one by one territories join together
creating a patchwork nation fifty different states United but each with
its own
history spear culture and land let's explore the history
applied
California North Carolina can't
new hampshire and West Virginia
welcome to the state
this state's name means nothing
it's a completely fabricated word first used to describe a mythical land in a
16th century Spanish novel
greetings from California still a mythical place too many
it was the 31st day to join the union which it did on september ninth 1850
with 36 million residents its number one in population
and growing fast projections are that we're at the
a publishing for the state of Texas to California over the next 25 years
the job you like to make a skill well with others Texans and
what about other gun racks in a pickup trucks and how we deal with that
california's population isn't just getting larger
it's getting more complex no other state in fact
no other country as the Rangers racial and ethnic diversity found in California
one in every four residents was born in another country
the state is home to 30 percent of all that he knows in the US
40 percent all Asians and Pacific Islanders and 16 percent up all Native
Americans
we see the world coming into california and reshaping
what is California culture into this multicultural student
maybe it's the great weather maybe it's the natural beauty
a california has always been a mecca for eccentric characters and alternate
lifestyle
from nudists vegetarians to religious profits to political
activists if it's a new trend it probably started in california
in 1948 it was a small motorcycle club became a worldwide phenomenon called
Hells Angels in 1967
the intersection of Haight and Ashbury in San Francisco became ground zero for
free-spirited hippies during the legendary summer a blog
somehow California tracks people whom don't always fit in elsewhere but
somehow find a place in California
to reinvent themselves to live in Norway
that may not be tolerated in other places san francisco's gay community
multiply during world war 2
when the military dishonorably discharged homosexuals and process them
at San Francisco bases
when the war ended california experienced a massive population boom
California general became associated with the new car based lifestyle
California because its size effort has more vehicle miles traveled in any other
state
the major cities in California are consistently ranked as the most
congested in the country
and those are in particular at the Los Angeles metropolitan area
and the San Francisco Bay Area one thing that's good about California
was leading the best drivers in the world are HERE a did not include myself
among them but when you're out with the room professionals in the morning rush
or the labor good
automobiles have inspired a lot of firsts in California
the first motel envisioned in 1925 is the beginning of a chain that would line
the coast a day's drive apart
like the Spanish missions built here in the 18th century dreams
the hot rod was born in Southern California
in the late nineteen thirties the desert salt flats East Los Angeles were perfect
for racing souped-up cars was stripped down body
then there's the very first McDonald's Drive in restaurant
opened in 1940
California's car culture however has contributed mightily to its pollution
the state ranks tenth worldwide in the mission a greenhouse gases
what we've done on california is had much more aggressive
regulation other missions and vehicles than any other state
imagine delaware or wyoming saying
we can require different emission standards on new cars are making me
laugh at them and said
okay we won't sell cars in your state California such a big consumer
they have the clout to be able to push those kinds of things but there's more
to California then its car culture
much more this is a state of natural extremes
the highest point in the continental US is Mount Whitney 14400 94 feet
just a hundred miles down the road you'll find the lowest spot
Death Valley a $200 82 feet below sea level
california also has the world's tallest trees
the giant sequoias the highest tops out at 379 feet
roughly equal to a 30-story building redwoods are unbelievable
unbelievable how do you know if anything is ever gonna make you believe in a
higher power
to read with my dual the sheer scale of California often draws comparisons to
other nations
rather than other states if California were a country
it would have the eighth largest economy in the world his number one industry
agriculture generate gross sales of 32 billion dollars per year
that over five times the output beam
have all the fruits and vegetables consumed in the United States
come from California broccoli alfalfa
melons dairy products California leads the nation in the production of more
than eighty
agricultural commodities for farming this is truly the promised land thanks
to the rich to rain
and bad it was one
you can grow so many different as a cause because we have so many different
sup minus
we have seen many we have dry that's what I like fun comes from
lot of those props that are grown in California could not be grown here
were it not for subsidized water without massive
irrigation amends dam building projects that have made California what it is
