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BBC Seven Wonders Of The Industrial World
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http://subscene.com/
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This is the true story of a line,
two thousand miles long.
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A line that united
a nation and tore it apart.
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The more lndians we can kill today
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the fewer we will have
to be killed in the next war.
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Will someone go over there
and help my men.
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A line that crossed the wilderness
and turned it in to the wild west.
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For every worker who dies in that
accident, we lose four in a shoot out.
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A line that fought men, and mountains.
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There`s a lot of men
buried under those rocks.
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You can`t build a railroad
under fifty feet of snow.
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lt was the greatest line
the world had ever built.
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No one in the world,
no one can do it as well as we do.
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lt`s not simply tracks
for a railroad we`re laying.
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We did it damn it.
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lt`s the foundation for
a magnificent highway of cities.
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We have finished the job that
Christopher Columbus started.
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lt was the world`s first
transcontinental railroad.
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ln 1863 the United States
was falling apart.
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North and South were
divided by civil war.
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East and West by the wilderness.
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The young nation stood
on the brink of collapse.
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But at the height of the conflict
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President Lincoln issued
a remarkable challenge.
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He called upon America`s
finest engineers to build a railroad.
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lt would run from the Atlantic
to the Pacific.
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lt would have to climb fast mountain
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ranges across hundreds of miles
of desert and prairie.
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lt would have to bridge canyons a mile
wide and chasms a thousand feet deep.
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This will be a work of giants.
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And Uncle Sam is the only giant
we know who can grapple the subject.
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lt would be the world`s first
transcontinental railroad.
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But this challenge was not taken up
by the giants of industry,
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nor in the industrial
powerhouse of the east.
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The world`s first transcontinental
railroad began in the far west,
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in the small California
township of Sacramento.
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On the morning of January 8th 1863 the
entire population of thirteen thousand
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turned up for the inauguration
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as the President`s challenge was taken
up by four local shopkeepers, a grocer,
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a draper and
the owners of a hardware store.
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We`re all self-made men
who er came out here from back east.
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Well none of us have any experience of
building a railroad or, or running one.
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But we know how to run a business
and we know how to manage men.
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People in the state have been crying
for a railroad for some time,
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and they ought to have one.
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And by God, we plan to give them one.
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And so the grocer
Leland Stanford shovelled
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the first earth of
the transcontinental railroad.
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Four California shopkeepers
had given birth to Lincoln`s dream.
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And advance with giant strides
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the prosperity of our state
and of our country.
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The shopkeepers stood to make millions
of dollars in government grants.
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But they wouldn`t get a cent until they
had laid the first forty miles of track.
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And they lacked almost
everything needed to get started.
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The west coast was
an industrial desert.
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There is no industry in the west,
this is it.
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We`re a repair shop.
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The draper Charles Crocker had
been appointed head of construction,
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and he faced a major problem of supply.
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When it comes to building a railroad,
it all comes from the east.
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The locomotives, rail stock,
iron, steel, gunpowder and men.
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Everything had to come by sea,
a four month,
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fourteen thousand mile voyage
around the southern tip of America,
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the worst seas in the world.
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And the civil war
had added to the dangers.
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Southern warships attacked the supply
vessels on the long route to California,
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freight charges were crippling.
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The shopkeepers desperately
needed money from government.
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But to get it they had to complete
those first forty miles of track.
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And just a few miles outside Sacramento
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they confronted the highest mountains
ever faced by a railroad.
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The Sierra Nevada rises to
over fourteen thousand feet.
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Settlers from the east had to cross
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this final barrier in to
California by wagon train.
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Lost in this mountain
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vastness many of the early pioneers
had died of cold and hunger.
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Others resorted to
cannibalism to survive.
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lt`s the strongest case
we could have for building a railroad.
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l mean tens of thousands
of people have died
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trying to cross this country
by wagon train.
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God there has to be a better way.
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No one had ever attempted
to build a railroad this high.
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But the shopkeepers
had one major asset.
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Theodore Judah was the greatest
railroad engineer in America.
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But his plans to build a railroad
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over the Sierras had earned him
a new title, Crazy Judah.
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Well if it`s crazy to say
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that a locomotive can climb a mountain
l stand condemned
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and you may have me let off
and confined to an asylum but,
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but you know a railroad can go
where a man or a mule can not,
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provided you find the
right route for it.
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When an engineer looks at a mountain
he sees a series of loops
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and curves that follow
the contour rather like a river.
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There will be obstacles of course that
they require a bridge or a tunnel and,
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well l, l`ve calculated that we will need
up to, well fifty bridges between here,
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just to get up to the summit and
then some thirteen or fourteen tunnels.
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Judah had drawn
the route through the Sierras.
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The hundred and twenty miles over some
of the toughest terrain in the world,
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reaching a height of
seven thousand feet.
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But others had to build it.
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That would require thousands of men
and tonnes of gunpowder.
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To lead the workforce Crocker hired
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the toughest construction
boss on the west coast,
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James Harvey Strobridge.
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Strobridge who had lost
his eye in a powder blast
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enforced a crew discipline
backed by a pick axe handle
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he used as his persuader
and a legendary profanity.
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Come on now get your ass up there,
let`s go.
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Come on get a move on that wagon there,
for Christ`s sakes.
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Come on.
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He has a way of persuading people
to see his point of view,
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that`s what l hired him for
and that`s what he does.
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Alright let`s go, come on now
get this stuff up the hill, let`s go.
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Come on get it up here.
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Be careful, spark
and we`re all gonners.
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Now watch what you`re doing there now.
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You lrish bastard, get your god damn
ass down here and bring me up that wagon,
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you`re dirty piece of shit.
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Now come on, fill this
thing up, let`s go.
