(gentle music) - [Narrator] Funding for this program is provided in part by the Minnesota Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund and the friends of Minnesota Experience.

(man) PRODUCTION OF THIS PROGRAM WAS MADE POSSIBLE IN PART BY THE MINNESOTA ENVIRONMENT AND NATURAL RESOURCES TRUST FUND AS RECOMMENDED BY THE LEGISLATIVE COMMISSION ON MINNESOTA RESOURCES.

THE MCKNIGHT FOUNDATION-- MAINTAINING AND RESTORING A HEALTHY, SUSTAINABLE ENVIRONMENT IN THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER BASIN.

AND THESE FUNDING PARTNERS.

.

.

[orchestra plays] ♪ ♪ GOOD!

(male narrator) IN THE LATE 1840s, SURVEYORS WORKING FOR THE U.S. LAND OFFICE SURVEY BEGAN THE LONG PROCESS OF MEASURING SECTION LINES TO HELP FACILITATE THE RAPID SALE OF MINNESOTA LAND TO SETTLERS.

MOVE IT ON, GENTLEMEN!

(narrator) THEIR ARRIVAL MARKED THE BEGINNING OF MONUMENTAL CHANGE FOR THE NATURAL LANDSCAPE.

A SURGE OF WHITE SETTLEMENT WAS ABOUT TO MAKE A NEW WORLD OF THE OLD.

LOGGERS WERE ALREADY CUTTING WHITE PINE IN THE NORTH.

NOW FARMS BEGAN APPEARING IN THE WOODED OPENINGS ACROSS THE SOUTHEAST, IN THE WAKE OF THE SURVEY CREWS.

SOON THE PRAIRIE WOULD FILL WITH NEW SETTLERS TOO.

WEALTH WOULD POUR INTO AND FROM MINNESOTA.

WORLD RENOWN WOULD COME TO THE BOOMING CITY BUILT ON THE FALLS OF ST. ANTHONY.

♪ ♪ AND THE LANDSCAPES DESCRIBED BY THE SURVEYORS-- THE PRAIRIES.

.

.

THE DECIDUOUS WOODLANDS.

.

.

THE CONIFER FOREST.

.

.

AND EVEN THE RIVERS AND STREAMS WOULD BE CHANGED FOREVER.

[mandolin plays] (narrator) IN 1849, THERE WERE FEWER THAN 6,000 WHITE CITIZENS IN ALL OF THE MINNESOTA TERRITORY.

BUT IN THE 1850s WHITE SETTLERS BEGAN FLOODING INTO THE REGION.

EUROPEANS JOINED YANKEES IN A BID TO MAKE NEW LIVES FOR THEMSELVES AND THEIR FAMILIES.

MOST CAME TO FARM, BUT LUMBERERS, MERCHANTS, AND TOWN BUILDERS ALL FOUND PARTS OF SOUTHEASTERN MINNESOTA TO LIKE.

(man) "THE FACE OF THE COUNTRY HERE DIFFERS FROM ALMOST EVERY OTHER PORTION OF THE TERRITORY.

IT'S NOT A PRAIRIE, NEITHER IS IT TIMBER, NOR YET IS IT OPENINGS AS SUCH, LIKE WE CALL OPENINGS IN OTHER PLACES.

THERE IS PLENTY OF LARGE, HEAVY TIMBER: MAPLE, OAK, ASH."

REV H.M. NICHOLS 1855 (narrator) THE LANDSCAPE IN WHICH THESE NEWCOMERS WERE SETTLING WAS, IN FACT, THE WESTERN END OF A VAST FOREST ECOSYSTEM THAT STRETCHED ACROSS THE EASTERN UNITED STATES TO THE ATLANTIC OCEAN.

(Newell Searle) AT THE TIME SETTLERS ARRIVED, THE EASTERN THIRD OF THE UNITED STATES WAS DENSELY FORESTED.

AND IN AN APOCRYPHAL SAYING, IT WAS SAID THAT A SQUIRREL COULD START AT MANHATTAN AND GO ALL THE WAY TO THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER WITHOUT EVER TOUCHING GROUND-- JUST LEAPING FROM TREETOP TO TREETOP, FROM BRANCH TO BRANCH.

(narrator) IN MINNESOTA, THAT FOREST EXPRESSED ITSELF IN A NARROW BAND OF DIFFERENT FOREST TYPES THAT CUT DIAGONALLY ACROSS THE STATE.

SQUEEZED BETWEEN FIRES COMING OFF THE DRY PRAIRIES TO THE WEST, AND THE COOL, WETTER CONDITIONS TO THE NORTHEAST, THEY INCLUDED ASPEN PARKLANDS.

.

.

OAK SAVANNAS.

.

.

AND MIXED FOREST OF OAK, ELM, MAPLE, AND BASSWOOD.

PERHAPS THE MOST IMPRESSIVE PART OF THIS EXTENDED ECOSYSTEM WAS A HUGE BLOCK OF FOREST MORE THAN 3,000 SQUARE MILES IN EXTENT, KNOWN SIMPLY AS THE "BIG WOODS."

♪ ♪ JOSEPH NICOLLET SURVEYING THE REGION IN THE FALL OF 1838 RECORDED HIS ASTONISHMENT UPON ENCOUNTERING THEM.

(as Joseph Nicollet) "WE ENTERED THE HIGH TIMBERED PARTS OF THE CANON RIVER, RED AND WHITE OAKS, AND SUGAR MAPLES, AND BLACK WALNUT ARE HERE TO BE FOUND IN A PERFECTION AND HEALTH AND SIZE WHICH IS NOT TO COMPARE WITH ANY OF THE TIMBER AT THE MINNESOTA OR MISSISSIPPI RIVERS.

WE HAD TO CUT A ROAD THROUGH THIS MAGNIFICENT AND VALUABLE WOOD."

(narrator) SOME 90% GONE NOW, ONLY FRAGMENTS OF THE ORIGINAL BIG WOODS REMAIN.

LIKE THE FOREST HERE AT NERSTRAND STATE PARK NEAR NORTHFIELD.

HERE, THE PARTICULAR RHYTHMS AND HABITAT OF THIS FOREST TYPE ARE PRESERVED.

(Laurie Allmann) THE BIG WOODS IS REALLY A PLACE THAT IS DEFINED BY SHADE AND WHAT SHADE DOES TO THE LIFE AROUND IT.

BECAUSE THE ONLY THING THAT CAN SURVIVE ON THAT FOREST FLOOR IN SHADE ARE THOSE SPECIES THAT ARE THE BIG WOODS TYPE-- THE MAPLE, THE BASSWOOD.

AND IT IS BECAUSE OF THAT SHADE THAT THAT FOREST CAN PERPETUATE ITSELF OVER TIME.

[birds singing] IN THE SPRINGTIME YOU HAVE THESE WILDFLOWERS THAT ARE CALLED EPHEMERALS THAT ARE RUSHING TO BLOOM BEFORE THAT CANOPY OF LEAVES CLOSES OVERHEAD AND DROPS THE FOREST FLOOR INTO DARKNESS.

[birds singing] (narrator) THE DENSE CANOPY OF THE BIG WOODS PROVIDES HABITAT FOR A VARIETY OF MIGRATORY BIRDS.

TINY, COLORFUL, FLITTING FROM BRANCH TO BRANCH.

BIRDS LIKE THE RED-EYED VIREO ARE SOMETIMES DESCRIBED AS THE "BUTTERFLIES" OF THE BIRD WORLD.

(Laurie Allmann) THIS LITTLE BIRD WEIGHS LESS THAN A PACK OF GUM, BUT EVERY YEAR, IT MIGRATES 3,800 MILES FROM THE AMAZON RIVER BASIN IN SOUTH AMERICA TO THIS BLOCK OF FOREST IN MINNESOTA WHERE IT'LL BUILD ITS NEST MADE OF LITTLE BITS OF BARK AND GRASS HELD TOGETHER BY SPIDER SILK.

