All language subtitles for Mysteries.of.the.Abandoned.S01E01.Nazi.Ghost.Town.1080p.DISC.WEB-DL.AAC2.0.H.264-DoGSO_track3_[eng]1

Narrator: a vital lifeline

Buried in the barren
Desert of california.

Bell: that canyon is just
Kind of landslide ready.

It's not solid ground.

It's kind of shattered granite.

Hyatt: and once a slide starts,
It just keeps sliding

Until there's nothing left.

Narrator: a hulking remnant
Of the cold war,

Rusting away
Behind the iron curtain.

Bell: it's such
An impressive sight.

Bell: it's such
An impressive sight.

There's this enormous structure

In front of you
That looks so complex.

Narrator: a massive nazi complex
Built for brainwashing.

It's nothing but a
Modern-day mind-control center.

Narrator: once they were some of
The most advanced structures

And facilities on the planet.

At the cutting edge
Of design and construction.

Today, they stand abandoned,
Contaminated,

Today, they stand abandoned,
Contaminated,

And sometimes, deadly.

Who built them and how?

And why were they abandoned?

*

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

Captions paid for by
Discovery communications

High in the mountains
Of southern california,

High in the mountains
Of southern california,

Close to the mexican border,

Stands one of the most
Daring and dangerous

Engineering projects
Ever undertaken.

The huge structure
Dominates the empty,

Barren landscape around it.

But this is
No ordinary bridge.

This is the largest curved
Wooden structure on earth.

*

It's such
An impressive site.

It's such
An impressive site.

There's this enormous structure

In front of you
That looks so complex.

It feels like something
That has been artificially built

To make it look that way.

And it screams kind of the wild
West and frontier america.

But it's absolutely genuine.

This is exactly how it was.

And it's been untouched because
It's in the middle of nowhere.

Narrator:
This abandoned bridge links
Two rocky mountain peaks.

It stands 200 feet
Above the ground,

It stands 200 feet
Above the ground,

Is 600 feet long,

And has an impressive
14-degree curve.

But why would anyone
Build such a huge bridge

In this remote,
Hostile environment?

And why was it abandoned?

In the early 20th century,

The american railroad
Is in its golden age.

In the american west,

The government desperately
Needs to connect

The government desperately
Needs to connect

Two vital centers
Of trade and population --

San diego and arizona.

But how do they get a line
Through a wide,

Gaping canyon in the remote
Desert wilderness?

The solution is this --

The goat canyon trestle bridge.

Gough: the goat canyon trestle
Is an amazing engineering feat.

The question is,
Was it really necessary,

Or was it a product of its time,

Or was it a product of its time,

Which is all about,

Wow, it's impossible
To get from here to there,

But we can do it.

Narrator:
A small army of workers

And engineers begin
Building in 1932.

Conditions are brutal.

No water for miles
Or protection

From the relentless desert sun.

[ bird caws ]
Building the goat canyon trestle

Must have been
An absolute nightmare.

Just look at where it is.

It's in the middle
Of the desert.

It's in the middle
Of the desert.

You've got a lack of water,
Extreme temperatures.

You're building the whole
Thing out of timber,

Which is gonna be
Extremely dry out there.

The smallest spark

Or a cigarette
Casually thrown away

Could set the whole
Thing alight.

It's absolutely treacherous
Working conditions.

Narrator: but what other dangers
Do the engineers face?

And using what is essentially
19th century technology,

Just how difficult is
The trestle bridge to build?

Just how difficult is
The trestle bridge to build?

That entire stretch of
The san diego and arizona line,

Built along the side

Of the canyon
With the trestles, the tunnels,

But also following
The contours of the canyon.

That canyon is kind
Of landslide ready.

It's not solid ground.

It's kind of shattered granite

That they're building this
On top of.

To be there working on that,
Knowing that the land

Could go away beneath
Your feet at any time

Not only would have been
Completely petrifying,

But to achieve what they did
And to have built

But to achieve what they did
And to have built

That whole stretch
Of line is unbelievable.

