(Describer) By The Gateway Arch, a smiling, slender woman wears a red jumpsuit.

[gentle music]

Hi, I am Ellie Kemper, and this is my hometown. I'm welcoming you today from a national monument on the St. Louis Riverfront that you'll all recognize, the Arch. St. Louis is where America's two biggest rivers, the Mississippi and the Missouri, meet. And when America was young, nothing could have been more important. While the Arch and I are standing here on the banks of the Mississippi, the Arch actually commemorates something that happened on the Missouri River where Lewis and Clark did something, well, monumental. Just ten miles north of St. Louis where these two rivers meet, Lewis and Clark followed the Missouri River all the way to the Pacific Ocean. Their journey was more than 200 years ago, and it's just one of the fascinating stories that can be told as we head west from St. Louis on the last 100 miles of the Missouri.

(Describer) Lush river banks frame the wide Missouri River.

[lively folk music]

These are true stories of wilderness becoming civilization, immigration, war, celebration, and conservation. It's more than stories about the backyard of St. Louis. It's the story of America. Let's go explore.

[lively folk music continues]

(Describer) From behind, a child with shoulder length, blonde hair opens a screen door and runs toward a red barn. A dairy farm sits amid sprawling golden and green countryside. A train chugs along a river bank. Title: Rivertowns. 100 Miles. 200 Years. Countless Stories. A moving view glides just above a river.

[boat horn blowing]

[train rattling]

[calm music]

(narrator) The Missouri is the longest river in the country, winding down from its source in the Rocky Mountains of Montana all the way to its confluence with the Mississippi River near St. Louis. Although it flows for over 2,500 miles, some of its most captivating stories took place in the forests, farms and towns that stand watch over the last 100 miles of its journey as it travels through the Missouri River Valley.

(Describer) Bryan Haynes, Artist.

I love mythic stories and mythical qualities and big statements and heroic figures. I was born in Missouri, went to school in New Mexico and then on to California, and then came back to this area and rediscovered the beauty of the landscape. I'd love to introduce figures into those landscapes, and to do that you needed a story to tell.

(narrator) Working with authors Dan and Connie Burkhart, Bryan produced illustrations for their children's book, "Growing Up with the River," filled with stories that follow nine generations as they experience the events and changes that shaped not only the towns of the Missouri River Valley, but the country as a whole. The adventures of Lewis and Clark, immigration that shaped the nation, the arrival of steamboats and railroads, the heartbreak of war, and devastating natural, economic, and environmental disasters that prompted triumphs of human innovation.

(Describer) A person walks on a path lined with rocks.

The oldest living witness to many of these stories are the massive bur oak trees that thrive in the rich bottomlands, some of them having stood through more than 300 years of discovery, settlement, development, and conservation efforts.

(Describer) Haynes.

Curiosity in the young people-- that's what it's really all about. Hopefully, they'll want to explore, get out into nature, and even though it's a book for kids, I think we adults also get something out of it. I hope I've contributed to that through the poetry of the pieces and the lyricism. Try to tell people what a jewel we have, what a treasure we have right in our backyard.

(Describer) A blonde girl in a teal dress picks up an acorn lying in the grass and dirt. The girl smiles. From above, she runs down a dirt path and joins two older boys holding bicycles. The three of them stand in the shade of a giant, leafy oak tree. An old map appears. A drawing on it shows people dancing hand in hand around a campfire. Title: 1806. La Charrette.

[bright folk music]

[birds singing]

[bright folk music continues]

[lively string folk music]

(narrator) Over two centuries before St. Louis became the center for fur trade, French trappers and traders, also known as Voyageurs, were pushing the known boundaries of their new world as they worked and explored from Canada to the Missouri River Valley, establishing trading posts and forts along the way.

(Describer) A wooden fort sits at the top of a bluff overlooking the Missouri River.

Historian Crosby Brown discovered the remnants of one of these forts, and after months of archeology and years of research and restoration, now has the fort open as a living history museum high on a bluff overlooking the Missouri.

(Describer) In the fort, Crosby opens a wooden door.

The bolts, wood, and so are the tumblers. You can see the tumblers there, works just like that.

(narrator) Although the fort gives an incredible glimpse into the life of a French trader, his Native American wife and their son, the Voyageurs who came to the fort lived most of their lives in the wilds, building trust with the tribes they traded, traveled, and sometimes lived with.

(Describer) Crosby Brown, Historian.

They weren't looking for gold; they weren't looking for the Fountain of Youth. These were mostly individual guys who loved the wilderness, who loved the lifestyle, and integrating with the Indians as they went, they learned how to live in the wilderness in North America.

(narrator) One way to survive the freezing temperatures on the river in winter was to make capes, gloves, and hats from the skins of the black bears who used to roam in abundance throughout the Missouri River Valley.

(Crosby) We don't have winters like that anymore. Oh, no. And these guys are in one, two, three foot of water out here trapping beaver, wet above the knees. Ho-ho.

(narrator) One of the greatest skills the Native Americans shared with the voyagers was the art of making a canoe that would navigate the shallow wide Missouri River.