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You can not talk to these men as
gentlemen because they`re not gentlemen.
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00:09:07,747 --> 00:09:09,544
There as mere brutes as you can get.
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00:09:10,082 --> 00:09:12,915
But these men too had a dream,
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and it wasn`t the same as
Abe Lincoln`s or the shopkeeper`s.
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lt`s the dream of the goldmines.
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These people make enough
to stake themselves
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00:09:23,296 --> 00:09:25,628
with shovels and
picks and they`re gone.
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00:09:26,032 --> 00:09:28,432
Mr Strobridge does his best to
persuade them of their foolishness
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00:09:28,601 --> 00:09:33,300
but er if they want to leave,
they`re going to leave.
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Let`s go you over here come on.
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And they did leave,
in their hundreds to dig for gold.
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The shopkeepers faced ruin.
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There`d be times that
l`ve thought about giving up
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the whole thing for a clean shirt
and a freedom of debt.
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Without a workforce the shopkeepers
had no way of laying
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the vital forty miles of track, and
unlocking the government treasure chest.
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00:10:01,567 --> 00:10:06,334
Then in the Spring of 1864
the seas brought an unexpected bounty.
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Fleeing from famine in their homeland
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00:10:17,350 --> 00:10:20,945
thousands of Chinese immigrants
had arrived in San Francisco.
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As an experiment Crocker recruited fifty
of these newcomers to work on the railroad.
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But he encountered fierce opposition.
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l will not force Chinese labour.
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They are nothing but a bunch of
heathen weaklings and from
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what l have seen they are not fit
for the most menial job of work,
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and they sure as hell
can`t build a railroad.
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l`ve explained to Mr Strobridge
he needs to give these men a chance.
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They`ve built the Great Wall of China,
why not the Pacific railroad?
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The Chinese deserved
Crocker`s confidence,
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they worked harder and faster than
the Europeans and for less pay.
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Soon there were thousands of them.
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00:11:21,313 --> 00:11:25,613
They are a great army, laying siege
to nature in her strongest citadel,
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00:11:25,985 --> 00:11:28,920
the rugged mountains look
like stupendous anthills,
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they swarm with Chinese
workers tunnelling,
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00:11:31,590 --> 00:11:36,391
wheeling, carting, drilling
and blasting the rocks and earth.
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The Chinese were also laying track.
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For the first time
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passenger trains were running deep
in to the foothills of the Sierras.
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00:12:06,225 --> 00:12:10,958
ln the Summer of 1865 the shopkeepers
finally broke through the forty mile mark
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and unlocked millions of dollars
in government aid.
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But they had taken over two years
to lay just forty miles of track,
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and they were about to enter
the greatest race in railroad history.
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Two thousand miles to the east
a mighty power had been unleashed.
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The civil war was over, all the wealth
and industry of the victims was now
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harnessed to building
a railroad to the Pacific.
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ln 1866 on the plains of Nebraska
thousands of ex-soldiers waited
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at the end of the line for the man
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who would lead them in to this new war,
with the wilderness.
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He was one of the youngest
generals in the civil war
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and the finest railroad
engineer of his generation.
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His name was Grenville Dodge.
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A year ago we were killing
each other in the civil war.
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Praise God we are now united
in a single purpose.
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This will be a great national
work transcending in magnitude
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anything yet attempted by man,
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well l believe this will be the
making of the United States of America.
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00:13:51,263 --> 00:13:54,061
With the war over Congress
had upped the stakes.
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As well as money for
every mile of track laid
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they were now giving
twelve thousand acres of land.
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00:14:02,641 --> 00:14:08,102
The railroad that built furthest and
fastest would own a huge slice of America.
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00:14:10,182 --> 00:14:14,778
Within a month of Dodge`s arrival the
railroad had advanced forty miles west.
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00:14:17,890 --> 00:14:21,792
Special supply trains ferried men
and materials up to the rail head
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00:14:21,961 --> 00:14:25,158
where the tracks were laid
with military precision.
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00:14:27,366 --> 00:14:30,460
These men can lay a length a track
in just half a minute.
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That`s about the time
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00:14:32,471 --> 00:14:36,339
it takes a highly trained gun
crew to load and fire a field gun.
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00:14:37,743 --> 00:14:38,539
Done.
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00:14:41,547 --> 00:14:45,745
But Dodge`s army was about
to fight its first major battle.
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00:14:49,688 --> 00:14:53,920
At every railhead a vast city of tents
sprang up on the prairie.
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00:14:54,426 --> 00:15:01,594
lt catered for almost every need of the
workers, including drink, gambling and women
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00:15:02,935 --> 00:15:06,063
And with the gamblers and
the girls came the gun men.
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00:15:12,611 --> 00:15:15,671
The railroad had given birth
to the Wild West.
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00:15:17,483 --> 00:15:23,649
This was a hell on wheels,
a hot bed of vice, violence and death.
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00:15:24,757 --> 00:15:29,922
lt suckered in the free spending rail
workers and sent them out in coffins.
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00:15:32,564 --> 00:15:37,001
Angered and alarmed by the killings
Dodge risked a secret visit.
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00:15:42,908 --> 00:15:44,933
First place we visited was a dance hall
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00:15:45,110 --> 00:15:47,738
where some fresh strumpets
had just been received.
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00:15:48,614 --> 00:15:50,605
The vulgarity, the profanity,
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00:15:50,783 --> 00:15:54,776
the indecency would disgust
any God fearing man or woman.
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00:15:55,754 --> 00:16:00,919
These people are good for nothing, beside
drinking, gambling, whoring and brawling.
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00:16:06,365 --> 00:16:10,199
Most if not all of these
creatures are squatters.