Narrator: the railway aims to
Connect san diego with arizona,

And runs through
Some of the most

Unforgiving terrain
In the world.

At the time,
The building project is dubbed

"The impossible railroad."

There were all sorts
Of problems building the railway

So close to the mexican border.

I mean, there was incident

After incident,
Kidnaps, murders.

After incident,
Kidnaps, murders.

Narrator: but it's not just
Violence, falling rocks,

And extreme heat that affects
The bridge's construction.

The very geology proves
Extremely challenging.

The railroad was
Plagued with issues,

But a large portion
Is primarily within this region

Because it's so unstable.

Some of these mountains
Are solid rock.

Some of them are a combination
Of decomposed granite.

And once a slide starts,
It just keeps sliding

Until there's nothing left.

Until there's nothing left.

Narrator: the goat canyon
Trestle isn't the first attempt

To get trains over this canyon.

Engineers first built
A railway tunnel

In the early 1900s,

But that collapses
After just one year.

Then, they even construct
Rail tracks on the canyon edge,

But those slide
Down the mountain.

To my left is
The collapsed tunnel 15.

It is a massive slide area
Up on the hillside.

Shut it down about 18, 19 feet.

Narrator:
The problem they faced was

How to repair
The vital rail line

Connecting san diego
To the rest of the usa.

The answer --
A giant trestle bridge.

And the clock was ticking.

The engineering
Behind the structure

May appear very simple,

But it's made up of a vast
Number of short spans

Supported by a tripod.

Onto which the bridge platform
Is then laid.

This all started with one man,
John d. Spreckels.

He felt that it
Was important for san diego

To have a transcontinental link

To the eastern part
Of the united states.

And he believed that
He could promote san diego

And its beautiful,
Natural harbor for business

And its beautiful,
Natural harbor for business

And growing the city itself.

His whole ethos was that,

If you wanted people
To live somewhere,

You have to give them
A form of transportation.

It has to be comfortable,
And most important of all,

It has to be cheap.

Narrator:
But the construction project

Is plagued with delays
And problems.

Given the huge difficulty

Of the task and its location.

And one element alone
Makes this bridge

Stand out from its competitors

Stand out from its competitors

And adds greatly
To the risks involved.

It's made entirely
Out of wood.

Bell: timber structures like
The goat canyon trestle are

Designed to be quite flexible.

If you were to watch a great,

Big train rumble across the top,

You would see flexibility

And movement
In all of the members,

In all of the trestles
And the ties.

They would be moving.

They would be moving.

It was designed to do that.
It's part of the beauty.

As they all move, the stresses
Are kind of relieved

And not all taken
In by one point.

Some of those timbers are
Drying out faster than others,

Means that that
Flexibility is now

Possibly part of the reason
Why it's coming apart.

The timber itself
Is still great.

It's just, the bolts
That are holding it together

Have been loosened by

All of that movement
And flexibility.

And if no one's going along
To tighten them up anymore,

And if no one's going along
To tighten them up anymore,

You're gonna get a structure
That's no longer sound.

Narrator: though it's crucial
For the structural support,

The wood does have
A potentially fatal flaw.

Davis: because it's on a grade,
A 1.6% grade,

The problem comes
From the brake shoes.

Happen to apply the brakes

For long distances,
It would heat up,

And hot pieces of metal
Would come off

And could fall down
Into the superstructure

And substructure
Of the trestle.

And substructure
Of the trestle.

Narrator: this fear
Of hot shards of metal falling

From the brakes
Into the wood structure

And starting a fire
Is a very real

And ever-present threat.

A threat so serious
That a huge water tank is

Installed on the mountainside

To supply a trackside
Sprinkler system.

There is a tank car

That sits above this
Goat creek canyon trestle

That they installed there

With the piping specifically

With the piping specifically

To suppress any fire

That would burn their
$300,000 project.

Davis: and then they would have
A person tend that so that,

When the trains would
Travel over the bridge,

He would turn on the valves

And come out and start
The sprinklers and stuff,

Just to make sure none of
The hot pieces of metal off

The brake shoe were able
To catch it on fire.

