There are more than 400 National Parks across america, covering over 85 million acres of land with locations in every state. More than 120 5 Million People visited the site dear. We will feature a mixture of Natural Beauty and history at eight different parks around the country. We begin just outside cleveland. Situated along the river, we will learn how the canal system here lies a major role in our nations westward expansion 1840s. 1840s and the ohio and you are canal as part of a system that was put in place in the early years of america, between 1825 and 1832. It is a water transportation route that connected lake erie with the ohio river, which is part of a larger idea. A National Water transportation route. In the early days of america we had colonies situated right along the atlantic seaboard. Our leaders at that time so i problem. The problem was, we needed that country to expand westward. There was a big obstacle the appellation mountains. Our first president happened to be a canal engineer. He had an idea. To create this transcontinental water transportation route using two canals, the era canal, the ohio and eatery, that would ultimately connect the era canal, lake erie, the ohio river, sippy, all the way to the gulf of mexico. In the early days we did not have a big federal government. In terms of implementing the canal, it depended on the states. Fortunately, the state of new york had a champion who became their canal commissioner and got the job done for the state of new york. Then he rose to become the governor of new york. Ohio, facing a similar challenge in terms of funding, found itself on the verge of bankruptcy. The canal project is worth more than all of the value of the land in ohio. How do you find this thing . Believe it or not, the state of new york back the bonds. It was clinton that came for the groundbreaking. Why . Well, guess what . It made a lot of beneficial difference to the state of new york including the fact that new york city became the only part that could export and import goods, making at the Financial Capital of america. In ohio we had a fellow by the name of alfred kelly who became the canal commissioner and took it on as his lifelong legacy to make sure that canal got built on time and under budget. The ohio and era canal goes from cleveland to portsmouth ohio. The actual construction of the canal began in 1825. By 1827, the first boat from akron to cleveland docked through the canal port in cleveland. By 1832 the entire system was complete from cleveland all the way to the ohio river. It made a tremendous difference. To the nation and allowed us rationalize our economy. It allowed us to have internal trade. Prior to that all of those seaboard states depended on exporting in terms of making money and delivering goods and services. This helped america expand westward. Cityo, i mention new york became the Financial Capital of the country. Wilderness tom become the third most populous and third richest state in the union by the 1860s. Canal life was a slowpaced life. And abouts generally four or five miles per hour. We are standing in a lock right now. There were numerous locks to allow those folks to navigate the terrain and topography. Elevators, watered elevators that lifted or lowered the boat. Times he would find cattle and people sleeping in the same boat. Summer travelers, some were goods being delivered. A pretty hectic life, but at a slow pace. Predominantly the goods moved along the canal eastward were grain, weeds, eggs of this nature. We became the breadbasket of america for a reason. This was a good place to grow things. Basically, we had this barter, trade system that was part of our National Economy that had, on one hand food, on the other hand services, goods, machines, etc. The canal paid for itself. Waylock. And we had our you would have a canal boat get weighed. Its difference between what it was original between its original weight and what it docked at that time you made your money. The the railroad bought canal land in cleveland, to basically put in railroad tracks, we took that canal and moved it. Gh canal ine the wei 1874. Railroads alive arrived in 1851. The guy who helped bring the railroads to cleveland, same guy who championed the canal. The railroads premuch had a Immediate Impact on the canal. However, the canal did stay in use until 1913. It had a different use. It started to become a place where people would go leisurely on the weekend. They would travel up and down the canals. Canals, when put in place they would have General Stores or taverns. Crawling ond go pub a sunday afternoon. One legacy of the canal was the fact that in cleveland the river valley became the center of storage. It became report it became a Manufacturing Center of the city itself. That is wealthy where the wealth of cleveland group. It was based on the fact you had that canal. As time went on and manufacturing rose. The city of cleveland through, we became the fifth largest city in the country. Oilad major steel mills and refineries thanks to John Rockefeller. It was a consequence, environmentally. Prior to the Environmental Protection agency and regulations for water there were no regulations. Had situationsd where, for instance, standard oil and John Rockefeller basically refined oil along the banks of the river, and when they did so there were certain byproducts that he could not find a use for. Therefore, they ended up in the river. Times reported that at one we had a fire in 1957 they ont and measured the gunk the river and it was more than eight inches deep of oil and other byproducts. The story itself, although it is bad, it really has tremendously positive outcomes. It inspires earth day. It helps pass legislation that creates the United States epa. It helps pass the clean water bill. If you look at the consequences of that particular river fire, there is the positive that far outweighs the negative. Cleveland, due to that fire and the exposure it got, we pretty much are the selma of that movement. In 1974 Congress Passed legislation to create the Cuyahoga National Park. That became the central feature of that National Park. We are still an area of concern. There is still work to be done in terms of cleaning up the river, what the needle has gone dramatically to the positive end. We are just about through the area of concern. 