All language subtitles for Aeria-DHDB

it's a state that's
witnessed epic battles.

here, troops faced off

in the last great clash
of the civil war...

a young hollywood fighter

famously climbed
steps to glory...

and fans come to roar with
the legendary nittany lions.

no other state has sailed
on the winds of freedom

like pennsylvania.

a land settled by refugees
and hard-working pioneers,

where age-old traditions
still thrive.

it's in pennsylvania
that one entrepreneur

turned cows' milk and cocoa
into a billion-dollar brand,

and where others are racing
to unlock buried treasure

trapped miles underground.

but it's also here that america
came face-to-face

with the threat of
nuclear disaster,

and where a 9/11 tragedy is
still being remembered today.

aerial pennsylvania soars over
two of america's great cities...

one forged by lofty ideals,

the other by glass and steel.

it's played such an essential
role in the birth of america,

it's known as
the keystone state.

this is pennsylvania.

high over 21st century
philadelphia,

a 17th century giant
stands guard.

cast in solid bronze by sculptor
alexander milne calder,

and standing 37 feet high,

it's the tallest statue

atop any building
in the world.

but this man wasn't a president
or a mythical figure.

he was an english quaker,
philosopher and entrepreneur

named william penn.

penn won his perch
atop city hall

by founding philadelphia
and pennsylvania in 1681,

and by guaranteeing those
who came to settle here

freedom of religion.

for many at the time,

that was an idea unknown
in their native lands.

penn's "holy experiment"
drew thousands of settlers

and inspired america's
founding fathers a century later

as they outlined their
new country's constitution.

for years,
out of respect for penn,

developers in philadelphia
didn't build any structures

that stood higher
than his statue.

at least until 1987,

when the spire
of a new building,

called one liberty place

shot up 397 feet higher
than penn's cap.

but soon
philadelphia sports fans

were scratching their heads.

after one liberty place
was completed,

none of the city's four
professional sports teams

won a single championship
for years.

locals called it
"billy penn's curse."

luckily, it wasn't
to last forever.

in 2007,

construction workers finishing
a new, even taller tower--

now home to the cable giant
comcast--

fixed a tiny replica
of penn's statue

to one of its highest beams.

they hoped it would
placate penn's spirit

and end the curse

by putting him back on top.

to the surprise of many,

the very next year the phillies
staged a major comeback

and won the 2008 world series.

today, many visitors who come
to the phillies' home games

here at citizens bank park

aren't aware of the tale of how
workers on the comcast tower

may have changed
the history of this team.

william penn's legacy still
towers over philadelphia.

but these days,
the city looks quite different

from the utopian one
penn first mapped out.

having seen the damage of
london's great fire of 1666,

he planned philadelphia
with wide streets

and large house lots
to help keep the city safe.

but in the end,

most residents crowded in
close to the ports instead.

what do remain are
the five public squares

penn sketched into his plan.

he called this one
northwest square.

today, it's known
as logan circle.

in a city as old
as philadelphia,

there's always restoration
to be done.

this scaffolding hides

one of the most historic
buildings in america--

independence hall.

it was here that
the declaration of independence

was adopted on july 4, 1776.

and it was here where the famous
liberty bell first rang out

four days later to call citizens
to hear the declaration read.

today, this steeple holds
the centennial bell.

the original liberty bell
has been moved

to a new visitor center,

angled at the corner of
the green down below.

nine of the 56 signers of
the declaration of independence

lived in pennsylvania.

the house and printshop
of benjamin franklin

once stood just blocks
from independence hall.

they were torn down
in the 19th century.

today, white steel structures
mark the site

of the original
house and workshop

where franklin printed his
famous poor richard's almanac.

opened in 1976,
this innovative memorial

was designed by
architect robert venturi.

beneath it lies
an underground museum

that chronicles franklin's
life and work.

when the declaration
of independence

was actually signed,
in august 1776,

america's freedom was
anything but assured.

by the next fall,

philadelphia was back under
the control of british troops.

george washington tried
to retake the city,

but his army of militia
were poorly trained,

and failed.

they were forced to retreat.

on december 19, 1777,

washington and his men
arrived here in valley forge,

just 20 miles away
from the city,

and set up camp for the winter.

the men hailed from
nearly all 13 colonies,

but few had formal
military training.