NOW YOU THINK OF THAT BIRD'S ENTIRE RHYTHM OF LIFE IS BASED ON THE CHARACTERISTICS OF THIS FOREST.

AND THERE ARE MANY ANIMALS LIKE THAT.

THERE ARE MANY BIRDS LIKE THAT, FOR EXAMPLE, THAT REQUIRE LARGE AREAS OF INTERIOR FOREST HABITAT TO BE ABLE TO REPRODUCE SUCCESSFULLY.

(narrator) THE BIG WOODS, LIKE THE LARGER FOREST ECOSYSTEM OF WHICH IT WAS A PART, WAS RICH IN WILDLIFE AND HAD MUCH TO OFFER THE SETTLERS.

HEWING CLOSE TO THE RIVERS, THESE NEWCOMERS MOVED UP THROUGH THE DECIDUOUS FOREST BELT, OCCUPYING LAND ALONG THE FOREST'S EDGES AND PRAIRIE OPENINGS.

♪ ♪ ALTHOUGH MOST SETTLERS DIDN'T KNOW IT, THIS LANDSCAPE THAT SO ATTRACTED THEM HAD BEEN SHAPED BY HUMANS IN SIGNIFICANT WAYS FOR THOUSANDS OF YEARS.

THE REGION HAD BEEN OCCUPIED FOR MILLENNIA BY A NUMBER OF DIFFERENT GROUPS, THE MOST RECENT OF WHICH WAS THE DAKOTA WHO HAD SETTLED IN AREAS THAT APPEALED TO THEM.

WHAT DREW THE DAKOTA TO THE LANDSCAPE IS THE SAME THING THAT ATTRACTED SETTLERS.

WE HAVE BASIC HUMAN NEEDS FOR FRESH WATER, TREES WHICH WOULD PROVIDE FUEL AND SHELTER FROM THE WINDS, GAME, AND OPENINGS.

THE DAKOTA PLANTED THEIR GARDENS ALONG THE RIVER BOTTOMS.

(Angela Cavender Wilson) ONE OF THE STEREOTYPES ABOUT THE DAKOTA PEOPLE IS THAT WE WERE SIMPLY NOMADS, THAT WE MIGRATED AROUND, AND NEVER SETTLED IN ANY ONE PLACE, NEVER DID ANY FARMING.

THE DAKOTA DID INDEED FARM AND HAD SUMMER PLANTING VILLAGES THAT THEY WOULD NOT ONLY COME BACK TO IN THE SUMMERS, BUT REPEATEDLY YEAR AFTER YEAR.

FARMING WAS JUST ONE ASPECT OF OUR LIVES, BUT IT WASN'T THE SOLE RESOURCE.

(narrator) BUT FOR EUROPEAN-AMERICAN SETTLERS, FARMING WAS A FULL-TIME OCCUPATION.

MANY SAW THE INDIANS SUBSISTENCE LIFESTYLE AS PRIMITIVE AND WASTEFUL OF RESOURCES.

THIS WAS USED AS A JUSTIFICATION FOR TAKING THE LAND THROUGH TREATIES.

(Polly Fry) ONCE THE TREATIES HAD BEEN SIGNED, EURO-AMERICAN SETTLERS CAME INTO THE REGION AND DIRECTLY OCCUPIED THOSE PLACES THAT HAD JUST BEEN VACATED BY THE DAKOTA.

THEY CAME IN AND TOOK OVER VILLAGE SITES AND TOOK OVER FIELDS THAT THE DAKOTA HAD CLEARED FOR THEIR CORN CROPS AND PLANTED EURO-AMERICAN VARIETIES OF CORN.

(narrator) ALONG WITH NEW VARIETIES OF CORN, EUROPEAN-AMERICANS BROUGHT WITH THEM A NEW WAY OF LOOKING AT THE LAND.

FOR THEM, ITS HIGHEST AND BEST USE WAS FARMING.

THE WOODS WOULD HAVE TO GO.

(Elizabeth Raymond) THEY CAME TO THE FORESTS.

THERE ARE WONDERFUL ACCOUNTS OF HOW STUNNING THE TREES WERE, THE SIZE AND BEAUTY OF THE FORESTS THEY ENCOUNTERED, THEIR RICHNESS IN TERMS OF GAME AND SO FORTH.

BUT NO ONE QUESTIONED THE NECESSITY OF CUTTING THOSE TREES.

THE TREES WERE THERE TO BE PUT TO USE.

THEY WERE CUT.

THEY WERE PUT TO USE.

AND THE LAND, IN TURN, WAS THEN VIEWED AS A RESOURCE FOR SUBSEQUENT ACTIVITIES ONCE THE TREES WERE GONE, IN THE PATTERN THAT HAD BEEN REPEATED OVER AND OVER AND OVER AGAIN AS AMERICANS MOVED WEST.

(man) "AS IT NOW STOOD COVERED WITH TIMBER, IT WAS NOT FURNISHING ANYONE WITH ANYTHING, NOT EVEN PASTURE.

TIMBER AND MOSQUITOES WAS ALL IT WOULD RAISE TILL CUT OFF.

THEN IT WOULD FURNISH AT LEAST 20 BUSHELS OF WHEAT FOR EVERY ACRE."

G.W.

ALLEN.

♪ ♪ (Bob Quist) IT'S ALMOST UNIMAGINABLE THE AMOUNT OF LABOR IT TOOK, AND WHY IT COULD TAKE SO MANY YEARS TO GET 4, 5, OR 6 OR 10 ACRES OF CLEARED LAND.

THE BACKBREAKING LABOR OF GRUBBING, PULLING OUT STUMPS.

A TREMENDOUS AMOUNT OF PHYSICAL, PHYSICAL LABOR BY MOSTLY MEN AND BOYS.

CHOPPING, CHOPPING, CHOPPING.

♪ ♪ (Laurie Allmann) THE FIRST WOOD THAT WAS CUT IN THIS AREA WAS OAK, AND IT WAS REALLY FOR LOCAL PURPOSES.

THEY WANTED BUILDING MATERIAL AND THE WANTED FUEL.

BUT WHEN THE RAILROAD REACHED FARIBAULT FROM THE NORTH, THEY HAD THIS SUDDEN ACCESS TO MARKETS THAT THEY HADN'T BEEN ABLE TO REACH BEFORE.

[creaking & cracking] [dull thud] (narrator) ACRES OF TREES BEGAN FALLING, TURNED INTO MILLIONS OF BOARD FEET.

BUT MUCH OF THE WOODS WAS SIMPLY BURNED TO CLEAR THE LAND FOR FARMING.

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ BY THE END OF THE 19TH CENTURY, MOST OF THIS 3,000-SQUARE-MILE FOREST HAD VANISHED.

IN ITS PLACE WAS NOW A LANDSCAPE THAT MIRRORED THE LANDSCAPES OF THE WORLD THE SETTLERS HAD LEFT BEHIND.

♪ ♪ A LANDSCAPE OF FARMS AND TOWNS, AND SHELTERBELTS OF IMPORTED TREES AND SHRUBS THAT FOLLOWED THE GRIDLINES THAT NOW DEFINED THE NEW ORDER.

[train whistle blows] (narrator) BY THE LATE 1850s, THE REMOVAL OF THOSE OLD PARTS OF THE LANDSCAPE THAT WERE INCOMPATIBLE WITH THE NEW, SPED UP DRAMATICALLY.

THE HUNT FOR FURBEARERS THAT HAD FUELED THE OLD INDIAN-BASED FUR TRADE WAS NOW EXTENDED TO THE REST OF THE REGION'S WILDLIFE ON A SCALE THAT WOULD DWARF THAT FORMER TRADE.

(Rhoda Gilman) THERE IS THE LEGEND, IN A WAY, THE MYTH THAT THE FUR TRADE ENDED IN THIS AREA BECAUSE THE ANIMALS WERE WIPED OUT, THAT WAS NOT TRUE.

THE ANIMALS WERE STILL THERE.