(Crosby) The word Missouri-- it's a Siouan dialect word, which means "men of, or men who use long canoes," because the Missouri tribe living on this river used 20, 30, and 40-foot long ones.

(Describer) Steve Schnarr.

The canoes were really versatile, and they could get into different kinds of water, different kinds of current.

(narrator) So iconic was this tribe and their impressive canoes that they became the namesake for both the river and the state.

(Describer) People paddle down the river. Brett Dufur, Author, Exploring Lewis and Clark's Missouri.

[lively folk music]

(speaker) Every generation rediscovers the Missouri River, and we're seeing that recently with the MR-340 where people paddle nonstop from basically Kansas City to St. Charles. It's 340 miles down river, and it typically takes three or four days. But we all grew up with these stories of these great explorers-- Lewis and Clark, Daniel Boone, John Colter-- all these amazing people, that really their character was defined through tests in the wilderness. To have those challenges and opportunities is an incredibly important gift that the river continues to give.

(Describer) A grey-haired man in a white shirt with puffy sleeves stands on a wooden boat ringing a bell.

[bell ringing]

Back in 1804, at the request of Thomas Jefferson, Lewis and Clark head up the Missouri River and try to find a overland route to the Pacific Ocean.

(narrator) After securing supplies in St. Louis and making final recruitments in St. Charles, the expedition set off on their mission, stopping briefly in La Charrette, now a small French farming community built around the trading fort. It was the last European settlement the group would encounter before they set off into the unknown, and the people there gave them a warm send-off, most likely never expecting to see them again. Two days after they left St. Charles, May 23rd, they were in the area that was referred to as Tavern Rock. Lewis said he was gonna scale the top of this 300-foot bluff that's there. Got near the top, and he started sliding down the bluff. And according to William Clark, he took his knife and literally saved himself from falling off the edge of it. That's how close it came to being The Clark Expedition! [laughs]

(Describer) Jim Denny.

The river was just treacherous in this big, giant 55-foot keelboat they built. Turned out to be just absolutely wrong boat to take out on the Missouri River, and within days, the boats started getting hung up on logs. Back then, the current was so fast that it would literally move sandbars. Sandbars would appear and disappear right before your eyes. And a sandbar started forming around the boat, and the boat started swinging around. It started tilting over. The whole crew had to jump out of the boat and hold onto it to keep it from sinking. And those were the kind of experiences that turned that group of Engages and soldiers who were piloting those boats into experienced rivermen. It was really where the crew became a group of men willing, as Clark said, to endure any fatigue for the success of the mission.

(Describer) Bill Brecht.

On the way back, they approached La Charrette, and they see dairy cows in the fields, and that told them they were getting close to civilization again.

(narrator) Twenty-eight months after bidding them farewell, the inhabitants of La Charrette were in delighted shock, as the expedition paddled furiously backed down the river intent on reaching St. Louis as fast as they could to send word to President Jefferson of their success. The small town of La Charrette faded into history, becoming part of the Missouri River as it carved yet another new path. But the town is honored with a marker in nearby Marthasville. The Lewis and Clark Boathouse and Nature Center in St. Charles houses a replica of the massive keelboat used on the first leg of the journey. Several times a year, the Discovery Expedition of St. Charles and the museum partner to use the boat in reenactments, providing a glimpse into the excitement and uncertainty the expedition must have felt as they headed up the Missouri River and into the unknown.

(Describer) The old map reappears. Title: 1832. Femme Osage/Dutzow. A painting shows a young girl, a young boy, and a dog on a tree branch high above people canoeing on the Missouri River.

[lively folk music]

The popularity and expertise of world famous frontiersmen, Daniel Boone, had helped to build the state of Kentucky and was seen as a surefire way to attract others to the new wilderness that would one day become Missouri. Still as spry well into his old age, Daniel's keen eye noted the beauty and abundance of the Femme Osage Valley, and he spent the last two decades of his life hunting and exploring with his sons.

(Describer) Elementary school children file off a school bus.

These days, visitors to the historic Daniel Boone home in Defiance can experience what life was like for early settlers in the Missouri River Valley.

(Describer) A tour guide addresses students.

(speaker) So he came out here in 1799, a little bit before the Louisiana Purchase. He was actually invited out here by the Spanish who owned the land at the time to come out here and bring people with him.

(narrator) Although he was given plenty of land, he chose to live with his family.

(Describer) Denny.

Either Daniel Morgan Boone's home or Nathan Boone's great stone house, which, of course, still survives. It's where he died. But he would spend his time at either place where he would be waited on by a ton of grandchildren who just loved him.

(speaker) He loved practical jokes his entire life, and he had a pretty good one when he was an old man living in this house. Daniel had a coffin built for him, and he keeps that coffin upstairs on the fourth floor, and on occasion, if he heard his grandkids coming up the stairs, he'd get in that coffin and close the lid. When they walked by, he'd jump out and scare 'em. It sounds like Daniel did that all the time. So he was a bit of a goofball, really.

(child) I like him. I like him too, right? That story, you know, he seems more real.

