Original subtitles

outdated, obsolete, now, it's worn out,

out of ufos ever since.

thousands of the curious and the crazy

every year, come to roswell's ufo museum

drawn by the strange story of the 1947 incident--

a mystery that may never be solved.

about the fate but there's no mystery

of most of the other aircraft that end up in roswell.

the airport is home to a private airplane salvage yard,

where jets from around the world come, not just to die,

but to be dismembered.

once, this md80 ferried excited tourists

and harried executives across the country.

the town of roswell has made a cottage industry

and headed for the scrap yard.

the interior has already been stripped of its wiring

and electrical components.

now it's time to finish the job.

it took thousands of hours to build this plane.

destroying it takes just minutes--

one bite, rip and crunch at a time.

into tiny bits, once it's broken down

and other raw materials the plane's aluminum skin

will be sold and recycled.

these jets are just waiting their turn,

but one will be spared destruction.

for further tests.

place that comes to mind. this isn't necessarily the first

that distinction may go to a desolate air base

200 miles to the southeast, called roswell.

in the early days of the cold war,

roswell was an obscure outpost

strategic air command. of the u.s. air force's

then, in 1947,

a local rancher found what he claimed to be a flying saucer

that had crashed on his land.

the debris was brought here to the base for study.

the military claimed it was just a weather balloon,

but whisked it away to other bases in texas and ohio

this 1962 lockheed jetstar once belonged to a king.

when the story leaked,

sensational news reports made roswell

a symbol of government conspiracies

to cover up the existence of visitors from other planets.

the incident sparked a ufo scare

and inspired decades of science fiction movies.

then, 50 years after the incident,

the air force released a report

admitting that the wreckage was part of a secret system

of atomic espionage.

but for real believers, this is just another cover-up.

the treaty created

then, in the 1840s,

friction between the new nation and the u.s.

led to the mexican american war.

on august 18, 1846, u.s. army general stephen watts kearny

marched his troops into the plaza

and raised the american flag over the palace,

where it still flies today.

five years later,

santa fe became the capital of new mexico territory,

after mexico ceded its former state to the u.s.

in the treaty of guadalupe hidalgo.

today, the 2,000-mile international border

when the mexicans threw the king's men out.

remains a flash point for controversy and conflict.

thousands of immigrants

cross illegally into new mexico every year.

most are looking for jobs and a better life.

but mexican drug lords are helping fuel

a growing cross-border trade in cocaine, heroin,

marijuana, and weapons.

here, a mexican highway lies just feet from the tall fence

that now separates the united states

from its southern neighbor.

on the u.s. side--empty desert

just the center but santa fe isn't

the king of rock and roll, that is--

elvis presley himself.

the only singer but presley isn't

in new mexico. who's made a big impression

every summer, music lovers come here to the santa fe opera house

to listen to up-and-coming singers and top stars

perform many of the greatest operas ever written.

some of them may take a side trip to nearby tesuque

to visit the shidoni sculpture garden,

an eight-acre display of modern sculpture.

it's just one part

gallery and museum scene. of the region's thriving

yet, when most people think of top-secret and new mexico,

of new mexico's cultural life--

for hundreds of years,

it's been the center of the state's political life as well.

in 1610, king philip iii of spain's

royal governor, pedro de peralta,

named the tiny village of santa fe as his capital

and began construction of a home for his new administration.

that building, now known as the palace of the governors,

is the oldest government building in america.

the plaza it faces remained the center of spanish life

in new mexico until 1821,

from then on, the landscape around the valley

it will itch you for the rest of your life."

in 1917 at the age of 30. o'keeffe first came to the state

"from then on," she said later,

"i was always trying to get back there."

by the time she finally returned in 1929,

new york painter o'keeffe was an up-and-coming

looking for a change of scenery and a little peace and quiet.

for the next two decades,

she came back to new mexico almost every year.

in 1949, she left new york for good

and settled in this valley north of santa fe,

in a place called ghost ranch.

