America´s Historic Trails

Tom Bodett, familiar to many for his work on National Public Radio and Public Television, hosts this fascinating series on the trails that extended America's frontiers. Follow in the footsteps and wagon ruts of rugged pioneers, dauntless homesteaders, reclusive mountain men and stop-at-nothing gold hunters as they explored, settled and worked the new land. The Great Wagon Road & The Wilderness Trail The Great Wagon Road carried hopeful settlers out of Philadelphia and into the wilds of Pennsylvania and West Virginia. The 1,000 mile length of the Wilderness Trail traversed the Shenandoah Valley, crossed the Cumberland Gap and forged into the unknown lands of Kentucky. The California Trail & El Camino Real Shopkeepers and farmers dropped everything to join the California Gold Rush, but first they had to cross the deadly 40 Mile Desert and the treacherous Sierra Nevadas. El Camino Real in New Mexico was the El Paso and Santa Fe trade route used by the Pueblo Indians and Conquistadors 400 years ago. The Yukon Gold Rush Trail Three gold strikes sent thousands scrambling for the frozen gold fields of the far north between 1896 and 1903. Driven by optimism and gullibility, many found only ruin. Tom retraces their eager steps from Seattle to the Inside Passage along the Alaskan coastline and Skagway. The Old Post Road Early roads were lifelines thrown across deep wilderness to the isolated residents of colonial America's far-flung settlements. The Old Post Road carried supplies, mail and exhausted travelers through 300 miles of wild back-country between Boston and New York in the 1600s. The River Road & The Natchez Trace Riverboat-men used The River Road and Natchez Trace for their up-river return trip from New Orleans. These enterprising roustabouts braved vicious land pirates and swamps infested with alligators and water moccasins to make their way back to Natchez and Nashville. The Mormon Trail & California's Mission Trail The Mormon Trail crossed the Great Plains to the Great Salt Lake, bringing the devoted followers of Brigham Young to their new Zion. California's Mission Trail linked a chain of old Spanish Missions along the California's coastline from San Fernando to Sonoma.

Upplagd i sortimentet: 16 september, 2013