2000 resident bill clinton introduced a program called the american rivers program. He basically put the invitation out to anyone who thought their river was significant enough to the story of america to compete for this designation. We did, we competed for the Cuyahoga River. The story was told, they went through that deliberation process to choose which was going to be the first 10 rivers to be nominated. They got to bill clinton, they gave him the last. He said, where is the cuyahoga . Didnt they apply . The answer was, they did apply, however they didnt make the cut. He goes, this program is all about the Cuyahoga River. The reason he said that was, it is the comeback of the Cuyahoga River that is the story today. This area became Cuyahoga National Recreation Area in december 1970 four. It became Cuyahoga National Park in the year 2000. With that comes a new idea for ringing National Parks to people. Most of us are going to get to the Arctic National wildlife refuge, but if we have National Park nearby, you can get to those. They started making National Parks in urban areas. We have a backbone with the ohio ie canal, the railroad, and the Cuyahoga River. This park was created out of land that has been used, in some instances abused, because it was a wasteland that people did not see any potential for. Up, we, we cleaned it let nature do what nature does, and now we are the 11th most visited National Park. There is a huge story here. Story of can i say redemption . A story where, if we allow nature to do what it does best, if we give it the chance to do what it does best and not and thee or help it, land can recover with environmental legislation and laws and angst that we have in. Lace now we have a river that is coming back to life. The environment has recovered. Yes, it was degraded because of man, but it was also helped by man and it has allowed it, that help, it has recovered to create this area we have now. From the Cuyahoga River we now travel to the banks of the Mississippi River and gateway arch National Park in st. Louis, where a monument to americas expansion has become a recognizable symbol for the city that played such a vital role in it. People are like i was when i first saw it. When you see it from a distance you think, uhoh thats kind of interesting. The closer you get to it, you. Ealize how massive it is getting up to the base of it and touching it, looking up 630 feet to the top, it really is very impressive. I think the closer you get to it, the more impressed you become. Right now we are standing very close to the famous gateway arch in st. Louis. Footnd 30, 630 structure that was designed back built until the 1960s and completed in 1965. Each year we get 2. 5 million visitors who come to see the memorial and the arch. It is a very busy place, especially during the summer months. By gateway arch was designed a man. He was born in finland, came here to america when he was 10 years old with his father, who was a very famous architect. Had worked just with his father up to the point in time where an an architectural competition was announced for what became the arch. The competition was for Jefferson National expansion memorial, which was a National Park service site founded by president ial proclamation in 1935 commemorate st. Louis role in the western expansion of the United States. 12 years after the founding of the park an architectural competition was held to decide what the memorial would look like. Basically they had about 90 acres of land to work with. 40 city blocks have been torn down, completely razed to make way for the memorial on the riverfront. Each architect that submitted a proposal could really do whatever he or she wanted. It could be a huge sculpture. It could be a series of museum buildings. They didnt want one central feature to be in each of these designs. Some people put an obelisk in. Some people put a big monolithic , rectangular block or something. With the ideago of an arch. It was only after he designed the arch that he realized, oh, it forms a gateway. It is really appropriate for the idea of a memorial to st. Loui role in western expansion, st. Louis role as a gateway to have a gigantic gateway on the riverfront. The arch is made out of and on theteel, inside it is made of carbon steel. Sandwich. You have a in the lower portions it is filled in with concrete. In the upper portions there are tie rods they keep the sections apart. It is a unique structure, because it does not have any superstructure on the inside. There is no girders or anything that form the shape of the arch. With not just clad stainless steel. Sometimes visitors are surprised because they have not read about the arch to learn they can actually go to the top of it. They think maybe it is a big piece of Outdoor