"if you ever go to new mexico,

was the principle subject of her art.

she painted some of its landmarks over and over again.

kitchen mesa, which looms over the north end of the ranch,

was a beloved subject.

but the natural landmark o'keeffe may have loved the most

was a flat-topped mountain to the south called pedernal.

she explained. "it's my private mountain,"

"god told me if i painted it often enough, i could have it."

o'keeffe loved many of new mexico's

human-made landmarks, too.

her paintings of the bare walls and simple adobe forms

today, it stands over acoma as a symbol of christian conquest,

as the dwelling place of their gods.

but when spanish conquistadors first arrived here in 1540,

native beliefs like this came under attack.

spanish missionaries were determined to impose

their own religion on new mexico's native people.

in 1629, they put their new subjects to work

mission san esteban del rey building acoma's

in the style of the native adobe dwellings surrounding it.

its tall, thick walls kept the congregation cool.

it was built without windows

so that the church could double as a fort,

or maybe so that reluctant converts couldn't get away.

of san francisco de asis mission in nearby taos

just as similar adobe-style churches

loom over most pueblo communities in the state.

but the most celebrated adobe church in new mexico

isn't in a pueblo.

mission in the city of taos. it's san francisco de asis

construction of this church began in 1772

in the purest adobe style.

more than 150 years later,

its stark beauty inspired one of america's greatest artists

to create some of her most iconic works.

the great american artist georgia o'keeffe once said,

in america.

even now at the university of new mexico,

adobe-style architecture rules the day.

founded in 1889, its 600-acre main campus in albuquerque

is now famed for its beloved pueblo revival buildings.

the traditional look fool you. but don't let

u.n.m. is thoroughly up to date.

many of its grads will go on

high tech sector. to work in the city's growing

others may end up working here,

los alamos national laboratory. in northern new mexico's

if they do, no one may ever know.

this is one of the most top-secret government facilities

slathered with painted concrete.

los alamos was founded during world war ii

as part of the effort to build the atomic bomb.

new mexico's vast empty spaces

made this the perfect spot for keeping the effort quiet.

today, it serves as one of the u.s. government's

premier national security research institutions.

its mission--to maintain the safety, security and reliability

nuclear deterrent. of the nation's

los alamos stores thousands of pounds of plutonium,

though, where, exactly,

is only know by those with high-level clearance.

president william tight

are some of her most famous works.

but other new mexicans haven't always shared

for adobe structures. o'keeffe's enthusiasm

church was built in 1793 albuquerque's san felipe de neri

with five-foot-thick adobe walls.

but later congregations chose to hide its pueblo origins

behind european-style architectural details.

and nearby, in 1869, the adobe saint francis cathedral

was completely torn down and rebuilt

in a romanesque revival style by a newly appointed french bishop.

by the early 1900s, adobe was so out of fashion

that when university of new mexico

and u.s. customs and border protection officers

started redesigning campus buildings in the pueblo manner,

he set off a firestorm that cost him his job.

but just a few years later,

a new fad for indigenous american architecture

would spark a pueblo revival building boom.

today, pueblo adobe style buildings

are everywhere in new mexico.

they sprawl across the once-pristine landscape.

the truth is,

most of these houses aren't really adobe at all.

their walls are often just studs and foam insulation

when it was over,

where a ruthless gang boss named james dolan

had an iron grip on almost all aspects of life.

local rancher john tunstall challenged dolan

and paid with his life.

soon, a new gang formed to continue the fight against dolan

and seek revenge for tunstall's death.

they were called "the regulators."

one of the members was a young gunslinger

who would become notorious as billy the kid.

over the next year, murder followed murder,

with billy doing his share of the killing.

it would become known as the lincoln county war.

it was here in the town of lincoln, in the late 1870s,

billy the kid was one of the last men standing.

a price was put on his head,

wide-open spaces. and he lit out for new mexico's

but legendary lawman pat garrett tracked him down.

the kid was sentenced to hang

and brought here to the lincoln county courthouse

to await his fate.

but when garrett left town to buy wood to build a gallows,

a friend slipped billy a gun.

the next day, as he was being led

down the steps of the courthouse,

they come to revisit the legends and landscapes

gardens with elaborate fountains,

and its own spur rail line,

the phoenix seemed to have everything it needed

to do the job.