[a wolf howls] ♪ ♪ (narrator) AND IN NUMBERS THAT ARE HARD TO IMAGINE TODAY.

♪ ♪ (man) "WE HAVE VENISON, ELK, CARIBOU, AND MOOSE ANYTIME WE TAKE THE TROUBLE TO HAVE IT BROUGHT IN.

NOTHING LIKE ENJOYING THE GOOD THINGS ON THE FRONTIER WHILE THEY LAST.

BEFORE CIVILIZATION MAKES THE GAME SCARCE."

"ROSEAU COUNTY TIMES," APRIL 1866.

(narrator) HUNTING AND TRAPPING THAT HAD BEEN DONE MAINLY BY INDIANS AND SETTLERS TO FEED AND SUPPORT THEMSELVES NOW BECAME AN INDUSTRY.

KEY TO THAT TRANSFORMATION WERE THE RAILROADS.

(Bruce White) WITH THE BUILDING OF THE RAILROADS, SUDDENLY THERE'S A NATIONAL MARKET WHERE BEFORE THERE HAD BEEN A LOCAL MARKET.

THERE HAD ALWAYS BEEN A MARKET, BUT IT'S SUDDENLY A NATIONAL MARKET IN WHICH THE GAME IS PULLED TO THE AREA IN WHICH THE HIGHEST PRICE WOULD BE PAID WHICH IS IN THE EAST.

IN THE OLD DAYS IT WOULD HAVE TAKEN WEEKS OR MONTHS TO GET TO THE EAST COAST.

NOW IT WAS POSSIBLE TO SHIP THIS MEAT TO THE EAST COAST IN DAYS.

(narrator) EXPLODING MARKETS SPAWNED A NEW SPECIES, THE PROFESSIONAL MARKET HUNTER.

PAID BY THE PIECE, THEY HUNTED NEARLY ANYTHING THAT MOVED.

(Bruce White) ALMOST EVERY GAME ANIMAL THAT COULD BE HUNTED IN MINNESOTA WAS IN DEMAND IN THE EAST.

EVERYTHING FROM MOOSE AND DEER AND ELK TO GROUSE, AND PIGEONS, AND PRAIRIE CHICKENS WERE IN DEMAND AND COULD BE SERVED IN DEL MONICO'S IN NEW YORK CITY OR ANY FANCY RESTAURANT.

(narrator) WITH ADVANCES IN EQUIPMENT, THE UNCONTROLLED TAKE BECAME A SLAUGHTER.

BEAR TALLOW AND PRAIRIE CHICKENS WERE SHIPPED BY THE BARREL; BUFFALO ROBES BY THE BAIL.

PERHAPS NO CREATURE MORE APTLY SYMBOLIZES THIS PERIOD OF WASTEFULNESS THAN THE NOW EXTINCT PASSENGER PIGEON.

A SPECIES OF THE EASTERN DECIDUOUS FOREST, THE BIRDS WERE ESTIMATED TO HAVE NUMBERED AS MANY AS 3 TO 5 BILLION INDIVIDUALS.

[din of wings flapping] TRAVELLING IN FLOCKS OF SOMETIMES MORE THAN A MILLION BIRDS, THEY WERE AN AWESOME PRESENCE ON THE LAND.

DESTRUCTIVE TO GRAIN FIELDS, EASY TO KILL, AND TASTY TO EAT, THE PIGEONS WERE SLAUGHTERED IN THE MILLIONS.

PIGEON HUNTERS, USING TELEGRAPHS TO FOLLOW THE BIRDS WHEREVER THEY CONGREGATED, BECAME A SPECIALIZED BRANCH OF MARKET HUNTING.

BY 1900, THE BIRDS, UNABLE TO FIND SAFE NESTING AREAS, HAD VANISHED FROM THE WILD.

(Bruce White) FOR MANY PEOPLE IN THE 19TH CENTURY, THERE WAS SIMPLY NO SENSE THAT GAME ANIMALS WERE ENDANGERED IN ANY WAY.

BECAUSE ESPECIALLY IN PLACES LIKE MINNESOTA, THEY APPEARED TO BE PLENTIFUL.

SO INDIVIDUAL PEOPLE WOULD HAVE NO SENSE OF THE LARGER HEALTH OF THE POPULATIONS OF ANIMALS AND WOULD CONTINUE TO MAKE DECISIONS BASED ON THAT ASSUMPTION.

(narrator) IN FEWER THAN 50 YEARS, THE ONE SPECIES THAT HAD ENTERED THE ERA WITH PERHAPS THE GREATEST POPULATION OF ALL HAD DWINDLED TO A SINGLE SURVIVING BIRD.

THE LAST PASSENGER PIGEON WAS HELD CAPTIVE BY THE CINCINNATI ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY; IT DIED ON SEPTEMBER 1, 1914.

(Richard Pemble) I WANT YOU TO NOTICE HOW IT IS DRYING OUT HERE A LITTLE BIT.

THIS IS PROBABLY SANDIER STUFF HERE.

(narrator) RICHARD PEMBLE TEACHES BIOLOGY AT MOORHEAD STATE UNIVERSITY, AND TODAY THIS IS HIS CLASSROOM.

THE BLUESTEM PRAIRIE PRESERVE IS A 3,500-ACRE REMNANT OF TALLGRASS PRAIRIE, LOCATED SOME 10 MILES EAST OF FARGO/MOORHEAD.

(Richard Pemble) LOTS OF STUFF GOING ON OUT HERE.

LET'S KINDA WANDER.

(narrator) PEMBLE BRINGS HIS STUDENTS HERE TO SHOW THEM WHAT A PRAIRIE IS, AND MORE IMPORTANT, TO ENGAGE THEIR IMAGINATIONS ABOUT WHAT THE PRAIRIE USED TO BE.

(Richard Pemble) YOU NEED TO SEE IT IN A PRAIRIE; YOU NEED TO SIT IN A PLACE LIKE THIS.

NOW, WHAT I WANT YOU TO DO, I WANT YOU TO LAY BACK, OK?

LAY BACK.

YOU DON'T SEE ANYBODY-- CAN YOU SEE ANYBODY?

WHAT WAS THIS PLACE LIKE AT THE TIME THAT THE EUROPEANS FIRST CAME INTO IT SAW THIS PRAIRIE FIRSTHAND.

WHAT DID THEY SEE?

ONE OF THE VERY EARLY DESCRIPTIONS CAME FROM AN ENGLISH TRADER, A FELLOW BY THE NAME OF ALEXANDER HENRY.

SEPTEMBER 5TH, 1800, HENRY WRITES THAT: "WE FOUND IMMENSE HERDS OF BUFFALO WHICH APPEARED TO TOUCH THE RIVER AND EXTEND WESTWARD ON THE PLAINS AS FAR AS THE EYE COULD REACH.

THE MEADOWS WERE ALIVE WITH THEM."

CAN YOU IMAGINE SQUINTING, LOOKING AS FAR AS YOU COULD SEE AND SEE BISON?

(Ron Nargang) PICTURE YOURSELF HAVING TRAVELED FOR WEEKS AND WEEKS IN A COVERED WAGON AND COMING OUT OF THE WOODS AND OVER THAT LAST RISE AND JUST AHEAD OF YOU IS JUST LITERALLY A SEA OF GRASS, AS FAR AS YOU COULD SEE.

♪ ♪ (narrator) NEWCOMERS TO THE REGION HAD NEVER SEEN A LANDSCAPE QUITE LIKE THE PRAIRIE.

(woman) "A WORLD OF GRASS AND FLOWERS STRETCHED AROUND ME, RISING AND FALLING IN GENTLE UNDULATIONS, WE PASSED FULL ACRES OF BLOSSOMS, ALL BARING ONE HUE, PURPLE PERHAPS, OR MASSES OF YELLOW OR ROSE.

AND THEN AGAIN A CARPET OF EVERY COLOR INTERMIXED AS IF A RAINBOW HAD FALLEN AMONG THE VERDANT SLOPES."