Without that, it would have
Been at great risk.

Narrator: will the goat canyon
Trestle bridge work as planned?

Narrator: will the goat canyon
Trestle bridge work as planned?

And why was it abandoned?

*

Narrator:
After 11 years of meticulous

And dangerous engineering
Efforts, john d. Spreckels

And his engineering team

Complete the goat canyon
Trestle bridge.

Instantly, it becomes
The highest

And most remote wooden
Railway structure ever built.

Standing over 200 feet above

The dusty desert floor,

The dusty desert floor,

It spans 750 feet

Across the uninhabited
Canyon carrizo gorge.

Known as
The impossible railroad,

Conditions onboard the train

Live up to this moniker.

San diego and arizona was known
As -- kind of derogatorily

As the slow, dirty,
And aggravating.

There was no air
Conditioning in the cars.

There were no screens
On the windows.

They were running
Steam locomotives.

They were running
Steam locomotives.

They would go through
These tunnels,

And they would be choked out
By the steam and the fumes,

And they'd have
To close the windows,

And it would be 100 degrees.

So, it -- I don't think it was
A very good ride. [ laughs ]

Narrator:
The most dangerous element

Of the bridge's construction

Is its 14-degree curve.

This is essential to maximize
The strength of the bridge.

A straight, non-curved angle
Makes the whole structure

More vulnerable to strong
Winds and collapse.

More vulnerable to strong
Winds and collapse.

But if the train goes too fast,
It could derail

And end up plunging
To the desert floor below,

As this footage from
Another trestle bridge

In the 1970s shows.

Davis:
The speed on this bridge,

Because of the 14-degree
Curve on it,

Is about 10 miles an hour.

In real terms,
That's a very sharp curve.

It's very difficult
To maintain that.

It's also very destructive
To the structure.

It's also very destructive
To the structure.

Narrator: in 1976,
Hurricane kathleen hits

Other bridges on the rail line,

And after several earthquakes,

Rock falls, fires,

And the rise of car travel,

The trestle bridge is finally
Abandoned in that same year.

Today, the barren mountains

Surrounding goat canyon trestle

Obscure it from all

But the most
Determined travelers.

But the most
Determined travelers.

6,000 miles away on
The other side

Of the planet in ukraine,

Inside the notorious chernobyl
Exclusion

Zone is the site of one

Of the most extraordinary
Structures ever built.

Looming over the landscape
Is a giant latticework

Of beams and cables.

Towering over 500 feet

And spanning 2,500 feet long,

And spanning 2,500 feet long,

This once top-secret complex is,

For all intents
And purposes,

In the middle of nowhere.

Today, it stands
Dead and silent,

Except for the creaking
Of its steel plates

In the wind.

[ steel screeching ]

But once,
This incredible machine

Could be heard
Around the world.

Gough:
Wow, this is post-apocalyptic.

This is a movie set.

This is a movie set.

I could see james bond.

I could see bruce willis.

It's that kind of eerie silence

Today that makes you think,

This could make a great film

For an abandoned
Civilization on mars.

It's just that weird.

Narrator: but what does this
Massive structure

Have to do with chernobyl,

And why was it abandoned?

In the '70s, cold-war
Tensions are mounting.

The soviet union
Is looking to boost

The soviet union
Is looking to boost

Its military technology
Against the west.

To do this, they construct
The massive duga woodpecker.

Bell: if you look at it,
You can't help but be awestruck

And recognize it immediately
As being soviet,

As being an icon
Of the cold war.

Did they have something
That looked intimidating,

That might give the impression

Of technological advancement?

Of technological advancement?

Yes, right, build it,
And build it big.

Narrator:
The duga woodpecker is, in fact,
An over-the-horizon radar.

But how does this radar
Actually work?

Corum:
The over-the-horizon radar

Will give you an ability
To scan an area

Literally thousands
Of kilometers range.

This, of course, is essential

If you are going to provide

That early warning

Against another country's
Aircraft or missiles.

Against another country's
Aircraft or missiles.

