WHEELS A ROLLING

the drones and progress today America is a nation on weald we use that have rolled through wilderness and wasteland leaving in their wake a thousand cities and ten thousand pounds this is the story of dynamic dream and far-flung destiny links and network of iron rails spanning a continent transforming it into a nation yesterday none of this was possible [Music] there is a wilderness to be conquered the Indian knows that wilderness well the intricacy of its trails and its waterways are a part of his lore and his understanding he travels far upon them [Music] in 1673 a group of French voyagers Father Marquette and Joliet among them reached the shores of Lake Michigan near the mouth of the Chicago River heroic lay facing the unknown and the new the white man is already pushing the frontier westward he is matching his strength with that of the Indian and the contest across the continent is on [Music] long before the stagecoach and the Turnpike can cease to be important factors in national travel a new and radically different method of transportation appears the use of steam as the propulsive power in transport is at hand a brave beginning English born rocket is his name lasting is his famous George Stephenson hath built him do you think that progress will be swayed by the tea kettle that this man is made the iron horse precisely so soon after the advent of the rocket the Camden & Amboy railroad and now a part of the Pennsylvania Railroad wreaking all a long way across New Jersey imported this remarkable engine the John Bull and this curious engine this was the first practical locomotive ever to be built in America and to go in regular service upon an American railroad [Music] they called him the best friend of Charleston he was by the West Point boundary company in the city of New York in 1829 and sent by sailing ships to Charleston there to enter the service of the South Carolina Railroad later to become part of the Southern Railway system [Music] this DeWitt Clinton also was built at the West Point boundary for the Mohawk and Hudson railroad from Albany to Schenectady [Music] the year is 1829 and this is the Tom Thumb invented by Peter Cooper mr. Cooper has made this small engine himself out of odds-and-ends rifle barrels make good flues for his boiler it is an odd contrivance but it works Peter Cooper will show the way what is this mr. Stokes wages his horse-drawn coach can go faster than the Tom Thumb [Music] the race is on [Music] Oh this is the Atlantic built in 1832 he was the last nothing a FRA spoilered in Jersey he went to work at once on the Baltimore and Ohio and he was the first engine ever to enter the city of Washington [Music] [Music] in the early 1840s Chicago found it difficult to keep its head above the swamps and mud surrounding it smoke rings firemen rushing to the rescue the aegis citizens strive madly to save their town from flames [Music] oh it's not a fire at all the smoke the citizens see is from the Baldwin built locomotive the pioneer of the Galena Chicago Union Railroad on November 20th 1848 the Pioneer ran ten miles out to the Des Plaines River and brought in the load of wheat Chicago as a railroad Center is born it is now the middle of the century 18-49 from the lately acquired Spanish province of California has come the whispering of a single word gold that has set the entire land a flame no longer is the Missouri the Western limit that the nation's grows there is a new land far away folks to the rim of the western sea and this new land is a land of gold a slender rivulet of spokes headed straight for the Setting Sun a steady current has become men wagon coach in serried ranks Britt whispered home and carry not [Music] [Music] [Music] now the year is 1859 and one of the most romantic adventures of transport in America is begun there is the Wells Fargo coach hundreds of these coaches traverse thousands of miles across open plain and rugged mountain country this is the Pony Express night and day miles Hendon Sacramento not always does the gold get through the ready gun the swinging fist and the fastest horses are law the Overland Trail [Music] on this February day of 1861 Abraham Lincoln departs from his hometown of Springfield Illinois to take the highest gift within the power of the American people to be stalled it is an hour of great danger no one not in my situation can appreciate my feeling of sadness at this parting to this place and to the kindness of these people I owe everything here I have lived a quarter of a century and have passed from a young man to an old man here my children have been born and one is buried I now leave not knowing when or whether ever I may return with a task before me greater than that which rested upon washing him I cannot succeed with that assistance I cannot fail trusting in him who can go with me and remain with you and be everywhere for good let us confidently hope that all will yet be well to his care commending you as I hope in your prayers you will commend me I bid you an affectionate farewell [Music] [Music] see Lincoln walk