America The Story of Us

Episode 6: Heartland

Transcontinental Railroad (CGI)
Transcontinental Railroad (CGI)

In 1869, the Atlantic and Pacific coasts of America, more than 2,000 miles apart, are linked by continuous metal rails. The Transcontinental Railroad--the world's first--is the most ambitious human enterprise since the Great Wall of China, and much of it is built by Chinese laborers. The railroad doesn't just change the lives of Americans, it alters the entire ecology of the continent, and there are casualties. The vast Plains, where buffalo roam and Native Americans civilizations flourish, become home to farmers who build houses of grass--until daring loggers in the north drive lumber down the rivers to build the new homes and cities of the Midwest. It's the railroad that creates a new American icon--the cowboy--who drives cattle thousands of miles to meet the railheads and bring food to the East. But a simple new invention will change the lives of settlers, cowboys and Native Americans: barbed wire. Steel rails and now steel wire parcel up the Plains. In less than a quarter of a century, the heartland is transformed--not by the gun, but by railroad, fence and plough.

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Upcoming Episodes

Southern troops storm Harpers Ferry after its capture by John Brown
Episode 4: Division
Soldiers in the Second Battle of Bull Run
Episode 5: Civil War
Transcontinental Railroad
Episode 6: Heartland
Construction of the Statue of Liberty
Episode 7: Cities
Spindletop salt mound in southeastern Texas on January 10, 1901
Episode 8: BOOM
Construction of Mount Rushmore
Episode 9: BUST
D-Day, the military invasion at Omaha beach (CGI)
Episode 10: WWII
Buzz Aldrin Standing by Flag on the Moon, 1969
Episode 11: Superpower
World Trade Center Light Memorial
Episode 12: Millennium

Show Schedule


Episodes in the next 2 weeks
  1. Wednesday, Feb 15, 10/9c Rebels: TVPG
  2. Wednesday, Feb 15, 12/11c Westward: TVPG
  3. Wednesday, Feb 15, 2/1c Civil War: TVPG
  4. Wednesday, Feb 15, 4/3c Metropolis: TVPG
View Complete TV Schedule
Rebels:
Wednesday, Feb 15, 10/9c
Westward:
Wednesday, Feb 15, 12/11c
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