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00:16:11,170 --> 00:16:13,638
On land granted by Congress
to the railroad.
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00:16:14,773 --> 00:16:19,870
Land that was intended to be leased
to decent hardworking Christians,
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00:16:20,846 --> 00:16:22,006
farmers and their families.
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00:16:23,482 --> 00:16:27,077
lf we let this anarchy continue
that will not happen.
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00:16:29,888 --> 00:16:35,019
Dodge had to do something,
and he had just the man to do it.
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00:16:44,903 --> 00:16:50,170
Dodge`s enforcer as labour boss was
Jack Casement, known as the Cossack,
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00:16:50,376 --> 00:16:53,607
he was a ruthless disciplinarian
with an explosive temper,
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00:16:54,079 --> 00:16:57,446
and he was incensed
by the toll on his workforce.
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00:16:58,183 --> 00:17:02,882
For every worker who dies in an
accident we lose four in a shoot out.
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00:17:03,389 --> 00:17:05,857
That is not a figure
we`re prepared to tolerate.
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00:17:13,365 --> 00:17:17,734
Arming two hundred of his rail workers
Casement set off on a mission.
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00:17:22,508 --> 00:17:25,568
Civil law is nonexistent.
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00:17:26,512 --> 00:17:29,481
The only sure preventative
is marshal law.
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00:17:37,022 --> 00:17:39,013
There were dead bodies all over.
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00:17:39,224 --> 00:17:43,183
They fired right in to the crowd, the
railroad thinks they`re law around here.
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00:17:43,896 --> 00:17:45,557
They treat us like animals.
215
00:17:46,131 --> 00:17:48,895
l`ve seen men going down, women too.
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00:17:50,069 --> 00:17:52,594
l saw the boss man from the railroad.
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00:17:55,174 --> 00:17:58,234
He looked like a Cossack,
with his hat and his whip.
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00:18:02,214 --> 00:18:03,977
There was a whole load of railroad men
219
00:18:04,149 --> 00:18:06,481
packing pieces disputing
the toss with the gaming boys.
220
00:18:07,052 --> 00:18:10,112
A whole crew of them came out
in to the street cutting up a ruckus.
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00:18:10,422 --> 00:18:14,449
And l hear someone shout, open fire.
222
00:18:23,735 --> 00:18:26,795
l gave the orders to Jack Casement
to clean up the town,
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00:18:27,406 --> 00:18:29,374
when l spoke to him after a while,
after the event,
224
00:18:29,541 --> 00:18:32,032
he says General,
they all died with their boots on.
225
00:18:32,211 --> 00:18:33,906
And Joesrth has been quiet ever since,
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00:18:34,079 --> 00:18:36,047
as far as l`m concerned
the subject is now closed,
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00:18:36,215 --> 00:18:38,342
we can get on with building a railroad.
228
00:18:39,184 --> 00:18:43,917
Lynch law had come to the Midwest,
and it was here to stay.
229
00:18:53,699 --> 00:18:58,159
But the prairies harboured a greater
peril than gunmen and gamblers.
230
00:18:58,604 --> 00:19:03,064
And it drew closer with every mile
the railroad advanced to the west.
231
00:19:14,887 --> 00:19:17,856
Within six months of Dodge`s
arrival the Union Pacific
232
00:19:18,023 --> 00:19:20,651
had laid two hundred
and fifty miles of track,
233
00:19:21,093 --> 00:19:24,324
worth five million dollars
in government grants.
234
00:19:27,766 --> 00:19:30,826
Far to the west, after
almost three years,
235
00:19:31,103 --> 00:19:33,230
the shopkeepers were still
stuck in the mountains,
236
00:19:33,405 --> 00:19:35,930
just eighty miles
from their start point.
237
00:19:45,317 --> 00:19:48,480
The Chinese workers were at home
on the perilous rock face.
238
00:19:51,356 --> 00:19:55,087
But the gunpowder they were using
was just not powerful enough.
239
00:19:59,865 --> 00:20:02,333
With the other railroad
racing across the prairies
240
00:20:02,501 --> 00:20:05,368
the shopkeepers desperately
needed to force the pace.
241
00:20:07,072 --> 00:20:10,838
Strobridge decided to try
a dangerous experiment.
242
00:20:17,749 --> 00:20:23,483
lt`s safe enough, we have a chemist, an
Englishman, fixes his stuff up on site.
243
00:20:23,722 --> 00:20:27,749
Nitro-glycerine, with eight times
more power than gunpowder,
244
00:20:27,926 --> 00:20:30,190
but notoriously unstable.
245
00:20:31,597 --> 00:20:36,125
When he`s mixed it, well you wouldn`t
want to go shaking the bottle.
246
00:21:30,789 --> 00:21:33,587
He say, they pull out seven bodies,
247
00:21:34,459 --> 00:21:39,328
some hands, some legs,
a few men are still missing.
248
00:21:40,565 --> 00:21:43,898
He say one of the dead man
was his older brother.
249
00:21:44,870 --> 00:21:49,432
Our average daily progress
is twelve inches, twelve inches a day
250
00:21:49,608 --> 00:21:52,839
that`s how long it takes us to drill
and blast through this rock.
251
00:21:53,111 --> 00:21:54,339
We`ve got to do better than that.
252
00:21:56,648 --> 00:21:59,742
There`s a lot of men buried under
those rocks, good men.
253
00:22:00,252 --> 00:22:01,480
Bury the stuff.
254
00:22:08,126 --> 00:22:11,061
Now it`s back to packed powder
and twelve inches a day.
255
00:22:11,363 --> 00:22:13,923
At this rate we`ll be in Nevada
by the end of the century.
256
00:22:16,868 --> 00:22:21,168
The shopkeepers` dreams of riches were
being buried on the slopes of the Sierras.
