Transcontinental Railroad (2003, 2006)

Transcontinental Railroad is a documentary film that was shown on US television (PBS) in 2003 and released on DVD in 2006. It is an episode of the long-running program American Experience (season 15, episode 7). Here is some basic information about it:

** Directed by Mark Zwonitzer and Michael Chin

** Written and produced by Mark Zwonitzer

** Narrated by Michael Murphy

** Run time: 106 minutes

Several experts - mostly historians - were interviewed for the film. Here are the names in the order of appearance:

** Phil Roberts
** Fred Gamst
** Wendell Huffman

** Donald Fixico
** David Bain
** Carol Bowers

** Stanley Hirshson
** Sue Fawn Chung

** Frank Chin

Since 1988, American Experience has produced many episodes about many different topics. Most of them are well done. They have a high standard. Therefore I had high expectations before watching this film. Fortunately, my expectations were met in full. The first transcontinental railroad was built 1863-1869, and this film covers all major aspects of the project: the good, the bad, and the ugly.

Another way to put it is to say that it covers the social, economic, political and military angle of the project. We hear about the people who were involved in the project. We also hear about the practical and technical problems that had to be solved in order to complete this project. As far as I can see, this film is an ABC product: it is accurate, balanced and comprehensive.

The website of American Experience has a special section devoted to this film where you can find more information, for instance:

** Biographies of persons who played an important role in the project, including Oakes Ames, Jack Casement, Charles Crocker, Grenville Dodge, and Thomas Clark Durant.

** Articles about significant topics, including Native Americans and the railroad, Chinese workers and the railroad, tunnelling through the mountains of Sierra Nevada, and how to use nitro-glycerine.

Here is a link to the website: PBS - American Experience

The first transcontinental railroad was a blessing and a curse. A blessing for some and a curse for others. It was a blessing for the owners of the railroad companies, because they made a lot of money on this project. It was a curse to the Native Americans, who used to live on the plains where the railroad was being built, because the railroad destroyed their way of life. There were benefits as well as costs. Both aspects are covered in the film.

Transcontinental Railroad got some good reviews: on IMDb it has a rating of 72 per cent. On the US version of Amazon there are ten reviews of this film. Six offer 5 stars, while three offer 4 stars (the last reviewer offers 3 stars, even though he says he had not seen the film when he submitted the review). I understand the positive reviews and I agree with them.

If you are interested in the history of the modern world, including the development of modern technology, this film is definitely something for you. The building of the first transcontinental railroad is an important chapter in the history of the United States, and in this film it is told very well. It is highly recommended. Five stars!

PS # 1. For more details, see the following books:

** Grenville M. Dodge: Soldier, Politician, Railroad Pioneer by Stanley Hirshson (1967) (the author appears as an expert in the film)

** Empire Express: Building the First Transcontinental Railroad by David Bain (1999) (the author appears as an expert in the film)

** Rival Rails: The Race to Build America’s Greatest Transcontinental Railroad by Walter R. Borneman (2010)

** Iron Rail, Iron Men, and the Race to Link the Nation: The Story of the Transcontinental Railroad by Martin W. Sandler (2015)

PS # 2. A somewhat similar story is the laying of the transatlantic cable linking Europe and America (1854-1866). American Experience covered this project in an episode that was broadcast in 2005.

PS # 3. The famous US historian Stephen E. Ambrose (1936-2002) is the author of a book about the first transcontinental railroad: Nothing Like It in the World. The hardcover version was published in 2000, two years before his death. A paperback version appeared in 2005, three years after his death. When the book was published, it was at first a bestseller, but when professional historians and railway experts took a closer look at it, they found alarming mistakes and flaws throughout the book. For details, see the following articles, which are available online:

** Roger Rosenblatt, “When the Hero Takes a Fall,” TIME magazine, 13 January 2002

** Edson Strobridge, “Stephen Ambrose: Off the Rails,” History News Network, 8 July 2002

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This painting shows the famous moment on 10 May 1869, when the first transcontinental railroad was completed. One train is coming from the east, while another train is coming from the west.
 

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The Great Transatlantic Cable (2005)

The Great Transatlantic Cable is a documentary film that was shown on US television (PBS) and released on DVD in 2005; it is an episode in the long-running program American Experience. Here is some basic information about it:

** Directed by Peter Jones

** Written and produced by David Axelrod

** Narrated by Linda Hunt

** Cyrus field played by John MacKay

** The voice of Cyrus Field: Michael McColl

** Run time: 54 minutes

This is the story about how the transatlantic cable was laid between Europe and America; more specifically between Ireland and Newfoundland.

This is also the story about the man who was the driving force behind the project: the American business man Cyrus Field (1819-1892).

The film can be divided into seven sections. Here are the headings:

 
# 1. Introduction (the background)
# 2. Cyrus Field: the driving force
# 3. 1854: planning the operation
# 4. 1858: the first cable is laid
# 5. Interruption, new plans
# 6. 1866: the second cable is laid
# 7. Conclusion (the importance of the operation)
 
Several witnesses were interviewed for the film. Engineers cover technical aspects, while historians cover historical aspects. Here are the names:
 
** Daniel Czitrom, historian
** John Steele Gordon, historian,
** Gillian Cookson, historian

** Bernard Finn, the Smithsonian, National Museum of American History
** Donard De Cogan, engineer
** Colin Hempstead, engineer
 
THE HISTORY OF THE CABLE

The project began in 1854. It was a private project. Field was a rich man but he could not pay for this himself. He needed to find sponsors to finance the project. He also needed permission from the governments of the US and the UK. There were practical and technical problems as well. The distance was more than 2,000 miles, and the sea was more than three miles deep in some places. Nobody had ever done anything like it on this scale. He needed experts who could help him deal with these problems.