seventy-five percent of the water supply originates in the state's northern third
while eighty percent is used in the southern two-thirds
in the nineteen forties amid controversy and charges of corruption
California diverted millions of gallons of water from the Colorado River
as the need for water grew in the nineteen sixties
the California actodine was billed transferring water from the Sacramento
River Delta
to Southern California the irrigation has helped make grapes the number one
cash crop in the state
ninety percent of America's national why not put comes from California
you california is also the axis of the film and television industries
which contribute $38 billion dollars annually to the state economy
the first studio moved from the east coast to a sleepy village called
Hollywood in 1911 this soon became the place where dreams are made
once again the weather and the terrain were key factors
they're making westerns an Indian pictures westerns was the main staple
film
that everyone wanna see around the world so people were laughing when you should
a western and Staten Island by 1915
almost every major company out in New York had a branch
in Los Angeles up in the heart of Hollywood you'll find a museum that is
distinctly California
the theme celebrity launch ramp
we have a collection a celebrity courses and design procedures
and the summer here's designed by Halle Berry and I love it because I know that
she's going and Catwoman to design the space
another California contribution to fashion is less glamorous but perhaps
more enduring
blue jeans created by Levi Strauss &
1873 his target market was the 42 miners and fortune seekers who have been
pouring into California since the discovery of gold in Sutter's Mill
the people heading californians are you called they really have an imperative to
get there quickly because they are worried
that if they don't get there quickly someone else will get their first the
49ers
as the gold seekers recalled exploded the territory's non-native population
from 14,000 to 250,000 in just four years
is tremendous influx of people transforms California overnight
from what is a recently conquered provinces to statehood
almost instantaneously in 1850 the California Gold Rush
transforms American expectations is hard work necessarily the road to riches or
is it
about lock is about lottery one can underestimate how powerful
assortment of California's on such as the American imagination
but on the world's imagination
but this vision a california has an earthly paradise was badly shaken on
people 18th
1906 shortly after five AM
devastating earthquake rock San Francisco to its core
the 1906 earthquake is now estimated
to be about the magnitude 8.25 answer that is probably the biggest earthquake
we know about
California thousands are buildings were erected 102 people were killed
electric power lines and gas mains were broke fires broke out and burned wildly
for days
it was one of the most destructive earthquakes to ever strike California
largely because of San Francisco's proximity to the san andreas fault for
if you fly across Central California
and look at the airplane you see this big scar
in the landscape which is the Senators follow it's like a line you could almost
drove with the ruler
runs the link for the state and it
is but we believe the most likely place for the in quotes
big ones on
California was gonna have earthquakes
other states have tornadoes and hurricanes some people can't leeward
after every bigger our earthquake few thousand people leave
recent studies have concluded that the risk of a large earthquake on the
southern portion of the san andreas fault may actually be higher than
researchers had previously thought
7.0 trembler in this region could devastate Palm Springs
San Bernardino and Riverside
and cause severe damage extending as far as Los Angeles and San Diegans
while earthquake prediction isn't inexact science researchers are making
progress at determining
the probability california's earthquake
the san andreas Observatory depth is a drill hole
that is going to pierce the San Andreas Fault and
the objective here is to understand the friction on the fault
the next step is to put instruments into the
observatory and those instruments going to run for a period like 20 years
these sensors will record tremors in the area allowing scientists to study the
physics a brick quakes and perhaps someday come to anticipate
this impending threat hasn't stemmed the tide residence
every day more people flock to the Golden State search in the california
dream
there are military bases scattered throughout america
but only one state can claim to be home to Fort Bragg a massive complex the
covers 251 square miles
and houses 48,000 military personnel greetings from North Carolina
the 12 for the original 13 colonies to join the union
which it did on November 21st 1789
with 8.8 million residents it ranks 10th
in population NASCAR's official headquarters might be found in Daytona
Beach Florida
but it's all lies in the foothills North Carolina what began as hot rodding
moonshiners outrunning the law has evolved into one of America's most
popular spectator sport
first race was run at the charlotte speedway
June 1949
my father was in a very first race NASCAR race in which the mail
really originated in North Carolina so we always think so.
