America in Color (2017–…): Season 2, Episode 1 - The Wild West - full transcript
At the dawn of the 20th century, America west of the Mississippi was wild and untamed, featuring formidable landscapes and treacherous rivers. But in the following decades, industry and ...
Narrator:
This is the story of America...
Seen in color
for the first time.
The American West.
A land steeped in legend...
Children: Woo-hoo!
Narrator: Where cowboys
roam the range...
Their exploits made famous
by Buffalo Bill...
and Annie Oakley.
Many come to make
their fortunes...
Unleashing decades of brutality
and a struggle
for law and order.
[gunfire]
[horse neighing]
Man: The police
are after the fiends
Who did this rotten job.
Narrator:
Hollywood mythologizes its past.
The battle
to tame the vast region
Pushes the limits
of modern technology.
Franklin Roosevelt: The mighty
waters of the Colorado
Were running unused to the sea.
Narrator: But in the west,
Nature never yields
unless people pay a price.
Man: I saw the ship
disintegrate before my eyes.
Narrator: This is the story
of America's Wild West
As you have never
seen it before.
[men whooping]
Narrator:
As the 20th century dawns,
The lands
west of the Mississippi
Are largely wild and untamed.
The popular portrait of the west
Is drawn by heroic
frontier figures...
Like William F. Cody...
Better known as Buffalo Bill.
His traveling cowboy show
Romanticizes the glory days
of the Wild West.
Buffalo Bill's show
brings history to a crowd.
But some sketches
aren't for the faint-hearted...
[screaming]
Such as the battle
of Summit Springs...
A notorious engagement of 1869.
Bill was present at the battle,
and many believed him
responsible
For the death
of Cheyenne Chief Tall Bull.
A star attraction
in Bill's show,
The legendary sharpshooter
Annie Oakley.
Here she takes out clay pigeons
with her Winchester.
And she even gets
her trusty dog Dave
in on the act.
Bill takes his show on the road,
Touring cities
in the U.S. and Europe
For more than 30 years...
Spreading his heroic
vision of the west
As a place
that modern civilization
Is destined to conquer
and control.
Among the many smitten
by the romance of the west
Is President Theodore Roosevelt.
His love affair with nature
is born in tragedy.
In 1884, on the very same day,
He loses both his wife
and his mother.
Distraught,
Roosevelt moves 1,500 miles
From New York to the badlands,
in the Dakota Territory.
He embraces the wide-open spaces
and becomes a rancher.
He once wrote,
"I owe more than I can express
to the west."
In 1905, Roosevelt is serving
his second term.
On a trip through Oklahoma,
he meets Jack Abernathy...
A man famed for catching wolves
with his bare hands.
A live wolf means big bucks.
He can sell them for $50 each...
More than $1,000
in today's money.
He delivers
over a thousand wolves
To zoos and traveling shows.
He never gets bitten
and earns the nickname
"Catch 'Em Alive Jack."
The region that's given rise
To such
larger-than-life characters
Is a place of
imposing mountain ranges,
Treacherous rivers,
Forests,
and deserts.
Among the biggest challenges
settling here is water.
There is either too much of it
Or none at all.
To tame the west,
President Roosevelt understands
He must bring water
under control.
He commits federal funds
To irrigate 20
of America's western states.
In 1911, the first project opens
on the Salt River in Arizona.
It's named
the Theodore Roosevelt Dam.
At a cost of $190 million today,
It symbolizes his commitment
To extend man's dominion
over the west.
At the dedication ceremony,
he tells the Arizona crowd,
"I believe we will see
75,000 to 100,000 people here."
His prediction comes true.
55 miles away,
a small desert city of 11,000
Will be one of
the first to benefit
From the power and water
the dam provides.
Phoenix will signify the dawn
of a new American West.
But this new west
Has little room
for its original inhabitants.
In 1900, American Indians
number only 230,000.
Over the previous century,
400,000 have died,
Killed by the wars and disease
inflicted on them
By the newcomers
to their continent.
Now most tribes have been
forced by the government
To live on reservations,
Where many aren't recognized
as U.S. Citizens.
[horse neighing]
White America not only takes
the American Indians' land;
It also tries to erase
their culture.
In 1913, a group
of east coast millionaires
Funds an expedition
to persuade dozens of tribes
To adopt the white man's ways.
Under the watchful eye
of a military escort,
Its leaders claim to offer
better treatment
for American Indians.
In return,
the tribes must demonstrate
allegiance to the government
and its flag.
The expedition is led
by photographer Joseph Dixon,
A man concerned
with what he calls
"The Vanishing Race."
Here, the Oglala Sioux
At the Pine Ridge Reservation
in South Dakota
Host the delegation.
Among those who participate,
two moons,
Who commanded the Cheyenne
Against Lieutenant Colonel Custer
At the legendary Battle
of the Little Bighorn.
The tribes are told
That allegiance will bring them
a better tomorrow.
But for decades to come,
Many of America's
original inhabitants
Will lead lives
of poverty and isolation.
The fight to dominate the west
Also brings America
into conflict with Mexico.
In 1916,
America's 2,000-mile border
with its neighbor
Is a flashpoint.
[boom]
Mexico is engulfed
in a violent revolution.
[men yelling]
The U.S. Backs a faction
led by Venustiano Carranza.
But his opponent,
former bandit Pancho Villa,
Won't back down.
On March 9th,
Villa's men cross the border
and attack the town
of Columbus, New Mexico,
Hoping to force the U.S.
Into the war.
18 Americans die.
The country witnesses
the carnage in newsreels.
And Pancho Villa gets his wish.
General John Pershing leads
14,000 troops and aircraft
Deep into America's
rugged landscape
To flush Villa out.
By April 1916,
U.S. Forces
are pouring into Mexico,
and the fighting is intense.
[guns fire]
Skirmishes continue
until January 1917,
When diplomacy wins out
and Pershing withdraws.
Pancho Villa evades capture
and never strays
north of the border again.
But for the U.S.,
The conflict with Mexico
has consequences
That endure for decades.
Thousands of mexicans flee
the violence in their country
and look for work on the farms
of the American Southwest,
Where the irrigation projects
kicked off by Theodore Roosevelt
Have been making
the dry land fertile.
Mexican immigrants provide
the cheap labor to work it.
Agriculture flourishes with
control of the west's water,
But this precious resource
will become a battleground.
Los Angeles, 1920.
With over 500,000 inhabitants,
It's the west's biggest city.
The discovery of oil
20 years earlier,
Near present-day dodger stadium,
Fuels the city's development
and an ever-growing
population.
But to sustain that growth,
The city still needs something
just as important...
Water.
Demand in L.A.
Exceeds the supply.
The legendary engineer
William Mulholland
Discovers
a potential new source...