"if the army does not
get help soon," he warned,

"in all likelihood,
it will disband."

following his withdrawal,

many had doubts about whether
washington was the right man

to lead america's
battle for freedom.

each year, thousands of students
come to valley forge

to learn the dramatic story

of how washington managed
to win the war.

as soon as he arrived,

washington set up
his living quarters

in the second story
of this home,

then owned by a local miller
named isaac potts.

but the rank and file were left

to build their own
primitive log huts.

the outlines of some of
those original foundations

are still visible today.

others have been reconstructed.

thousands of the men
were dressed

in nothing more than tatters.

many didn't even have shoes

and left bloody footprints
in the snow.

washington called conditions at
valley forge "truly deplorable."

more than a quarter of
the 11,000 soldiers

would die of diseases.

as they headed into the winter,

washington knew that

if the survivors didn't
get help quickly,

the war could be lost.

by january 1778,

the surviving forces of
george washington's army

were still bunkered down
at valley forge

and lacked the military training
they needed

to overcome british forces
and retake philadelphia

just 20 miles to the southeast.

but on february 23rd,

a prussian military officer

named friedrich
wilhelm von steuben

arrived in the camp and offered
to train the troops.

washington immediately
put him to work.

on these fields,
von steuben drilled the men,

taught them how to reload
their muskets in battle,

to charge with bayonets,

and how to march together
as a unified force.

by the time washington's army
marched out of valley forge

on june 19, 1778,

they were well-trained
and ready to fight.

when battle resumed,

the british were shocked
to discover

that they and the americans
were now evenly matched.

the war of american independence
continued on

for more than three years.

by the time the british
finally admitted defeat,

on october 19, 1781,

faith in george washington's
leadership

had been restored.

in 1789, he was sworn in
in new york city

as the first president
of the united states.

a year later,

philadelphia became the new
nation's temporary capital.

in 1909, a new building for
philadelphia's museum of art

rose next door on the site of
the city's former reservoir.

it has one of the greatest
collections of american art

in the country.

but many know this building
not for its art

but for the tough fighter
who famously climbed its steps.

it was here where
sylvester stallone trained

as the character rocky balboa in
the oscar-winning 1976 film

that made him a star.

many come to philadelphia
just to climb these steps

inspired by rocky's perseverance
and his rags-to-riches story.

rocky came from philadelphia's
tough streets,

but they weren't just tough
in the 1970s.

philadelphia's criminal history

is as colorful as
the public murals

on many of its buildings today.

in the years after
american independence,

philadelphia's jails swelled.

so in 1822,

the city commissioned
a new prison

designed by british architect
john haviland.

this is eastern state
penitentiary,

former home of
notorious criminals

like bank robber willy sutton
and mobster al capone

and where actors
bruce willis and brad pitt

shot the film "12 monkeys."

the unique star-shaped design
of eastern state

was inspired by
the enlightenment ideals

of philadelphia's founders.

the idea was not just
to punish its inmates,

but to encourage them to repent.

after its opening in 1829,

prisoners were kept in solitary
confinement 24 hours a day,

so they could reflect
on their crimes.

locked up in
innovative cellblocks

that radiated like spokes from
a central surveillance rotunda

in cells with no windows,

only skylights designed to
serve as the "eyes of god,"

around the clock surveillance
from heaven

to encourage true repentance.

this innovative approach
made eastern state famous

as the first penitentiary.

when charles dickens
toured the prison,

he labeled its strict system
"hopeless, cruel and wrong."

but french historian
alexis de tocqueville believed

there could be no more powerful
program for reform.

he wasn't alone.

eastern state became the model
for hundreds of other prisons

around the world,
in russia, china,

and countries across
the british empire.

today the prison's
legendary cell blocks

offer visitors
a unique glimpse of life

for some in old philadelphia.