ELIZA STEEL, JUNE 1, 1840.

♪ ♪ (narrator) HERE IN MINNESOTA, TALLGRASS PRAIRIE BLANKETED THE WESTERN PART OF THE STATE, PART OF A GRASSLAND THAT STRETCHED UNBROKEN TO THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS.

THOUGH OFTEN COMPARED TO AN OCEAN, THE METAPHOR WASN'T QUITE PRECISE.

THE PRAIRIE WAS A REMARKABLY DIVERSE MIX OF PLANTS, ANIMALS, AND OTHER ORGANISMS-- A COMPLEX WEB OF LIFE.

I LIKE TO USE THE PATCHWORK QUILT IDEA: THAT HERE IT'S THIS, AND OVER HERE IT'S SOMETHING DIFFERENT.

AND OUR PRAIRIES WERE LIKE THAT.

YOU CAN SEE THE BIG BLUESTEM WITH THE GRASSES 4 OR 5 FEET TALL DOMINATING WHAT WE CALL A MESIC PRAIRIE.

AND AS WE WALK DOWN INTO THIS PARTICULAR PLACE IT'S A DEPRESSION IN THE LANDSCAPE, GETTING WETTER, SOIL IS GETTING WETTER.

I CAN FEEL IT UNDER MY FEET, BUT I KNOW IT FROM THE PLANTS BECAUSE I CAN SEE HERE PLANTS-- WE LOSE THE BIG BLUESTEM.

THIS WOULD BE MORE WET PRAIRIE IN HERE.

WALK A FEW FEET FURTHER AND I LEAVE THE PRAIRIE CORD GRASS AND REED CANARY GRASS AND NOW I'M IN CATTAILS, AND I'M IN A MARSH.

AND ALL THIS CHANGE HAPPENED IN 20 FEET, JUST BECAUSE THE TOPOGRAPHY CHANGED A LITTLE BIT.

[birds singing] (narrator) BECAUSE MOST OF IT NOW IS FARMLAND, IT'S HARD TO CAPTURE THE GRANDEUR AND SCALE OF THE RESETTLEMENT LANDSCAPE.

BUT A FEW SMALL PATCHES OF VIRGIN PRAIRIE REMAIN, LIKE THIS 100-ACRE PARCEL ON THE TONY THOMPSON FARM NEAR WINDOM.

THERE ARE MAYBE AS MANY AS 250 SPECIES, MAYBE MORE, OF PLANTS ALONE IN THIS PARTICULAR PIECE OF TALLGRASS PRAIRIE.

WHAT IS UNUSUAL ABOUT THIS PIECE OF PRAIRIE IS THAT IT COULD HAVE SO EASILY BEEN CONVERTED TO CULTIVATED AGRICULTURE, AND IT WASN'T.

(narrator) TONY THOMPSON IS A 5TH GENERATION FARMER; HE FEELS A SPECIAL CONNECTION TO THIS PIECE OF PRAIRIE, SPARED THE PLOW BY HIS GREAT AUNT.

(Tony Thompson) THIS IS 100 ACRES THAT IS SITTING ON TOP OF AN IDEAL SOIL FOR FARMING.

IT HAS A BEAUTIFUL LITTLE WETLAND IN IT THAT COULD EASILY HAVE BEEN DRAINED LONG AGO.

SHE DIDN'T HAVE THE HEART, AS I UNDERSTAND, TO DRAIN THIS WETLAND.

SHE SAW HER LAST CURLEW THERE.

(Richard Pemble) CAN YOU IMAGINE 20,000 SQUARE MILES OF THIS?

IT'S JUST UNBELIEVABLE, IT'S HARD TO COMPREHEND!

(narrator) PRAIRIE REMNANTS LIKE THE THOMPSON'S AND THE BLUESTEM RESERVE CAN OFFER A GLIMPSE INTO ONE OF THE DEFINING CHARACTERISTICS OF PRAIRIES-- THEIR AMAZING BIOLOGICAL DIVERSITY.

HERE IS A LIATRIS SPECIES THAT'S COMMON IN PRAIRIE PLANT LANDSCAPING NOW.

(Richard Pemble) THIS IS CALLED GREEN NEEDLEGRASS.

IT TENDS TO PICK OUT DRIER SITES, AND WE SHOULD FIND SOME NEEDLES.

(Tony Thompson) THIS IS LEADPLANT; THIS IS ONE OF THE PLANTS THAT TENDS TO BE A LITTLE BIT WOODY.

(Richard Pemble) THIS IS A RELATIVE OF THE GREEN NEEDLEGRASS.

THIS IS CALLED NEEDLE-AND-THREAD.

DOESN'T IT LOOK LIKE THREAD AND A NEEDLE?

(Tony Thompson) HERE IS ONE OF THE MOST CHARACTERISTIC WILDFLOWERS-- GRAY-HEADED CONEFLOWER, PRAIRIE CONEFLOWER.

(Richard Pemble) THIS IS A LITTLE EVENING PRIMROSE.

(Tony Thompson) THE GENUS IS CALLED PEDICULARIS, AND HERE WE SEE A SCATTERING OF IT.

(Richard Pemble) SAGE OR SOME OTHER SPECIES, AND IT SMELLS.

IT'S JUST LIKE BEING OUT IN THE DAKOTAS.

(narrator) THE DIVERSITY OF THE PLANTS WAS MATCHED BY A DIVERSITY OF OTHER ORGANISMS.

(Ron Nargang) THE WILDLIFE OF THE PRAIRIE WOULD HAVE BEEN A VERY RICH MIX OF SPECIES.

IT WOULD'VE INCLUDED EVERYTHING FROM LARGE PREDATORS, LIKE THE GRIZZLY BEAR AND THE TIMBER WOLF, TO LARGE GRAZERS LIKE BISON THAT LIVED IN EXTREMELY LARGE NUMBERS ACROSS THE PRAIRIE.

ELK, WHICH WERE NATURALLY A GRAZING SPECIES, THEY WERE A PRAIRIE SPECIES.

WATERFOWL IN JUST UNTOLD NUMBERS AND VARIETY OF SPECIES.

IT WOULD HAVE BEEN LITERALLY A VERY DIFFERENT PLACE THAN IT IS NOW AND JUST TEAMING WITH LIFE [crackling] (narrator) FIRE WAS ESSENTIAL TO MAINTAINING THE PRAIRIE.

(Richard Pemble) THE PRAIRIE DRIES OUT, IT'S A VAST UNBROKEN EXPANSE OF FUEL LYING OUT THERE FOR MILE AND MILES.

THE LIGHTNING STRIKES.

NATIVE AMERICAN PEOPLE STARTING THE PRAIRIE ON FIRE ON PURPOSE.

AND THEY DID IT BECAUSE THEY KNEW THAT THE PRAIRIES WOULD BENEFIT FROM FIRE.

YOU CAN REMOVE THE ACCUMULATION OF DEAD VEGETATION; EXPOSE THE SOIL TO WARMING RAYS OF THE SUN IN THE SPRING.

THINGS WARM UP.

THINGS GET GOING FASTER, THEN THE PRAIRIE FLOURISHES WITH FIRE.

(narrator) BISON WERE ALSO CRUCIAL TO THE HEALTH OF THIS ECOSYSTEM.

[soft grunting & snorting] (Thomas Sawtelle) SOME OF THE EXPERTS HAVE CALLED THEM MOWING MACHINES.

IF YOU HAVE A HERD OF 1,000, 2,000 OR MILLIONS LIKE COLONEL DODGE USED TO SEE WHEN HE FIRST CAME ACROSS THE PLAINS.

WHEN THEY CAME ACROSS, THEY JUST MOWED IT DOWN.

(Richard Pemble) THE BISON AS GRAZERS ACTUALLY PLAYED A CRITICAL ROLE IN THE PRAIRIE.