(narrator) The historic Daniel Boone home is now run by the St. Charles County Parks Department. The site also includes a reconstructed 19th century village and hosts a wide variety of occasions, such as weddings and festivals, as well as educational programs, including daily tours and field trips.

(Describer) Meredith Rau.

(speaker) It's learning in a very real way who was here at the time and bringing them to life. It's a very tactile experience, meaning we get kids and adults as well involved, not just sitting there and listening to someone talk. They're going to get to witness the types of things they actually had to do out here to live out here. So then it's not about history; it's living, it's now. It's very much about the experience of the time and bringing it to the present.

(narrator) Not long after the Kentucky woodsmen and their families followed Daniel Boone to the area, another influx of settlers arrived whose convictions and traditions would have an incredible impact, not just on the Missouri River Valley but on the country as a whole. And strangely enough, they were inspired by the Boone family's neighbor and occasional bear hunting partner, Gottfried Duden. Duden was a German lawyer who had spent several years living in Missouri, exploring and writing enthusiastically about the opportunity and freedom it held for his countrymen. For many living in the Germanic areas, these were dark times of political oppression, overpopulation and economic hardship. Duden published his collected writings as a book, which was immediately and immensely popular in his homeland, resulting in a wave of German immigration to the Missouri River Valley in the early 1830s.

(Describer) Cindy Browne. Deutschheim State Historic Site.

There's room for millions of Germans to come settle together and create farms up and down the Missouri River, which they did.

(Describer) Artwork shows German immigrants working by a farmhouse.

[serene folk music]

(narrator) With the influx of settlers from both Kentucky and abroad, claiming land, meat, and furs, the tribes that have farmed and hunted along the Missouri for centuries soon faded further into the wilderness. As towns and communities were built near the fertile river bottoms, the land was cleared of timber for the steamboats and cultivated into crops and orchards, destroying much of the natural habitat and destabilizing the banks. This, coupled with a growing regional and national population to feed, had a chain reaction effect on wildlife. In Missouri, the black bear was all but hunted to extinction for its meat and pelt, while the brightly colored raucous Carolina parakeet was completely wiped out before the end of the 19th century. Without understanding what these losses would mean for the region, people continued to pursue their dreams of freedom and opportunity in this place that was so full of promise.

(Describer) A drawing on the old map shows people gathering by a stately, red brick mansion. Title: 1862. Hermann.

[lively folk music]

Inspired by Duden's book, a variety of skilled German craftsmen and farmers headed straight for the Missouri River Valley and founded one of its fastest growing and most successful towns. Hermann's close proximity to the river and its abundance of good farmland and natural resources, like iron ore, clay, and timber, quickly turned it into a bustling community.

(Describer) Browne.

I mean, the river, of course, was key to the bringing of people to this area and the transport of goods away from the area, and that was all by steamboat before the railroads came through. Hermann was a very large port. It was a natural place for that to occur. They were building steamboats here. They did steamboat excursions, and they would go out on a fishing expedition that might include a band and beers. And sometimes the ladies then would also commission their own boat. They'd end up meeting on one of the Missouri River islands.

(narrator) Although Missouri was full of the opportunities that they had been denied at home, the immigrants still wanted to keep a sense of identity and the traditions that they had left so far behind.

(Describer) Browne.

The German Settlement Society came specifically to this area away from other English-speaking populations in order to preserve their language and their culture. It doesn't mean that they didn't interact with English speakers, but they wanted to create this unique place that they could preserve those items that they held most dear, but also the freedoms of the United States.

(Describer) Marc Houseman. Washington Historical Society.

[rifles firing]

(speaker) In 1848, there's a revolution in Germany, but the revolution failed. And so the revolutionaries decide, "Hey, we're going to America "because they have already instituted the ideals that we're striving for in Germany." I think to say that the majority of the German immigrants were disappointed to find that slavery was still a viable institution in this country is probably an understatement.

(Describer) Browne.

(Cindy) They just thought it was an utter contradiction in terms of what we were as a free people, and yet we enslaved others. A key part of the anti-slavery impact was the German press. Eduard Muhl was the editor of the Hermann Wochenblatt, which was the weekly newspaper here. In 1853, he began the publication. On the front page of the paper, "Uncle Tom's Hutte," "Uncle Tom's Cabin," which in serialized form ran for 26 weeks on the front page until the entire book had been printed. When you think about the amount of time it took to set that press and to print that every week is an expression and a reflection of his strongly held beliefs against slavery.

(narrator) So deep was their belief in freedom for all people that thousands of German-Americans enlisted to fight for the union in the Civil War.

(Cindy) There was entire regiments of German volunteers. Their belief in freedom was so strong that they put their life on the line. Some historians have said, if it were not for the German immigrants in the Middle West, and I think we can safely say primarily in Missouri, the Civil War may have turned out very differently.

[horn blaring]

(narrator) Through war, peace, and progress, Hermann managed to maintain many of its German traditions, and the town still welcomes thousands of visitors a year to their Oktober and Maifests.

(Describer) Girls in skirts dance with boys in suspenders.