but in other parts of town,

the 19th century can seem
like ancient history,

especially here,

at the intersection of
9th street and passyunk.

two famous
cheesesteak sandwich shops

have been facing off
on this corner

for more than 60 years,

each vying for the title of
"the cheesesteak king."

pat's fans claim he invented
the steak sandwich in 1933.

geno's insist that
owner joey vento

was the one who added
the cheese in 1966.

the argument has
been bubbling over

into this intersection
ever since.

luckily, pennsylvanians
love rivalry,

and not just in philadelphia.

in pennsylvania,

there may be just one thing
that shouts "autumn"

louder than the state's
gorgeous fall leaves...

the fans at a penn state
football game.

penn state is among the top 15
public universities in america,

but it may be most famous
for its football team.

the nittany lions have been
hitting the field for penn state

and revving up the fans
since 1887.

today, they play
their home games here,

in beaver stadium.

when it's full, there are enough
people in the stadium alone

to make it pennsylvania's
third biggest city.

beaver stadium has
107,000 seats in all.

only one other venue in
north america tops it--

the university of michigan's
big house.

but penn state fans insist

their stadium has something
michigan's doesn't--

an acoustic quirk that
amplifies crowd noise

from the upper decks
like a megaphone.

when 20,000 penn state fans
cheer from the student section

at the southern end
of the stadium,

their voices shoot
across the field

and can make it tough

for the opposing team
to call out plays.

the nittany lions have had seven
undefeated seasons since 1887.

they won 27 of 44 bowl games

and two undisputed
national championships.

five of its graduates
have earned places

in the pro football
hall of fame--

an amazing legacy that's due
mostly to the work of one man--

joe paterno.

paterno served as head coach
here for nearly 50 years.

he made sure that his players
performed well on the field,

and in the classroom, too,

a rarity among top college
football teams.

"success with honor"
was paterno's motto.

but in 2011,

his legacy was tarnished when
a former assistant coach

was accused of
sexually abusing children.

the university's president and
coach paterno were blamed

for not responding
forcefully enough

and both were compelled
to step down.

paterno died just a few months
later from lung cancer.

penn state started as
an agricultural school in 1855.

its hometown,
called state college,

lies in the very center
of pennsylvania,

in the heart of
the allegheny mountains,

part of the appalachian range
that splits the state in two.

long before highways
cut through these mountains,

people had to cross on
foot, horseback or cart.

goods that arrived at
the mountains by canal

had to be carried
up and over them

on incline railways or wagons.

in the 1820s, pennsylvania began
to lose valuable trade

to new york's erie canal.

if the state was
going to prosper,

it needed its own
high-speed link to the west.

that challenge led
to the creation

of one of pennsylvania's
great engineering marvels.

since normal train engines
couldn't make it

straight up the alleghenies'
steep flanks,

engineers had to come up
with another solution.

in 1851, 450 workers
from county cork, ireland,

descended on this corner
of pennsylvania.

they labored for three years

using mostly just picks,
shovels and gunpowder

to carve ledges for train tracks

that rose gradually up two
opposing allegheny mountains.

with the rubble,
they then filled in the middle

to create a giant
curved embankment

which finally allowed trains
to cross the mountains.

their work has been known
ever since as horseshoe curve.

railway buffs still come today

hoping to catch
three trains at once

passing on the three
sets of tracks

that wind their way
around the curve.

when it first opened
for traffic in 1854,

it was hailed as
a wonder of a new age.

the main line of the famed
pennsylvania railroad

was finally complete.

before, it had taken
three and a half days

for goods to journey
across the state.

now, in just 13 hours,

a single train could travel
from philadelphia

to pennsylvania's growing
industrial powerhouse

in the west...

the city of pittsburgh!

its location,

where the allegheny and
monongahela rivers meet

and create the mighty ohio,

earned pittsburgh the title
"the gateway to the west."

locals refer to this confluence
as "the point."

it was from this site that
lewis and clark set off

on their journey west in 1803,

establishing pittsburgh's
important role

in america's westward expansion.

