repeating the introductions for 12 years.

today, the brown pelican

is off the endangered species list.

they're breeding on their own,

up and down the islands along the coast.

but there are now new threats

and other wildlife. to louisiana's birds

every year, millions of gallons of oil

are released off louisiana's gulf coast.

the recent explosion of the deepwater horizon alone

is hidden from view.

short for louisiana offshore oil port.

it lies in the middle of the marsh,

more than 20 miles from the gulf of mexico.

the loop is the largest point of entry for foreign oil

in the u.s.

each day, 1.4 million barrels of crude

from super tankers offshore

are pumped through here, to the country's refineries.

from here, pipelines fan out like veins

across southern louisiana--

underground and underwater.

right across them it's possible to travel

and never know they're there.

oil infrastructure but not all of louisiana's

this giant storage facility is part of the loop,

storage facility south of the loop's

lies port fourchon,

at the very southern tip of the state.

there are no permanent residents here,

but it is a critical nerve center of the oil industry.

underwater oil fields louisiana's

were first tapped in the 1940s.

today, there are 3,500 drilling platforms in the gulf of mexico,

employing 55,000 workers.

keeping these men and machines working 24-7

requires a giant repair shop,

of port fourchon. and that's the role

drilling platforms

this is one of the richest ecosystems on the planet...

if not a reflection of america itself--

a rich blend of cultures and traditions.

but just outside the city limits

begins a very different world.

from new orleans, all the way to the texas border,

and south to the gulf of mexico

lies a remarkable landscape--

millions of acres of watery marshes,

deltas, and swamps.

to flocks of white egrets they're home

and wet forests of bald cypress.

these unique trees have resin in their trunks

that enables them to fend off rot

and thrive in water.

are the tallest offshore structures in the world,

the prowling ground largest reptile. of north america's

there are an estimated 2 million american alligators

in this state.

the largest one ever recorded here

was more than 19 feet long.

southern louisiana may be a natural paradise,

part of the story. but that's just

underneath this multi-million-acre marsh

is a vast, hidden infrastructure that keeps america running.

68,000 miles of invisible pipeline,

moving oil and natural gas to and from drilling rigs,

ships, pumping stations, and refineries.

sometimes they rise above the surface.

[sound of engine]

this one is ferrying a specialized diver out

to make repairs.

without helicopters,

crossing this coastal area can be a challenge,

especially by car.

solid land for roads, when there's not enough

the only option is to build over the swamp.

before new causeways are completed,

they can look like roads to nowhere.

but there is one very fast way to speed across this marsh:

airboat.

these flat-bottomed vessels are so prevalent here,

symbols of louisiana. they've become

powered by aircraft engines, their noise can be deafening.

commuting by helicopter twice a month.

with a tidal shoreline of nearly 8,000 miles,

it's easy to get lost.

these twisting inlets

have confused ship pilots for centuries,

were no exception. and louisiana's first settlers

french explorers first discovered the louisiana coast

after traveling down the mississippi

from the great lakes in 1682.

they claimed and named the area louisiana

after their king, louis xiv.

soon after, france sent settlers to start a colony.

the mouth of the mississippi they searched, but couldn't find

in this enormous patchwork of land and water.

steam into and out of the port each day,

but even they need an occasional overhaul.

high up on this 30-year-old rig called the hercules 204,

a crew repairs a helipad.

nets along the edge help keep the men safe.

an average of seven rig workers

die in the gulf of mexico each year.

hundreds more are injured.

the recent blowout

of a drilling rig known as the deepwater horizon

killed 11 men in a single day.

but port fourchon is much more than a repair facility.

a giant distribution hub. it's also

an estimated 270 support vessels

new orleans is nothing

around the clock,

hauling the food, water, fuel, and heavy equipment

drilling rigs and crews working. necessary to keep the gulf's

louisiana's oil industry

accounts for 16% of the state's gdp.

and that wouldn't be possible

without some of the largest private air fleets

in the world.

every day, gulf helicopter pilots log 2,000 flights

to carry 10,000 oil workers to and from offshore rigs.

that's as much air traffic

three airports combined. as there is at new york city's

oil rig crews typically work in two-week shifts,

one of the first american mafia families

it was here where chef emeril lagasse,

inspired by local creole and cajun spices,

launched his food empire,

and where a one-time bootlegger named pat o'brian

disguised the taste of cheap rum with fruit juice and sugar

famous hurricane drink, to create new orleans's

still served right here at o'brian's popular courtyard bar.

but this city isn't just a place to party;

it also has a dark edge...

even in daylight.