Owens lake,
Over 160 miles northeast,
On the eastern flank
of the Sierra Nevada.
To divert the lake's water
down to the city,
Mulholland builds a vast system
Of pipes, sluices,
and spillways.
It's an engineering marvel,
But one that leaves
less water for farmers.
Man: More trouble, and it's not
the first time, either.
And ranchers objecting
to the cities
Cutting across their property
Are suspected.
Narrator: Angry farmers
Sabotage the aqueduct
with dynamite.
Man: The police
are after the fiends
Who did this rotten job.
Let's hope they get 'em.
Narrator:
L.A. Repairs the aqueduct
and keeps the water flowing,
But by 1926,
the Owens lakebed is dry.
Today it's a salt flat.
Water scarcity shapes
the history of the west.
But so does the abundance
of a different natural resource.
Over 800 miles
north of Los Angeles
Lies Portland, Oregon.
The once-sleepy city now houses
over 250,000 people.
[crash]
With its dense forests,
the Pacific Northwest
Is home to one of the west's
biggest industries...
Timber.
By 1920,
The region is the source
of a third of America's wood.
It's transported across
a vast railroad network
That's also a steady customer
for wooden ties.
In Wyoming's
medicine bow national forest,
The Thompson family
films itself preparing ties.
They transport their haul
free of charge,
Down the laramie river
To processing plants.
Nature can be bountiful
in the west.
But people's determination
to bend it to their will
Can have unforeseen
consequences.
By 1921,
in rain-starved Arizona,
Irrigation gives rise
to some 30,000 farms.
At first they thrive.
Banks offer easy credit
to farmers.
Many invest in new machinery.
But these would-be
masters of nature
Are victims
of their own success.
Farmers grow more
than they can sell,
Fall into debt, and face crisis.
Years before the devastating
dust bowl of the 1930s,
Bankruptcy threatens a quarter
of farms across the country.
It is known
as the agricultural depression.
Many are ruined.
The west's next boom
Always seems to be
just around the corner.
In the mid-1920s,
Eugene standing bear
makes these home movies
Of the American Indian
Osage Nation.
He's married to Mary,
The daughter
of Chief Fred Lookout.
Forced out of one place
after another,
The Osage are relocated here
to northern Oklahoma,
Near the town of Pawhuska.
Their new land
seems to be worthless.
But in 1894...
Vast oil reserves are discovered
on their territory.
So the operators
who lease the land
Have to pay royalties
to the Osage Nation...
Money that offers the tribe
All the time they want
on the golf course.
They become the richest people
per capita in the world.
Many own more than 10 cars.
Some can even fly.
A rare skill in the 1920s.
But many American Indians
are nowhere near as lucky.
They live in poverty,
and some still aren't even
American citizens.
In June 1924,
President Calvin Coolidge signs
the Indian Citizenship Act.
But some still won't have
voting rights for decades
and remain skeptical
of the government
That treats them so badly.
The land they call home
Is attracting more and more
people from the east
To fuel the west's
newest industry...
Tourism.
In 1925, most who make
the trek to the west
Travel by train.
There are few roads,
But the rail network boasts
a quarter-million miles of track
Spreading all through the west.
The Northern Pacific
and Union Pacific
Can drop you in the midst
of spectacular beauty.
[horse neighing]
Top of the must-see list
are the new national parks.
Theodore Roosevelt,
a passionate conservationist,
Adds 5 national parks
and 150 forests
To the roster of public land...
Most protected to this day
by the federal government.
Films like this one
by Burton Holmes from Chicago
Capture the grand canyon and
rocky mountain national park.
A world-famous traveler,
Holmes pioneers
the travelogue...
Movies and accompanying lectures
shown to audiences back east.
Over the years,
he gives 8,000 talks
About his travels
around the world.
In the 1920s,
He inspires a whole generation
to head west for adventure.
And it's not just
the vast landscapes.
Americans want to experience
Buffalo Bill's Old West
For themselves.
In 1926, Ernest Miller of
the Elkhorn Ranch in Montana
Convinces Max Goodsill of
the Northern Pacific Railroad
That they should work together.
Their partnership
sparks a new industry.
Railroad companies offer
the enthusiastic tourist
A stopover
with an authentic twist.
The host ranchers
Nickname the city-slickers
playing cowboys "dudes."
The name sticks,
and a business booms...
Dude ranches.
Woman: Whee! Ha ha ha!
Narrator: They can bone up
on essential cowboy skills.
[laughter]
And dudes need new duds.
Woman: No ranch is complete
without the youngsters.
And no youngster is happy
Unless he or she
has complete rig
That makes them feel like
honest-to-goodness cowboys.
Children: Woo-hoo!
[clapping]
Narrator:
Home movies from the late 1920s
Capture the Lupfer family
from Ohio,
Out near Wickenburg, Arizona,
On their dude ranch vacation.
[ringing]
There's something
for everyone in the family.
For those with enough nerve,
A ride on a bucking bronco.
And no cowboy fantasy
would be complete
Without American Indians
putting on a show.
[drumming and chanting]
But new traditions
have also begun.
In 1927, in Gallup, New Mexico,
Thousands gather
for a special event.
The town borders Navajo, Hopi,
Acoma, and Zuni reservations...
Tribes who have long
come to the town to trade.
This is the sixth
annual gathering.
It's held every August
And known as
the intertribal ceremonial.
Tribes parade through the town
and down Route 66.
[whooping]
Thomas Seymour
of the Smithsonian Institution
Captures rare footage
Of an event that
continues to this day.
[ululating]
Celebrating history
Will help ensure the survival
of many small western towns...
Such as Tombstone, Arizona.
Once famous for its silver,
It now faces the fate of many
exhausted mining communities...
Becoming a ghost town.
So it turns
to its other claim to fame...
Being home to the most famous
lawman of the west,
Wyatt Earp,
And location of the infamous
shootout at the ok corral.
[gunfire]
Now tourists can experience
the gunplay first-hand,
Re-enacted in the exact spot
Where three
of the clanton-mclaury gang
Were killed by doc holliday and
his friends, the Earp brothers,
47 years earlier.
In 1928, now age 79,
The real Wyatt Earp
lives in mid-city, Los Angeles.
His gun-slinging days over,
He works as
a technical consultant
For the burgeoning
movie industry.
Hollywood has a huge appetite
for westerns,
And his knowledge is priceless.
On set one day,
He meets an aspiring young actor
named Marion Morrison,
Who's eager to walk and talk
like a real cowboy.
Later, he'll take the stage name
John Wayne.
Earp helps Hollywood
Crystallize the romantic image
of the Wild West
That still endures today.
But while the myth
is being harnessed,
Nature, as always in the west,
proves harder to tame.
For 1,500 miles,
The Colorado River
cuts through the west...
From the Rocky Mountains
to the Gulf of California.