the city's first major industry
was glass production,

thanks to a plentiful supply
of sand and limestone nearby.

today, the most distinctive
tower on the pittsburgh skyline

is the headquarters of the
pittsburgh plate glass company,

founded more than
a century ago in 1883.

designed by legendary architects
philip johnson and john burgee

in the early 1980s,

the building was quickly
hailed as a landmark

of a new postmodern style.

a dazzling modern
cathedral to glass,

sheathed in a million
square feet of it.

on pittsburgh's north side

stands the headquarters of
a very different kind of company

that's helped put
this city on the map.

henry john heinz started selling
horseradish in 1869,

but went bankrupt
six years later.

he tried again,

this time marketing a slightly
more palatable product

for americans--

ketchup, which is now sold
on six continents.

part of his original factory

has been turned into
high-end apartments.

but ultimately,
it wasn't glass or ketchup

that transformed pittsburgh

into one of america's great
industrial cities.

it was steel.

steel that built many
of the city's bridges.

pittsburgh is the bridge capital
of the world.

it has 446 bridges of
all kinds and shapes,

more than the city of venice.

this one was named for one of
pittsburgh's native sons,

artist andy warhol.

steel is everywhere
in pittsburgh.

it's even the namesake of
the city's favorite sports team.

the pittsburgh steelers
play here at heinz field,

which was designed to showcase
pittsburgh steel.

for football fans,
this city is sacred ground.

it was here in 1892

that the first professional
football game was ever played

between the allegheny
athletic association

and the pittsburgh
athletic club.

to learn the story
of how pittsburgh

became the steel capital
of the world

requires a trip just outside
of town to braddock,

home to one america's most
historic working steel plants.

every day this facility,
owned by u.s. steel,

turns out the steel used
to make refrigerators,

washing machines, and cars.

it was first built by
a scottish-born entrepreneur

named andrew carnegie

after he learned of a new
technique for making steel

during a trip to england.

eyeing a potential lucrative
market in the u.s.

for the new bessemer steel,

carnegie built the plant and
named it after edgar thompson,

the head of
the pennsylvania railroad.

carnegie needed the railroad to
deliver coal to make his steel,

and the railroad needed
carnegie's steel

to make the rails
its trains ran on.

when the plant opened in 1875,

the first order
carnegie received

was for 2,000 steel rails for
the pennsylvania railroad.

carnegie's visionary investment
made him unbelievably rich.

he sold his company for
$480 million,

which would be worth about
$12.5 billion today.

carnegie used
much of this fortune

to fund more than
2,500 public libraries

and become one of america's
legendary philanthropists.

beginning in the 1960s,

pennsylvania's steel industry
began to downsize.

local iron ore deposits
were running out

and new steel technology
in germany and japan

left pennsylvania steel mills
outmoded.

one by one, many of the state's
legendary mills

began to shut down.

but the bones of
this historic plant,

in the eastern pennsylvania town
of bethlehem,

are being preserved.

this plant provided the steel

for many iconic
american structures,

from new york's
chrysler building

to san francisco's
golden gate bridge.

now, part of the complex
is being redesigned

to house a future national
museum of industrial history,

an affiliate of
the smithsonian institution.

for decades, it thrived

as a mainstay of
pennsylvania's economy,

now, much of the plant is gone.

the smokestacks of many

of pennsylvania's
former steel plants

may be quiet today,

but not those in
this giant factory

that's been satisfying
america's sweet tooth

for more than 100 years.

in the early 1900s,

an ambitious young entrepreneur

chose pennsylvania's
rural derry township

for the site of his new factory.

he knew derry had
the key ingredient he needed

for his business to thrive--

milk--lots of milk--

from lots of cows.

the businessman's name
was milton hershey.

back then, milk chocolate
was an exotic treat,

imported from switzerland,

where the recipe was
a closely guarded secret.

but that didn't stop hershey.

after weeks of trial and error,

he finally came up
with his own formula

and became the first american to
manufacture milk chocolate.

today his chocolate factory
looks more like a steel mill.