but the hotel closed in the 1890s

when luring american tourists to new mexico

proved tougher than the railroad tycoons expected.

maybe they were just ahead of the times.

today, new mexico is a mecca for visitors from around the world,

incredible natural beauty. thanks in part to the state's

just come to new mexico but outsiders don't

to see natural wonders.

the kid shot his guards and made his escape.

of some of the wildest parts of the wild, wild west.

in the late 19th century,

ranchers, rustlers, sheriffs, and gunslingers

fought life or death battles on this land.

kit carson, doc holliday, and wyatt earp

are just a few of the legendary men who rode and fought here.

their gun battles soaked the earth in blood

and marked new mexico territory as a lawless land.

few places in the state saw more blood and less law

in those years than lincoln county,

which lies in the southern half of the state.

and a group of private investors

today, the former route 66 is getting hip all over again.

its old hotels and roadside attractions

are being restored to their former luster,

bringing back exciting days in the middle of the 20th century,

when eager adventurers roared into new mexico by car.

but in the 21st century,

coming to new mexico the real adventurers aren't

to drive automobiles.

they've got something in mind

a lot more far out. that's literally

here, on the ancient jornado del muerto plain,

the state of new mexico, billionaire richard branson,

then, interstate 40 stole its traffic and dimmed its glory.

are building the world's first

purpose-built commercial spaceport.

if all goes as planned,

spaceships will start blasting off from here very soon,

taking private citizens

who can afford to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars each

for a trip to outer space.

but even if the plans for the spaceport

never get off the ground, ambitious projects like this one

prove that new mexico remains an ancient state with a big future,

where dreamers still come to reach for the sky.

with four rays representing the four seasons,

just about 100 miles, he didn't get far,

before pat garrett finally tracked billy the kid down

for the last time on july 14, 1881,

and shot him dead.

by the end of the century,

was dead, too. the kid's lawless frontier

on january 6, 1912, new mexico went from territory to state,

with santa fe continuing as the capital.

today, its bustling downtown is filled with government agencies.

known as the roundhouse, it's capitol building,

is one of the most unusual in the u.s.

it was modeled after the zia pueblo sun sign,

beautiful landscaped grounds,

four directions, and four phases of life.

its occupants govern an increasingly diverse population

of men and women from every corner of the world.

some of them, or their parents or grandparents,

may have arrived by way of albuquerque's central avenue,

back when it was part of

one of the hippest highways in america--

route 66.

from 1926 to the late '60s,

route 66 was the main road from chicago to l.a.

it was also new mexico's main drag.

and ride their finest horses slowly through the streets

honor their traditions even if they don't always

exactly as their ancestors did.

in the small northern new mexican town of espanola,

mexican americans have developed their own uniquely modern way

to celebrate their roots.

around here, pride comes on wheels

in beautifully customized cars.

every weekend, car-crazy espanolans come together

to show off their one-of-a-kind wheels

and stake their claim to the streets.

it all started with an old mexican ritual called paseo.

caballeros would don their best clothes, decorate their saddles,

they still do today,

to assert their pride and place in the community.

as early as the 1940s, cars that had been modified

to ride low and slow replaced horses.

but taking your time while showing off a beautiful ride

is still what it's all about.

are patrolling today, espanola's lowriders

the mexican side of a cultural divide

created by a second wave of american settlers

that flooded into new mexico in the 1880s--

a flood unleashed by the arrival of the train.

there's nothing in the world

soon, public opinion in the u.s. was, too.

working around the clock to scan for signs of illegal activity.

they drag the ground on the u.s. side of the fence

to make the footprints of those who cross illegally

easier to track.

but back in 1916, there was no one around to stop

one of the most notorious border crossings in u.s. history--

a raid on the town of columbus, new mexico,

by a mexican bandit and revolutionary

named pancho villa.

on the night of march 9, 1916. villa's men crossed over

by the time they crossed back a few hours later,

columbus was in flames.

quite like the sight of las vegas

some say villa was out for revenge

on an american gunrunner who had cheated him.

others say he was trying to spark another war with the u.s.

he almost succeeded.