It's a powerful force of nature
And is historically prone
to flooding.
In 1922, it submerges
35,000 acres of farmland
In California's
palo verde valley.
To keep the west's
future on track,
The Colorado
will have to be tamed.
[explosion]
So in 1929,
President Herbert Hoover
finances a colossal new project,
Up river,
at Black Canyon, Nevada.
The Boulder Dam,
Later to be renamed
the Hoover Dam.
To accommodate
the dam's workforce,
The U.S. Government
builds a new town
8 miles from
the construction site.
Boulder City.
This sudden injection of jobs
couldn't be more timely.
Westerners have been hit hard
by the great depression.
Urban unemployment
is over 30 percent...
While western mining output
has been cut in half.
Farmers still suffering from
the agricultural depression
Have been brought
to their knees.
For people desperate for work,
The dam is a godsend.
The scale of the project
Dwarfs anything
in the nation's history.
It requires
six different companies
To come together to build it.
Among the contractors
is the Henry J. Kaiser company.
One of the west's
top industrialists,
Kaiser notches successes
across the region,
Building roads,
Bridges, and pipelines.
At the peak of construction,
The dam offers work
to over 5,000,
Including a handful of apaches
Who are among the few
American Indians to get work.
They join a team
of "high scalers,"
Swinging from the rock face,
Where they prepare
dynamite charges.
On September 30, 1935,
Hoover's successor,
president Franklin d. Roosevelt,
Dedicates the dam.
Franklin Roosevelt: The mighty
waters of the Colorado
Were running unused to the sea.
Today we translate them
Into a great
national possession.
Narrator:
Cameras capture the moment
When the 12 outlet valves
open for the first time.
When the dam finally
comes online in 1936,
Its 17 turbines
Produce over 4 billion
kilowatts of power each year,
Supplying the vast regions
Of Arizona, Southern Nevada,
and Southern California.
The Hoover Dam's success
inspires FDR,
And he green-lights six more,
Providing more electricity
and jobs for the west.
Elsewhere in the west,
Another power source
is set to explode.
In Texas, the discovery of oil
back in 1901 made many wealthy.
So when the east Texas oilfield
gushes in 1930,
The future looks bright.
These are the home movies
of Edwin B. Hopkins,
Geologist and oil man.
This is his
newly found oilfield
Outside the boomtown of Kilgore.
Nearby, the town of New London
Pulls in revenue
from taxes on oil land...
Money that in 1932 helps build
This multi-million-dollar
high school.
$13 million today.
But even the wealthy
cut corners sometimes,
With devastating effects.
To save money,
the school board taps directly
Into the local oil well's
natural gas supply.
In the mid-1930s,
the gas is odorless.
So on March 18, 1937,
When there is a leak,
no one notices.
By chance, one class of kids
moves from the high school
To an off-site gymnasium,
Where they are filmed practicing
the Mexican hat dance.
At 3:17, a spark
caused by a shop teacher
Triggers an explosion.
300 students and staff die.
Woman: I looked up
just as the explosion occurred.
It seemed to me that
the big roof and debris
Were blown three times higher
Than any of the derricks
around the schoolhouse.
Narrator: After the tragedy,
The industry adds a smell
to natural gas
To make it detectable...
A safety measure
still in place today.
In other parts of the west,
The bold and ambitious
find their own ways
To counter the hardships
of the depression.
[horn blows]
The new record-breaking
streamliner train
Is launched
by Union Pacific chairman
W. Averell Harriman.
W. Averell Harriman:
This is the first step
In the developing
Of a high-speed
transcontinental train
To run from Chicago
to the Pacific coast.
Narrator:
Passengers are delivered
To another of his creations...
The first destination ski resort
for wealthy vacationers.
Sun valley.
Nestled in Idaho's
smoky mountains,
It's a haven of winter fun
for America's elite.
It opens in 1936
And attracts
Hollywood celebrities
Like claudette colbert...
Errol Flynn...
And his wife, Lili Damita.
And international playboys,
like the future shah of Iran.
The west, once seen
as savage and remote,
Can now be a playground
for the rich and famous.
The west may becoming tamer,
but some still seek to settle
confrontations the old way.
A dispute over rights
to Colorado River water
Leads to a standoff
Between the states
of California and Arizona.
The federal government
gives California
A bigger share of the resources
From its proposed new dam.
Formidable state senator
Nellie T. Bush
Speaks up for Arizona.
Nellie T. Bush:
Water is the very life
Of every foot of fertile land
in the State of Arizona.
The waters skirting along
the banks of Arizona
Should be divided
or shared equally.
Narrator: On November 10th,
The Arizona national guard
moves in to halt construction.
Senator bush provides
ferries for transport,
Becoming the first admiral
Of landlocked Arizona's
temporary Navy.
Bush: I believe the people
of the State of Arizona
Are justified
in using drastic means
To circumvent this action
Until its legality
is established.
Narrator: But unlike
the days of the Wild West,
No shots are fired.
After a promise of
future irrigation projects,
Arizona backs down.
Interstate war is averted.
The courts
are the new battlegrounds
Of the developing west.
[explosion]
The huge construction projects
of the 1930s
Help the west
survive the depression
but produce
too much electricity.
One congressman complained
That "there is no one
to sell the power to
Except the jackrabbits
and the rattlesnakes."
But change is looming.
The west is poised to become
the nation's powerhouse
and lifeline.
[ship horn blows]
January 6, 1942.
America is a month
into a global war
For which it is poorly equipped.
With enemies in Europe
and across the Pacific,
It has only a fraction
of the material it will need
To win the war.
FDR, aware of
the monumental military
and manufacturing effort
required,
Reaches out to industry in his
State of the union speech.
Roosevelt: This production
of ours in the United States
Must be raised
far above present levels,
Even though it will mean
The dislocation
of the lives and occupations
Of millions of our own people.
Narrator: Americans head west
to work in armaments factories,
Which are now proliferating
across the region.
For industrialist Henry Kaiser,
The war opens up a spigot
of new federal spending.
The west receives
$60 billion from Washington
For war projects,
With shipbuilding a priority.
Along the coasts in California,
Oregon, and Washington,
Kaiser owns seven shipyards...
Each one with enough dry docks
to launch a ship a day.
In November 1942,
His yard
in Richmond, California,
Wins a competition to build
a ship in the shortest time.
Announcer: Now Mr. Kaiser
views his latest achievement,
The 10,000-ton
Robert E. Peary,
Built in 4 days,
15 hours, and 29 minutes.
A world production record
Beyond the dreams
of shipbuilding experts.
Narrator: In Portland,
in a span of two years,
The Kaiser shipyard churns out
Over a thousand
liberty and victory ships.
The expansion of shipyards
and ports on the west coast
Stimulates its economy
for decades to come.