[slow jazz playing]

and hurricanes aren't the only threat.

new orleans has one of the highest murder rates in america,

and a colorful history of criminal enterprise.

a melting pot of sounds and flavors.

got their start on the city's waterfront,

extracting protection money

from dockworkers and other laborers.

but there's a unique twist

on just about everything in new orleans.

around the time that trumpeter louis armstrong

was getting his start playing on riverboats like this one,

a serial killer called the axeman

is said to have vowed that he would spare potential victims

if he found them listening to jazz.

even burying the dead here is unconventional.

this is st. louis cemetery number 1.

with half of the city below sea level,

is leaving lasting scars.

a vast landscape of water and light...

home to the delta of the "big muddy" mississippi

and the capital of jazz.

a city of great celebration

and terrifying devastation...

where entire city blocks have been wiped off the map

and dark forces inspired the best-selling chronicles

of a vampire.

aerial louisiana explores the stark contradictions

of this southern state.

it's a nature-lover's paradise,

where the state bird has made a surprising comeback.

but also a place where giant industry

underground cemeteries aren't an option.

it was from here that a spicy sauce

ventured out to conquer the globe...

and where battles of the civil war

have not been forgotten.

disappearing at amazing speed with a million-acre marsh that's

and giant walls of steel

engineered to hold back the next great surge...

this is louisiana.

[jazz playing]

it would be hard to imagine louisiana

without its sparkling, pulsating soul,

new orleans.

for the culturally curious, it's a mecca

who purchased three for every one bought by whites

i walked the streets, savoring that long lost perfume."

one reason so many different people

have called new orleans home over the centuries

is that this city has welcomed just about anyone.

even before the civil war,

a community of freed african slaves thrived here,

in this neighborhood called treme.

st. augustine catholic church. it's home to

built in 1842 by free people of color,

it opened its doors to blacks and whites,

who each raced to buy pews in the church

for their own communities.

in the end, the famous war of the pews

was won by blacks

"the scent of jasmine and roses.

and designated many of their seats

for the use of slaves,

making st. augustine

the most integrated congregation in the country.

jazz great louis armstrong was born in new orleans in 1901.

he was the grandson of african slaves.

his legacy is honored at armstrong park,

next to the very site

early jazz fests were held-- where the city's

congo square.

it was in this square that west african slaves

once gathered to play music and dance.

whether here in treme or down in the french quarter,

in her bestselling vampire chronicles.

in the 1700s, french settlers started burying their dead

in tombs like these--

a practice that's still carried on today.

it's almost a city of its own,

with multi-story crypts,

some designed to hold entire families.

many illustrious names have been laid to rest here,

including marie laveau,

a creole hairdresser whose uncanny powers of divination

earned her the title "queen of voodoo."

no one has captured

dark undercurrents better new orleans's

than author anne rice,

so they headed on

rice grew up in this city

and later lived here,

in this 47,000-square-foot italianate mansion

on napoleon street.

it was originally built in 1865 as a boarding school.

grand victorian homes it's one of the many

that comprise the garden district.

rice has captured the sweetness of this city

just as well as she has its dark edge.

"i returned to new orleans,

and as soon as i smelled the air,

i knew i was home,"

one of her characters says.

nearly 40 years after american independence,

on the left side of the saint louis

stands the cabildo, or "council"--

of government. spain's former seat

in 1803, the spanish returned new orleans back to france.

and 20 days later, france turned around

and sold all of the louisiana territory to the u.s.

for $15 million.

on december 20, 1803, the famous louisiana purchase

was made official inside the cabildo.

but the struggle for this city wasn't quite over yet.

america might have lost its new territory

general andrew jackson. if it wasn't for this man:

before becoming president,

he was known as the hero of new orleans.

the oldest cathedral in the u.s. and a new orleans landmark.

britain sent troops to try and wrestle new orleans

out of the hands of the united states.

four miles southeast of the city...

ships pass by the site, called chalmette,

where jackson assembled a ragtag army

of a few thousand militia, haitian slaves,

pirates and settlers.

cannons still line the battleground.

on january 8, 1815, jackson's army was ready

to defend the city against 8,000 british troops.

the battle of new orleans lasted just a few hours.

when the smoke cleared, 2,000 british soldiers

were killed, wounded or missing,

the mississippi has flowed past algiers point,

these pilots know best how to navigate

every twist and turn, the mississippi's

especially this one, at algiers point.

the powerful currents that race around this sharp bend,

just feet from the city,

make algiers point the most treacherous spot on the river

for big ships.

it was here in 1996

where the liberian-registered m.v. bright field,

fully loaded with grain, lost engine power

riverwalk marketplace. and slammed into new orleans'

62 people were injured.

over millennia,

while jackson and his men escaped

depositing sediment on the opposite bank

and building up a natural levee shaped like a crescent,

nickname, "crescent city." inspiring new orleans's

the city's strategic location

allowed it to control all river traffic and trade

heading up and down the mississippi.

and the u.s. but it wasn't just france

that fought to own this lucrative gateway.

the french may have founded new orleans in 1718,

but they later ceded it to spain.

working for the spanish,

french architect don gilberto guillemard

designed the st. louis cathedral,

which are then streamed to the production

are some of the highest in the nation.

some scientists say that's due largely

to releases of toxic materials

from industries along this stretch of river.

the biggest plant of them all is this one,

just north of baton rouge--

the second-largest oil refinery in america.

the exxonmobil facility was built in 1909

on 225 acres of cotton fields.

from an array of holding tanks,

500,000 barrels of crude a day travel through pipelines

into these distillation columns.

inside these super-heated towers,

oil separates into different components,

cancer rates in louisiana

of an incredible range of products:

gas, jet fuel, milk cartons,

diapers, and lubricant.