The thing you have
To remember is, obviously,

The earth is curved, okay?

So that sort of
Limits the distance

That any wave
That the radar might be

Giving out can travel
To the horizon.

If you want to see things
That are further away,

You need to be able to make
The wave sort of bend

Or go around with
The curvature of the earth.

And one of the ways you can
Do that is, thankfully,

We have this ionosphere which,

We have this ionosphere which,

With these
Sort of low frequencies

That we're talking
About with radar,

They can't go through.
So they literally just bounce.

You could actually utilize
That to try and get your waves

To travel further
And then back again.

Narrator: and the only way to
Make this work is to build big.

Really big.

Corum: to bounce those signals

Off the ionosphere
Down and of course,

To get the return off
The ionosphere,

You need a massive sender,

And you need
A massive receiver.

And you need
A massive receiver.

Even the most
Sophisticated modern

Over-the-horizon radar
Apparatus,

You can't miniaturize
These things.

They are vast installations.

Narrator: with its ability
To detect incoming missiles,

The duga woodpecker would be

In the front line
Of any future war.

But will it work?

Reagan: since 1970,
the soviets

Have invested $500 billion
more

on their military forces
than we have.

on their military forces
than we have.

can anyone still doubt

their single-minded
determination

to expand their power?

3, 2, 1, 0.

Narrator: with the flight time
Of nuclear missiles

Measured in just minutes,

Accurate assessment
Of incoming signals

Is a matter of life and death.

One false reading
Could mean disaster.

The woodpecker
Is testament to the fact

The woodpecker
Is testament to the fact

That big does not mean better.

It has the computer
Processing power

Of any computer
In the 1970s.

It's miniscule.

What this means is,

The results have to be
Interpreted by an individual --

It's a human, for a start.

And if they get it wrong,

If they think that maybe this
Is an incoming missile

And not a bird which has
Caused this fluctuation,

Then guess what?

It's the start
Of world war iii.

Narrator:
With its powerful radar signal
Traversing the globe,

Could the duga woodpecker
Have played a role

In the chernobyl
Nuclear disaster?

*

Narrator: the so-called duga
Woodpecker in ukraine

Is a massive over-the-horizon
Radar from the cold war.

Like all such
Soviet installations,

Its operation
Is shrouded in secrecy.

Built in 1976, the soviets

Tried to operate the radar
In secret for 12 years,

But it has one dead giveaway.

But it has one dead giveaway.

When in operation,

It gives off a distinct
Tapping noise,

Which can easily be heard
By anyone listening in.

[ tapping ]

This is how the radar earned
Its nickname "The woodpecker."

Radar signals themselves
Tended to jam

And interrupt

All kinds of standard

Civilian frequencies,

Including airliner
Radio frequencies.

[ tapping ]

They later had to change
Some frequencies there

They later had to change
Some frequencies there

Because there were so many
International complaints.

Narrator: another problem
Is its location.

It's situated just seven miles

From the chernobyl
Nuclear power plant,

Which provided
The massive amounts

Of electricity used
To power the radar.

The woodpecker was
Constructed in the 1970s,

But it was still up
And running in the 1980s,

Leading some to speculate
That the power

That it was drawing in,

And the signals it was producing

And the signals it was producing

May have caused
The chernobyl power plant

To explode.

[ explosion ]

Narrator: the duga woodpecker
Sent out powerful,

Magnetron,
High-frequency radio waves.

As chernobyl was just
Seven miles away,

Some experts believe

That they might have interfered

With some of the controls
At the nuclear power plant.

And might even have
Been responsible

For the meltdown that occurred.

Whether this is true
Or not remains

Whether this is true
Or not remains

A matter of speculation.

Narrator: when reactor number
Four at the plant explodes

On april 26, 1986,

A huge area is exposed
To radioactive contamination.

male reporter:
reactor number four exploded,

spewing radiation
over much of europe.

two others have been
permanently shut down.

it is the world's
worst nuclear accident.

Narrator:
Overnight, the entire duga
Complex and the accommodation

Narrator:
Overnight, the entire duga
Complex and the accommodation

For its thousands
Of workers are abandoned.

