The National Parks: America's Best Idea S01E02 · The Last Refuge (1890 – 1915)

Overview

By the end of the 19th century, widespread industrialization has left many Americans worried about whether the country - once a vast wilderness - will have any pristine land left. At the same time, poachers in the parks are rampant, and visitors think nothing of littering or carving their names near iconic sites like Old Faithful. Congress has yet to establish clear judicial authority or appropriations for the protection of the parks. This sparks a conservation movement by organizations such as the Sierra Club, led by John Muir; the Audubon Society, led by George Bird Grinnell; and the Boone and Crockett Club, led by Theodore Roosevelt. The movement fails, however, to stop San Francisco from building the Hetch Hetchy dam at Yosemite, flooding Muir's "mountain temple" and leaving him broken-hearted before he dies.

Torrents

Subtitles

Episodes

1. 1 1. The Scripture of Nature (1851 – 1890)2009-09-27 · 1h 54mIn 1851, word spreads across the country of a beautiful area of California's Yosemite Valley, attracting visitors who wish to exploit the land's scenery for commercial gain and tho
2. 2 2. The Last Refuge (1890 – 1915)2009-09-28 · 2h 11mBy the end of the 19th century, widespread industrialization has left many Americans worried about whether the country - once a vast wilderness - will have any pristine land left.
3. 3 3. The Empire of Grandeur (1915 – 1919)2009-09-29 · 1h 51mIn the early 20th century, America has a dozen national parks, but they are a haphazard patchwork of special places under the supervision of different federal agencies. The conserv
4. 4 4. Going Home (1920 – 1933)2009-09-30 · 1h 55mWhile visiting the parks was once predominantly the domain of Americans wealthy enough to afford the high-priced train tours, the advent of the automobile allows more people than e
5. 5 5. Great Nature (1933 – 1945)2009-10-01 · 1h 54mTo battle unemployment in the Great Depression, Franklin D. Roosevelt creates the Civilian Conservation Corps, which spawns a "golden age" for the parks through major renovation pr
6. 6 6. The Morning of Creation (1946 – 1980)2009-10-02 · 1h 54mFollowing World War II, the parks are overwhelmed as visitation reaches 62 million people a year. A new billion-dollar campaign – Mission 66 – is created to build facilities and in