as North Carolina sports and over the years
the PT's have been involved here since nineteen 40-man and we're still involved
North Carolinians are proud of their rich and complex history
despite being the last state to secede from the union North Carolina end up
sacrificing more of its citizens to the Civil War than any other Confederate
state
we first one hundred twenty-five hundred forty thousand troops far more people
than we had a court in the 1860 census at World
about and I'll that number I than 40,000 I've never came home
after the Civil War Charlotte North Carolina's biggest city
so booms and busts in the cotton industry it is now the country's
second-largest banking center
after New York North Carolina as a center for finance
dates back to the discovery of gold there long before California
I don't think most people realize a North Carolina was a gold mining center
in the United States up until middle 19th century
the gold boom began quietly
in 1799 a 12-year-old boy discovered a shiny heavy rock
in a creek in comparison County
the family didn't know at the time they discovered gold are used to this big no
good for a doorstop
and eventually they had it assay and discovered it was called
and that led to a a gold rush with
farmers giving up the plow and and taking out shovels and picks to try and
find all on their property
the news attracted fortune hunters from all over the world but a short period of
time north carolinians
have established 56 gold mines and I know that they're pulling the most cold
any region and country for decades
when the goal played out North Carolina return to other resources
like its fertile coastal plain
we're so proud to be number one in the production sweet potatoes we right
number two nationally in the production of pork and number three in a production
a poultry and egg
when people talk about North Carolina talk about food I would think that
barbecue will be the first thing that
that comes in a man the billion-dollar hog industry may explain the first true
love Carolina cuisine
around here the word barbecue always means pork
North Carolina's eastern coastal region is also going to sum up America's
greatest historical events
in 1903 the Wright brothers chose the remote fishing village in kittyhawk
detested successfully fly the airplane
the not far from kittyhawk the first English settlement in the New World was
established in 15
85 for Walter Raleigh organized and financed
three expeditions to Roanoke Island which was then
party Virginia the third attempt included
men and women and children so this was to be a permanent settlement
in August 1587 the colonies leaders John wide
returned to England for supplies and in that and run between the time he leaves
and heads off for England the Armada from Spain his comp
the Spanish are assaulting England and as a result
the English crown for bits ships from leaving
it took him three years before he was able to get the size muscle he needed to
be able to cross the ocean
to come back by the time I'd returned the island
was deserted the no physical signs of conflict
nobody's in the sand but to this day there is no definitive
answer to what happened the colonists it could be the Spanish
Spanish in claimed all of North America and having found English settlers
in North America they may very well have wiped them out one theory is that
because the drought the colonists simply I
wandered off and they were absorbed by various try
see other words the colonists were removed in London intermarried
with indians in someone these argue that they are descended from the Lost Colony
E
later Jamestown are settlers will be told stories of blue eyed
blonde native peoples I'm polygon
the chieftain up for that reason the Chesapeake Bay is going to claim to have
killed them
are sold we don't know that's the million-dollar question
eventually colonists from Jamestown Virginia moved to North Carolina in
search of land to grow tobacco
and so the tobacco industry if you will
move south from virginians present in North Carolina and of course North
Carolina eventually become so the largest tobacco-producing state in the
country
early on a skilled cigarette roller can only make for cigarettes a minute
that process was revolutionized in 1880
when 18-year-old Virginia name James Bond sack
invented a cigarette making machine that turned out 200 cigarettes per minute
tobacco became big business soon over one-third of
all tobacco in the US was grown in North Carolina course became a
a major part not only you North Carolina's economy that became
a part of the nation's culture I mean you can't look at a
movie from the 1930s or 1940s without seeing everyone lighting up a cigarette
in recent years liability lawsuits along with increased state and federal taxes
on tobacco products
have challenged tobacco industry worldwide
even so it remains North Carolina number one cash crop
world
february first nineteen sixty Greensboro North Carolina was catapulted to the
center of the civil rights movement
14 black college students sat down at a whites-only lunch
course they were not served and they were asked to leave