East of San Francisco,
in port Chicago,
African American sailors
Stock ships
destined for the Pacific
With live munitions.
It's dangerous work,
And little attention
is paid to their safety.
Racial discrimination
is still rampant.
On July 17, 1944,
The S.S. E.A. Bryan,
Loaded with more than
4,500 tons of ammunition,
Explodes.
This footage
captures the aftermath
Of the devastating accident.
Falling debris
lands two miles away.
Man: I saw the ship
disintegrate before my eyes.
Pieces of steel and flames
Shot hundreds of feet
up in the air.
The next thing I knew
I was flying through the air,
Lost my rifle,
I landed in a ditch.
Narrator: More than 300 sailors
die instantly...
Two-thirds of them
African American.
During all of world war ii,
It is the deadliest incident
on mainland American soil.
The practices that caused it
Reflect the prevailing racism
in the military.
Hundreds of
African Americans strike
Until the dangerous
working conditions change.
50 are court martialed
for mutiny, convicted,
and sentenced to up to
15 years' hard labor.
In 1946, in an act of clemency,
President Harry Truman
sets the men free.
Their stand for racial justice
Helps push the Navy to be
the first military service
To begin desegregation.
During the war,
unlike African Americans,
American Indians
served in the same units
With white soldiers.
[gunfire]
Arizona's Navajo
Bring a special skill
to the battlefield.
Like all American Indian tribes,
they speak a unique language...
One which enemy forces
can't understand.
Commanders realize
their potential
To provide
a perfect natural code.
The marine corps trains them
in military protocol,
and American Indians
become "code talkers."
In the battle for Iwo Jima,
Six Navajo code talkers
send 800 messages
In the first 48 hours alone...
Communications crucial
to the capture of the island.
In mid-1945,
The fate
of the war in the Pacific
Looks protracted and bloody.
But the government hopes
That its top-secret
Manhattan Project,
With sites
sprinkled across the west,
Can change that.
For three years,
Scientists have been developing
the world's first atomic bomb.
In the desert
in Washington state
Rises a mysterious part
of the project...
A multi-million-dollar complex
Built by
the industrial giant Dupont.
They make this rare film,
A unique insight into
the facility known as hanford.
The site becomes a mini city,
Which on the surface,
Has all the trappings
of normal American life,
but only a handful
of its inhabitants
Know the facility's
true purpose.
It transforms uranium
mined in Colorado
Into a byproduct
called plutonium.
On July 16, 1945,
It is hanford's plutonium
That fuels the world's
first atomic bomb,
Tested in New Mexico's
remote Alamogordo Desert.
[explosion]
The atom bombs soon dropped
on Hiroshima and Nagasaki
End the war in the Pacific.
The Atomic Age is born
in the American West.
The Utah-Arizona border, 1946.
Oscar-winning
Hollywood director John Ford,
Back from filming the war,
Is ready to reclaim
and reinvigorate
The myth of the old west.
In Ford's rare home movies,
We see him in monument valley,
his favorite location.
In 1939, it was the setting
for stagecoach,
His landmark western,
and John Wayne's big break.
Now Ford is making
"my darling Clementine,"
The definitive film
about Wyatt Earp,
Starring Henry Fonda
as the legendary lawman.
Announcer: The exciting action
of reckless pioneer days,
The romantic conflicts
Of men and women
who led perilous lives,
and the breathtaking beauty
of scenes filmed
In the magnificence
of the great southwest.
[gunshots]
Narrator: But Ford's version
of the Wild West
Survives only in the movies now.
[horse neighing]
While Americans once headed west
seeking adventure,
They now make the trek
drawn by comfort and climate.
That's what drives
the phenomenal growth
Of Phoenix, Arizona...
A sprawling city,
Now one of the biggest
in the region,
Only made possible
by Teddy Roosevelt's irrigation
40 years before.
During the post-war years,
It experiences
a population boom,
Quadrupling from 100,000
to over 400,000.
In the 1950s,
Industries take advantage
of the growing workforce
and ample space to build.
Goodyear, which first
moved here to make tires,
Now expands
into aviation manufacturing.
Another fast-growing business
Springs from
a recent invention...
Air conditioning...
Which makes life comfortable
in a dry desert region
That in the summertime
averages over 100 degrees.
It's not just white Americans
who live in Phoenix.
There are also
16,000 Mexican Americans...
Including Alfonso Barrios,
A Mexican American
who was born in California.
In the 1930s,
he moves to Phoenix,
Meets and marries Dolores,
and starts a family.
His 1950s home movies
capture family life.
Alfonso served in the war
and films a parade
For a Mexican-American
Veterans Association
He supports...
Set up in 1945
To tackle discrimination
against Mexican Americans.
A community that, in the west,
is under siege.
Since 1942, Mexico has been
supplying contract laborers
To U.S. Agriculture
Under an agreement
called the bracero program.
Some 200,000
Mexican guest workers
Have been migrating legally
each year...
Many arriving by train
in border towns such as El Paso.
But among them
are those with no contract
Who cross illegally...
People vilified as "wetbacks"
For wading across
the rio grande.
Now some in the west
Believe their problems stem
from these immigrants.
Man: Here in the last few years
since the war,
The nationals just came in
and taken our jobs away from us
and have lowered
our standard of living.
Narrator: Illegal migrants
are welcomed by some farmers,
Happy to exploit
their cheap labor.
In 1954,
President Dwight D. Eisenhower
decides to get tough.
He starts operation wetback.
In the summer, teams of agents
fan out across the west
To launch a dragnet.
In the first year alone,
Over 250,000 migrants
are apprehended
and sent back to Mexico.
The deportations
Add to the strained
relations with Mexico...
For the population of the west
is only rising.
By 1955, this once remote
and sparsely settled region
Of frontiersmen and cowboys
Is home to 33 million people.
Dynamic industries
have spawned big cities,
and the days
of outlaws and Indian wars
Have receded
into the history books.
But the image and myth
of those times
Is firmly fixed
in the hearts of Americans.
Berry seller Walter knott,
Who moved to California's
Orange County in 1920,
Sees a chance to cash in
on the Wild West.
To draw customers,
He installs old buildings
He's picked up
from nearby ghost towns.
This rare home movie
captures knott's re-creation.
Knott's Berry farm draws
the curious from miles around...
Eager to immerse themselves
in nostalgia for the Wild West.
[gunshot]
And becomes America's
first theme park.
Knott adds even more fun
By putting in rides
with western themes.
This 1968 home movie
By theme park designer
Bud Hurlbut
Captures
a 61-year-old John Wayne
Taking the plunge
on the newly opened log flume.
It's a rare moment
Of the old west
embracing the new.
From the frontier
of American expansion,
The west has transformed
Into an economic
and political powerhouse
That drives change
across America
and the world.