Some people believe
That the duga woodpecker

Was not a victim,
But the cause of the disaster.

Bell: the woodpecker sums up

Brilliantly
The cold war generally.

Advancements
In technology and engineering

That couldn't
Go fast enough at the time

Built big on a huge scale.

Intimidating.

Intimidating.

And now it sits quietly,

Wasting away in the middle

Of an exclusion
Zone from chernobyl.

And maybe that's the image
That we're left with

When we look up
At the woodpecker.

Narrator: today, the once-mighty
Woodpecker stands isolated

In the ukrainian forests
Near the border with russia.

A decaying reminder
Of our fears

Of all-out war.

Too expensive to demolish,

And impossible to reuse.

And impossible to reuse.

Just 700 miles
Away in germany,

The remains of one
Of the second world war's

Most sinister secrets
Still stands

On the baltic island of ruegen.

Hidden behind the pine trees
Lining the coast

Is a giant building
Complex so mortifying,

It makes one's blood run cold.

It makes one's blood run cold.

Originally hailed
For its futuristic design,

It was constructed
To be imposing.

It has six stories,
Over 10,000 rooms,

And can hold over
20,000 people.

At 2.8 miles in length,

It's one of the longest
Buildings

Ever constructed in europe

And dominates
The surrounding scenery.

But what was this structure's
Real sinister purpose,

But what was this structure's
Real sinister purpose,

And why was it abandoned?

*

In 1936, hitler has his eyes set
On taking over europe.

But to do that, he needs
Soldiers and lots of them.

His solution is to construct

The biggest brain-washing domain

In the world --
The prora complex.

Gough: this is nothing
But a modern-day,

Gough: this is nothing
But a modern-day,

Mind-control center.

This is where german workers

Would go for an alleged holiday.

But guess what?
You're being woken up

With a loudspeaker

And told what to do,

How to do it,
And when to do it.

You're gonna have
Your meals together,

And in your so-called
Leisure time,

You're gonna watch
The same propaganda films

And read the same propaganda
Literature.

David:
The amount of time and money

That went into
Creating the complex,

You realize what an actually
Vitally important project it

You realize what an actually
Vitally important project it

Was for the nazis.

This was really
The long-term game,

Which is to create
A master race

That thought like
The nazis thought.

Narrator: it's not just the
Planned nazi master race

That was going
To conquer the world.

At the time,

The mechanics and architecture
Of the prora complex itself

Are state-of-the-art
And form a physical example

Of cutting-edge engineering,

Construction,
And design.

Construction,
And design.

The concept was way
Ahead of its time

In terms of what they were
Intending to produce.

Yes, it was quite spartan,
But at the same time,

You had this amazing
Complex that, of course,

Has an element
Of control planned

Or built into it.

But for the average
German worker,

This would have seemed
Like nirvana.

They would have come
From industrial cities.

They probably had never
Seen the sea before.

So you can understand
Its attraction.

You have to imagine,
The whole intent

You have to imagine,
The whole intent

Was to make the holidaymakers

Step off that boat
And say,

"Wow, this is fantastic."

There must have been
A great deal of nationalism.

Narrator:
But how would the nazis

Indoctrinate those
Who went there?

And why was prora abandoned?

*

Narrator: on the edge of the
Baltic sea in northern germany

Is an abandoned site known
Simply as prora.

Beginning in 1936, engineers

And workers labor
In secret

For three years
To construct this massive,

Sprawling site.

During the second world war,

It is one of the most top-secret
Projects for the nazis.

It is one of the most top-secret
Projects for the nazis.

A place where thousands
Of german citizens

Were to become indoctrinated

Into the ideology
Of adolf hitler

And the third reich.
[ chanting in german ]

Katja lucke is a local historian

Who's an expert on the site.

People were to be manipulated
And influenced here.

The idea behind that was that,

People were to get maximum
Rest and recovery

People were to get maximum
Rest and recovery

Without having a single
Moment of spare time.

To get fit and strong
For the war,

To achieve better work results,

And actually also to be
Conditioned for mass murder.