these white clouds are just water vapor.

but below are black lagoons filled with toxic wastewater,

a by-product of refining crude.

aerators pump oxygen into the ponds

to feed natural microbes that help neutralize the sludge.

but millions of pounds of chemicals from this refinery

still make it into the surrounding environment

each year.

what makes this refinery unique

is that it's just a stone's throw

but it's actually bauxite,

with less than a hundred casualties

and full control of the city.

this marble obelisk was completed in 1908

to mark the site of the last conflict

fought on the u.s. mainland against a foreign nation.

jackson has been a hero in this town ever since.

much has changed along the banks of the mississippi river

since the days of steamboats and slavery.

vast fields of cotton and sugarcane

have been replaced with new industries

and futuristic-looking landscapes, like this one.

as a "tailings pond." this red lake is what's known

at first it looks like southern red clay,

to guide them upriver.

a toxic byproduct of making rolled aluminum foil.

this pond contains 120 million cubic yards of it--

more than the earth that was removed

to build the suez canal.

the best way to grasp the size of these enormous facilities

is to see them from the air.

this one is a holding tank for phospho-gypsum,

the byproduct of a nearby fertilizer plant.

these facilities lie in a vast industrial corridor

known as "cancer alley."

it stretches 85 miles,

from new orleans to baton rouge,

and is home to more than 130 industrial plants.

becnel was soon able to buy back the estate

along river road today.

in the early 1800s,

almost half the sugar consumed in the u.s.

was louisiana sugar.

this vast estate, known as evergreen,

was built on sugar cane profits.

with 37 carefully preserved buildings,

the most intact plantations it's considered one of

in the south.

in the early 19th century,

pierre becnel, the estate's owner,

spent so much money remodeling his family home

that he went bankrupt and had to sell the place.

but with sugar so profitable,

but sugar cane continues to be grown in great quantities

and the plantation's slaves.

they lived here, in these simple cabins.

great profits from sugar would not have been possible

without slave labor.

it was backbreaking work,

and in 1811,

slaves in this parish rose up--

the largest slave revolt ever to take place in the u.s.

some 500 slaves marched downriver towards new orleans,

but were quickly attacked by a militia of planters.

many of the slaves fled into nearby swamps.

most were shot,

and others were hanged.

in the early 19th century,

and settled in what's now texas instead.

but on mardi gras day, 1699,

a second group of french settlers

finally located the mouth of the great river.

these days, gps guides 6,000 ocean vessels a year

from around the world

right into the mouth of the mississippi.

a single bulk carrier like this one

can be loaded with more than 100,000 cubic meters of grain,

which will be exported to countries like egypt and china.

this port at new orleans

is part of the biggest grain and soybean export hub

in the u.s. today.

in louisiana,

cotton and sugar were louisiana's top crops.

they were grown here,

on plantations that line louisiana's famous river road,

which follows the mississippi from new orleans to baton rouge.

when it was constructed in 1839,

the oak alley mansion was set at the end

of a double row of 28 oak trees

leading from the river to the house.

today, this avenue of great trees is popular with tourists...

and hollywood.

"interview with a vampire" and "primary colors"

were both filmed here.

it's not planting season yet,

containing the graves of nearly 4,000 union soldiers.

each uniform runs into the hundreds.

over just one weekend, they play out, step-by-step

a battle that lasted more than six weeks.

once the union troops cut off supplies,

ran out of food port hudson's defenders

and were forced to eat their own horses,

and even rats, to survive.

on july 9, 1863,

after hearing of the fall of vicksburg,

those who were left finally laid down their arms and surrendered.

but by then, both sides had suffered huge casualties,

with thousands dead or wounded.

just south of the battlefield

lies the port hudson national cemetery,

each authentic cannon can cost tens of thousands of dollars.

buried here in tidy rows. the confederate dead weren't

their bodies were left in the trenches where they fell.

the victory at port hudson finally gave the union forces

control of the entire mississippi.

but the civil war that battles had been waged wasn't the first time

to control traffic and trade on this river.

arriving in new orleans, the harvest legend,

a 45,000-ton bulk carrier,

prepares to make a 135-degree turn against the current.

before these giant ships

even enter the mouth of the mississippi,

they're required to have

a licensed local river pilot on board

from across the south.

the civil war battles that brought an end to slavery

are still being re-lived today.

smoke from canon fire rises over port hudson.

in may 1863,

while major general ulysses s. grant

was attacking vicksburg,

more union forces gathered here,

hoping to seize control

of one of the last confederate strongholds

on the mississippi river.

the little-known battle of port hudson

was an important turning point in the civil war.

every year, 500 men and women gather here

like louisiana... narrator: there's no other place

they are passionate re-enactors

who live in period tents before the battle begins.

most are louisiana natives;

some even descendants of the confederate soldiers

who survived the siege.

on may 23rd,

more than 30,000 union troops arrived to take the fort.

those in red uniforms

were from an elite fighting unit called the zouaves,

the green berets of the day.

despite being outnumbered, the confederates fought hard.

for a captivated crowd, these re-enactors try their best

to capture each important turn of the siege.