But none of that has erased
what made it so formidable...
The ruggedness and beauty
of its land.
[men whooping]
This is the story of America...
Seen in color
for the first time.
The American West.
A land steeped in legend...
Children: Woo-hoo!
Narrator: Where cowboys
roam the range...
Their exploits made famous
by Buffalo Bill...
and Annie Oakley.
Many come to make
their fortunes...
Unleashing decades of brutality
and a struggle
for law and order.
[gunfire]
[horse neighing]
Man: The police
are after the fiends
Who did this rotten job.
Narrator:
Hollywood mythologizes its past.
The battle
to tame the vast region
Pushes the limits
of modern technology.
Franklin Roosevelt: The mighty
waters of the Colorado
Were running unused to the sea.
Narrator: But in the west,
Nature never yields
unless people pay a price.
Man: I saw the ship
disintegrate before my eyes.
Narrator: This is the story
of America's Wild West
As you have never
seen it before.
[men whooping]
Narrator:
As the 20th century dawns,
The lands
west of the Mississippi
Are largely wild and untamed.
The popular portrait of the west
Is drawn by heroic
frontier figures...
Like William F. Cody...
Better known as Buffalo Bill.
His traveling cowboy show
Romanticizes the glory days
of the Wild West.
Buffalo Bill's show
brings history to a crowd.
But some sketches
aren't for the faint-hearted...
[screaming]
Such as the battle
of Summit Springs...
A notorious engagement of 1869.
Bill was present at the battle,
and many believed him
responsible
For the death
of Cheyenne Chief Tall Bull.
A star attraction
in Bill's show,
The legendary sharpshooter
Annie Oakley.
Here she takes out clay pigeons
with her Winchester.
And she even gets
her trusty dog Dave
in on the act.
Bill takes his show on the road,
Touring cities
in the U.S. and Europe
For more than 30 years...
Spreading his heroic
vision of the west
As a place
that modern civilization
Is destined to conquer
and control.
Among the many smitten
by the romance of the west
Is President Theodore Roosevelt.
His love affair with nature
is born in tragedy.
In 1884, on the very same day,
He loses both his wife
and his mother.
Distraught,
Roosevelt moves 1,500 miles
From New York to the badlands,
in the Dakota Territory.
He embraces the wide-open spaces
and becomes a rancher.
He once wrote,
"I owe more than I can express
to the west."
In 1905, Roosevelt is serving
his second term.
On a trip through Oklahoma,
he meets Jack Abernathy...
A man famed for catching wolves
with his bare hands.
A live wolf means big bucks.
He can sell them for $50 each...
More than $1,000
in today's money.
He delivers
over a thousand wolves
To zoos and traveling shows.
He never gets bitten
and earns the nickname
"Catch 'Em Alive Jack."
The region that's given rise
To such
larger-than-life characters
Is a place of
imposing mountain ranges,
Treacherous rivers,
Forests,
and deserts.
Among the biggest challenges
settling here is water.
There is either too much of it
Or none at all.
To tame the west,
President Roosevelt understands
He must bring water
under control.
He commits federal funds
To irrigate 20
of America's western states.
In 1911, the first project opens
on the Salt River in Arizona.
It's named
the Theodore Roosevelt Dam.
At a cost of $190 million today,
It symbolizes his commitment
To extend man's dominion
over the west.
At the dedication ceremony,
he tells the Arizona crowd,
"I believe we will see
75,000 to 100,000 people here."
His prediction comes true.
55 miles away,
a small desert city of 11,000
Will be one of
the first to benefit
From the power and water
the dam provides.
Phoenix will signify the dawn
of a new American West.
But this new west
Has little room
for its original inhabitants.
In 1900, American Indians
number only 230,000.
Over the previous century,
400,000 have died,
Killed by the wars and disease
inflicted on them
By the newcomers
to their continent.
Now most tribes have been
forced by the government
To live on reservations,
Where many aren't recognized
as U.S. Citizens.
[horse neighing]
White America not only takes
the American Indians' land;
It also tries to erase
their culture.
In 1913, a group
of east coast millionaires
Funds an expedition
to persuade dozens of tribes
To adopt the white man's ways.
Under the watchful eye
of a military escort,
Its leaders claim to offer
better treatment
for American Indians.
In return,
the tribes must demonstrate
allegiance to the government
and its flag.
The expedition is led
by photographer Joseph Dixon,
A man concerned
with what he calls
"The Vanishing Race."
Here, the Oglala Sioux
At the Pine Ridge Reservation
in South Dakota
Host the delegation.
Among those who participate,
two moons,
Who commanded the Cheyenne
Against Lieutenant Colonel Custer
At the legendary Battle
of the Little Bighorn.
The tribes are told
That allegiance will bring them
a better tomorrow.
But for decades to come,
Many of America's
original inhabitants
Will lead lives
of poverty and isolation.
The fight to dominate the west
Also brings America
into conflict with Mexico.
In 1916,
America's 2,000-mile border
with its neighbor
Is a flashpoint.
[boom]
Mexico is engulfed
in a violent revolution.
[men yelling]
The U.S. Backs a faction
led by Venustiano Carranza.
But his opponent,
former bandit Pancho Villa,
Won't back down.
On March 9th,
Villa's men cross the border
and attack the town
of Columbus, New Mexico,
Hoping to force the U.S.
Into the war.
18 Americans die.
The country witnesses
the carnage in newsreels.
And Pancho Villa gets his wish.
General John Pershing leads
14,000 troops and aircraft
Deep into America's
rugged landscape
To flush Villa out.
By April 1916,
U.S. Forces
are pouring into Mexico,
and the fighting is intense.
[guns fire]
Skirmishes continue
until January 1917,
When diplomacy wins out
and Pershing withdraws.
Pancho Villa evades capture
and never strays
north of the border again.
But for the U.S.,
The conflict with Mexico
has consequences
That endure for decades.
Thousands of mexicans flee
the violence in their country
and look for work on the farms
of the American Southwest,
Where the irrigation projects
kicked off by Theodore Roosevelt
Have been making
the dry land fertile.
Mexican immigrants provide
the cheap labor to work it.
Agriculture flourishes with
control of the west's water,
But this precious resource
will become a battleground.
Los Angeles, 1920.
With over 500,000 inhabitants,
It's the west's biggest city.
The discovery of oil
20 years earlier,
Near present-day dodger stadium,
Fuels the city's development
and an ever-growing
population.
But to sustain that growth,
The city still needs something
just as important...
Water.
Demand in L.A.
Exceeds the supply.
The legendary engineer
William Mulholland
Discovers
a potential new source...
Owens lake,
Over 160 miles northeast,
On the eastern flank
of the Sierra Nevada.
To divert the lake's water
down to the city,
Mulholland builds a vast system
Of pipes, sluices,
and spillways.