257
00:22:27,512 --> 00:22:31,039
After three years they were still
twenty miles short of the summit.
258
00:22:31,883 --> 00:22:35,375
Beyond lay a fortune
in government grants and real estate.
259
00:22:36,188 --> 00:22:38,884
But first they had
to beat the mountain.
260
00:22:41,193 --> 00:22:44,720
Dodge meanwhile had advanced three
hundred miles from his start point.
261
00:22:45,197 --> 00:22:50,430
He was now deep in to lndian territory,
and facing his greatest challenge.
262
00:22:58,276 --> 00:23:02,007
The Sioux and Cheyenne were two of
the most warlike tribes in America
263
00:23:02,180 --> 00:23:04,910
and the railroad threatened
their way of life.
264
00:23:05,984 --> 00:23:07,645
The sight of these iron monsters
265
00:23:07,819 --> 00:23:11,778
hurtling across their homeland
was both alien and alarming.
266
00:23:12,958 --> 00:23:14,323
They fought back with a fury
267
00:23:14,493 --> 00:23:18,429
that struck terror in to
every railroad worker in the Midwest.
268
00:23:31,343 --> 00:23:34,244
On the night of August 27th 1867
269
00:23:34,413 --> 00:23:37,576
a supply train was heading
westward across the prairies.
270
00:23:41,052 --> 00:23:45,079
About four miles out from the rail
depot at Plum Creek in Nebraska,
271
00:23:45,257 --> 00:23:48,090
the engineers saw a fire on the tracks.
272
00:23:58,570 --> 00:24:02,233
Out of the smoke two men
came running towards them.
273
00:24:05,343 --> 00:24:06,435
lndians coming.
274
00:24:06,745 --> 00:24:07,837
Get on the back cart.
275
00:24:13,985 --> 00:24:16,886
The train ahead had been
derailed by the Cheyenne,
276
00:24:17,389 --> 00:24:19,789
and the wrecked engine
had caused a fire.
277
00:24:20,258 --> 00:24:22,692
The war party could still
be heard in the darkness.
278
00:24:27,199 --> 00:24:31,568
The rescuers fled from the scene taking
the terrified survivors with them.
279
00:24:32,737 --> 00:24:34,898
l looked out of the window
and l see this, this,
280
00:24:35,073 --> 00:24:37,769
this whole pass of lndians out there.
281
00:24:38,343 --> 00:24:39,833
They, they was riding
alongside locomotive,
282
00:24:40,011 --> 00:24:41,808
you know firing,
shooting their rifles at it,
283
00:24:42,214 --> 00:24:46,617
and er, and we was going full chisel,
engineers he`s trying to outrun them.
284
00:24:46,985 --> 00:24:52,218
Er, and all of a sudden we,
we, we were in a heat you know.
285
00:24:56,828 --> 00:24:59,524
l didn`t see what happened
to the engineer or the fireman.
286
00:25:02,634 --> 00:25:04,829
l don`t reckon they stand
much of a chance back there.
287
00:25:07,506 --> 00:25:10,839
Of the twelve victims of
the ambush seven were still missing.
288
00:25:13,879 --> 00:25:16,507
The train sought refuge
at Plum Creek depot.
289
00:25:20,218 --> 00:25:23,153
lsolated the handful of men
prepared for attack.
290
00:25:25,991 --> 00:25:29,256
But instead of the Cheyenne
daybreak brought a different sight.
291
00:25:34,666 --> 00:25:37,601
He was the sole survivor
of the missing men.
292
00:25:40,005 --> 00:25:43,702
And he was carrying
his own scalp in his hand.
293
00:25:53,885 --> 00:25:58,049
By noon Grenville Dodge had arrived
at a scene of carnage.
294
00:26:00,825 --> 00:26:05,421
Seven dead, five
linemen shot and scalped.
295
00:26:06,631 --> 00:26:10,158
An engineer and a rail
man burnt to death.
296
00:26:12,971 --> 00:26:14,370
This is a war.
297
00:26:15,507 --> 00:26:18,874
We have got to clear the damned lndians
out or give up building the railroad.
298
00:26:28,620 --> 00:26:32,784
The massacre at Plum Creek spread
panic throughout the railroad.
299
00:26:33,258 --> 00:26:35,920
The march westward
came to a dramatic halt.
300
00:26:38,029 --> 00:26:42,625
Meanwhile up in the mountains the
shopkeepers confronted their own killers.
301
00:26:54,045 --> 00:27:00,712
Frequent avalanches swept all
before them equipment, track and men.
302
00:27:14,666 --> 00:27:17,533
They were blowing out tree stumps
and a portion of snow fell on them.
303
00:27:18,169 --> 00:27:20,330
l don`t know how many are dead,
we don`t keep track of them.
304
00:27:20,739 --> 00:27:21,467
To tell you the truth l don`t know
305
00:27:21,640 --> 00:27:24,370
who they are when they`re alive
let alone when they`re dead.
306
00:27:35,120 --> 00:27:36,712
We`re sending the bodies back to China.
307
00:27:37,756 --> 00:27:39,587
Well that`s the deal
we had with the agents.
308
00:27:41,626 --> 00:27:43,526
They got a right to be buried
where they came from.
309
00:27:45,430 --> 00:27:46,727
That`s about all we can do.
310
00:27:48,299 --> 00:27:53,259
As blizzards swept across the mountains
the shopkeepers floundered in the drifts.
311
00:27:54,305 --> 00:27:56,830
The death toll rose even higher.
312
00:28:05,550 --> 00:28:08,542
Down on the prairie Dodge too
was counting his dead.
313
00:28:09,688 --> 00:28:13,180
Seven bodies were recovered from
the train wreck at Plum Creek.