You could say that this
Is the nazi ideology.

We could actually see the motion

Of how the nazis envisioned
The people's community to be.

There would have been
An all-day program,

There would have been
An all-day program,

Starting with
A morning assembly,

Followed by swimming
In the sea, dinner,

And a closing ceremony.

Everything would have been
Elaborately organized.

Narrator: but the prora complex

Is also a masterpiece
Of design and engineering.

The 2.8-mile-long building

Is divided into eight
Six-story accommodation blocks,

All constructed
From reinforced concrete.

All constructed
From reinforced concrete.

A huge innovation at the time.

Bell:
It would have been something
That you'd never seen before.

And so with that comes
That impression of,

Wow, this is
Cutting-edge technology.

This is advancement.
We're at the forefront here.

So, it might sound
Quite dull to us today,

Reinforced concrete.

Back then,
It was really exciting.

Narrator:
Each block contains dozens
Of rooms overlooking the sea --

All designed to be
Deliberately basic.

All designed to be
Deliberately basic.

Prora wasn't
About luxury.

It was about power.

Its huge entrance
Halls are designed

To have the same impact

As the vast nuremberg
Rally arena.

Lucke: this room is part
Of the reception hall.

It was built tall and mighty
To impress the workers

Who would have come here.

Who would have come here.

It was one way of having
A great influence.

If you came here, you would
Have felt intimidated,

But at the same time,

Also uplifted by being part
Of such a great idea.

This is how manipulation worked.

Gough: you look at prora today,
And it's sort of desolate.

It doesn't have the grandeur

That it was intended to have
And probably once did.

If you look at some
Of the original designs,

If you look at some
Of the original designs,

This has a great
Aryan feel to it.

You can imagine coming off
The boat and saying,

"Wow, what a great country
Is this."

Bell: don't think you could
See a structure back

Then in the 1930s

Like what there
Is at prora

And not be impressed by it.

Not feel as though, wow,
This is something special,

And it's ours.

Narrator: but what role did
Prora play in hitler's plans

For world domination
And genocide?

For world domination
And genocide?

And why was prora
Finally abandoned?

*

Narrator: in 1936, the nazi
Architects' plans

For the key part
Of the prora complex

Is a monumental auditorium
Capable of holding

All 20,000 german laborers
At the same time.

It's austere.

It is everything that is grand
About the so-called aryan race,

And it was designed to emit
Feelings of national pride.

And you have to believe
It had that very effect.

And you have to believe
It had that very effect.

I think maybe you would be
Almost hypnotized by this sight

That you've got in front of you.

And maybe yeah,
The psychological effect

Of that worked to hitler's hand.

Narrator:
But how could this site play

A part in hitler's plans

For world domination
And genocide?

The ideological concept starts
With an organization

Called kraft durch freude.
Or strength through joy.

Called kraft durch freude.
Or strength through joy.

Led by top nazi
Robert ley,

On the surface,
Strength through joy

Just provides subsidized breaks

For millions of low-paid german
Industrial workers.

But its real mission

Is to unite them behind hitler.
[ chanting in german ]

I think the strength
Through joy organization

Had a very serious
Intention behind it,

And that was to bind people
To the nazi regime,

And that was to bind people
To the nazi regime,

And probably even
More than that.

There was an attempt
To brainwash people

And prepare them
For the possibility of war.

seig heil!

Gough: propaganda
Was totally essential

To the success
Of the third reich.

They had to have
Everyone on board.

So what prora was was
An ideological way

Of making people

Feel really happy
About giving 100%

Feel really happy
About giving 100%

Of their free time
Being indoctrinated with

"Aren't we the greatest?

Isn't it worth the suffer?

Shouldn't we all be
In this together?"

Narrator: but in 1939,
Hitler invades poland

And sets off world war ii.

And with that, the engineering
Of prora is abandoned.

Lucke: it is one of the greatest
Building legacies of the nazis.

Lucke: it is one of the greatest
Building legacies of the nazis.