Sculpture and you can just look at it. There is little capsules that fit five persons in each one. On each leg of the arch there is eight of those capsules that form a train that run on the track. When people get into the capsule is hanging from the track. As they go to the top, by the time they get to the top, it is on top of the track. In order to accommodate that and make sure people are not going to be flipped upside down, it actually shifts and turns to keep the car level. Thrilla thrill of ride, it doesnt go fast like something at six flags. It is a unique experience. A lot of people really prize the experience of writing in these capsules up to the top and getting the nice view they get from the top of the arch, from that Observation Deck at the top. Ofht now we are in the midst a multimillion dollar project being funded by many different entities that are partnering with National Park service to revitalize the park itself and get more accessible to people. For many years we have been an island surrounded by highspeed roads. Its going to happen is kind of a lid is going to be placed over the highways so you can walk directly from the city where you will park your vehicle, directly to the arch about having to cross any major streets. It is really just this iconographic symbol of st. Louis. Sort of like the space needle is to seattle or the Empire State Building or the statue of liberty is to new york. Are certain symbols that immediately identify a place on the map people. The arch is the one for st. Louis. Right now we leave the city once considered gateway to the west and travel through the great plains and over the Rocky Mountains to the Colorado National monument to hear how one man helped preserve this area on colorados western slope. I think everybody is amazed by it is not a widely publicized presence here. The park service does not advertise. So, people find out about this because they read magazine articles or see features like you are preparing. It is not our typical colorado scenery. Its not what most people think of when they think of colorado. It comes as a pleasant surprise for folks to find it here. , not ino was a vagabond the sense that he was a neerdowell. He just didnt have any permanent roots. He was attracted to this area around 1970. By the promise of employment on a waterline project. I guess this was the type of country that was really appealing to him. For the to agitate creation of a National Park here. The first thing he did was, he wrote a lot of letters to prominent people trying to get this established as a National Park. He also constructed a lot of trails to afford access to the canyons and on to the rims of the monument. Im sure the local people came out on sunday afternoon, they would hitch up the wagon and, for a picnic. One of the other things he did is, in 1926 he started collecting buffalo nickels from the kids in town and he used that money to transport a couple of bison in here. He wanted to establish a herd of bison in the monument. The elks club conspired to bring a couple of elk. John got some money from the chamber of commerce to build some fences to contain these animals. For many years we had a bison herd. The elk took one look around and said, were out of here. They went south into the high country. Oddly enough, they are coming back into the monument now. In 1983n we removed because they were confined to a small area and had a really adverse impact on the resource. That is the kind of thing he did. He was constantly interested in hosting the area and promoting it. There was no concerted effort setl john otto came here to this aside as a National Park or monument. There are a couple of distinctions between National Parks and monuments. One of the distinctions is legal , relating to the method in which it is established. The other is more based on its resource qualities. Tto agitated for the creation of a National Park here, but the creation of a National Park requires an act of congress. So it is much more difficult to do. A National Monument can be established by president ial proclamation. So, although john otto wanted a National Park, it was much easier to establish a National Monument. That is what happened when president taft proclaimed the area in 19 11. The other distinction is resourcebased. Generally a National Monument is set aside in recognition of one spectacular feature. Erosionalse, the quality. The National Park is, like multiple National Monuments all thrown together. Has itsple, yellowstone wildlife values, and has a mountain range, has a huge, highelevation lake, it has all of the thermal features, and so on. That is generally what set the parks apart from monuments. You know, it is a fuzzy boundary between them. There are areas that are National Parks that probably, rightfully should be National Monuments, and vice versa. To makearly attempts the monument accessible included trails into the canyons and pioneering a road up the east side of the monument called the serpents trail. The serpents trail served not only to afford access to the monument, but also afforded access for ranchers living south of the monument access to their land, and so on. At some point otto envisioned that that serpents trail would be the starting point for road he called the union road, which will continue from the Grand Junction area southern california. He was a big schemer. He was always dreaming of these huge project. Projects. That is one of the reasons he eventually left the monument. Other forces. They would like to have that same road, not running over the