[lively folk music]

When Jim and Mary Dierberg passed through in 1971, they fell in love with Hermann and decided to begin investing in the future of the town by preserving its past. One of these endeavors is Hermann Farm, which sits high on a bluff overlooking the Missouri and contains an incredible history. The working sustainable farm and a variety of historic buildings have been restored to enchant and educate visitors about the early days of this river town. From a 1774 French trading post to a mansion that was built when steamboats still passed by.

(Describer) Susan Nichols.

We are encouraging people to learn more about the first Germans that settled here and how they live, talking about the different crops that would've grown, and just the vastness of the farm and being able to see all the land.

(Describer) Eric Nichols.

(speaker) The mansion on the property, that was the home of George Husmann. George Husmann is the gentleman known as the grandfather of the grape industry.

(Describer) Browne.

(Cindy) The wine industry is a critical component of the early success of the town of Hermann. This was the wine center of the United States before prohibition.

(narrator) But across the Atlantic, the wine industry wasn't doing quite so well. For years, a mysterious pest had been destroying the vineyards of France. As research was published, descriptions of the devastation rang a bell with Missouri state entomologist, Charles Valentine Riley, who immediately recognized the culprit as being phylloxera, also known as the root louse.

(Describer) Nichols.

(Eric) And George Husmann, in conjunction with a couple other dentures in the area, realized our root stock was phylloxera-resistant.

(Cindy) So the conclusion was reached. If you took Missouri root stock, and you grafted the French varietals to that root stock, it would resist the root louse.

(narrator) So Husmann, along with the St. Louis firm, sent over 400,000 vine cuttings to France.

(Describer) Eric Nichols.

(Eric) Thus saving the grape industry and the wine industry for all over the world.

(narrator) But history and tradition aren't the only things Hermann Farm works to preserve.

(Describer) Nichols.

(Eric) We've begun restoration with a few endangered breeds. The one we're most proud of at this point is the Shire draft horse.

(narrator) The Shire is the largest breed of horse in the world-- its size and strength making it useful as both a war and a plow horse. But when the industrial revolution replaced their brawn with machines, the breed became endangered. At one point in the 1950s, I believe it was, there was only a couple dozen Shire draft horses registered in the United States, and we right now have 22 here at the farm. So we feel like we're really doing something right here.

(Describer) A woman rides a shire draught horse through green grass. The old map appears. Title: 1883, New Haven.

[lively folk music]

(narrator) While many of the Missouri river towns had bluffs to maneuver, New Haven had easy access on and off the water, making it a perfect place to cut ice in the winter. Before work began to tame the river in the 1920s and '30s, the Missouri was wider and more shallow, and it would freeze so solid that a team of horses could drive across it.

(Describer) Browne.

They would actually go out on the river, and using big saws, cut chunks of ice, which were then hauled and stored in the ice house, insulated with cork, layered in straw, and that would be the source of ice four your cooling before we had electricity and refrigeration.

[crossing signal dinging]

(Describer) An archival photo shows people on the ice holding saws.

(narrator) The arrival of the railroad to many of the towns, like New Haven, often signaled a boost to their economy. Businesses like the Wolf Milling Company and the Central Hotel thrived with regular train service. The Central Hotel, built in 1879, was popular with travelers and railroad employees alike. As part of their efforts to preserve history in this small town, Mark and Ellen Zobrist restored the Central Hotel, and it still welcomes visitors to New Haven today.

(Describer) An archival photo shows a large train.

Since trains made it possible to transport goods and people faster and further than steamboats could, the rails were beginning to replace the river for transportation. To compete, larger and larger steamboats were built, like the ill-fated Montana, which before it became entangled with the Wabash Bridge and sank, measured over 250 feet long.

(singer) ♪ Down by the Missouri River ♪

(narrator) Unfortunately, the shallow Missouri was skilled at hiding fallen trees or sandbars, just out of sight. And these huge vessels would often get snagged, usually sinking slowly enough for passengers to escape unscathed. Train travel held its own risks, and they had the potential to be much more devastating. But accidents did little to diminish the allure of the speed and convenience of riding rails. Small ferries like the literally horsepowered Tilda-Clara still ran from one side of the river to the other, but it was usually to connect travelers to rail stops.

[calliope music]

But the one thing the railroad couldn't replace was the excitement of a showboat coming down the river, the twinkling lights and calliope, promising a night of entertainment.

[lively piano music]

As the new century began, times were golden for Missouri, which was by now the fifth most populous state. The 1904 World's Fair in St. Louis coincided with the 100th anniversary of the Lewis and Clark Expedition. The wilderness they had experienced, now almost unrecognizable, as prosperous towns and farms tamed the landscape, which was quickly becoming crisscrossed by miles of railroad tracks.

(Describer) A train chugs along a track.

In the face of these changes, the river held onto its reputation for being unpredictable.

(Steve) It used to be known for moving all around. It didn't really have rock along its banks. It would just be sand that the river's kind of carving through sand and mud. And there were a lot of towns that grew up along the river and either got flooded out or the river moved away.

(Describer) Houseman.

