:07:46
This land has a name today
and is marked on maps.
:07:51
But the names and the marks and the land
all had to be won.
:07:56
Won from nature and from primitive man.
:08:00
Five generations ago,
a mere 125 years back...
:08:06
... this land was known only as the West...
:08:09
... known only to a handful of white men...
:08:12
... lonely trappers wandering its vastness
in search of beaver.
:08:17
They were known as "mountain men",
a new breed.
:08:20
Men like Jim Bridger, Linus Rawlings...
:08:25
... more Indian than the Indians
in all but blood.
:08:28
They held to no law but their own...
:08:31
... drifted free as the clouds,
settled nowhere, kept forever on the move.
:08:37
Their mocassined feet and unshod horses
left no trace on the land.
:08:44
Like the Indians,
with whom they were at peace...
:08:47
... they wanted nothing
beyond what they found and little of that.
:08:51
The mountains, the forests,
the harsh country...
:08:56
... were as unchanging to them
as the stars...
:08:59
... and just as unyielding.