BBC – Seven Wonders of the Industrial World (2003) Part 7: Hoover Dam
English | Documentary | Size: 980 MB
How the Modern world was forged. The Industrial Revolution changed the world in countless ways – and produced many technical wonders in the process. Seven of the most notable are described here, each one proving that human creativity is as much alive in the modern world as it was in ancient times. From city sewers to the Panama Canal, these phenomenal man made creations changed the world forever.
BBC TWO presents a a ground breaking drama documentary series that tells the story of how our modern world was forged in rivets, grease and steam; in blood, sweat and human imagination. Narrated by Robert Lindsay, Seven Wonders Of The Industrial World recreates the epic monuments of the industrial revolution from Brunel’s extraordinary ship, the Great Eastern, the Titanic of its day that helped to bridge the two ends of the empire, to the Panama Canal which linked the Atlantic and Pacific oceans half a century later.
The series encounters the most brilliant pioneers of the industrial age and recreates their stories of burning ambition, extravagant dreams, passion and rivalry. Meticulous research of the original source materials, from private letters to newspaper reports of the day, reveal a wealth of fascinating facts, brought to life by leading actors including Steven Berkoff, Mark McGann and Ron Cook. Using CGI and reconstructions based on records and journals of the time, the epic monuments of the Industrial Revolution are brought to life. The great achievements celebrated in this series reveal as much about the human spirit as they do about technological endeavour.
The period of over 125 years from beginning of the 19th Century saw the creation of some of the worlds most remarkable feats of engineering, now celebrated as great wonders of the industrial world. The slowly evolving Industrial Revolution was the fertile ground that gave life to dreams in iron, cement, stone and steel. Dreams such as Isambard Kingdom Brunels extraordinary Great Eastern, the Crystal Palace of the Seas that he hoped would join the two ends of the British Empire and Ferdinands de Lesseps Panama Canal that linked the Atlantic and Pacific oceans more than half a century later. The pioneers of the age were practical visionaries, seeing beyond the immediate horizon, the safe and the known, as they cut a path to the future. Yet their unique masterpieces could never have been built without an army of unsung heroes, the craftsmen and workers also willing to risk their lives as they laboured to bring each dream to life. Not to mention the financiers and shareholders hanging on for the ride as reputations were lost and won.
Series Producer: Deborah Cadbury ; A BBC/TLC Co-Production
Part 7: The Hoover Dam
America’s Colorado River is one of the world’s most dangerous and unpredictable waterways. As pioneers explored and found their way across the vast continent of America, they were frequently stopped by poor or hostile environments such as the desert regions of Arizona and Nevada. In the early 1900s, however, engineers began to realise that even here it would be possible to make the desert bloom, by building a dam across the Colorado River. Some 60 storeys high, and of a larger volume than the Great Pyramid at Giza, the Hoover Dam was soon to break all records, taming the wild river and changing the face of America forever, providing electricity and irrigation to the deserts of the west.
At the height of the depression of the 1930s, poverty-stricken workers on the dam, earning just a few dollars a day, died from horrific explosions, carbon monoxide poisoning and heat exhaustion as it slowly came to fruition. The chief engineer, Frank Crowe, did nevertheless get it built ahead of schedule and under budget – notching up one more extraordinary piece of evidence for the ingenuity and tenacity of man.
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