Field did not know much about the telegraph or electricity. But he knew that a cable connecting the American continent and Europe would be extremely beneficial to the world of business and the world of communication. He saw the project as a challenge. He wanted something to do, so he took up the challenge, and he never gave up, not even when things seemed hopeless.

Later he said that it was perhaps a good thing that he did not know much about the practical and technical problems that they were facing. Had he known how difficult and how expensive it was going to be, he might never have started.

The first cable was laid by two ships in 1858. The USS Niagara and HMS Agamemnon met in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. Each ship was carrying about 1,000 miles of cable. The two ends were spliced together and the ships departed: one sailing east towards Ireland, the other sailing west towards Newfoundland.

The cable worked. It was like magic. Suddenly a message could go between the continents in a matter of minutes. Before the cable was laid, it took at least two weeks on a ship, and sometimes more, if the weather was stormy. But the speed of the cable was slowing down, and then after 23 days, the cable failed. The line was dead.

An investigation revealed that it had been destroyed by the man who was in charge of the British end of the cable: Edward Orange Wildman Whitehouse (1816-1890). He was a doctor of medicine. He did not know anything about electricity, but he thought he knew everything. He was self-taught. He had this idea that a strong power was needed because the signal had to travel so far. This was fatal. This was how he destroyed the cable. Whitehouse was fired, but he should never have been hired in the first place. Who hired this amateur? The answer: Cyrus Field!

For several years nothing could be done. New sponsors were hard to find. In addition, the US was busy with a deadly civil war (1861-1865). Once the war was over, Field was ready to try again. The US government was ready as well. The civil war had shown the importance of the telegraph.

This time Field would use a ship called the Great Eastern, the biggest ship in the world, which had been designed by the British engineer Isambard Kingdom Brunel (1806-1859). This time the operation began from Ireland; the Great Eastern was sailing west towards Newfoundland.

At one point there was a problem. The cable failed. But the captain and his crew were able to perform a rescue-operation and the contact was re-established. A few days later the cable came ashore on the Canadian side of the ocean. The second cable had been successfully laid in 1866. And the narrator can say: “Since then the connection between the two continents has never been broken.”

THE POSITIVE AND THE NEGATIVE

There are three elements in the film: interviews with witnesses, old footage and re-enactment of certain scenes. The combination of the three elements make a good variation. The witnesses are well-chosen. Practical and technical problems are explained very well. The film has a clear message. It is easy to understand. In short there are many positive things to say about it. But there is one significant flaw.

 
When they tell us how the first cable was laid in 1858, they talk about the third successful attempt. They do not tell us that there were two failed attempts before that. The first attempt began on 5 August 1857. The cable snapped two times and the operation was abandoned for a while. The second attempt began on 26 June 1858. The cable snapped three times and the operation was abandoned. The third attempt began on 29 July 1858. The mood was gloomy, but the third time was the lucky time: the operation went smoothly for both ships.
 
Why are the first two failed attempts not mentioned? I do know why. Perhaps the producers felt that too much information would be confusing. If this was the reason, I do not agree. The two failed attempts deserve to be mentioned, because they demonstrate how difficult and how costly the project was. A lot of cable was lost on the failed attempts, and this was quite expensive.
 
The failed attempts also demonstrate the importance of Cyrus Field. He never lost hope, even when people around him were ready to give up; he convinced them to give it one more try.
 
For Field, the cable was a business project. But not only that. He thought the cable would change the world, and he was right. The cable became his mission in life. He wanted to be remembered for this accomplishment, which he is.
 
Field had a dynamic character. And he was a clever man, although his choice of experts was not always sound. He can be compared to the producer of a show, as one witness puts it. He did not really do anything himself, but his presence and his guidance ensured that everybody else did what they had to do to keep the show running until they had reached their goal.
 
CONCLUSION
The Great Transatlantic Cable is a good film. I would like to give it a good rating, but I cannot ignore the flaw that I have mentioned above. Therefore I think it deserves a rating of four stars.
 
If you are interested in the history of the modern world, in particular the development of modern technology, this film is something for you.
 
PS # 1. John Steele Gordon, a witness in the film, is the author of A Thread across the Ocean (2002).
 
PS # 2. Gillian Cookson, a witness in the film, is the author of The Cable: Wire to the World (2003, 2006, 2012).
 
PS # 3. American Experience is a television program produced by PBS. The first episode was aired in 1988. The number of episodes differs from one season to the next, but the program is still running today. The story under review here (the transatlantic cable) is season 17 episode 7 from 2005. A somewhat similar story is the building of the first transcontinental railroad (1863-1869). American Experience covered this project in 2003.

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Cyrus Field (1819-1892): the man behind the transatlantic cable.

 

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