she says please leave manager get out policemen
one being his hand at the club see what's behind them you can imagine
yourself sitting at that lunch counter that stick hitting the palm right behind
your head
wondering is he gonna swing they came back the following day in days after in
in other students started to join them and not only black students remember
white students join them
and so the city and spread like a wildfire throughout the south because
what happen in Greensboro on february first nineteen sixty
in
not for his cool also demonstrated in since the moment at the University
attended so yells in a bit well worth
finally agreed to desegregate on July 25th 1960
by then the Greensboro sit-ins had inspired similar actions in 54 cities
across the south
years later at the premiere a film about the Greensboro story the man unexpected
question was posed to franklin mccain
one of the original four protestants asking well
would what would you few ordered if they'd serve you
there's a big laugh because as exactly the kinda question thirteen-year-old
were asking at all
me pause in the fight for me said I had my eye on the pie
here
the even though this state is hundreds of miles from the nearest ocean
you'll find lots of sea shells here fossilized in stone
$35 million years ago it was the bottom a huge in muncie
which helps account for its flat terrain
greetings from Kansas it became the 34th state to join the union
on January 29 1861
with 2.7 million residents it ranks 33rd in populations
kansas's quintessential America we regarded as the middle
America red and white checked tablecloths and picnics and a
and cattle and big Sun Big Sky's
that that is America let's
it's a nice image to him
when dorothy was whisked away from her prairie homeland to the land of Oz
it was courtesy of a giant Kansas twister
category five tornadoes are the most severe
ever recorded Kansas gets more of them than almost anywhere else in the nation
the state's flat terrain in central location
make a prime target
Kansas tornado alley because yet the cold air from canada coming down to get
the warm air
coming up on the government's going to collide you get under storms and it
happens to be
right smack dab in the middle United States right smack dab in the middle
Kansas
the meeting the Kansas weather isn't always
stormy an average year will see 226 sunny days
10th most in the country with all that sunshine it's no wonder that a native
flower gave Kansas its nickname
the sunflower state these plants which have grown here for over three thousand
years
found their first commercial use in the nineteen twenties as poultry feed
the state's signature crop however
is week in an average year kansas farmers produce enough to make over $26
billion loads a bread
or about four loads for every person on the planet
these prairie grasslands were once the home to the sole survivor of the Battle
of Little Bighorn
who is now stuffed and on display in Lawrence Kan
the only survivor have custer's unit
at the Little Bighorn was a horse comanche so how can she wanted off the
battlefield in was
and was found ended up being a mascot in Fort Leavenworth Kansas
and man she went along helping like after command he died
him and she was step in now as in tonight
museum on the University of Kansas theme
it's hard to imagine that these quiet small towns and wide open plains were
once a violent political battleground which branded the territory as
Bleeding Kansas the issue the cause the %uh people slate meeting fifties
can this news was the the entire front page all the New York and Boston papers
almost every day in 1854 passage of the kansas-nebraska Act allowed the people
in those two territories to decide on the question of slavery within their
borders
kansas was settled by activist the people who moved here came here to vote
know whether they can say that one of those activists was a radical
abolitionist
whose actions would accelerate the momentum toward civil war
his name John Brown people in the nineteenth century held
very different racial beliefs than we do in the 21st century
most nineteenth century americans we now believe me quality blacks and whites
John Brown walk the walk and talk the talk he believed in racial equality
in may have 1856 Brown was motivated to act
after the town of Lawrence was sacked by pro-slavery militia and as one of his
sons remember he went crazy
his words and decided that he needed to take revenge on
the pro-slavery site he actually went to a place near his homestead
on part 1 agreed and red 5 pro se bhi settlers at their homes
and middle of the night Brown and his party brutally killed their captives
he ultimately fled Kansas went on to lead the failed slave revolt at Harper's
Ferry in 1859
for which he was executed
but in Kansas the conflict contemn kansas was certainly
case parking at the Civil War the creation of the kansas Territory was
event that dominated america for a number appears and a
really helped solidify positions on both sides
in 1861 kansas was admitted to the Union
as a free state