The town of Augusta, one of the major floods, you know, water comes up, time passes, the water goes back down. The river was a mile away.

(narrator) For many years, abandonment by the river would have meant almost certain death to a small town that depended on its traffic and resources. But when the MKT Railroad, which eventually became known as the Katy, opened in 1896, it connected small communities that were based around grain elevators, found every ten miles or so, and opened up more opportunities for the people who have been living in relative isolation. But the years of aggressive clearing of the river bottoms and increased agriculture had begun once again to shift the river's flow and reveal or accentuate flooding patterns. By the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the river was devouring homes, crops, and even the Katy Railroad tracks with uncomfortable regularity. Some, like St. John's United Church of Christ along Highway 94, relocated to higher ground to escape future flooding. But for farmers, the reward versus risk factor prove too high to move their crops out of the bottoms. The fertility of the bottoms are so much greater than any other land around that nobody wants to lose a crop, but if you lose one every ten years or so, you've made it up in the previous nine years. It's just that good of dirt.

(narrator) A crop that flourished in this good dirt was corn, and it would be pivotal to the success of one of the river valley's longest running and most unusual businesses.

(Describer) Phil Morgan.

(speaker) The story of the corn-cob pipe really starts when the pioneers came to America, and they saw the Native Americans smoking tobacco, and with corn, they mimicked them, and tried to make their own pipes. And so the legend is that one of those people came up the Missouri River, which is right behind us, and contacted Mr. Tibby, who owned this company, was a wood turner, and asked him if he could turn those, or make those pipes on his wood lathes. And he tried it, and made a few extra, I guess, to put in the window. And within a few years, that became his sole business. Missouri Meerschaum was certainly not the only company that made corn-cob pipes, but was the first.

(narrator) The Missouri Meerschaum company has made some of the most iconic pipes of the 20th century, including those enjoyed by Popeye and General MacArthur.

(Describer) Morgan.

(Phil) He saw one of our pipes that we've been making since the 1880s. The bowl was too deep on it, so he had us move the shank, the part that comes out of the bowl, up, and that's the classic MacArthur that you see. That pipe is popular in Japan because General MacArthur, after World War II, was instrumental in keeping the emperor from being executed. So especially the older people in Japan have a fondness for MacArthur. We've shipped to Japan probably since World War II.

(narrator) And they aren't just big in Japan. Per year, this small factory hand-makes and ships around 500,000 pipes all over the world.

(Describer) Boxes are labeled New Zealand, Malaysia, and Australia.

Founded in Washington, Missouri, in 1869, the Missouri Meerschaum company was already world famous when it sent an impressive display of its corn cob pipes to the World's Fair, joining the Missouri Corn Palace in a demonstration of Midwest ingenuity and abundance. But just a decade after this celebration of international innovation and progress, World War I broke out in Europe, and a shadow would fall on those who had been instrumental to the development of many Missouri river towns, like Washington and Hermann. As Americans watched events unfold in Germany, during both World Wars, suspicions began to grow around their fellow citizens of German descent, and soon suspicion turned into discrimination.

(Cindy) There actually were laws that precluded you from speaking German, and it was considered unpatriotic to speak German.

(narrator) But the German-Americans once again stepped up and volunteered to fight for their new homeland.

(Describer) Browne.

(Cindy) Those that had German ancestry and still probably had German relatives that were, you know, on the other side, they volunteered in extraordinary numbers to serve in the world wars to prove their patriotism. But it would've been a difficult time. There's starvation, and they're having issues in Germany. So you relate to those that are still there, and you had to question-- Could you send something, or would it be misunderstood in terms of what you were doing? But on the other hand, you have family that's in dire straits, and you could help.

(Describer) An archival photograph shows children and adults outside of a tent.

[strumming folk music]

(narrator) Soon the United States would be going through its own hard times.

[folk music continues]

(Describer) The old map appears. A drawing shows a woman in a white apron walking by the river. Title: 1932, Washington.

When the ache and severity of the Great Depression swept through the country, it did not forget the Missouri River Valley.

(Describer) A mother and her children wear dirty clothes.

However, several public works initiatives were set in motion to stabilize agriculture and enhance the region while providing desperately needed jobs.

(Describer) A photo shows workmen sitting on a felled log.

One of these projects set out to do what seemed impossible, to tame the wandering Missouri River.

(Describer) Steve Schnarr, Missouri River Relief.

(Steve) During several summers in the late '20s and '30s, there were 10,000 men living on barges, on dorms, on barges, on this river, working to turn it from a kind of a wide wild river into sort of a narrow, predictable river that would stay in one place.

(Describer) Houseman.

(Marc) They did a lot of bank stabilization with willow mats. They would weave all these willow trees together, for example, basket-like, and then they would pile it with rock. They would strip down old steamboats. They'd tear the tops off of them and use the hull to haul rock.

(Hubie) We pressed the river into the levee system so that we had a navigable river, but then from the levee to the bluffs, we had very fertile land. And that's what is cultivated today.

(Describer) Schnarr.