And although the building

Never functioned like
They planned it would,

You can begin to understand
What it was meant to be used

For and understand
Their ideology.

Narrator: at the end of the war,

Prora is taken over
By the invading russian forces,

Who turn it into
A military prison

For those who oppose
The communist regime.

And when the berlin wall falls,
Prora is finally abandoned.

And when the berlin wall falls,
Prora is finally abandoned.

Gough:
Many believe the whole complex
Should have been leveled.

Let's forget about this
Mind control program.

It's a part of our dark past.

Let's keep it there.

Narrator: now the prora complex

Is a powerful reminder

Of hitler's ruthless ambition

To totally dominate
The thoughts

And actions
Of his own people.

[ cheering in german ]

Thankfully, the site never
Went into full operation

Thankfully, the site never
Went into full operation

Before
The second world war ended.

But today, in a strange twist,

The prora complex is being

Turned into luxury
Seaside apartments,

Complete with
Luxury designer furniture

And balconies overlooking
The baltic sea.

In the neighboring
Country of france,

Deep inside the bleak

And rocky alpine mountains
Above grenoble

And rocky alpine mountains
Above grenoble

Is an amazing engineering feat

Carved out of the solid
Rock of a cliff face.

It's a road that extends
For over 20 miles,

Goes through 30 tunnels,

And sits nearly 1,000 feet
Above the rhone river.

Bell: it's kind of man v. Nature
In this beautiful way.

And it's something that
You won't see anywhere else.

It's totally unique.

It is incredibly dangerous,

It is incredibly dangerous,

And I can't imagine
For a second that

Anyone would be able
To do that today.

Because you've got outcrops,
Valleys, rivers,

Changing the course of what the
Mountains actually look like.

Bell: building around mountain
Passes and tunnels,

It is a real challenge
And a real difficulty.

Narrator:
But what led to the construction
Of this treacherous road,

And why was it abandoned?

In 1848, french farmers
Needed connection

In 1848, french farmers
Needed connection

From the vercor plateau

To the cities
In the valley below.

The french government
Decide to engineer a road

Through the sides
Of vertical cliffs.

Their solution --
The grand goulets.

Meaning the great bottlenecks.

The obstacles are immense.

Surrounded by granite cliffs

And sheer-sided gorges,

The vercor valley
Is a natural fortress.

Finding a way through
Its defenses

Finding a way through
Its defenses

Is no easy task.

Of course, at the time,
It was really impossible.

It was really the construction
Of the century for the region.

Narrator:
What seemingly insurmountable
Obstacles did the builders face,

And why was the road abandoned?

*

Narrator: the grand goulets,

Or the great bottlenecks,

Is one of the most dangerous
Mountain routes in the world.

It snakes its way
Thousands of feet

Above the rhone river
In southern france,

Linking the remote
Mountain communities

With the towns below.

What obstacles
Did the workers

And engineers face,

And just how did
They overcome them?

And just how did
They overcome them?

The start of the grand
Goulets road follows

A part of a natural erosion
Where water,

A river had previously
Gone through.

That water would always take
The path of least resistance.

So maybe following
Nature in its way

Of tunneling and eroding,

Creating its own passage,
Is a good idea.

But then you also have
To think about, well hang on,

If this is the path
Of least resistance,

What is the geology that
I've got around us here?

What is the geology that
I've got around us here?

So, it's a tricky one to know

Whether that was the right
Or the wrong thing to do.

Narrator:
In 1846, engineering begins

By cutting a tunnel
Alongside the river.

But after a few hundred yards,

It abruptly changes course

And drops to the bottom
Of the gorge.

Now the engineers face
Another huge challenge.

They have to cut
A working road

Into the vertical
Cliff face ahead.

You've got rock above
You and down one side,

You've got rock above
You and down one side,

But then you've still
Got that sheer drop.

It's like an open-sided tunnel,

But that's the challenges
They were faced

When they were building it.

It wasn't just all of one thing.

It's all open road.
It's all tunneling.

They were having
To continuously change

And build the road to go along

With what nature had
Put there in front of them.