even to this day, villa's daring raid

remains a great source of pride for mexicans,

and not just south of the border.

after the americans took over in new mexico,

many of its citizens of spanish and mexican descent

continued to celebrate their heritage,

their culture, and their faith.

that still stand in the new part of las vegas.

and civilization to the west.

within a few years, the new las vegas was booming.

the americans built it around a new square,

reinforcing the divide with the mexican community.

blocks of buildings in victorian and italianate styles came next.

before long, the new plaza hotel was giving fred harvey

a run for his money.

teddy roosevelt rounded up his rough riders here.

more than a century later, the coen brothers and javier bardem

arrived to film scenes no country for old men.

the hotel is just one of over 900 historic structures

in a variety of late 19th and early 20th century styles

for bringing good food, clean beds,

but one of the most impressive buildings from that bygone era

isn't in las vegas.

it sits on a rocky hillside five miles outside of town.

the montezuma castle, today, it's called

and serves as the campus

of the armand hammer united world college

of the american west.

but in its heyday, it was the phoenix hotel,

an elaborate resort built by the railroad in 1886

to drum up business for its trains.

with its stunning main building overlooking natural hot springs,

it turned its back on the old mexican town

rising out of the western desert.

las vegas, new mexico, that is.

founded in 1835, 70 years before its glitzier twin in nevada,

this beautiful town is one of

tourist attractions. the state's most popular

but the story of its past reveals a little-known fact--

las vegas has a split personality.

abundant grasslands, named after the area's

the town started life as a mexican village

with adobe buildings around a traditional central plaza.

but when the atchison, topeka and santa fe railroad

arrived in 1879,

the acoma have long revered it

by putting its tracks and station a mile to the east,

where they still stand today.

soon, american settlers were pouring

into the tiny red-roofed station looking for a place to bed down.

many made their first stop in town right next door,

where fred harvey had built one of his trademark

mission-style harvey house hotels.

the english-born harvey was making a fortune

by following the trains into the frontier

and building hotels next to the stations.

already gaining fame harvey's inns were

is because of the giant aquifer that lies beneath it.

farther south, the cliffs fall away

as the rio grande brings the gift of water

to central new mexico, just as it has for millions of years.

the river hurries along on its eternal journey south,

metropolis--albuquerque. heading for the state's modern

home to the university of new mexico

and the heart of the state's economy,

largest city. albuquerque is new mexico's

three quarters of a million people--

more than a third of the state's population--

call this metropolitan area home.

one reason this fast-growing city can survive

in the united states.

residents here don't have the water woes

that plague other big cities in the southwest,

people in this bone dry state. but that's not the case for most

which is why the waters of the rio grande are so precious.

and why the government built this reservoir in 1916,

close to 150 miles downriver from albuquerque.

elephant butte dam is 300 feet tall.

elephant-shaped rock it's named for the ancient

that rises out of this man-made lake.

hydroelectric power plant electricity from the dam's

feeds 490 miles of transmission lines and 11 substations.

from the reservoir but it's the water

lies 800 feet below the rim of the gorge.

with steep walls and a deep canyon,

to carry life-giving water it's naturally engineered

dry southern desert. to new mexico's

but before it reaches the south, the rift narrows.

the rio grande must twist its way through a series of rapids--

a perfect place for adventure seekers.

designated a wild and scenic river in 1968,

this part of the rio grande

draws crowds of whitewater rafters

eager to test their skills.

called orilla verde, or "green riverbank,"

this six-mile stretch of rapids

thousands of acres that's turning

rafters navigate around the massive boulders

that have come to rest in this riverbed.

from above, it's possible to see

through the flat desert floor how the rio grande's jagged path

has created a stark, beautiful landscape.

but the most breathtaking sight along this chasm

may be human-made.

built in 1965 along u.s. highway 64,

the rio grande gorge bridge leaps across the rift

650 feet above the river,

making it the second highest expansion bridge

they spewed 150 cubic miles of lava onto the land

even places as quiet as valles caldera.

today, this is one of

most unspoiled landscapes. new mexico's

and like the valley of fire, it is teeming with life,

including some of the last remnants

herds of wild elk. of america's once-vast

these peaceful grasslands give these animals

a place to breed, calve and forage.