(Steve) Now we've sort of grown our culture around this new river that we created. So when it does shake its wild tail, you know, it can be kind of painful sometimes for some of us.

(Hubie) Yeah, when the levees break here in Warren County, the river has a tendency to go back to where it was 150 years ago. If it breaks up at Treloar, it seems like it breaks every levee all the way down to Augusta, and it wants to run right past Peers.

(narrator) Peers Store has seen its fair share of flooding. Once sitting on a prime riverfront location until the Missouri characteristically shifted two miles away, the general store and post office was built in 1896 to serve the communities that were quickly growing up around the new Katy Railroad. A welcome site to weary travelers and a meeting place for locals, Peers stood through flood after flood as the river returned to its old path. Ralph Glosemeyer's family owned, operated, and lived above the store for 60 years and learned to adapt to the fickle Missouri. The first flood I remember was a '51 flood, and that time we never moved out of it. We just moved upstairs. The candy counter, I remember, that was moved into my bedroom. That was the old glass-top candy counter. To get your mail, you had to go around the back of the store and climb up on a ladder, and you go across the roof and through a window upstairs, and that was a post office. That's how you got your mail in '51 flood.

(narrator) While floods affect whole communities, farmers usually experience the most loss, even long after the waters have receded and crops are replanted. Farmers around Augusta recently dealt with a levee break that threatened to triple their farm insurance if it wasn't fixed before a specific date. One red-tape delay after another brought them dangerously close to the deadline, so the farmers got together and fixed it themselves.

(Describer) Randal Oaks.

The Corps of Engineers would inspect it, and if they did it right, they would approve it. One week and one day later, running ten hour shifts, they moved, I think it was 100,000 cubic yards of dirt that they scraped off of 40 acres, and they repaired that levee. That was unique unto itself. But what that really represents is the river town, even though Augusta doesn't sit on the river any longer, that's indicative of the kind of corporation of the attitude that existed.

(narrator) For centuries, farming has been an integral part of life for many in the Missouri River Valley and a necessity for all of those who benefit from their work. And until recently, most of the farms here, as with all over the country, were operated by families.

(Describer) Hubie Kluesner.

Being able to work together with your parents as you grew up, that had a lot of value to it. The ability to be here on God's creation and watching the changing seasons and see the breadth of new life, you know, as cows have calves or as the hay crop grows, those are things that not everybody gets to see. The small family farms are disappearing to a certain extent, so that's all changing. I guess one of the fears I have is, who's gonna farm the land in the future? Because there's not a lot of young people involved.

[serene folk music]

(Describer) Round bales of hay sit by a golden field.

(narrator) Up until the 1930s, many of these small farms had existed in a certain degree of geographic isolation even after the railroad had arrived. But FDR's public-works initiatives, including paved roads and the construction of the Washington Bridge, soon provided these communities with quicker, more direct access to larger towns and the city of St. Louis. One popular destination that drew visitors from all over, especially from smog-filled St. Louis, was the Shaw Arboretum known today as the Shaw Nature Reserve.

(Describer) Dr. Peter Raven. President Emeritus, Missouri Botanical Garden.

[jazzy folk music]

(speaker) Notoriously, the St. Louis area was hugely polluted in 1920s and 1930s, almost entirely from burning soft coal. People had to turn on their lights on their cars driving downtown in order to be able to navigate. The air pollution was a very serious problem for the garden. The pollution got worse and worse. It began to kill the outside plants, the trees, the conifers, the pines and so forth. And very critically for the garden, it began to kill the orchids that we were growing. Kids nowadays would never recognize this, but in order to go on a date then, you pretty well had to bring a corsage. And the garden was actually making nearly $100,000 a year by the early 1920s from selling corsages for these avid suitors. They were all dying, which was a really bad thing financially. The trustees of the garden thought about what to do, and they decided let's move out in the country beyond the radius of the heavy smog. In 1925, as a result of their search for places to move, the garden found three essentially abandoned farms at Gray Summit in Franklin County about 35 miles away. And they bought them and began to build greenhouses there, first of all to take care of the orchids, and they began to think the air pollution being so awful that they would ultimately move out there. The garden kept building out there and thinking of moving until about 1939, '40, which is about when the smoke was abated. Now the tendency is to run it mainly as a nature reserve. It's beautiful, miles and miles of trails out there, and one of the adornments of the whole St. Louis area.

(Describer) Quinn Long, Director, Shaw Nature Reserve.

The present-day mission of the Nature Reserve is to provide stewardship for our environment through education, restoration and protection of natural habitats and generally public enjoyment of the natural world. It's also of tremendous value to expose our public at a very young age, but at any age, to knowledge of natural history and of our environment, connecting people of our region to some of the historical plant communities that still exist and under proper management can thrive in the contemporary landscape. We really value things that we understand, and so we need to foster that understanding, which then fosters and develops appreciation and ultimately stewardship of our environment. Because the conservation and restoration work that we do today, if subsequent generations don't learn to value and protect this, there will not be longevity and perpetuity to our efforts.

(Describer) A drawing on the old map shows a little girl fishing with a dog sitting beside her. A fish dangles from her line. Title: 1959, St. Charles. Alice Wolf.