WITHOUT THE BISON, WITHOUT THE GRAZERS, THERE IS AN ACCUMULATION OF PLANT MATERIAL ON THE SURFACE THAT TIES UP NUTRIENTS, IT PREVENTS THE SUN FROM REACHING THE SOIL SURFACE.

THE SOIL STAYS COOL, THE PLANTS DON'T GET STARTED, THE PRAIRIE SUFFERS.

(narrator) AMERICAN SETTLERS TRYING TO EKE OUT A LIVING ON THE PRAIRIE HAD LITTLE INTEREST IN WHAT WE KNOW CALL BIOLOGICAL DIVERSITY.

(Elizabeth Raymond) WHEN PEOPLE CAME FIRST TO THE PRAIRIES, THEY RECOGNIZED THE BEAUTY OF THE PRAIRIES.

BUT AT THE VERY SAME TIME THAT THEY ADMIRED THIS AS A NATURAL WONDER, THEY RECOGNIZED A HIGHER NECESSITY OF PLOWING IT, OF MAKING IT INTO RECTANGULAR FARM FIELDS, AND INTO PRODUCTIVE LAND WHICH WAS SEEN TO BE A HIGHER AND A BETTER USE IN THE 19TH CENTURY.

(narrator) MINNESOTA'S FIRST GOVERNOR, ALEXANDER RAMSEY, CAPTURED THE ESSENCE OF THIS SENSIBILITY IN HIS 1860 INAUGURAL ADDRESS.

(as Alexander Ramsey) "GIVE US THE CAPITAL OF MORE MEN OF MORE PEOPLE, AND WE WILL VIVIFY.

INFUSE THE BREATH OF LIFE INTO THE DEAD CAPITAL OF MILLIONS OF ACRES, NOW GROWING ONLY PRAIRIE FLOWERS."

[cicadas chirping] (narrator) RAMSEY'S DEAD CAPITAL HARDLY NEEDED REVIVING; THE WORLD BENEATH THOSE PRAIRIE FLOWERS WAS VERY MUCH ALIVE.

BY SOME ESTIMATES, AS MUCH AS 90% OF THE PRAIRIE BIOMASS, THE LIVING PART OF THE LANDSCAPE, WAS UNDERGROUND.

A SINGLE SQUARE YARD OF BIG BLUESTEM GRASS COULD CONTAIN 25 MILES OF ROOTS.

THOSE ROOTS WERE FOOD FOR BILLIONS OF MICROBES AND INSECTS.

FEEDING ON THE ROOTS THAT DIED BACK EACH YEAR, THEY CONVERTED PLANT MATERIAL INTO COMPOST THAT, WHEN MIXED WITH MINERALS, LEFT BY THE GLACIERS, CREATED NUTRIENT-RICH SOIL.

(Mike Myers) IT'S A VERY YOUNG SOIL IN THESE SYSTEMS; IT'S ONLY 10,000 YEARS OLD OR 12,000 YEARS OLD.

IT'S ONLY BEEN IN EXISTENCE SINCE THE LAST ICE AGE.

MANY SOILS OF THE WORLD ARE MUCH OLDER THAN THIS, UP TO 5 MILLION YEARS OLD.

THEY'RE OLD AND THEY'RE HIGHLY WEATHERED AND THEY DON'T CONTAIN MANY NUTRIENTS.

THIS SOIL IN THIS BASIN IS IDEALLY SUITED FOR AGRICULTURE.

(narrator) BUT THE PRAIRIE PRESENTED SETTLERS WITH A PROBLEM.

(Bob Quist) WELL, HAVING NEVER BROKE A PRAIRIE MYSELF, YET READING ACCOUNTS, IT'S A TREMENDOUS PHYSICALLY DRAINING PROCESS.

[man barking commands] HAW.

.

.HAW!

(Bob Quist) EVEN IN THE SAND, FARMERS ARE USING 2 TO 3 TEAMS OF OXEN TO CUT THAT FIRST SOD.

THIS IS PRAIRIE THAT'S BEEN HERE FOR THOUSANDS OF YEARS IN SOME CASES.

SO THE BUILDUP OF ROOT MATERIAL AND DRY MATTER AND THE LONGEVITY OF SOME OF THESE PRAIRIE PLANTS GIVE YOU A TREMENDOUS ROOT TO TRY TO CUT THROUGH.

(narrator) THE PROBLEM OF CUTTING THIS THICK MAT OF ROOTS WAS SOLVED BY AN ILLINOIS BLACKSMITH NAMED JOHN DEERE.

HIS INVENTION, A SHARP STEEL MOLDBOARD AND SHARE, BECAME KNOWN AS THE "SINGING PLOW," BECAUSE IT EMITTED A SLIGHT WHINE AS IT SLICED THROUGH THE PRAIRIE'S ROOT MASS.

(Mike Myers) THIS PLOW WENT RIGHT THROUGH THE ROOTS--CUT IT, OVERTURNED IT, KILLED THE PLANTS, STARTED THE COMPOSTING PROCESS WHICH RELEASED THE NUTRIENTS.

WITHOUT THAT TECHNOLOGY, PRAIRIES WOULD NOT HAVE BEEN EXPLOITED AT THAT TIME.

(narrator) EXPLOITING THE PRAIRIE MEANT KILLING IT.

THE PLOW SEVERED THE PRAIRIE ROOTS, CUTTING OFF THE NUTRIENT-PRODUCTION PROCESS THAT MADE THE SOIL SO RICH.

THE HUNDREDS OF SPECIES THAT HAD MADE UP THE PRAIRIE'S WORKING PARTS WERE NOW REPLACED BY JUST ONE.

.

.

AN IMPORTED GRASS CALLED WHEAT.

[clattering of the belt] (Bob Quist) WHEAT GROWING IN MINNESOTA REALLY STARTS TO TAKE OFF IN THE LATTER 1850s AND ESPECIALLY DURING THE 1860s, BECAUSE THE CIVIL WAR HAS CREATED A TREMENDOUS DEMAND FOR WHEAT.

WHEAT IS THE ONLY CROP YOU CAN MOVE TO MARKET EFFECTIVELY.

CORN CAN ONLY BE MOVED ON THE HOOF OF A HOG OR IN A WHISKEY JUG.

BUT WHEAT IS THE CASH CROP.

IT IS THE ONE THAT WILL GIVE YOU MONEY.

AND IF IT'S THE ONLY THING YOU CAN RAISE THAT WILL GENERATE MONEY, IT IS IN SOME SENSE THAT LOTTERY TICKET.

IT'S THE LOTTERY-- I'M GOING TO MAKE IT RICH ON WHEAT.

♪ ♪ (narrator) RAILROADS WERE CRITICAL TO THE SPREAD OF WHEAT AND THE CONSEQUENT PLOW-UP OF THE PRAIRIES AFTER THE CIVIL WAR.

SPREADING ACROSS THE LAND, THEY BROUGHT A STEADY STREAM OF FARMERS OUT ONTO THE PRAIRIE, AND LATER, THEIR PRODUCE BACK TO THE GROWING URBAN MARKETS.

(William Cronon) WITH THE RAILROADS, SPACE NO LONGER MATTERED SO MUCH.

YOU COULD MOVE ACROSS LAND FAR MORE QUICKLY, CONNECT DISTANT POINTS MUCH MORE CLOSELY, AND DO IT TO THE LENS OF CORPORATIONS WHOSE GOAL IT WAS TO REARRANGE THE ENTIRE LANDSCAPE.

(David Lanegran) I JUST WANT EVERYBODY TO UNDERSTAND THAT THE PEOPLE WHO WERE OUT HERE IN THE FRONTIER PERIOD DIDN'T THINK OF THEMSELVES AT THE END OF THE WORLD.

THEY SAW THEMSELVES STANDING ON A GOLD MINE.

AND ALL THEY HAD TO DO WAS STITCH THIS RESOURCE FRONTIER TOGETHER WITH THE MARKETS IN THE EAST AND EVERYBODY WOULD LIVE HAPPILY EVER AFTER.