alone no not alone they encourage [Music] [Music] the wheels might have spun factors and traveled farther and not go by the axle of the nation track blood was filled it's bull running Fort Sumter Fort Henry Shiloh and Fredericksburg Massacre allathee and amended nation the wheels turn slowly sadly mr. Lincoln returned for he written that might be spells or deaths and brain sciences [Music] [Music] as early as 1856 The Rock Island lines built the first bridge across the mighty Mississippi opening rail commerce to the west through the Prairie lands of the Sioux and the Comanche the railroad great westward countless thousands worked together to combine the greatness of east and west [Music] this is the day this the hour for which the world is waited may the tenth 1869 at promontory point on the rim of the Great Salt Lake from Omaha across the plains of Nebraska and Wyoming and up over the summits of the Rockies dodge encasements have molded the track of the Union Pacific while the four Giants of California have raced them with their Central Pacific toward this common meeting point forging the last rail link across the continent governor Leland Stanford cries the spike of gold [Music] now there is a double line of iron rails all the way from the Atlantic to the Pacific well name this railroad Union Pacific's brought some human blood against terrific God it means indeed a union of east and west which will not be split asunder [Music] now from eastern Kansas the Santa Fe stretches its ribbons of field south and west beyond the main severity to the shadow of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains for those traveling in this land of romance there is more than improved eating conditions serving the passengers of the old standard say lines are the bane Harvey girl bringing a wealth of beauty a bit of culture and a lot of refreshing ideas to the south western frontier town [Music] but there are good and bad factions in this frontier town and the rivalry is keen the Southwest is being built by men of fortitude and initiative whose essential toughness of mind and character is present in their dependents today [Music] the scene moves to the Midwestern Northland that's the Minnetonka what the Lumberjacks camp carry the Minnetonka can and on Rails stretching ever forward farmers lumberjack immigrants and pioneers of American industry move in this is James J Hill Empire Builder creator of the Great Northern Railroad system [Music] it is the heyday of the American farm as the century draws to a close the railroads of the Midwest become aware of the potentialities of the fertile lands they've been granted among those embarking on elaborate campaigns to attract the immigrant from Northwest to these promising farmlands and Burlington these farmers together with the immigrants are destined to subdue the wilderness they feel single-handed with the earth and the elements they feel in a very real sense that they are laying the foundations of a great nation [Music] European immigrants absorb democratic customs the great American melting pot is functioning [Music] then comes the gay 90's the horsecar is arriving Sunday excursions behind old Dobbin are the rage there is also the cable car which requires more intricate construction its use is widespread and it binds with the fire chief and the fire engine in the Hartford river board here come the pedal pushers the prairie bicycle club in for again [Music] and the style show is about to begin the visitors here today are getting a preview of the coming fashion for women [Music] there's the famous 999 at the New York Central and Hudson River railroad it's not the motive in the world faster than anything else on wheels [Music] for the next 20 years American inventive genius is concentrated upon the automobile the names of illness Duryea Buick and Henry Ford are on everyone's tongue [Music] the trail of the horseless carriage brought these into the great American highway [Music] keeping pace with modern transport [Music] today the diesel-electric offspring of the motor car and the iron horse surpasses the power of its parents to become a vast new agent of our transport here then is the diesel electric in its hour of trial it is 90 zl-- has graduated from Lincoln's denver zephyr paul some ten hundred twenty boy Alex Dean Horvath has made a record high railroad history know where these from ocean to ocean nowhere is there a frontier nowhere today are there vast stretches of wasteland or wilderness modern for each proper hemisphere - well this land into a mighty nature here we see our country as our ancestors dreamed it would be a fusion of power visions pain and pride it has felt the weight of the rebels little deal for Paulson's forged our destiny they have cleaved the foreign bands of they have spanned the continent and United a nation they have stretched arteries of the illimitable strength across our illimitable land this is a story of unique magnificent for the romantic protection the adventure of speed and progress is more than the history of America it is the lifeblood [Music]