[gentle music]

[bomb exploding]

(speaker) I knew that something bad was going on. They were moving tanks, army tanks and army gear. You could hear that roar from where we lived. I can remember, you know, feeling scared. You can, you know, comprehend what it was all about. And then, of course, I knew that my grandma had to move, and that they were taking her farm.

(Describer) Kevin McCarthy.

All this land-- 17,000 acres-- was acquired by United States Army beginning in 1940. The government is watching the events over in Europe. They're seeing the rise of the Nazi party and Adolf Hitler in the 1930s. And as the government is kind of evaluating resources and looking around-- what infrastructure do we have? And really it was inadequate. And the government finds this place for the country and likely the world's largest TNT and DNT production plant.

(narrator) Looking for a huge amount of land with an even bigger water source, the government set its eyes on 17,000 acres in the Missouri River Valley. Nearby, the Daniel Boone Bridge would make the site accessible to workers. While the MKT railroad provided a necessary link in the supply chain. All these things kind of come together to have a defendable property in the center of the country with all these resources available. The downside, of course, is that people lived here.

(narrator) The close-knit towns of Howell, Hamburg, and Toonerville contained almost 700 people, many of whom had inherited farms and homes going back well over a hundred years. Once notified that the government was forcing them to sell their land and start over with much less than they had been living with. Many protested, resisting wave after wave of pressure and reduced offers, eventually taking the matter to court. But even a settlement several years down the road couldn't mend broken hearts. It is people that had lives here, that were born here, raised children, worked hard, they socialized; there were dance halls in Hamburg. There were baseball teams that were for women-- not softball. There were lots of churches. So there was a real strong fabric.

(Describer) Penny Pitman.

Churches went, everything went all at once, and they had no place to be and no place to be from. My grandfather refused to move, and so they picked him up in a rocking chair and put him on a pickup truck and took him to the gate.

(narrator) As an act of finality, many homes and farms were destroyed.

(Describer) Wolf.

(Alice) When there's something traumatic like that happens to a family, and this is a whole community, I don't want it to be forgotten,

(narrator) But 17,000 acres, a war, and tons of TNT, couldn't keep the people of Howell, Hamburg, and Toonerville apart.

(Describer) People eat at communal tables.

For the past 52 years, there has been an annual reunion now held at the Weldon Springs Site Interpretive Center and attended by the children and grandchildren of those affected. Over homemade casseroles and desserts, they keep the stories of community, resistance and sacrifice alive.

(Describer) Bettie Yahn Kramer.

My particular family, they looked forward. That was, we had to do it. It was for the greater good, it was for the country. To the day Mom died, she had a flag outside her home.

(Describer) An old photograph is displayed between vases containing flags.

[gentle music]

(narrator) After the war enclosure of the TNT plant, St. Louis submitted its proposal to use the now empty land at Weldon Spring as home for the United Nations headquarters. When the proposal was declined, the Missouri Department of Conservation bought much of the land with the help of a generous donation from Alice Busch in memory of her late husband and formed the August A Busch Memorial Conservation Area. Though it began as a place to encourage the preservation and enjoyment of nature and wildlife, the area became a green fortress against suburban sprawl as St. Charles County began to experience a huge population migration from St. Louis.

(Describer) McCarthy.

(Kevin) When you have this continuation of all this green space, it's incredible-- you know, prairies and forests and savannas and glades and hiking trails and fishing. I mean, the very first fish I ever caught as a kid, you know, probably six years old, was at the lakes at the Busch Area.

(Describer) Green trees stretch off for miles.

[calm music]

(narrator) But next door to this escape into nature, the government still owned land at Weldon Spring, and the Cold War was just beginning. In 1955, the United States Atomic Energy Commission built the Weldon Spring Chemical Plant where uranium ore was refined to be shipped in concentrated form to other facilities. After closing in 1966, the contaminated buildings and land were abandoned for 20 years.

(Kevin) There was no waste management program because nuclear technology, nuclear waste, was not a thing yet. And so it wasn't until regulations came into place that now there's a process to manage this stuff.

(speaker) The public actually started the whole process in the mid '80s. They had a public meeting at the high school where over a thousand people came and said, "You have to take care of this mess over there at Weldon Spring."

(narrator) The area was declared a Superfund site in 1987, and the government funded cleanup began. Working with the public, the Department of Energy, the Environmental Protection Agency, and the Missouri Department of Natural Resources determined the best solution was to dispose of the waste where it had been generated. An integral part to this plan was the design of a cell that would contain the hazardous material. After having worked on several similar projects around the country, Marj Oaks was selected as the conceptual design engineer, working from the cell's conception to completion. For this particular design,

(Describer) Oaks.

a minimum of 200 years that we could guarantee that there would be no problems with the design, but we took it to another level and took it to a thousand years. So we did the maximum credible earthquake calculations. We did the maximum precipitation that could be falling on a site in 24 hours. We relied mainly on natural materials like clay 'cause we couldn't guarantee plastics or liners that were being used could last. We had over 40 buildings that had to come down. They had to be laid in precisely so that we didn't have any kind of holes in the material that would eventually collapse and work its way up to a sink hole in the surface.