that's because
his little start-up

is now a global colossus that
rakes in billions each year

from sales in 90 countries

and has made
hershey, pennsylvania,

a mecca for chocoholics.

especially after the development
of hershey park in the 1970s.

with dozens of rides
and attractions,

it may be the only
chocolate-flavored theme park

in the world

thanks in large part to the milk
from pennsylvania's cows.

but milk chocolate isn't
the only popular product

to be made from the bounty of
pennsylvania's rich farmland.

locally produced grain was
a principle ingredient

in yuengling beer

when a family of
german immigrants

started making it here
in pottsville in 1829.

today, yuengling is
still family run

in the company's
original brewery.

it's been reported
that yuengling

is president barack obama's
favorite beer,

which may be why he sent

canada's prime minister
a case of it

after losing a friendly wager
over a hockey game.

german brewmasters
are just one example

of the wide array of
european settlers

that landed in pennsylvania,

thanks to william penn's promise
of individual liberty

and religious freedom.

today, descendants of
some of those settlers

still live and work much
as their forbearers did,

here in lancaster county's
pennsylvania dutch community.

though that nickname
is a little misleading.

their ancestors weren't dutch.

they were swiss and german,
or "deutsch."

persecuted for
their faith at home,

the amish began coming to
pennsylvania in the 1720s

in search of religious freedom.

they settled into
a rustic way of life here

guided by a strict
set of traditions

known as the ordnung,
or "order."

it laid out the principles
of their religion

and dictated every aspect of
their austere lifestyle.

many of their descendants still
carefully follow the ordnung.

but during an adolescent period
called rumspringa,

young amish are allowed to break
with its guidelines

and experience the modern world

to decide for themselves

whether they want to make a
final commitment to their faith.

those who do will spend their
lives raising their families

in solid but plain houses
with few modern conveniences,

doing their housework
and laundry by hand,

and tilling their fields
just as the first amish did,

without tractors or
motorized harvesters,

while tending some of the most
productive farmland in the u.s.,

land that continues to allow
this community to thrive.

today there are over 30,000
amish in lancaster county alone.

but 200 years of inbreeding

have caused a wide range of
genetic irregularities

in their community.

that's why gene-hunters flock
to this corner of pennsylvania

to study amish dna
and help find cures

for children and others
who've been affected.

even with their
expanding numbers,

it's getting harder
for the amish

to keep the modern world at bay.

as more and more people
fill new subdivisions

that were once farms,

some wonder if the amish way of
life will be able to survive.

the survival of
the united states

has also been at stake
in pennsylvania.

in july 1863,

two armies faced off
on a piece of farmland

that's come to be known
simply as gettysburg.

the battle that followed was
the deadliest of the civil war,

one of only two fought
on northern territory,

and certainly one of
the most historic.

for civil war re-enactors,

gettysburg is especially
sacred ground.

these men, with their
period-perfect muskets

and blue flannel coats

are members of the 150th
new york infantry.

back on july 2, 1863,

members of this same regiment,

made up of volunteer farmers
and mill workers,

arrived in gettysburg.

it was to be their first battle.

by then, the war
between the states

had already been
devastating the south

for more than two years.

confederate general
robert e. lee,

stationed in virginia,

had decided it was time for the
north to feel some of that pain.

so in late june,
he split his men into groups

and sent them all north
to pennsylvania.

to the east, union forces
acting as a buffer

between the confederates and the
u.s. capital in washington, dc,

were hot on their heels.

finally on july 1st,

lee's units began to converge
on the federal forces

in the town of gettysburg.

the battle that followed
raged for three days.

the commanding colonel of
the 150th new york infantry

later described
his troop's bravery.

"my men rallied to the front
in double-quick time.

not a man faltered or displayed
the least cowardice.

this regiment was
never before under fire,

and for the coolness and courage
displayed on this occasion,

the men are entitled to
the highest praise."

the union army was too powerful
for the confederates.

on july 4th, independence day,

lee and his rebels retreated
back into virginia.

the tide of the war
had been turned

in the union's favor for good.

the south would never again
threaten the north.

but the north's victory
had come at a terrible cost.

more than 23,000 union soldiers,

and almost 28,000 confederates,

missing, wounded or dead.

in the days after the battle,

thousands of bodies were hurried
into shallow, temporary graves.

later, part of the battlefield

was made into the gettysburg
national cemetery.

it was here on
november 19, 1863,

that president abraham lincoln

gave his legendary
gettysburg address.

