:46:26
The westward course was no smoother
than that of true love.
:46:31
Not only the hard hand of nature
was against it, but the impediment of war.
:46:35
Trouble over land smoldered
along the Mexican border.
:46:39
Not all Americans were for war, including
Congressman Abe Lincoln of Illinois.
:46:43
But a war did break out...
:46:45
... and in the end vast new territories
came into the Union...
:46:48
... along with their rich Spanish names:
:46:50
Rio Grande, Santa Fe, Albuquerque,
El Paso...
:46:54
... and most glittering of all, California...
:46:57
... named after a mythical island of pearls
and gold in a 15th century novel.
:47:02
Here, in 1848...
:47:04
... at Sutter"s Mill, a man found something
he wasn"t even looking for...
:47:08
... at the bottom of a ditch.
:47:10
And the cry of his discovery was heard
clear across the continent...
:47:13
... in Boston, New York, Savannah,
and across the oceans...
:47:16
... in London, Paris, Berlin.
:47:18
But nowhere was the clamor of gold...
:47:21
... heard more eagerly than in St. Louis...
:47:24
... the busiest fur trading center
in the world...
:47:27
... and the noisiest, bawdiest,
most uppity town west of New York.
:47:57
"Boys, hold your hosses
:47:59
"We're still the bosses