It's an engineering marvel,
But one that leaves
less water for farmers.
Man: More trouble, and it's not
the first time, either.
And ranchers objecting
to the cities
Cutting across their property
Are suspected.
Narrator: Angry farmers
Sabotage the aqueduct
with dynamite.
Man: The police
are after the fiends
Who did this rotten job.
Let's hope they get 'em.
Narrator:
L.A. Repairs the aqueduct
and keeps the water flowing,
But by 1926,
the Owens lakebed is dry.
Today it's a salt flat.
Water scarcity shapes
the history of the west.
But so does the abundance
of a different natural resource.
Over 800 miles
north of Los Angeles
Lies Portland, Oregon.
The once-sleepy city now houses
over 250,000 people.
[crash]
With its dense forests,
the Pacific Northwest
Is home to one of the west's
biggest industries...
Timber.
By 1920,
The region is the source
of a third of America's wood.
It's transported across
a vast railroad network
That's also a steady customer
for wooden ties.
In Wyoming's
medicine bow national forest,
The Thompson family
films itself preparing ties.
They transport their haul
free of charge,
Down the laramie river
To processing plants.
Nature can be bountiful
in the west.
But people's determination
to bend it to their will
Can have unforeseen
consequences.
By 1921,
in rain-starved Arizona,
Irrigation gives rise
to some 30,000 farms.
At first they thrive.
Banks offer easy credit
to farmers.
Many invest in new machinery.
But these would-be
masters of nature
Are victims
of their own success.
Farmers grow more
than they can sell,
Fall into debt, and face crisis.
Years before the devastating
dust bowl of the 1930s,
Bankruptcy threatens a quarter
of farms across the country.
It is known
as the agricultural depression.
Many are ruined.
The west's next boom
Always seems to be
just around the corner.
In the mid-1920s,
Eugene standing bear
makes these home movies
Of the American Indian
Osage Nation.
He's married to Mary,
The daughter
of Chief Fred Lookout.
Forced out of one place
after another,
The Osage are relocated here
to northern Oklahoma,
Near the town of Pawhuska.
Their new land
seems to be worthless.
But in 1894...
Vast oil reserves are discovered
on their territory.
So the operators
who lease the land
Have to pay royalties
to the Osage Nation...
Money that offers the tribe
All the time they want
on the golf course.
They become the richest people
per capita in the world.
Many own more than 10 cars.
Some can even fly.
A rare skill in the 1920s.
But many American Indians
are nowhere near as lucky.
They live in poverty,
and some still aren't even
American citizens.
In June 1924,
President Calvin Coolidge signs
the Indian Citizenship Act.
But some still won't have
voting rights for decades
and remain skeptical
of the government
That treats them so badly.
The land they call home
Is attracting more and more
people from the east
To fuel the west's
newest industry...
Tourism.
In 1925, most who make
the trek to the west
Travel by train.
There are few roads,
But the rail network boasts
a quarter-million miles of track
Spreading all through the west.
The Northern Pacific
and Union Pacific
Can drop you in the midst
of spectacular beauty.
[horse neighing]
Top of the must-see list
are the new national parks.
Theodore Roosevelt,
a passionate conservationist,
Adds 5 national parks
and 150 forests
To the roster of public land...
Most protected to this day
by the federal government.
Films like this one
by Burton Holmes from Chicago
Capture the grand canyon and
rocky mountain national park.
A world-famous traveler,
Holmes pioneers
the travelogue...
Movies and accompanying lectures
shown to audiences back east.
Over the years,
he gives 8,000 talks
About his travels
around the world.
In the 1920s,
He inspires a whole generation
to head west for adventure.
And it's not just
the vast landscapes.
Americans want to experience
Buffalo Bill's Old West
For themselves.
In 1926, Ernest Miller of
the Elkhorn Ranch in Montana
Convinces Max Goodsill of
the Northern Pacific Railroad
That they should work together.
Their partnership
sparks a new industry.
Railroad companies offer
the enthusiastic tourist
A stopover
with an authentic twist.
The host ranchers
Nickname the city-slickers
playing cowboys "dudes."
The name sticks,
and a business booms...
Dude ranches.
Woman: Whee! Ha ha ha!
Narrator: They can bone up
on essential cowboy skills.
[laughter]
And dudes need new duds.
Woman: No ranch is complete
without the youngsters.
And no youngster is happy
Unless he or she
has complete rig
That makes them feel like
honest-to-goodness cowboys.
Children: Woo-hoo!
[clapping]
Narrator:
Home movies from the late 1920s
Capture the Lupfer family
from Ohio,
Out near Wickenburg, Arizona,
On their dude ranch vacation.
[ringing]
There's something
for everyone in the family.
For those with enough nerve,
A ride on a bucking bronco.
And no cowboy fantasy
would be complete
Without American Indians
putting on a show.
[drumming and chanting]
But new traditions
have also begun.
In 1927, in Gallup, New Mexico,
Thousands gather
for a special event.
The town borders Navajo, Hopi,
Acoma, and Zuni reservations...
Tribes who have long
come to the town to trade.
This is the sixth
annual gathering.
It's held every August
And known as
the intertribal ceremonial.
Tribes parade through the town
and down Route 66.
[whooping]
Thomas Seymour
of the Smithsonian Institution
Captures rare footage
Of an event that
continues to this day.
[ululating]
Celebrating history
Will help ensure the survival
of many small western towns...
Such as Tombstone, Arizona.
Once famous for its silver,
It now faces the fate of many
exhausted mining communities...
Becoming a ghost town.
So it turns
to its other claim to fame...
Being home to the most famous
lawman of the west,
Wyatt Earp,
And location of the infamous
shootout at the ok corral.
[gunfire]
Now tourists can experience
the gunplay first-hand,
Re-enacted in the exact spot
Where three
of the clanton-mclaury gang
Were killed by doc holliday and
his friends, the Earp brothers,
47 years earlier.
In 1928, now age 79,
The real Wyatt Earp
lives in mid-city, Los Angeles.
His gun-slinging days over,
He works as
a technical consultant
For the burgeoning
movie industry.
Hollywood has a huge appetite
for westerns,
And his knowledge is priceless.
On set one day,
He meets an aspiring young actor
named Marion Morrison,
Who's eager to walk and talk
like a real cowboy.
Later, he'll take the stage name
John Wayne.
Earp helps Hollywood
Crystallize the romantic image
of the Wild West
That still endures today.
But while the myth
is being harnessed,
Nature, as always in the west,
proves harder to tame.
For 1,500 miles,
The Colorado River
cuts through the west...
From the Rocky Mountains
to the Gulf of California.
It's a powerful force of nature
And is historically prone
to flooding.
In 1922, it submerges
35,000 acres of farmland
In California's
palo verde valley.