314
00:28:30,675 --> 00:28:32,939
This is a savage useless waste of life,
315
00:28:33,411 --> 00:28:36,278
if it continues at this present rate
we`ll have no one left to build a railroad.
316
00:28:37,015 --> 00:28:40,712
ln the wake of the killings the
railroad was in constant fear of attack.
317
00:28:41,419 --> 00:28:43,887
Workers were ordered
to carry guns at all times.
318
00:28:45,657 --> 00:28:48,683
For Dodge, a veteran of
the conflict between the states,
319
00:28:48,960 --> 00:28:51,656
this war had become personal.
320
00:28:54,933 --> 00:29:00,303
l`ve fought in the late conflict,
l saw many good men killed and wounded.
321
00:29:03,108 --> 00:29:05,804
Never did l see anything
to cause me to hate my enemy.
322
00:29:08,046 --> 00:29:09,843
l have seen what they do
when they kill a man.
323
00:29:11,449 --> 00:29:12,643
This is a different kind of war,
324
00:29:13,818 --> 00:29:18,255
there is no room in this land for us
and them and that`s about it.
325
00:29:19,390 --> 00:29:22,621
For Dodge nothing must stand
in the way of the railroad.
326
00:29:24,229 --> 00:29:25,457
He began a process
327
00:29:25,630 --> 00:29:30,226
that would lead to one of the bloodiest
chapters in American history.
328
00:29:41,513 --> 00:29:46,610
Dodge used the power of the railroad
to launch a war of annihilation.
329
00:29:47,585 --> 00:29:50,213
To fight it the government sent in
one of the most ruthless generals
330
00:29:50,388 --> 00:29:54,791
in the Federal Army,
William Tekomsay Sherman.
331
00:30:00,064 --> 00:30:03,693
Sherman, the man
who raised Atlanta to the ground
332
00:30:03,868 --> 00:30:08,498
and burned a swathe through Georgia
to win victory in the civil war.
333
00:30:10,375 --> 00:30:12,070
l have six companies of cavalry,
334
00:30:12,544 --> 00:30:15,411
and General Custer is coming
from the Smoke Hill route.
335
00:30:19,117 --> 00:30:20,482
The more lndians we can kill today
336
00:30:20,652 --> 00:30:22,984
the fewer will have to be killed
in the next war.
337
00:30:23,555 --> 00:30:25,318
But the more l see of them
the more l am convinced
338
00:30:25,490 --> 00:30:31,053
that they will all have to be killed,
or maintained as a species of pauper.
339
00:30:35,333 --> 00:30:38,825
We must act with vindictive earnestness
against the Sioux and the Cheyenne,
340
00:30:40,738 --> 00:30:43,832
to the point of their
very extermination.
341
00:30:44,742 --> 00:30:48,644
Men, women and children.
342
00:30:48,980 --> 00:30:54,043
For Sherman there would be
no compromise and no mercy.
343
00:30:57,121 --> 00:31:00,181
The first task was to hunt down
the Cheyenne war party
344
00:31:00,358 --> 00:31:04,556
that had attacked the train
at Plum Creek and killed the seven men.
345
00:31:08,733 --> 00:31:10,701
A number of prisoners were taken,
346
00:31:10,902 --> 00:31:14,167
one of them a Cheyenne
warrior called Porcupine,
347
00:31:14,539 --> 00:31:17,201
he gave a first hand
account of the incident.
348
00:31:21,946 --> 00:31:26,440
We said among ourselves now
the white people have taken all we had,
349
00:31:26,851 --> 00:31:28,409
we are to do something.
350
00:31:31,556 --> 00:31:36,152
lf we can throw these wagons off the
iron they run upon and break them open
351
00:31:36,527 --> 00:31:41,760
we should find what is in them and can
take whatever might be useful to us.
352
00:31:45,236 --> 00:31:48,535
We cut down one of the big sticks
that stand by the track,
353
00:31:48,907 --> 00:31:51,774
and just before sundown
we tied it to the rails
354
00:31:51,943 --> 00:31:54,207
and sat down to watch
what would happen.
355
00:31:55,680 --> 00:32:00,117
Then looking east we saw small light
close to the horizon,
356
00:32:00,518 --> 00:32:03,180
someone said the
morning star has risen.
357
00:32:06,824 --> 00:32:10,590
We sent men on the best horses
along the track to yell
358
00:32:10,762 --> 00:32:13,697
and shoot in the hope
that they might frighten it.
359
00:32:14,532 --> 00:32:19,094
But it kept going until it hit
the sticks we had put on the track.
360
00:32:21,539 --> 00:32:24,167
The railroad is death to us.
361
00:32:24,342 --> 00:32:29,336
When the people hear the sound of
the bell on the iron horse they mourn.
362
00:32:30,081 --> 00:32:34,711
lt is the signal that the life
they have known is over.
363
00:32:39,090 --> 00:32:41,024
lt was over.
364
00:32:42,593 --> 00:32:47,292
Sherman and the army would drive the native
Americans out of the path of the railroad.
365
00:32:49,567 --> 00:32:55,028
Every mile further west would be
laid over the grave of their homeland.
366
00:33:00,578 --> 00:33:06,949
Dodge`s Union Pacific was now in Wyoming,
five hundred miles from its start point.
367
00:33:07,585 --> 00:33:09,644
While in the mountains
the shopkeepers were approaching
368
00:33:09,821 --> 00:33:12,949
the highest point of their route
across the Sierras.
369
00:33:25,236 --> 00:33:28,399
They were now running trains
high in to the mountains,
370
00:33:28,573 --> 00:33:32,475
helped by the invention of
small pilot wheels or bogeys
371
00:33:32,643 --> 00:33:37,046
that enabled the locomotives to twist
and turn with the contours of the track.