(Bob Quist) WELL, WE SEE THE TREMENDOUS DEMISE OF PRAIRIE LAND.

WE SEE A RAPID DECREASE OF WILD LANDS.

A TREMENDOUS AMOUNT OF FARMLAND IS GOING UNDER PRODUCTION.

IT IS WHEAT, WHEAT, WHEAT, WITH SMALLER PLOTS OF ANYTHING ELSE.

WE START LAND MINING, IF YOU WILL, FOR WHEAT.

(narrator) THAT PROCESS WAS NO BETTER EXPRESSED THAN ON THE PRAIRIES OF THE RED RIVER VALLEY.

HERE ON THE FORMER FLOOR OF WHAT WAS ONCE THE WORLD'S GREATEST GLACIAL LAKE, LAKE AGASSIZ, WAS A LANDSCAPE SEEMINGLY MADE FOR THE INDUSTRIAL MODEL.

DEVOID OF TREES AND LAKES, AND CUT BY FEW RIVERS, THE VALLEY'S DEEP, BLACK, PRAIRIE SOILS SEEM TO BECKON FARMING ON A MASSIVE SCALE.

MUCH OF THE VALLEY WAS OWNED BY THE NORTHERN PACIFIC RAILROAD.

WHEN THE COMPANY WENT BANKRUPT IN 1873, THESE LANDS BECAME AVAILABLE AT FIRE-SALE PRICES.

(William Cronon) AND THE RESULT OF THAT BANKRUPTCY WAS THE CREATION OF AN ERA IN AMERICAN FARMING CALLED THE "BONANZA" FARMS.

(narrator) FARMS OF A THOUSAND OR MORE ACRES SPRUNG UP ON THE VALLEY ON LANDS PREVIOUSLY OWNED BY THE RAILROAD.

FINANCED BY BIG-MONEYED INVESTORS, THESE WERE FARMS MANAGED BY CORPORATIONS EMPLOYING HUNDREDS OF UNSKILLED WORKERS, AND FLEETS OF GIANT REAPERS.

OPERATIONS THAT CREATED AGRICULTURE ON A SCALE NEVER SEEN BEFORE IN THE COUNTRY.

(Rhoda Gilman) THIS WAS LARGE-SCALE AGRICULTURE, MECHANIZED, BUT IT WAS HORSE-DRAWN MECHANIZATION.

A WHOLE DAY MOVING FROM ONE END TO THE OTHER CUTTING WHEAT, THEN COMING BACK, THE NEXT SWATH.

(narrator) AND THE RESULT WAS A DELUGE OF WHEAT INTO THE CITY OF MINNEAPOLIS.

KEEPING PACE WITH THE CHANGES IN AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTION WERE THE CHANGES IN THE WAY THAT WHEAT WAS PROCESSED.

(William Cronon) AND WITH THAT CONCENTRATION OF THAT CROP, IT BECAME ECONOMIC FOR FLOUR MILLERS IN MINNEAPOLIS TO INVEST IN NEW TECHNOLOGIES BORROWED FROM CENTRAL EUROPE FOR ROLLING MILLS, FOR MIDLING PURIFIERS TO CHANGE THE WHOLE WAY THAT FLOUR WAS MILLED, NOT JUST IN MINNESOTA, BUT IN THE WHOLE COUNTRY.

♪ ♪ (David Wiggins) THEY WERE NOW ABLE TO PRODUCE AT ST. ANTHONY FALLS, TO PRODUCE FLOUR OF THE HIGHEST QUALITY THE WORLD HAD EVER SEEN IN QUANTITIES THE WORLD HAD NEVER SEEN.

AND THIS COMBINATION OF QUALITY AND QUANTITY MEANT THAT WE INDUSTRIALIZED THE PRODUCT OF FLOUR.

FOR THE FIRST TIME IN HISTORY, WE WERE TREATING FOOD AS AN INDUSTRIAL PRODUCT.

♪ ♪ AND BY THE MIDDLE OF THE 1880s, WE WERE EXPORTING 35% OF IT INTERNATIONALLY.

IT WAS NOW CHEAPER TO BUY A BARREL OF FLOUR MADE IN MINNEAPOLIS IN TURKEY THAN IT WAS TO BUY A BARREL OF FLOUR MADE IN TURKEY!

(narrator) RUN THROUGH THE MILLS AT ST. ANTHONY FALLS, WHEAT HAD TURNED MINNESOTA INTO A COMMODITY'S GIANT.

NAMES LIKE PILLSBURY AND GOLD MEDAL FLOUR WERE KNOWN THROUGHOUT THE WORLD.

AND THE CAPITAL THAT THEY GENERATED FUELED THE GROWTH, WEALTH, AND POWER OF A GROWING METROPOLIS.

♪ ♪ BUT IT WAS AN EMPIRE THAT WHEAT ALONE COULD NOT SUSTAIN.

(Jack Dalrymple) EVENTUALLY THE WHEAT DISEASES, THE RUSTS AND WHATNOT, BEGAN TO GET TO BE MORE AND MORE OF A PROBLEM.

WEEDS BECAME A PROBLEM, SOME INSECTS AS WELL, BUT PRIMARILY CROP DISEASES.

(narrator) BY THE 1890s, REPEATED PLANTINGS IN WHEAT WERE CLEARLY DRAINING THE SOIL OF NUTRIENTS.

FALLING YIELDS AND A GLUT OF WHEAT STREAMING OUT OF THE PRAIRIES TO THE WEST FINALLY BROUGHT THE HEYDAY OF WHEAT TO A CLOSE.

ALREADY FARMERS WERE TURNING TO CORN AND OATS.

IN MINNESOTA, COMMODITY AGRICULTURE WOULD SURVIVE, BUT THE INDUSTRIAL MODEL CLEARLY HAD CONSEQUENCES.

(David Tilman) WE CAME IN AND USED THE FERTILE PRAIRIE SOILS OF MINNESOTA.

WE PLANTED WHEAT-- THIS CROP THAT DIDN'T EVEN OCCUR IN NORTH AMERICA-- BROUGHT IT WITH US FROM EUROPE OVER HERE, PLANTED IT, WERE ABLE TO GROW IT ACROSS THE LAND.

HAD BOUNTIFUL HARVESTS.

BUILT WEALTH, BUILT CITIES AND EVERYTHING ELSE WITH THIS.

WE WERE USING NATURE-- A LOT OF BENEFITS WITH SOME COSTS.

(Richard Pemble) WHAT WE DO IN OUR MODERN CULTURE IS FAVOR THOSE SPECIES THAT ARE USEFUL TO US WHETHER IT'S WHEAT FOR FOOD, OR CORN FOR FOOD, OR BLUEGRASS AS A TURF.

WE FAVOR WHAT ARE CALLED MONOCULTURES.

IN CONTRAST, A PRAIRIE IS NOT A MONOCULTURE.

A PRAIRIE, IS A COMMUNITY, IT'S A DIVERSE COMMUNITY.

[engine purring] (David Tilman) AND WHAT WE HAVE LEARNED AT LOOKING AT HOW DIVERSITY AFFECTS THE FUNCTIONING OF SYSTEMS IS THAT WHEN SYSTEMS ARE SIMPLIFIED, THE SYSTEMS TEND TO LOSE PRODUCTIVITY.

THEY LOSE FERTILITY OF THEIR SOIL AND THEY BECOME LESS STABLE, LESS SUSTAINABLE THROUGH TIME.

(narrator) BEFORE THE 19TH CENTURY WAS THROUGH, THE PRAIRIE WAS EFFECTIVELY GONE.

(Richard Pemble) A THIRD OF THE STATE WAS GRASSLAND: 20,000 SQUARE MILES OF MINNESOTA WAS GRASSLAND.

THAT 20,000 SQUARE MILES TODAY IS AGRICULTURAL LAND.

AND THAT CONVERSION OCCURRED VERY, VERY RAPIDLY.