after the Civil War the settlement of kansas was spurred by the Atchison
Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad
that cut through the state town sprang up along the rail lines
as cowboys brought cattle up from Texas to be shipped to big cities by train
intentions could
easily have gone or New Orleans railroads were in New Orleans
but they risked life and limb going across
to 3,000 headed to time Oklahoma desert
drought rattlesnakes tornadoes to get to Kansas so they could fatten cattle
before they put them on the railroads and set them to Chicago
as many as eight million head a year boarded cattle cars in the place that
came to be known as
the queen of the cow towns notorious Dodge City
got City is a place a man could go to hide
at one time and that might still be true to some extent
back in the eighteen seventies dodge city's most famous resident was wider
a man who had worked both sides of the law herb was hired to bring peace and
order to this wide open town
he was an extremely good biter he was good with his fist
he was a prize fighter for a while so there were many times that wire
just him and knocked him out and didn't have the shooting
why it had his hands full Dodge City wasn't just the world's largest cattle
market it was the wildest town on the frontier
then in 1885 Kansas imposed quarantines on Texas Longhorns to protect local
heard from disease
that effectively ended the great Europe cattle drives
and cowboys E
dodge city's latest claim is that it's the windiest city in America
with an average wind speed is 13.99 Isles per hour
the windy city of Chicago averages only 10.39
the Kansas wins once helped launch an entire industry aviation
almost immediately after airplanes became
national curiosity you have individuals throughout the state who are
experimenting with
some kinda flying machine wealthy investors from the state's cattle
railing oil industry is provided financial backing for several maverick
aviators
who turned a curiosity into a going concern in 1911
Alvin K longer enough to Piqua killed and flew
the first plane in Kansas that same year
Clyde cessna moved to Wichita and learned about airplanes the hard way
having built his first airplane of course there was no one around to teach
and learn to fly
so he basically had to take that challenge on himself which included by
the way crashing 12 times
and on more than one occasion blames of up pretty severely until
on the 13 flight he was able to take off spend some time in the air and landed
Amelia Earhart fame for setting women speed and distance records
was an actress in Kansas native
by 1929 Wichita was america's air capital
with 11 airports during world war two of course is when Wichita perhaps achieve
his most famous
as being the center of not only be 29 Superfortress production
but also lots of other aircraft including the majority the training
aircraft both for the army and the navy
knowing he had their military aircraft division in Wichita for a long long time
maybe I'll world war two bombers down there B-twenty nines
may be old and fabricate part so their frames for their current commercial
airliners
and they're still in with your cup in 1962 bill lear could have picked
anywhere in the world to build his lear jets
he chose Wichita for the strength for the technical support the town's
aircraft industry could supply
today Selena maintains two runways long enough to recover the spatial
in the event of an emergency nasa's decision to incorporate Kansas in their
space program
is not altogether surprising state motto is ad astra pair
a spare to the stars through difficult
the beauty of the prairie is really something that few people appreciate
love easterners can come out and see flatland describe it as
ten thousand acres have nothing in fact if you stay with it
I think you can feel the pulse above the earth under your feet
my roots run deep in Kansas
this next eight highest mountain has claimed the lives of well over 100
people
many of whom succumbed to hypothermia with winds clocked over 200 miles per
hour
wind chill temperatures at the summit have been known to reach minus 120
degrees Fahrenheit all this
at an elevation and less than 6,300 feet
greetings from New Hampshire the ninth state to join the union
which it did on June 21st 1788
with 1.3 million residences ranks 41st
in population in new hampshire you have
a very distinct change every every season
the each season brings with it something special amazing
in the fall that the colors are unrivaled the tree colors are
stays fiery reds and oranges and yellows in looks like there's a forest fire
and unlike LA they're not really on fire
it's just gives the impression
just beneath New Hampshire's forested hills lies the source of its nickname
granite we are called the Granite State not necessarily because we have more
grounded than anybody else but it's fairly easy to get to it
is to shoveling the dirt most anywhere in and turn it pretty soon
you and so it is cover
a similar up the state
a mall the granite in new hampshire this
natural rock formation was the symbol most dear to its citizens