"we here highly resolve,"
lincoln declared,

"that these dead shall not
have died in vain,

that this nation, under god,

shall have a new birth
of freedom."

words that undoubtedly would
have made william penn proud.

one of the largest monuments
at gettysburg,

standing 110 feet tall,

is one to pennsylvania's
fallen--

an appropriate honor
for the local men

who bore the brunt
of the battle,

and suffered
the greatest losses.

today americans still recall

the sacrifices
their ancestors made here,

and honor the heroes
who fell at gettysburg

under the rain of rifle fire
and cannons.

on this saturday
in pennsylvania,

people aren't just
commemorating old battles--

they're also preparing
for new ones,

here, at fort indian town gap.

the fort opened as a base

for the pennsylvania
national guard in 1933.

over 100,000 troops
train here each year

from every branch
of the military.

much of that training
takes place

between two
appalachian mountains

in the gap that gave
the fort its name.

the cover
these mountains provide

makes this location perfect
for live fire training.

at range 35,
newly minted soldiers

learn how to handle
m-240 and m-249 machine guns

using live rounds.

this leafy corner of
pennsylvania may seem far away

from the battles that have drawn
many u.s. troops overseas,

but pennsylvania is no stranger

to the threats of
21st century terrorism

or its tragedies.

tragedies that are
still being remembered

by this powerful memorial

etched into a cornfield
in westmoreland county.

on september 11, 2001,

two of the four planes hijacked
by terrorists hit manhattan.

the third struck the pentagon.

the fourth, united flight 93,
crashed here,

in this pennsylvania field,

as its passengers tried
to retake the plane.

everyone on board was killed.

today a simple sign and
a temporary memorial

recall their sacrifice.

work on a more permanent site
is under way.

central pennsylvania is known
for its rolling hills

and fields of corn like these.

it was on the western edge
of this farming belt

that legislators decided to
place the pennsylvania capital

in 1812.

harrisburg has held
that title ever since.

it beat out philadelphia

precisely because of
its central location.

westbound pioneers traveling up
the susquehanna river

helped the new city to prosper.

its population had climbed
to over 50,000

by the time pennsylvania
architect joseph huston

was chosen to design
a new capitol building in 1902.

huston beat out
eight other architects

in a contest for the job,

winning the jurors over

with his elegant american
renaissance design.

as his capitol rose
above harrisburg,

he won praise for
its grand scale

and the glistening,
green ceramic dome

he'd modeled on
st. peter's in rome.

at its dedication in 1906,

president theodore roosevelt
called it

the handsomest building
he had ever seen.

on march 30, 1979,

panic raced through the halls
of the state house.

the blast of an air-raid siren
ripped through the city.

oddly, life seemed to be
imitating art.

a new hollywood thriller called
"the china syndrome,"

starring jack lemmon, jane fonda
and michael douglas

had just been released.

it told a terrifying story

of an impending meltdown
at a nuclear plant.

but now outside harrisburg

it looked like
it was happening for real.

just downriver lies
the three mile island

nuclear power plant.

just days after "the china
syndrome" was released,

a valve in the cooling system
at three mile island

malfunctioned.

many feared that a total
meltdown was imminent,

just as it had been in the film.

if that happened,
much of central pennsylvania

could have been covered
with a radioactive cloud.

governor dick thornburgh urged
pregnant women, and children,

to leave the city.