but over a million years ago,

two giant volcanoes ripped these mountains apart

with a force 600 times stronger

than the blast that leveled mount saint helens.

even the most peaceful spot may hide a violent past.

and shot out clouds of ash that fell as far away as iowa.

then, they collapsed in gigantic implosions

that punched a 175-square-mile hole in the earth

and left nothing behind but these peaceful meadows.

today, geologists say

a one percent chance that there's just

of another volcanic eruption in new mexico

within in the next 100 years.

but four miles below the valles caldera's floor,

the magma continues to bubble.

to worry the elk, that doesn't seem

this is the valley of fire.

of new mexican desert green.

nurturing acres of pecan groves like these,

and dozens of other crops,

creating the closest thing to a breadbasket

this desert state will ever know.

life-giving water the rio grande's

makes this transformation possible.

but for millions of years, new mexico has also been shaped

and reshaped by a much deadlier force.

flying over the sandy floor

tularosa valley, of southeastern new mexico's

a forbidding landscape appears.

leaving behind a cleft that runs the length of the state.

5,000 years ago, this vast expanse of rock

was an ocean of molten lava four miles wide in places,

and up to 160 feet deep.

over millennia, the elements have ground the lava

into life-giving soil

that seems far richer than the desert around it.

but when it came boiling out of a nearby volcano,

this deadly flow devoured everything in its path

and changed the landscape forever.

now, it can be eerily quiet here,

proving that in new mexico,

to capture the data they were after.

of quiet you can hear. and it's not just the kind

out on the remote plains of san augustin,

the radio frequencies are pretty silent, too.

came here back in 1980, that's why a group of scientists

when they were looking for a place to put this--

a 230-ton tower with an 82-foot-wide radar dish.

the scientists wanted to use it

and the radio silence of these remote plains

to listen for faint signals from outer space.

so faint, they knew that a single antenna

on its own. wouldn't be able to do the job

so, they built 27 of the dishes

new mexico has all the quiet you'll ever need.

they call them the very large array.

the antennas are mounted on 39 miles of train tracks,

so the researchers can move them around the desert floor

in order to fine-tune their observation of signals

that started their journey to this corner of new mexico

billions of years ago.

contact,

a scientist played by jodie foster

came here to listen for extraterrestrial life.

researchers here haven't yet heard e.t.,

but what they have learned so far

modern mexican american culture thrives

are its vast landscapes

and the wide-open glory of its skies.

then, you hear the quiet.

with an area of over 121,000 square miles

and a population of just two million,

new mexico can seem like one of our loneliest states.

going on here but there's a lot more

than meets the eye, or the ear.

in new mexico, past, present and future rub shoulders every day.

bustling cities look to tomorrow,

while movie makers looking for the next blockbuster

yesterdays alive. keep the state's wild west

has revolutionized our understanding of black holes

in a land settled by missionaries and conquistadors.

traditional native dwellings inspire architects

to build futuristic homes called earthships.

old airships come to die,

while rumors of spaceships lure curiosity-seekers

from around the world.

scientists listen for real aliens among the stars

and do research that may shape our future.

it's all in new mexico--

a deceptively quiet state,

where dreamers come to reach for the sky.

now without water, the 40,000-acre bisti badlands

of new mexico's timeless beauty.

but ever-changing places, like the nearby bisti badlands,

are a part of that beauty, too.

millions of years ago,

this barren landscape in the high desert

san juan basin, of northwestern new mexico's

was a lush swamp roamed by dinosaurs.

in the ages since, time, water, and wind have left their mark.

rock formations called hoodoos stand guard

over an ever-shifting landscape.

vast deposits of fossils are some of the only clues

that these desolate hills were once covered by a giant wetland.

and pay their respects to a seemingly eternal symbol

is a tough place to survive.

all of new mexico is bone dry. but don't get the idea that

in the north, the rio grande flows into this state

from its headwaters in colorado's san juan mountains,

bringing green along with it.

as the river flows south,

its course is set by a unique geological feature

that is literally splitting new mexico in two.