ok we all met at the mountain with something nature had had given out got
built that and and up
people often make comments about on this list will never happen amor
before last as long as the old man and now I can try the other house and she
said
hey the all-male the mountain fell down a little targeted
quite register with that what you mean so you know the great stone face up in
Franconia
thanks Paula Dow when the all-male amount fell down there was panic
I didn't realize how attached I was too until until it fell
I got a little choked up I have to say it the next generation of kids really
want this was the sole Guyana
interstate side with this also I love this dude I don't know what that is and
will have to explain it to everybody so
this is gonna be a lot of work
new hampshire may have lost its most visible symbol but its proud identity is
intact
this is the land of significant persons New Hampshire is the first state to lose
a native son
in the Civil War 17-year-old Luther lands
it was home to both the first American in space Alan Shepard
and the first civilian to die in space christa mcauliffe
perhaps the most important milestone occurred
1774 when new hampshire became the first column
take military action against Inc the power to raise erupted at the garrison
in Newcastle New Hampshire
at the time it was a royal outpost known as Fort William American
my it was loaded with gunpowder and and weapons
and when paul revere rode up from Boston to look after people
that the British were going to confiscate these moms from Hampshire
over around the forts
a on two successive days in December and took old gunpowder literally took all
day
all the weapons forts the garrison was there are just a handful of British
soldiers who really work wonder put up much of a fight when all these and
appear the fort was considered the center if you will
royal authority other than the governors of and this was a clear attack on royal
authority
that's what makes a significant about literally the first organized armed
resistance to the Crown
and it really does inaugurate the American Revolution
live free or die those are the first words most people will see upon entering
New Hampshire
the true meaning of the state model however his fiercely debated
with the phrase live free or die came from statement made by General John
Stark before the Battle of Bennington
and the revolutionary war and after a long time and really did
encapsulated notion that freedom is worth dying for
when there's a debate over whether we should have seat belts or a debate as to
whether we should have
motorcycle helmets someone always will come out and say in the live free or die
state no we don't need seat belt laws
I think it's something that we we see is a source of pride in that and again a
source of our independence that we're not gonna take any crap from anybody
new hampshire I'd certainly aren't going to let any other state hold a
presidential primary before there's
which is traditionally the first in the nation
candidates had to come in and show that they in the living room Senate town
halls on the coffee shops that
take a look people in the eye and tell them what they would what do
the nice thing about the new hampshire primary is the campaigns are very well
polished yet
and the candidates are very well polished yet and so you get some
refreshingly
honest answers up front since the 1952 election
New Hampshire has been considered the maker and braker a presidential hopefuls
incumbent presidents harry truman and lyndon johnson
dropped their reelection bids after poor showings in new hampshire
in fact only bill clinton and George W Bush
have won the presidency after losing this primary the high stakes in new
hampshire a track reporters and candidates by the bus
ok it's a rare primary when you don't see
three or four the candidates as the whole story about them and ask him if he
was gonna vote for
candidates on Sony said I don't know if only met him three times
my momma telling me that she was at the hair salon they looked up and John Kerry
walked in and said hi related to give himself
yet the veto W expect when you're gonna head and coma
get so use the candidates coming to this the door someone knocks on the door its
probably not the pizza guy it's as a candidate
when the primaries are over the citizens of New Hampshire
are happy to get their state back to themselves it's so nice and quiet now
you know I don't want all this the influx of for
some people coming to town some little selfish
there is a North Dakota and South Dakota there is a North Carolina
and a South Carolina but there's only one state in America that is a West
anything greetings from West Virginia the Mountain State became the 35th to
join the union
on June 20 1863
with 1.8 million residents it ranks 37th
in population
the parts I play are sort of like everyman usually
but I've been given assignments to be a dad I drawn my father so it really is a
very specifically
from west virginia does a I do my dad and
however he was that stuff comes out West Virginians pride themselves on being
down to earth