To keep the west's
future on track,
The Colorado
will have to be tamed.
[explosion]
So in 1929,
President Herbert Hoover
finances a colossal new project,
Up river,
at Black Canyon, Nevada.
The Boulder Dam,
Later to be renamed
the Hoover Dam.
To accommodate
the dam's workforce,
The U.S. Government
builds a new town
8 miles from
the construction site.
Boulder City.
This sudden injection of jobs
couldn't be more timely.
Westerners have been hit hard
by the great depression.
Urban unemployment
is over 30 percent...
While western mining output
has been cut in half.
Farmers still suffering from
the agricultural depression
Have been brought
to their knees.
For people desperate for work,
The dam is a godsend.
The scale of the project
Dwarfs anything
in the nation's history.
It requires
six different companies
To come together to build it.
Among the contractors
is the Henry J. Kaiser company.
One of the west's
top industrialists,
Kaiser notches successes
across the region,
Building roads,
Bridges, and pipelines.
At the peak of construction,
The dam offers work
to over 5,000,
Including a handful of apaches
Who are among the few
American Indians to get work.
They join a team
of "high scalers,"
Swinging from the rock face,
Where they prepare
dynamite charges.
On September 30, 1935,
Hoover's successor,
president Franklin d. Roosevelt,
Dedicates the dam.
Franklin Roosevelt: The mighty
waters of the Colorado
Were running unused to the sea.
Today we translate them
Into a great
national possession.
Narrator:
Cameras capture the moment
When the 12 outlet valves
open for the first time.
When the dam finally
comes online in 1936,
Its 17 turbines
Produce over 4 billion
kilowatts of power each year,
Supplying the vast regions
Of Arizona, Southern Nevada,
and Southern California.
The Hoover Dam's success
inspires FDR,
And he green-lights six more,
Providing more electricity
and jobs for the west.
Elsewhere in the west,
Another power source
is set to explode.
In Texas, the discovery of oil
back in 1901 made many wealthy.
So when the east Texas oilfield
gushes in 1930,
The future looks bright.
These are the home movies
of Edwin B. Hopkins,
Geologist and oil man.
This is his
newly found oilfield
Outside the boomtown of Kilgore.
Nearby, the town of New London
Pulls in revenue
from taxes on oil land...
Money that in 1932 helps build
This multi-million-dollar
high school.
$13 million today.
But even the wealthy
cut corners sometimes,
With devastating effects.
To save money,
the school board taps directly
Into the local oil well's
natural gas supply.
In the mid-1930s,
the gas is odorless.
So on March 18, 1937,
When there is a leak,
no one notices.
By chance, one class of kids
moves from the high school
To an off-site gymnasium,
Where they are filmed practicing
the Mexican hat dance.
At 3:17, a spark
caused by a shop teacher
Triggers an explosion.
300 students and staff die.
Woman: I looked up
just as the explosion occurred.
It seemed to me that
the big roof and debris
Were blown three times higher
Than any of the derricks
around the schoolhouse.
Narrator: After the tragedy,
The industry adds a smell
to natural gas
To make it detectable...
A safety measure
still in place today.
In other parts of the west,
The bold and ambitious
find their own ways
To counter the hardships
of the depression.
[horn blows]
The new record-breaking
streamliner train
Is launched
by Union Pacific chairman
W. Averell Harriman.
W. Averell Harriman:
This is the first step
In the developing
Of a high-speed
transcontinental train
To run from Chicago
to the Pacific coast.
Narrator:
Passengers are delivered
To another of his creations...
The first destination ski resort
for wealthy vacationers.
Sun valley.
Nestled in Idaho's
smoky mountains,
It's a haven of winter fun
for America's elite.
It opens in 1936
And attracts
Hollywood celebrities
Like claudette colbert...
Errol Flynn...
And his wife, Lili Damita.
And international playboys,
like the future shah of Iran.
The west, once seen
as savage and remote,
Can now be a playground
for the rich and famous.
The west may becoming tamer,
but some still seek to settle
confrontations the old way.
A dispute over rights
to Colorado River water
Leads to a standoff
Between the states
of California and Arizona.
The federal government
gives California
A bigger share of the resources
From its proposed new dam.
Formidable state senator
Nellie T. Bush
Speaks up for Arizona.
Nellie T. Bush:
Water is the very life
Of every foot of fertile land
in the State of Arizona.
The waters skirting along
the banks of Arizona
Should be divided
or shared equally.
Narrator: On November 10th,
The Arizona national guard
moves in to halt construction.
Senator bush provides
ferries for transport,
Becoming the first admiral
Of landlocked Arizona's
temporary Navy.
Bush: I believe the people
of the State of Arizona
Are justified
in using drastic means
To circumvent this action
Until its legality
is established.
Narrator: But unlike
the days of the Wild West,
No shots are fired.
After a promise of
future irrigation projects,
Arizona backs down.
Interstate war is averted.
The courts
are the new battlegrounds
Of the developing west.
[explosion]
The huge construction projects
of the 1930s
Help the west
survive the depression
but produce
too much electricity.
One congressman complained
That "there is no one
to sell the power to
Except the jackrabbits
and the rattlesnakes."
But change is looming.
The west is poised to become
the nation's powerhouse
and lifeline.
[ship horn blows]
January 6, 1942.
America is a month
into a global war
For which it is poorly equipped.
With enemies in Europe
and across the Pacific,
It has only a fraction
of the material it will need
To win the war.
FDR, aware of
the monumental military
and manufacturing effort
required,
Reaches out to industry in his
State of the union speech.
Roosevelt: This production
of ours in the United States
Must be raised
far above present levels,
Even though it will mean
The dislocation
of the lives and occupations
Of millions of our own people.
Narrator: Americans head west
to work in armaments factories,
Which are now proliferating
across the region.
For industrialist Henry Kaiser,
The war opens up a spigot
of new federal spending.
The west receives
$60 billion from Washington
For war projects,
With shipbuilding a priority.
Along the coasts in California,
Oregon, and Washington,
Kaiser owns seven shipyards...
Each one with enough dry docks
to launch a ship a day.
In November 1942,
His yard
in Richmond, California,
Wins a competition to build
a ship in the shortest time.
Announcer: Now Mr. Kaiser
views his latest achievement,
The 10,000-ton
Robert E. Peary,
Built in 4 days,
15 hours, and 29 minutes.
A world production record
Beyond the dreams
of shipbuilding experts.
Narrator: In Portland,
in a span of two years,
The Kaiser shipyard churns out
Over a thousand
liberty and victory ships.
The expansion of shipyards
and ports on the west coast
Stimulates its economy
for decades to come.
East of San Francisco,
in port Chicago,
African American sailors
Stock ships
destined for the Pacific
With live munitions.