they call it the rio grande rift.

for millions of years,

have been pulling apart, two plates of the earth's crust

the lava cooled, and time and wind began to scrape

and young stars,

allowed scientists to trace complex gas motions

at the center of our own milky way,

and shown us the furthest edges of the universe.

new state-of-the-art electronics and software

sensitivity by a factor of 10, will increase the array's

ensuring that astronomers can continue to search the skies,

and that this futuristic addition

ancient landscape will endure. to new mexico's

just as this jagged peak has endured for 30 million years.

back then, this new mexican landmark

was the molten core of an active volcano.

and it did not seem to bother luis maria cabeza de baca.

the rest of the volcano away.

this tower of basalt is all that remains.

the navajo call it "the rock with wings,"

after the legend of a great bird

that was said to have first guided their ancestors

to these lands.

european-american settlers renamed it "ship rock,"

in honor of its nautical silhouette,

and the way it seemed to move along the horizon.

today, people come from around the world

to see it sail the desert

that may have stretched all the way to the aztec empire

the first ambitious dreamers but earthship owners aren't

the answer to survival to think they've found

in new mexico.

this state is littered with the bones of ancient cities

that started big, then withered under the merciless desert sun.

the remains of one of the biggest

still lie scattered across the floor

of the remote chaco canyon.

starting around the year 800, a people known as the anasazi

built a series of great houses and ceremonial centers here.

huge stone buildings overlooking broad public plazas

were linked by a complex system of roads

while leaving a light footprint on the desert land.

in what is now mexico.

up to 5,000 people may have lived here.

but even after studying these ruins for over 100 years,

scientists still know very little

about who the builders were, where they came from,

or where they went.

what they do know is that around the year 1150,

these ancient people started to leave.

some say they were driven away by fierce heat

and 50 drought years in a row.

others whisper of war and cannibalism.

then, the walls are plastered and finished.

can be a matter of life and death.

now, an eco-visionary named michael reynolds

the best way to do it. thinks he's figured out

outside taos, reynolds is pioneering the development

of entire subdivisions of eco-friendly homes

he calls earthships.

and, just like the settlers near fort union,

he's doing a lot of it with stuff he's scavenged.

the load-bearing walls of these houses

are built out of old tires packed with dirt,

and spaces between the tires

are filled in with recycled bottles and cans.

whatever the reasons,

to keep the houses as green as he can,

reynolds carefully situates them to allow passive solar heating,

and burrows them into the ground

to keep them cool in the desert heat.

buyers can either choose a stock blueprint,

or work with reynolds to create their own dream home.

but no matter how whimsical the design,

they are all eminently practical.

according to reynolds,

his earthships cost no more than an ordinary house,

making it possible for anyone to live well,

in sturdy houses made of mud and straw bricks covered in earth.

than that of chaco canyon.

in the 1500s, famine and drought forced the residents

to abandon their homes.

but today, one native community

is living almost exactly as they did hundreds of years ago

on the very top of this mesa.

it's called acoma pueblo

and is the oldest continuously inhabited site

in the united states.

over 800 years after the first homes were built here,

the people of acoma still survive in this harsh land

just as their ancestors did--

in the end, this community fared no better

the thick walls of these dwellings

keep their owners warm in the winter and cool in the summer.

this building type has been used in hot, dry climates

around the world for thousands of years.

the spanish word for it--adobe. today, it's often identified by

but acoma's founders weren't just practical,

they were also deeply spiritual.

they may have picked this site

because of the commanding view it provides

of this 400-foot-high plateau across the way.

it's called enchanted mesa.

earthships do today. just as new mexico's

about 100 years after the exodus began,

the last residents carefully sealed the doors

of the buildings and walked away.

a few of them may have ended up here,

frijole canyon, in bandelier national monument's

experiment in sustainable design where new mexico's next

was just taking off.

as the civilization in chaco canyon collapsed,

pueblo people started coming here

to build their homes at the bottom of the cliffs.

they designed their wood, rock and mud houses

to take advantage of the cool stone and the warm sun,

building the right kind of house

the canyon holds one of the highest concentrations

of prehistoric sites in the world,

including a vast ceremonial chamber

perched 140 feet up the cliff.