SO 20 SQUARE MILES, PERHAPS 30 SQUARE MILES IN LITTLE ISOLATED FRAGMENTS REMAIN-- A 10TH OF A PERCENT; LESS THAT 1 PERCENT CERTAINLY.

IT'S HARD TO KNOW A LANDSCAPE WHEN THAT'S ALL THAT REMAINS OF IT.

WE CAN GO SEE FORESTS, BECAUSE THE FORESTS EXIST.

EVEN IF THEY'VE BEEN CUT OVER, IMPACTED BY PEOPLE.

BUT THE PRAIRIE'S GONE.

♪ ♪ (narrator) AND WITH THE PRAIRIE WENT ALL THE OTHER THINGS IT WAS-- BLUESTEM, WOLVES, FIRE, ELK, AND OF COURSE BISON.

HUNTED OUT OF MINNESOTA BY THE 1850s, IT WAS NEARLY EXTINCT BY THE END OF THE 19TH CENTURY.

ONLY THE BONES OF THE ANIMALS REMAINED, LITERALLY CARPETING THE EMPTY PLAIN.

THE BISON, ONCE SO VALUABLE TO THE PRAIRIE AND THEN TO THE HIDE MARKET, NOW BECAME SOMETHING ELSE-- A RICH SOURCE OF FERTILIZER.

WHOLE FAMILIES MADE THEIR LIVINGS GATHERING THE BONES.

♪ ♪ LIKE THE PRAIRIE OF WHICH IT WAS A VITAL PART, THE BISON WAS INCOMPATIBLE WITH THE IMMERGING WORLD THAT WAS REPLACING IT.

IT WAS ONLY IN DEATH THAT BOTH THE BISON AND THE PRAIRIE BECAME A VALUED PART OF THE NEW LANDSCAPE.

(man) "WITH THE INCREASED QUANTITY OF SNOW THAT HAS FALLEN SINCE I WROTE LAST, HAS COME ALSO AN INCREASED AMOUNT OF BUSINESS.

QUITE A NUMBER OF TEAMS OF MEN BEING ADDED TO THIS CAMP.

WHICH, WITH THE PLENTY OF SNOW MAKES THINGS GO RATHER LIVELY.

IT IS ONLY ABOUT 3 WEEKS AGO THAT WE GOT HAULING.

BY TOMORROW NIGHT, WE WILL HAVE A LITTLE MORE THAN ABOUT 2 1/2 MILLION FEET BANKED.

AND STILL ROLLING THEM AT A RATE OF 100,000 FEET PER DAY.

LUMBERMAN, "STILLWATER GAZETTE," JANUARY 12, 1877.

(narrator) FROM ITS EARLIEST DAYS IN MINNESOTA INTO THE LAST QUARTER OF THE 19TH CENTURY, THE LOGGING BUSINESS IN THE STATE HAD GROWN FROM SMALL OPERATIONS CENTERED AROUND THE RIVER VALLEYS OF THE ST. CROIX, THE RUM, AND THE MISSISSIPPI, TO A GIANT INDUSTRY.

BY 1878, MINNESOTA WAS PRODUCING NEARLY 200 MILLION BOARD FEET OF LUMBER, ENOUGH TO ENCIRCLE THE EARTH MORE THAN ONCE.

AND EVERY YEAR SAW AN INCREASE.

♪ ♪ AS THE ACREAGE OF DEVASTATED FOREST GREW, VOICES OF ALARM BEGAN TO BE HEARD-- LONELY, ISOLATED, AND PRINCIPALLY FROM THE EAST.

(man) "OUR FOREST ARE FALLING WITH APPALLING RAPIDITY.

LIKE SPENDTHRIFTS, WE ARE LIVING NOT UPON THE INTEREST, BUT UPON THE CAPITAL."

CARL SCHURZ, SECRETARY OF THE INTERIOR, 1881.

(narrator) BUT OUT ON THE FRONTIER, THERE WAS STILL TOO MUCH FOREST LEFT, TOO MUCH MONEY TO BE MADE, FOR SUCH CONCERNS TO SLOW THE ESCALATING CUT.

LOGGING CREWS WERE NOW LARGER AND MORE SPECIALIZED.

STEAM POWER WAS COMMONPLACE.

NEW STEEL BAND SAWS MADE A SPEEDIER, MORE EFFICIENT CUT.

AND JUST AS RAILROADS WERE SPREADING ACROSS ALL OF MINNESOTA, THEY ALSO BEGAN PENETRATING INTO THE NORTH WOODS, HEADING RIGHT TO THE CUT ITSELF.

(Skip Drake) SO NO LONGER WERE LUMBERMEN DEPENDENT UPON DRIVING UNPREDICTABLE STREAMS AND RIVERS DOWN TO THEIR SAWMILLS.

NOW THEY COULD GET DELIVERY OF ROUND LOGS BY RAILS.

AND THAT JUST MOVED THE INDUSTRY FASTER AND FASTER.

(Char Miller) THE WOODS ARE BECOMING VERY MUCH LIKE A FACTORY.

AND INDEED THAT IS HOW MANY PEOPLE WOULD CONCEIVE OF THESE WOODS, IN FACT.

THESE VAST FORESTS AS YET ANOTHER FACTORY THAT CAN BE MECHANIZED, IN THE PROCESS OF WHICH YOU GENERATE FAR MORE BOARD FEET THAN YOU COULD HAVE BY THE ORDINARY MECHANISMS OF INDIVIDUALS WITH AXES TAKING DOWN TREES ONE BY ONE.

[buzzing] (narrator) AS LOGGING OPERATIONS WERE BECOMING MORE INDUSTRIALIZED IN MINNESOTA, THE PINERIES IN OTHER GREAT LAKE STATES WERE SHOWING SIGNS OF DEPLETION.

LUMBER BARONS SOON SET THEIR SIGHTS ON THE FORESTS WEST OF DULUTH.

BY 1890, THEY HAD PURCHASED VAST TRACKS OF THESE RICH PINERIES AT PENNIES AN ACRE, PRINCIPALLY BY MANIPULATING THE LAND LAWS AIMED AT MAKING AGRICULTURAL LAND AVAILABLE TO SETTLERS.

THE KEY TO MAKING LARGE PROFITS WAS TO LOWER YOUR OVERHEAD.

THE WAY TO DO THAT WAS TO MAKE SURE YOU DIDN'T PAY TOP DOLLAR, OR EVEN MEDIUM DOLLAR FOR THE LAND.

IN FACT, IF YOU COULD STEAL IT, ALL TO THE GOOD.

(narrator) AND STEAL IT THEY DID.

IN 1879, FEDERAL TRESPASS SUITS WERE BROUGHT AGAINST 79 MINNESOTA LUMBERMAN, A VIRTUAL "WHO'S-WHO" OF THE MINNEAPOLIS LUMBER INDUSTRY.

THE EVENT WAS NOTEWORTHY, NOT SO MUCH BECAUSE OF THE PEOPLE INVOLVED, BUT BECAUSE LEGAL ACTION WAS BROUGHT AT ALL.

MOST PEOPLE THOUGHT THE INDUSTRY WAS DOING A PUBLIC GOOD, NOT ONLY BY PROVIDING LUMBER TO THE NATION, BUT BY CLEARING WOODS FOR SETTLERS AND AGRICULTURE.

(Skip Drake) LAND THAT WAS WILD WAS NOT PROFITABLE, IT WAS UNDERUTILIZED.

AND IT COULD ONLY BE BEST USED IF IT WAS CIVILIZED.

THE PLOW ALWAYS FOLLOWED THE AXE.

(narrator) LUMBER COMPANIES, LAND SPECULATORS, FRONTIER BOOSTERS, AND EVEN THE UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA'S AGRICULTURAL EXTENSION SERVICE ALL TENACIOUSLY PROMOTED THE CUTOVER AS FARMLAND.

BUT THE NORTHERN FOREST ECOSYSTEM, SO EFFICIENT AT GROWING PINE TREES, WAS NOT SUITED TO AGRICULTURE.