And maybe it's
A bit disconcerting

When you go into those
Kind of half tunnels

Because you're immediately aware

That you have an enormous

Tonnage of rock
Right above you,

Tonnage of rock
Right above you,

And yet on one side,
There's no support.

It's just a sheer drop.

Narrator: the engineers develop
A technique that seems suicidal.

Workers drop down
The cliff face on ropes,

Chisel a hole for
The explosive charge,

Light the fuse,

Then swing out of the way
While it goes off.

It's extremely
Dangerous work.

Would they have any
Better ways of doing it?

At the time,
Really hard to say.

At the time,
Really hard to say.

They probably could have done it
Manually with picks and axes.

And of course, that would have
Taken much, much longer to do.

So, I guess they chose
The more risky,

But quick option
To build this road.

Bell: the construction methods

Used to build
The grand goulets road

Would have a health
And safety officer today

In a cold sweat.

Every single day
When these guys went to work,

There was a huge risk
They might not come back.

[ explosion ]

[ explosion ]

Narrator: it takes six years
Of back-breaking work,

And thousands of tons
Of dynamite,

To complete the crucial

Two-mile long stretch
Of the grand goulets.

Dozens of workers die

In what becomes
A monumental engineering effort.

But in 1851,

The new road changes life

Dramatically for the villagers
On the vercor plateau.

Its breathtaking views
And easy access

Its breathtaking views
And easy access

From the valleys below make it

One of the most popular
Destinations in southern france.

The grand goulets set out

To be a commercial road

From the get-go,
Connecting villages

In the mountain
To the rest of the world.

But as soon as it
Was constructed,

As soon as men finished
Risking their lives

By hanging on with one hand
And doing explosives

With the other just
To go 10 meters further.

It was something special.

It was something special.

It was romantic.

It was inspiring,

And people were obsessed
About traveling on it.

Bell: I'm not sure the engineers
Involved in building

The grand goulets road knew

That they were creating
A kind of artistic

And cultural masterpiece
At the time.

But when you look back on it,
Now, it is something of beauty.

There is something
Of a kind of mystique.

It has a huge
Artistic value to it.

And I think that's one
Of the beauties of engineering.

And I think that's one
Of the beauties of engineering.

Narrator: but problems soon
Start for the grand goulets.

Constructed just wide enough

For two horse-drawn wagons
To pass each other,

By the early 20th century,

It has trouble coping

With modern transportation

Like cars, buses, and trucks.

When the engineers
Try to widen it,

They discover a crucial mistake.

Bell: the grand goulets road
Is quite narrow,

Bell: the grand goulets road
Is quite narrow,

And there's good
Reason for that.

There's no reinforcement
In the tunnels

Or in the kind of open tunnels

That you go through
As you make your way

Along the side of the mountain.

And so you're limited

To how wide
You can take the road

Because you're not reinforcing
The road above you.

Agrawal:
To widen it, that would have
Been really challenging.

They would have had
To really think about,

Well, how do we
Support this rock?

And that can be very,
Very difficult,

Especially at the time

Especially at the time

With trying to transport
Material there,

To create frames to maybe
Hold the rockface up.

You're almost coming into
That tunneling type of territory

Which maybe at the time
Was just a little bit beyond

What they were trying
To actually achieve.

Narrator: as the years go by,
Faster, bigger cars

Turn the road's tight
Curves into death traps.

Then in 2000, and again in 2005,

Nature itself plays its hand.

Whole sections of cliff
Fall down onto the road.

Whole sections of cliff
Fall down onto the road.

After 150 years, in 2005,

The french authorities
Close the road.

Today, the grand
Goulets is abandoned,

But its legacy in french
Engineering lives on.

The grand goulets
Is closed today,

And understandably so.

It's dangerous.

The question is,
What do we do about that?

Do we go in and bulldoze
A wider road

And put up rope so it's safe,

And everyone can
Go experience it?

And everyone can
Go experience it?

Or do we let this
Perfect moment in time,

This romantic journey
And the memory of it,

The photographs of it,

do we let it live on as-is?

I think we do.