the only way to get there is by climbing four steep ladders.

it's not for the faint-hearted,

though those who lived here

would have hauled water and supplies

up the steep walls every day.

once inside, visitors get a unique acoustic experience--

voices echo off the walls and carry across the chamber.

than fictional gunfighters and hollywood hype.

called for in his script, silverado.

he found it in a place called cook's ranch,

home to fourth generation westerners bill and marian cook.

before long, kevin kline, scott glenn, kevin costner,

and danny glover were shooting it out

in these realistic western streets.

glover came back with robert duvall, tommy lee jones,

lonesome dove.

today, bill and marian continue to rent out the sets

and to welcome the stars, directors and crews

that have been coming and going here ever since.

but there's a lot more to new mexico's western history

to build the realistic western town

there was a time when this really was the wild, wild west.

for most of the 19th century, real cowboys and indians

waged a bitter and ultimately tragic war over this land.

and few things angered the region's native peoples more

than the thousands of wagons

that cut these deep ruts across miles of land,

bringing the first flood of american settlers to new mexico

along the famed santa fe trail.

the trail started on the banks of the missouri river

and headed west across the great plains.

for over 50 years,

and the owners of baca's land aren't the only new mexicans

back in 1821, baca established a ranch here

that lasted until the u.s. government bought it

for parkland in the year 2000.

in between, the stewards of this land

made sure to preserve its natural beauty.

their success brought the offer from the park service

and caught the eye of movie producers

looking to recreate the wild west.

gregory peck, anjelica huston, liam neeson, and pierce brosnan

are just a few of the actors who have chewed the scenery here.

the only spot in new mexico but the valles caldera isn't

where hollywood has come knocking.

it was the main route into new mexico from the east,

the welcome mat when it did. who've rolled out

since first going into the movie business in 1955,

bonanza creek ranch has played host to dozens of film crews.

kirk douglas, henry fonda, matt damon, penelope cruz,

and, of course, john wayne have all worked here

in this camera-ready version of the west.

stars and wannabe stars still come here to burnish their image

in new mexico's golden light.

their only destination. and bonanza creek isn't

in 1984, director lawrence kasdan

came to new mexico looking for the right landscape

and the end of the indian wars in 1879,

were determined to stem this tide.

in the 1860s and '70s,

their relentless attacks made the santa fe trail

most dangerous roads. one of the frontier's

but there was a safe haven for the settlers along the way--

a frontier outpost called fort union.

of the fort today, all that's left

are these heavily eroded ruins.

but in the late 1800s, this was a bustling frontier outpost.

from here, the u.s. cavalry sallied out into the desert

to put down native uprisings and protect the settlers' interests.

then, with the arrival of the train in new mexico

desperate to preserve their ancient rights to the land,

both the santa fe trail and fort union

were suddenly obsolete.

the fort closed for good in 1891.

local settlers soon began scavenging bricks and wood

from its walls.

time and the elements did the rest.

the scavengers. it's hard to blame

in these high altitude plains,

building materials can be hard to come by.

and with temperatures that range

from minus 50 to 122 degrees fahrenheit,

these ungulates are the fastest land animals on the continent.

reaching all the way to santa fe.

it was blazed in 1821 by an adventurous entrepreneur

from franklin, missouri, named william becknell

who was looking for new markets for his goods.

by the 1840s,

settlers and merchandise were streaming down the trail.

these wagon ruts are all that's left.

the plains of northeast new mexico

look just as they did in the early 19th century.

still today, herds of pronghorn gather here

on their long annual migrations.

only found in north america,

the first things you notice about new mexico

to outrun predators like wolves,

pronghorn can reach a top speed of nearly 60 miles per hour.

the biggest threats to this species today

are development, coyotes and cars.

but in the 1800s, tens of thousands of pronghorn

were slaughtered by travelers on the santa fe trail.

the only ones and pronghorn weren't

threatened by the great migration west.

as more and more settlers flooded onto this land,

apache, navajo, comanche,

and other native peoples in new mexico,