It's dangerous work,
And little attention
is paid to their safety.
Racial discrimination
is still rampant.
On July 17, 1944,
The S.S. E.A. Bryan,
Loaded with more than
4,500 tons of ammunition,
Explodes.
This footage
captures the aftermath
Of the devastating accident.
Falling debris
lands two miles away.
Man: I saw the ship
disintegrate before my eyes.
Pieces of steel and flames
Shot hundreds of feet
up in the air.
The next thing I knew
I was flying through the air,
Lost my rifle,
I landed in a ditch.
Narrator: More than 300 sailors
die instantly...
Two-thirds of them
African American.
During all of world war ii,
It is the deadliest incident
on mainland American soil.
The practices that caused it
Reflect the prevailing racism
in the military.
Hundreds of
African Americans strike
Until the dangerous
working conditions change.
50 are court martialed
for mutiny, convicted,
and sentenced to up to
15 years' hard labor.
In 1946, in an act of clemency,
President Harry Truman
sets the men free.
Their stand for racial justice
Helps push the Navy to be
the first military service
To begin desegregation.
During the war,
unlike African Americans,
American Indians
served in the same units
With white soldiers.
[gunfire]
Arizona's Navajo
Bring a special skill
to the battlefield.
Like all American Indian tribes,
they speak a unique language...
One which enemy forces
can't understand.
Commanders realize
their potential
To provide
a perfect natural code.
The marine corps trains them
in military protocol,
and American Indians
become "code talkers."
In the battle for Iwo Jima,
Six Navajo code talkers
send 800 messages
In the first 48 hours alone...
Communications crucial
to the capture of the island.
In mid-1945,
The fate
of the war in the Pacific
Looks protracted and bloody.
But the government hopes
That its top-secret
Manhattan Project,
With sites
sprinkled across the west,
Can change that.
For three years,
Scientists have been developing
the world's first atomic bomb.
In the desert
in Washington state
Rises a mysterious part
of the project...
A multi-million-dollar complex
Built by
the industrial giant Dupont.
They make this rare film,
A unique insight into
the facility known as hanford.
The site becomes a mini city,
Which on the surface,
Has all the trappings
of normal American life,
but only a handful
of its inhabitants
Know the facility's
true purpose.
It transforms uranium
mined in Colorado
Into a byproduct
called plutonium.
On July 16, 1945,
It is hanford's plutonium
That fuels the world's
first atomic bomb,
Tested in New Mexico's
remote Alamogordo Desert.
[explosion]
The atom bombs soon dropped
on Hiroshima and Nagasaki
End the war in the Pacific.
The Atomic Age is born
in the American West.
The Utah-Arizona border, 1946.
Oscar-winning
Hollywood director John Ford,
Back from filming the war,
Is ready to reclaim
and reinvigorate
The myth of the old west.
In Ford's rare home movies,
We see him in monument valley,
his favorite location.
In 1939, it was the setting
for stagecoach,
His landmark western,
and John Wayne's big break.
Now Ford is making
"my darling Clementine,"
The definitive film
about Wyatt Earp,
Starring Henry Fonda
as the legendary lawman.
Announcer: The exciting action
of reckless pioneer days,
The romantic conflicts
Of men and women
who led perilous lives,
and the breathtaking beauty
of scenes filmed
In the magnificence
of the great southwest.
[gunshots]
Narrator: But Ford's version
of the Wild West
Survives only in the movies now.
[horse neighing]
While Americans once headed west
seeking adventure,
They now make the trek
drawn by comfort and climate.
That's what drives
the phenomenal growth
Of Phoenix, Arizona...
A sprawling city,
Now one of the biggest
in the region,
Only made possible
by Teddy Roosevelt's irrigation
40 years before.
During the post-war years,
It experiences
a population boom,
Quadrupling from 100,000
to over 400,000.
In the 1950s,
Industries take advantage
of the growing workforce
and ample space to build.
Goodyear, which first
moved here to make tires,
Now expands
into aviation manufacturing.
Another fast-growing business
Springs from
a recent invention...
Air conditioning...
Which makes life comfortable
in a dry desert region
That in the summertime
averages over 100 degrees.
It's not just white Americans
who live in Phoenix.
There are also
16,000 Mexican Americans...
Including Alfonso Barrios,
A Mexican American
who was born in California.
In the 1930s,
he moves to Phoenix,
Meets and marries Dolores,
and starts a family.
His 1950s home movies
capture family life.
Alfonso served in the war
and films a parade
For a Mexican-American
Veterans Association
He supports...
Set up in 1945
To tackle discrimination
against Mexican Americans.
A community that, in the west,
is under siege.
Since 1942, Mexico has been
supplying contract laborers
To U.S. Agriculture
Under an agreement
called the bracero program.
Some 200,000
Mexican guest workers
Have been migrating legally
each year...
Many arriving by train
in border towns such as El Paso.
But among them
are those with no contract
Who cross illegally...
People vilified as "wetbacks"
For wading across
the rio grande.
Now some in the west
Believe their problems stem
from these immigrants.
Man: Here in the last few years
since the war,
The nationals just came in
and taken our jobs away from us
and have lowered
our standard of living.
Narrator: Illegal migrants
are welcomed by some farmers,
Happy to exploit
their cheap labor.
In 1954,
President Dwight D. Eisenhower
decides to get tough.
He starts operation wetback.
In the summer, teams of agents
fan out across the west
To launch a dragnet.
In the first year alone,
Over 250,000 migrants
are apprehended
and sent back to Mexico.
The deportations
Add to the strained
relations with Mexico...
For the population of the west
is only rising.
By 1955, this once remote
and sparsely settled region
Of frontiersmen and cowboys
Is home to 33 million people.
Dynamic industries
have spawned big cities,
and the days
of outlaws and Indian wars
Have receded
into the history books.
But the image and myth
of those times
Is firmly fixed
in the hearts of Americans.
Berry seller Walter knott,
Who moved to California's
Orange County in 1920,
Sees a chance to cash in
on the Wild West.
To draw customers,
He installs old buildings
He's picked up
from nearby ghost towns.
This rare home movie
captures knott's re-creation.
Knott's Berry farm draws
the curious from miles around...
Eager to immerse themselves
in nostalgia for the Wild West.
[gunshot]
And becomes America's
first theme park.
Knott adds even more fun
By putting in rides
with western themes.
This 1968 home movie
By theme park designer
Bud Hurlbut
Captures
a 61-year-old John Wayne
Taking the plunge
on the newly opened log flume.
It's a rare moment
Of the old west
embracing the new.
From the frontier
of American expansion,
The west has transformed
Into an economic
and political powerhouse
That drives change
across America
and the world.
But none of that has erased
what made it so formidable...
The ruggedness and beauty
of its land.
[men whooping]