372
00:33:45,056 --> 00:33:48,924
As they climbed the mountain
threw more obstacles in their path.
373
00:33:52,497 --> 00:33:55,364
The route was severed by deep chasms.
374
00:33:55,900 --> 00:33:57,993
Too deep for conventional bridges.
375
00:34:01,572 --> 00:34:05,633
So the engineers built wooden trestles,
hundreds of feet tall.
376
00:34:07,045 --> 00:34:09,570
The largest wooden
structures ever built.
377
00:34:20,391 --> 00:34:23,360
But the worst problem was
above the snow line.
378
00:34:24,395 --> 00:34:26,056
This winter we had
forty four snow storms,
379
00:34:26,230 --> 00:34:29,199
varying from a small squall
to a two week blizzard.
380
00:34:29,634 --> 00:34:34,162
February 18th we had six feet of snow,
the drifts had measured up to fifty feet.
381
00:34:34,572 --> 00:34:37,234
You can`t build a railroad
under fifty feet of snow.
382
00:34:37,542 --> 00:34:39,271
And you sure as hell
can`t run a train through it.
383
00:34:42,713 --> 00:34:45,739
For six months of the year
the track was blocked with snow.
384
00:34:47,118 --> 00:34:48,642
The engineers had a solution.
385
00:34:49,720 --> 00:34:52,018
To run the trains under the snow.
386
00:34:53,524 --> 00:34:57,961
On the worst stretches of track they built
long wooden sheds angled in to the mountain
387
00:34:58,129 --> 00:35:00,495
to keep the rails clear of drifts.
388
00:35:11,275 --> 00:35:15,473
As the snow melted it caused major
problems for Dodge down on the plains.
389
00:35:16,547 --> 00:35:19,948
Normally placid rivers
turned in to raging torrents,
390
00:35:20,118 --> 00:35:23,019
sweeping away miles
of track and trestle.
391
00:35:26,190 --> 00:35:28,181
And then came the rain.
392
00:35:32,163 --> 00:35:36,224
Sandbags were all that stood
between Dodge and disaster.
393
00:35:41,806 --> 00:35:43,967
The river has taken
a hundred feet of trestle,
394
00:35:44,175 --> 00:35:47,372
and if we don`t shore up the bank
it will take as many miles of track.
395
00:35:47,545 --> 00:35:49,376
l`ve never seen a winter like this.
396
00:35:51,582 --> 00:35:54,517
We`ve had temperatures
as low as minus forty degrees.
397
00:35:55,620 --> 00:35:58,384
Hundreds of miles of track
have been destroyed by frost.
398
00:35:59,724 --> 00:36:01,555
And now with the thaw we get this.
399
00:36:09,433 --> 00:36:11,901
The weather had stopped
Dodge in his tracks.
400
00:36:12,737 --> 00:36:16,036
And he was about to face a financial
storm that would make his problems
401
00:36:16,207 --> 00:36:19,643
with the weather pale
in to insignificance.
402
00:36:21,579 --> 00:36:25,606
Up in the mountains the shopkeepers were
just a few hundred feet from the summit.
403
00:36:26,450 --> 00:36:30,853
Beyond they had a clear run across
hundreds of miles of mountain plateau,
404
00:36:31,022 --> 00:36:33,855
Worth millions of dollars
in government grants.
405
00:36:36,861 --> 00:36:41,491
But those few hundred feet would be
the worst along the entire route.
406
00:36:42,433 --> 00:36:46,199
They had to tunnel through
sixteen hundred feet of solid granite.
407
00:36:51,509 --> 00:36:54,069
The burden fell on
the Chinese labourers.
408
00:36:57,281 --> 00:36:59,647
They tackled it from
both sides of the mountain.
409
00:37:00,284 --> 00:37:02,115
Toiling in shifts around the clock.
410
00:37:02,653 --> 00:37:06,521
working and even sleeping
seven thousand feet above sea level.
411
00:37:13,364 --> 00:37:15,889
They sleep in cabins
buried under the snow.
412
00:37:16,667 --> 00:37:20,125
With er tunnels,
they`re more like burrows
413
00:37:20,304 --> 00:37:23,034
that link them to wherever the hell
it is they have to get to work.
414
00:37:23,874 --> 00:37:26,342
They stay there all winter,
never see the light of day.
415
00:37:29,313 --> 00:37:32,612
The long suffering
Chinese finally cracked.
416
00:37:33,417 --> 00:37:34,679
They went on strike.
417
00:37:37,321 --> 00:37:40,381
For once Strobridge was on their side.
418
00:37:40,925 --> 00:37:43,450
Now if you don`t go in there and negotiate
this thing is coming to a standstill.
419
00:37:43,628 --> 00:37:45,528
l`ve got four hundred men
that have already stopped.
420
00:37:45,896 --> 00:37:47,329
There is no plans to negotiate.
421
00:37:47,698 --> 00:37:51,031
There`s only one man running
this railroad, by God it`s not them.
422
00:37:51,202 --> 00:37:52,191
You`re not listening
to what l`m saying.
423
00:37:52,370 --> 00:37:54,634
You either put this to an end
or l`m out with them.
424
00:37:55,506 --> 00:37:58,339
Strobridge was now
the voice of moderation.
425
00:37:59,143 --> 00:38:02,943
But Crocker was determined
to starve the men back to work.
426
00:38:06,517 --> 00:38:09,213
Greed had made the
shopkeepers ruthless.
427
00:38:12,023 --> 00:38:17,086
The race to unite America had been
transformed in to a race for riches.