THE SOILS WERE THIN, ACIDIC, AND POOR IN NUTRIENTS.

WHAT'S MORE, INTENSIVE LOGGING HAD LEFT BEHIND A DEVASTATED LANDSCAPE THAT WAS A TINDERBOX READY TO EXPLODE.

WHAT WOULD HAPPEN WHEN YOU WENT THROUGH AND LOGGED AN AREA IS THERE WAS A VARIETY OF DOWNED SLASH FROM THE TREE-- THE TREE BRANCHES AND THE TREE NEEDLES.

ONCE THEY DRIED.

THEY WERE VERY VOLATILE.

ALL IT TOOK WAS A LOW HUMIDITY AND A SPARK AND THEY WERE UP IN FLAMES.

(narrator) FIRE HAD ALWAYS BEEN AN IMPORTANT PART OF THE ECOSYSTEM.

OCCURRING IN PATCHES, IT WAS THE WAY THE FOREST RENEWED ITSELF.

BUT NOW THERE WERE HUNDREDS OF SQUARE MILES OF CUTOVER LAND.

THE SLASH LEFT BEHIND BY LOGGERS FUELED CATASTROPHIC FIRES.

THESE HAD DISASTROUS CONSEQUENCES FOR THE WHITE PINE.

IT'S A LITTLE UNFAIR TO BLAME THE DEMISE OF WHITE PINE IN THIS PARTICULAR AREA ON LOGGING ALONE.

WHITE PINES IN OLDER STANDS ALMOST ALWAYS HAVE A SEEDLING BANK OR A BANK OF SAPLINGS THAT ARE READY TO TAKE OVER AND GROW ONCE THE PARENT TREES ARE REMOVED.

BUT THEY HAD SO MANY FIRES THAT WERE SO HOT BURNING THROUGH THIS OLD SLASH, THAT THE WHITE PINE SIMPLY COULDN'T REPRODUCE, OR PRODUCE ENOUGH SEEDS TO REGENERATE THEMSELVES.

WE KILLED THE PARENTS WITH THE AXE, AND WE CAME BACK AND WIPED OUT THE PROGENY WITH FIRES.

(narrator) ENTICED BY THE AVAILABILITY OF CHEAP CUTOVER LAND, SETTLERS AND TOWNSIDE BOOMERS AND OTHERS BEGAN MOVING INTO THE AREA.

IT WAS ONLY A MATTER OF TIME BEFORE A MAJOR CATASTROPHE OCCURRED.

THAT HAPPENED ON SEPT. 1, 1894.

HINCKLEY, MINNESOTA, POPULATION 680, WAS A MILL TOWN THAT OCCUPIED WHAT ONE RESIDENT DESCRIBED AS A "HOLE CUT INTO THE BRUSH".

(Jeanne Coffey) SO MANY LUMBER COMPANIES DID COME INTO THIS AREA-- WE HAD PROBABLY 10 IN THE HEYDAY OF THE LOGGING INDUSTRY THAT CAME IN HERE AND JUST REALLY CLEAR-CUT THE ENTIRE AREA.

AND SO HINCKLEY, BY THE TIME THE FIRE CAME ALONG, WAS REALLY A KIND OF, ALMOST A PRAIRIE, BECAUSE THE TREES IN THE IMMEDIATE AREA WERE GONE.

(narrator) SEPTEMBER 1ST DAWNED HOT AND DRY.

A FIRE ERUPTED IN THE WOODS SOUTHWEST OF TOWN.

FUELED BY SLASH AND A MIX OF HUMID AIR NEAR THE GROUND AND COLDER AIR ABOVE, A FIRE EXPLODED.

[loud crackling] (Jeanne Coffey) IT BROKE THROUGH THE TEMPERATURE INVERSION TO GET TO THE COOLER AIR ON TOP.

THE COOLER AIR STARTED FUNNELING DOWN, TURNING IT INTO A CYCLONE OR TORNADO OF FIRE.

(narrator) THE FIRESTORM SWEPT TOWARD HINCKLEY AT AN INCREDIBLE SPEED.

(Jeanne Coffey) PEOPLE JUST SAID "RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!"

IT WAS TRAVELING AT SOME POINTS EVEN AT 75 MILES AN HOUR.

IT MEASURED ABOUT 4-1/2 MILES INTO THE ATMOSPHERE.

BY ABOUT 4:00 THE ENTIRE TOWN OF HINCKLEY WAS CONSUMED.

THERE WAS NOT MUCH LEFT AFTER IT WAS OVER.

AND SO PEOPLE WHO WENT THROUGH THAT FIRE THOUGHT THAT IT WAS REALLY THE END OF THE WORLD.

[orchestra plays softly] ♪ ♪ (narrator) MORE THAN 400 DIED IN THE FIRE, 197 IN HINCKLEY ALONE.

NEARLY 900 SQUARE MILES WAS BURNED IN A 30-MILE-WIDE PATH THAT SWEPT ACROSS PINE COUNTY.

THE HEAT WAS SO INTENSE THAT RAILROAD SPIKES AND RAILS WERE BENT.

FOR NEARLY 50 YEARS, MINNESOTA'S LUMBERMEN HAD HAD A FREE HAND IN TAKING WHAT THEY WANTED, MANIPULATING THE RULES TO SUIT THEIR NEEDS.

THE FEW VOICES WHO QUESTIONED THE PRACTICE OF THE LOGGERS HAD BEEN DROWNED BY THOSE APPLAUDING THE COMMERCE THEY BROUGHT TO THE STATE.

NOW THE GHOSTS OF HINCKLEY WERE ALSO CRYING FOR REFORM.

♪ ♪ (narrator) IN A SPAN OF ROUGHLY 50 YEARS, FROM THE TIME OF THE LAND SURVEY, UNTIL THE DAWN OF THE 20TH CENTURY, MINNESOTA'S LANDSCAPES HAD BEEN REMADE BY HUMAN HANDS.

THE BIG WOODS HAD MELTED AWAY UNDER THE AXE.

AND WITH THE ARRIVAL OF THE RAILROADS CAME THE ELIMINATION OF THE REGION'S WILDLIFE BY MARKET HUNTERS.

THE PRAIRIE, WITH ALL ITS DIVERSITY OF PLANTS AND ANIMALS, HAD BEEN VASTLY SIMPLIFIED.

AND NOW THE WHITE PINE FOREST WAS GONE, TURNED INTO HOUSES FOR MINNEAPOLIS, OMAHA, AND DUBUQUE, IOWA.

THE SCALE AND ACCELERATED RATE OF THESE CHANGES WERE UNPRECEDENTED IN HISTORY.

IT TOOK A DISASTER TO SOUND THE ALARM.

FROM OUT OF THE ASHES OF HINCKLEY CAME A FRESHENING BREEZE.

A REFORM MOVEMENT THAT HAD PERCOLATED THROUGHOUT MUCH OF THE LATTER HALF OF THE 19TH CENTURY SUDDENLY HAD NEW CONVERTS.

LED BY A CRUSADING OLD CIVIL WAR HERO BY THE NAME OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS ANDREWS, IT WOULD CULMINATE IN AN ENTIRELY NEW WAY THAT THE PEOPLE OF MINNESOTA VIEWED THEIR LANDSCAPES.

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ CAPTIONING BY ARMOUR CAPTIONING AND TPT (man) PRODUCTION OF THIS PROGRAM WAS MADE POSSIBLE IN PART BY.

.

.

THE MINNESOTA ENVIRONMENT AND NATURAL RESOURCES TRUST FUND .

.

.AS RECOMMENDED BY THE LEGISLATIVE COMMISSION ON MINNESOTA RESOURCES.

THE MCKNIGHT FOUNDATION-- MAINTAINING AND RESTORING A HEALTHY, SUSTAINABLE ENVIRONMENT IN THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER BASIN.

AND THESE FUNDING PARTNERS.

.

.

- [Narrator] Funding for this program is provided in part by the Minnesota Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund and the friends of Minnesota Experience.