The Road to Hangtown (circa 1955, sound)

this is the story of a ro and the men who traveled over it in search of gold that Thorofare ran over the hijack spine of these mountains The Fabulous Sierra Nevada they are the greatest single mountain range in the United States they culminate in the nation's loftiest Peak and they are cut by Gorges deeper than the Grand Canyon a region of startling contrasts a spectacular country bright with color and rich in history for here is where the days of 49 were born this part of the world remains largely as God fashioned it the geological story here has been going on for 500 million years the rivers brought the gold within Man's Reach and here in their ancient channels flourished for a decade the greatest most feverish gold rush in all history and Nuggets like these fired the Great Migration that made the West that epic story is now reenacted by today's mountain men and women of El Dorado County they're going to travel the same road of the 49ers to Hangtown in the heart of the motherload Gold Country they're making up a caravan to retrace the Wheel tracks of a 100 years ago when the Pioneers crossed the mighty barrier to find their fortunes and to press our Frontier into California the wagon Master signals and we're off to hang toown get up there we've got 60 8 miles to cover over the most pictures strip of US Highway 50 where Nevada touches California State Line the journey into yester year officially begins this road is paved with the Deeds of History though most of the landmarks are long since gone the Cobalt Waters of Lake Tahoe reflect the bright Summer Sun to make this seem a golden age too no hurry let's take our time the 49ers didn't really rush to the gold rush and they did pretty well took out $50 million a year for 10 years today's Highway follows and uses portions of the old immigrant Road some of the harder Souls cut off to ride High Trails through the scenic Uplands they'll rejoin the Caravan at a later Rondo the long climb to Echo Summit begins this stretch used to get give the stage coach drivers nightmares they used to bump and Rattle and Lurch over this very pass but they carried the mail through and the bullion and the passengers over what they called the terrible Sierra today modern Highway construction has made this one of America's most scenic arteries you know this road witnessed the greatest era of horsedrawn freighting in stage coaching ever known anywhere back in the 60s it was choked with two continuous lines of traffic moving East and West with hardly a break between Wheels 5,000 teams of horses carried a 100,000 tons of cargo and 20,000 adventurous passengers by this spot in a single year the white man first saw this country in 1772 but for centuries before the Argonauts came Indians roamed this range then came the fremonts the kit Carsons the Pathfinders fur Trappers and Scouts they all broke Trails for the wheels to follow for America to roll West our modern Horsemen wind past Echo Lake into El Dorado National Forest an old line forest ranger is their guide as they pick their way along remnants of early immigrant Trails still to be found over the crests of this Wonderland today scenery like this is bringing a new boom to El Dorado County even though the riches of gold mining are now but a memory geologists say there's still plenty of gold in those mountains they say only one tenth of it has been located in mine snow brings water to the valleys and draws Sportsman to the Sierra ski runs snow helped to make tourist trade the number two industry second only to Lumber well our Trail Riders have reached the ridge of Mount Ralston and are touching 10,000 ft kid Carson himself do know better this is the top an early map designated this as a primitive area today names like desolation Valley and Devil's Peak reflect the feeling with which the Pioneers regarded this region some authorities mention Bill Cody and Wild Bill Hickok as famous Wayfarers who travel this route and from their writings we know that Mark Twain Brett Hart and Horus gy were among those who followed the sage advice Go West Young man go [Music] west the bells of the 10 mule jerk line Team Echo the journeys of the host of Forgotten 49ers who died with that Golden Age stirring Deeds of illustrious men and women hang in the air as Majestic in their own way as the remarkable sculpture and stone left by the glaciers Lover's leap Rises a sheer 1,000 ft looking down from the peak there's our Caravan way down there they've just passed Horsetail Falls and are approaching famous old strawberry house where weary Travelers teamsters and stagers paused along the original Emigrant Trail for a well- earned rest we're jogging along in fine Style with no worries until Shades of Black bark King of the high women this is a stage coach holdup at the exact spot on bullion bin where it actually happened 88 years ago this boy means business throw down that Wells Fargo treasure I would wouldn't you I wouldn't do that Dangerous Dan won't like it give them what they want we ain't got a chance the history book says so well that's one shipment that didn't get through but it's interesting to know that most of the bandits were killed or captured so you see the kind of goings on that gave Hangtown its name and this is the Bell that called the Vigilantes to perform Swift and sure Frontier Justice an air of antiquity hangs over the town now called plaster many of the relics of those heroic days still stand some over a century old nearby at Sutter's Mill James Marshall discovered gold in 1848 changing the whole course of the country's history his hand points to the exact spot our Caravan is going to get a real Western welcome they finally made it a triumphal entry into Old Hangtown you can't blame people for coming to Hangtown but and you remember that some of the boys back Yonder took $5 million in gold out of one hole just 12 ft long you can't call that dry [Music] digging rip roren hang town is really quite civilized now but there's still life left in the old town or at any rate this descendant of the Rough and Tumble oldtimers will be glad to prove it if you want to change places with him who said the chaos and violence of the old days are gone forever just like old times isn't it in mining days the old boys did some high grading but today the young boys do some high riding till they come down that is that right Dad something tells us this boy may stay on for the required 10 seconds yep we knew it all the time the people of plazer always did like a winner The Wagon Train Caravan has reached its Rainbow's End Hangtown it too will go down in history beside its counterpart of a century ago the smartest entries in the best Trail Riders are awarded trophies in Gold the very medal that spurred the westward migration the Tre of the modern gold Seekers ends in glory just like the one 100 years ago this pictorial record of the birth of the West has been brought to you by the Standard Oil Company of [Music] California