428
00:38:23,834 --> 00:38:28,737
Down on the plains greed was about to
plunge the Union Pacific in to a scandal
429
00:38:28,906 --> 00:38:32,865
which threatened to bring
the entire venture crashing to a halt.
430
00:38:34,011 --> 00:38:38,539
Unknown to Dodge the railroad
was being robbed by its own directors.
431
00:38:40,284 --> 00:38:45,221
Behind the fraud was the rail baron
Dr Thomas Durant, a supreme salesman.
432
00:38:45,489 --> 00:38:46,717
Durant had raised millions
433
00:38:46,891 --> 00:38:50,918
by bringing potential investors
on joyrides to the Wild West.
434
00:38:51,996 --> 00:38:54,396
lt`s not just simply tracks
for a railroad we`re laying.
435
00:38:55,633 --> 00:38:58,727
lt`s the foundation for
a magnificent highway of cities.
436
00:38:59,203 --> 00:39:01,728
Cities that will make
the United States of America
437
00:39:01,906 --> 00:39:04,568
the richest and
most powerful nation in the world.
438
00:39:05,076 --> 00:39:09,706
But Durant`s patriotic fervour
hid a spectacular fraud.
439
00:39:11,248 --> 00:39:13,682
And it was about to be exposed.
440
00:39:17,788 --> 00:39:22,225
The scandal was first uncovered by
a freelance journalist Charles Adams.
441
00:39:24,562 --> 00:39:29,556
Well by law all the construction, labour,
the materials from the um the timbers,
442
00:39:29,734 --> 00:39:34,034
the locomotives, the ore for the grating,
it all has to go out to private tender.
443
00:39:34,472 --> 00:39:37,032
Which is to say to
independent contractors
444
00:39:37,208 --> 00:39:41,474
who are supposed to bid with
each other to keep the cost down.
445
00:39:42,580 --> 00:39:46,038
But Adams had discovered that
instead of going to different companies
446
00:39:46,217 --> 00:39:50,847
the contracts were going to just one,
the Credit Mobille.
447
00:39:52,123 --> 00:39:56,526
And just who do you suppose
owns the Credit Mobille?
448
00:39:56,727 --> 00:39:58,524
Why the good doctor Durant,
449
00:39:58,696 --> 00:40:04,760
and a handful of shareholders who also
happen to be directors of the railroad.
450
00:40:05,836 --> 00:40:08,532
Posing as a legitimate
contractor Durant and
451
00:40:08,706 --> 00:40:13,666
his partners were illegally charging the
government double what it needed to pay.
452
00:40:14,311 --> 00:40:19,112
For every mile of track
that`s laid twenty thousand dollars
453
00:40:19,283 --> 00:40:22,775
finds its way to Doctor Durant
and his shareholders.
454
00:40:22,953 --> 00:40:28,892
Now over the course of the rail this
adds up to many, many millions of dollars.
455
00:40:30,494 --> 00:40:31,722
lt`s a swindle.
456
00:40:33,330 --> 00:40:39,701
This is perhaps the greatest swindle
ever perpetrated on the American people,
457
00:40:39,870 --> 00:40:43,431
and that congress can stand by
and allow this to happen is,
458
00:40:43,607 --> 00:40:46,804
really is a little short of incredible.
459
00:40:47,344 --> 00:40:50,211
lt would be some years before
the American people discovered
460
00:40:50,381 --> 00:40:53,908
that congress too was
in Durant`s pocket.
461
00:40:54,485 --> 00:40:59,980
But the exposure of the Credit Mobille had
had an immediate impact at the railhead.
462
00:41:01,792 --> 00:41:03,817
l will not allow my men
to be directed by a man
463
00:41:03,994 --> 00:41:07,794
who has not an honest
drop of blood in his veins,
464
00:41:08,199 --> 00:41:11,498
and is connected to the railroad for
the sole purpose of bleeding it dry.
465
00:41:13,571 --> 00:41:18,873
Dodge threatened to quit, unless Durant
gave up his role in the construction.
466
00:41:21,045 --> 00:41:24,378
High in the Sierras Crocker`s
tactics had paid off.
467
00:41:25,282 --> 00:41:28,809
Starved of supplies
the strikers returned to work.
468
00:41:35,626 --> 00:41:39,255
Only a few feet of rock now
separated the two sections of tunnel
469
00:41:39,430 --> 00:41:40,920
in the heart of the mountain.
470
00:41:47,505 --> 00:41:52,738
Finally after five years
the light at the end of the tunnel.
471
00:41:55,880 --> 00:41:59,611
After digging in opposite direction
for over sixteen hundred feet
472
00:41:59,783 --> 00:42:02,809
the tunnels were
just two inches out of line.
473
00:42:08,225 --> 00:42:13,060
We did it damn it, damn it we did it.
474
00:42:15,966 --> 00:42:20,426
The completion of the summit tunnel was
a watershed in the shopkeepers` fortunes.
475
00:42:20,905 --> 00:42:22,839
The worst was now behind them.
476
00:42:26,310 --> 00:42:29,541
Regular train services were now
running through the Sierras.
477
00:42:30,281 --> 00:42:33,739
At last there was an alternative
to the wagon trains.
478
00:42:34,451 --> 00:42:38,683
Men, women and children would
no longer die crossing the mountains.
479
00:42:42,726 --> 00:42:44,523
But the race was not over yet.
480
00:42:45,629 --> 00:42:49,565
There was still hundreds of miles of
wilderness between the two railroads.
481
00:42:54,471 --> 00:42:57,565
The Union Pacific was
still mired in scandal.
482
00:42:58,609 --> 00:43:03,376
With the men idle Durant had no option
but to agree to Dodge`s demands.
483
00:43:04,448 --> 00:43:06,177
The affair has been settled amicably.