140,000 people
soon fled harrisburg.

the entire nation
held its breath

as engineers at the plant
struggled

to get the situation
under control.

fortunately,
the worst never came to pass.

a pump at three mile island
was restored

and the heat in the reactor was
finally brought under control.

the crisis was over,

but america's debate
over nuclear energy

was just beginning.

with so much industry
in pennsylvania,

finding new affordable
energy sources

has always been key to
the state's economy.

in the 19th century,
it was coal,

in the 20th,
nuclear power arrived,

and in the 21st century,
it's all of the above,

plus wind.

but these days,
a new energy gold rush

is sweeping across this state,

with the promise of
turning buried stone

into billions of dollars
of treasure.

in 2007, a scientist
named terry engelder

working here at penn state
made a discovery

that would rock america's
energy industry forever.

at the time,
researchers already knew

that traces of natural gas
lay deep under pennsylvania.

but engelder's analysis revealed

there was much more
gas down there

than anyone had expected.

his estimate--enough to power
the entire country

for 20 years.

he wasn't the first
in this state

to stumble across
buried treasure.

in 1790, a hunter
named necho allen

discovered a fortune of coal
outside the town of pottsville

when he lit a campfire

and accidentally set a vein
of the black rock ablaze.

that coal is still
being mined today,

and still putting food on
the table in small patch towns

like this one
called port carbon.

patch towns were originally
built by mining companies

to house miners close to
the patches of coal

where they worked.

coal is still big business here
in eastern pennsylvania.

there are thought to be
seven billion tons

of minable anthracite coal
still underground

worth billions of dollars.

but the gas engelder found
could be worth much more.

it lies embedded in a vast
deposit of black stone

called the marcellus shale that
stretches under pennsylvania

and several other
eastern states.

since engelder went public
with his findings in 2008,

energy companies have drilled
more than 4,000 wells

across the state,

including nearly 500 here,
in washington county.

the gas in the marcellus shale
is literally trapped in stone.

to get it, shafts must be
drilled down thousands of feet.

then a mixture of
chemicals, sand and water

is pumped deep into the rock
under high pressure

to crack the shale
and release the gas.

it's a process called hydraulic
fracturing, or fracking.

under these
washington county fields

lies a vast hidden maze
of gas pipelines.

from time to time,

they pop to the surface
at compressor stations,

which keep the gas flowing
through the system.

much of the natural gas from
across southwestern pennsylvania

ends up here,

a facility known as
the houston plant.

to separate out
the clean natural gas,

it has to be cooled to
minus 120 degrees fahrenheit.

the rest is then sent through
a series of super-heated columns

to extract valuable
ethane, propane and butane.

the leftover waste gas
is burned away.

every day enough natural gas
is being processed here

to meet the needs of more than
1.8 million households.

since fracking
happens underground,

natural gas extraction
can seem harmless

and many pennsylvanians have
been happy to get the fees

from leasing their land.

but environmentalists
have begun sounding alarms

about what might actually
be happening underground.

they say fracking's
high-pressure pumping

could destabilize the land
and leave behind chemicals

that can poison drinking water

or leach into
pennsylvania's rivers,

like the susquehanna.

over the last two centuries,

coal, steel, and other
major industries

have caused widespread
environmental damage

in the state.

many are fearful that fracking
is just adding to that legacy.

the gas companies disagree.

in 2011, congress
ordered a study

of the potential environmental
impact of fracking,

but the investigation
will take years.

in places where industry has
left pennsylvania untouched,

this state is as
wild and beautiful

as it's been for millennia.

70 miles north of philadelphia,

the delaware river sparkles

as it flows through
the famed delaware water gap.

the gap is the centerpiece

of a 70,000-acre
national recreation area.

the mountains that frame
this stunning site

began forming
420 million years ago,

when deposits of quartz and
shale were forced upward

by the collision of
two tectonic plates.

time, rain, glaciers,
and the delaware itself

then carved the gap
through the rock.

beyond it, the river flows along
an ancient course

south to philadelphia.

it was on this river

that william penn first set eyes

on the land that would
become pennsylvania.

land over which his promise of
freedom still echoes today...

from philadelphia's streets,

to the point where america's
pioneers headed west...

and all across its small towns

where tradition thrives

and the nittany lions roar.

it is in this state where
many come to remember...

...and others will never forget.

this is the land of liberty.

this is pennsylvania.