but every October they float a pub on the New River Gorge Bridge
becomes the base jump in capital of the world on bridge day
the event attracts over 300 jumpers willing to brave the 876 foot drop
west Virginia has other attractions you won't find anywhere else
one example the courthouse in White Sulphur Springs
built with 30 tons of anthracite coal
even the Barnes here have added that in 1908
West Virginia side's first outdoor advertising promoting mail pouch tobacco
the state's greatest claim to fame however rests
in its orange
Weston is the only state in the union that was actually born out the conflict
and the civil war and that is that we were created in car now the state of
Virginia
originally course we were part of Virginia during the founding in the
nation
but the conflict between eastern and western Virginia began long before the
Civil War
there was a difference in the lifestyle the culture
in the western counties while there was slavery in the west it was never
as profitable in the western counties as it was and then the coastal regions a
Virginia
so consequently there was a I miss an inherent friction between the East and
the western regions in Virginia
when Virginia seceded from the Union
the mountain folk at the western counties saw a golden opportunity
West Virginia sopranos saying it to
we stayed loyal to the Union we decided to
secede from Virginia runners and seed from the union
it was an audacious maneuver that required some deft slide 2 p.m.
to satisfy the US Constitution statehood proponents had to obtain permission from
Virginia
but Virginia was no longer part of the Union sold the Western County residents
created the reorganized government diverging
they subsequently gain consent from that party in charleston
instead the pro Confederate government based in Richmond
there had to be a new government Virginia recognized at the federal level
enabling can recognize this new government St
the congress because they said the new representatives
to congress in new senators to Congress from the restored government a purge in
you
some appears cabinet actually said mister president this is
unconstitutional
you can't do it and he said we'll have to do it anyway
even today West Virginia's identity as a Northern or Southern State remains
ambiguous at this in this day course other we drink sweet iced tea
that you get to the norovirus day not allowing my bill AB honestly I stay
nicknamed the Mountain State for its Appalachian Mountains
west Virginia has a rich stark beauty reflecting its rugged topography
this is where you're from as it was for genocide they have shoes there
is one like smaller the understanding on the hills
with more than a million acres set aside for state parks and national forests
tourism plays a large role in the local economy you have to look beneath the
beauty however to find West Virginia's
true-life blow despite its small size the state ranks third in the nation for
coal production
and forth in proven reserves but the rich deposits have been both a blessing
and a curse
the coal industry has left scars on the land as well as on the miners and their
families
manners lyndon company towns they receive the company wage
they shop the company store they had very few options
one of the most infamous confrontations between miners and management took place
at medal on the nineteen twenty-one
three years escalating tensions over working conditions and wages
the miners tried to join the United Mine Workers of America
the murder of a sympathetic police chief named said Hatfield by pro management
thought
brought things to a head that incident really is the
powder keg that ignited the Battle of Blair Mountain that was on august first
nineteen twenty-one
about the third week of August 1921 thousands
and some would say as many as 10,000 or more manners began to assemble
along the Kanawha River in southern West Virginia near Charleston
in attempt to avenge said hatfield's death the violence lasted nine days
leaving some 2010 and hundreds injured on both sides
finally federal troops were sent in to restore order
and their reporters from some other major a newspapers and
in New York and elsewhere became to cover the masses if they were covering a
war
at least twelve hundred miners were indicted for anything from murder to
treason against the state
most were either acquitted or have the charges dropped
the Battle Mountain a significant other number France it regarded in many labor
history circles being the largest
armed March ort insurrection
if you will in america since the American Civil War
it's a watershed event that signifies
the beginning and the Changing the Guard serve a new era in
Union organizing that would come in the 1930s coal mining continues to play a
key role here
in both the economy and the lives of the people they hang on to a kind of a
simplicity
a genuine this that you can always find the exhibition
to make ours too much time at work to any cell phones
be able to 6 West Virginia but that they seem to maintain a kind of a balance
between them
living close to major still enjoying themselves
in