484
00:43:06,483 --> 00:43:07,814
l have no further comment to make.
485
00:43:13,524 --> 00:43:17,051
Dodge could now get on
with building the railroad.
486
00:43:21,298 --> 00:43:23,664
The two routes were fast converging,
487
00:43:24,001 --> 00:43:30,031
and congress finally drew a line where
they would meet, Promontory Point in Utah.
488
00:43:31,041 --> 00:43:35,034
lt now became a race not
for money but for prestige.
489
00:43:35,746 --> 00:43:38,442
Who would be the first to reach
the finishing post?
490
00:43:48,292 --> 00:43:51,022
ln the twelve months after
breaking through the Sierras,
491
00:43:51,195 --> 00:43:56,462
Crocker`s Chinese labourers laid three
hundred miles of track across Nevada.
492
00:43:58,402 --> 00:44:00,996
We`ve now got this track
laying down to an exact science.
493
00:44:01,905 --> 00:44:04,999
There`s no where in the world, no
one, not the French, not the British,
494
00:44:05,175 --> 00:44:07,700
not even Grenville Dodge
can do it as well as we do.
495
00:44:09,346 --> 00:44:12,975
The shopkeepers were now racing
across the salt flats of Utah.
496
00:44:13,350 --> 00:44:17,081
And Dodge was heading through the
one gap he had found in the Rockies.
497
00:44:18,355 --> 00:44:22,223
After six years
they were just fifty miles apart,
498
00:44:22,526 --> 00:44:25,393
and racing flat out
for the finishing post.
499
00:44:28,565 --> 00:44:32,262
Close to their goal the Chinese
labourers set an historic record.
500
00:44:33,370 --> 00:44:37,739
ln a single day they laid
an astonishing ten miles of track.
501
00:44:43,714 --> 00:44:46,410
Dodge too was setting
a remarkable pace.
502
00:44:56,627 --> 00:45:00,825
The two companies were neck and neck,
anyone could win.
503
00:45:05,769 --> 00:45:11,901
On April 30th 1869 a single train crossed
the finishing line at Promontory Point.
504
00:45:24,288 --> 00:45:26,483
Six years and seven hundred miles
505
00:45:26,657 --> 00:45:29,683
after spreading the first shovel
of earth in Sacramento
506
00:45:29,860 --> 00:45:32,795
the shopkeepers had reached their goal.
507
00:45:35,566 --> 00:45:37,898
We`re now waiting on the Union Pacific,
508
00:45:38,535 --> 00:45:42,369
l have been reliably informed
they`ve been delayed by rain.
509
00:45:46,243 --> 00:45:51,374
lt would be two days before the Union
Pacific finally arrived at Promontory.
510
00:45:57,454 --> 00:46:03,222
On May 10th 1869 the two rival
companies were face to face.
511
00:46:03,827 --> 00:46:09,060
A single length of track apart,
at the end of the line.
512
00:46:15,572 --> 00:46:20,600
And in a symbolic gesture of unity that
last length of track was laid by a team,
513
00:46:21,912 --> 00:46:23,209
from each railroad.
514
00:46:26,750 --> 00:46:27,739
Done.
515
00:46:36,326 --> 00:46:37,588
l can`t believe we did it.
516
00:46:38,395 --> 00:46:41,364
l know we did it, hell l was
there for the best part of it.
517
00:46:42,599 --> 00:46:45,261
But damn l don`t know how we did it.
518
00:46:46,003 --> 00:46:50,030
l know we would have never done it
if it hadn`t been for these men.
519
00:46:51,542 --> 00:46:52,474
And l don`t forget
520
00:46:52,643 --> 00:46:56,079
that l was opposed to the notion of
employing them in the first place.
521
00:46:56,480 --> 00:47:01,679
This railroad, this nation
owes these men a great debt,
522
00:47:02,419 --> 00:47:06,253
and l sure as hell hope we don`t
forget it, because l know l won`t.
523
00:47:08,358 --> 00:47:11,816
Where we`re standing now
l feel in a sense it was nothing here
524
00:47:11,995 --> 00:47:13,724
but the path of wild deer.
525
00:47:14,965 --> 00:47:16,830
And now a thousand wheels roll,
526
00:47:17,000 --> 00:47:19,901
on their axles will be carried
the wealth of half the world.
527
00:47:20,537 --> 00:47:25,270
l think by this day`s work we`ve changed
the commerce and finance of the whole world.
528
00:47:25,709 --> 00:47:30,043
We have finished the job
that Christopher Columbus started.
529
00:47:31,048 --> 00:47:32,811
What had started as a shovel of earth
530
00:47:32,983 --> 00:47:38,751
in a small town in California had become
the world`s first transcontinental railroad.
531
00:47:39,790 --> 00:47:45,023
lt had taken six years, claimed
the lives of over two thousand men,
532
00:47:45,462 --> 00:47:48,329
and changed the course
of American history.
533
00:47:49,466 --> 00:47:51,058
But a single line of
track now stretched
534
00:47:51,235 --> 00:47:54,636
across America from
the Atlantic to the Pacific.
535
00:47:55,472 --> 00:47:59,033
Two thousand miles of wilderness
have been opened to settlement.
536
00:47:59,576 --> 00:48:02,272
A journey which had taken
six months by wagon train
537
00:48:02,446 --> 00:48:06,610
and cost the lives of tens of thousands
of immigrants could now
538
00:48:06,783 --> 00:48:09,911
be completed in just seven days.
539
00:48:10,487 --> 00:48:14,719
Lincoln was dead
but his dream was a reality.
540
00:48:15,425 --> 00:48:19,828
lt was now truly
the United States of America.
541
00:48:20,828 --> 00:48:30,828
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