(narrator) Before the last rock had even been placed, it was clear that the disposal cell was an amazing achievement, but while it is a monument to ingenuity and environmental redemption, it also stands as a reminder of the devastation humans can cause to the world around them. Wanting to educate the public on just what had transpired there, the Department of Energy opened the Weldon Springs Site Interpretive Center, and with safety being top priority, it has a team that conducts regular testing and monitoring of the cell and the land around it.

(Describer) Oaks.

(Marj) I felt very good about the project, especially after the Interpretive Center was built because it got to extend the learning processes that we went through into teaching kids as well as adults about what we had to do and how you really have to watch out what you're doing to the environment. Be very considerate of the earth.

(Describer) At the base of the cell, green plants sway in the breeze.

[calm music continues]

(Describer) On the old map, a drawing shows two young men walking on a railroad track running across a bridge. Title: 1986, Augusta.

[lively jazz music]

(narrator) Prohibition took a heavy toll on the wineries and towns of the Missouri River Valley. Nearly all of the vineyards that had been carefully cultivated since the 1800s were burned and turned into cattle pastures. It wasn't until the 1960s and '70s that grapes began to be planted again and some of the old wineries were brought back to life.

(Describer) A gazebo sits in a sprawling, green field.

Augusta is the gateway to Missouri wine country, which has experienced a renaissance over the past few decades and is now a favorite destination for tourists, wedding parties, and day trippers from St. Louis. Mount Pleasant had been doing a booming business before the 18th Amendment was passed and is once again a favorite spot for a special occasion or relaxing afternoon. The impressive cellar, dug out by hand in 1881, hosts dinner parties, tours, and, of course, barrels of wine and port. In 1980, Augusta became the first federally approved American viticultural cultural area, beating out Napa for the status by just eight months. There are now so many wineries in the region that visitors can simply follow the Weinstrasse or "Wine Road" by driving down scenic Highway 94. Another way to explore this beautiful area is by following the path that the MKT Railroad laid down over a century ago.

(Describer) Denny.

(Jim) But in the late '80s, the MKT filed a petition for abandonment of their line, but it turned out about that time, a law had been passed called the National Trail System Act-- Preserve an abandoned right away, and then come up with an interim user, and what better kind of interim user would you have than trail people?

(Describer) People ride on horseback through the woods.

That's when the Missouri Department of Natural Resources got interested in it, and we embarked upon creating the longest rail trail in the nation.

(narrator) As nature reclaimed its place between the rails, there were many who saw the great potential in the tracks being converted into a trail, especially Ted and Pat Jones, who devoted their time, energy, and support into making it happen. However, there were some who adamantly opposed the notion, especially farmers with land to reclaim.

(Jim) Every one of their deeds had a reversionary clause in it saying that if the railroad ceases to operate, then that land would revert back to them. And so the big debate would be whether or not a rail trail was a railroad purpose or not. Once the trail got open in 1990, just three years later, we got struck by the worst flood in Missouri River History, ended up destroying half the trail. And by that time, people wouldn't let it go away. The farmers, you would think they'd be doing summersaults over it, but no; actually they discovered the trail was bringing prosperity to their small towns. So just within a period of three years, the trail had already become a treasure to the state.

(narrator) Today, the Katy travels through 240 miles of central Missouri and is the longest unbroken rail trail corridor in the country, allowing cyclists, pedestrians, and equestrians the chance to get off the highways and back into nature. With over 30 trailhead, many offering refreshments, lodging, bike rental, and easy access to wineries and historic sites, the Katy is the perfect way to explore the past while enjoying the present.

(Describer) Terry Heisler.

We've had people coming in from Japan even, fly over just to ride the Katy Trail.

(Describer) Rebecca McGuire.

(speaker) People who are traveling on the trail sometimes camp out right here and hang out with us. And so they're bringing a new element to a very small community too.

(Describer) Heisler.

(Terry) Probably 80% of the people you'll see today or most days is off the Katy Bicycle Trail. This place, I truly believe, wouldn't survive without the Katy being there.

(Describer) David Kelly.

(speaker) We've done a study, an economic impact study a few years ago, and annually, it generates about $18 million in economic impact for Missouri. And that's because people buy bicycles; when they ride the Katy Trail, they stop in local communities and stay in bed & breakfast and hotels.

(Describer) Cyclists pose for a photo.

[lively folk music]

It's our 18th annual Katy Trail ride. We've got 300 cyclists from all over the United States that are participating in the five-day four-night tour of the 240-mile Katy Trail State Park.

(narrator) The annual Katy Trail ride takes cyclists on a tour through time as they pedal through or stop at many of the river towns that made history happen. Passing by corn fields and old riverboat landings, riders can visit historic gems like the Peers Store to learn more about conservation and local history. And this was exactly what Ted and Pat Jones were hoping to achieve when they developed the Katy-- to give everyone the chance to enjoy the countryside and the stories it has to tell.

(Describer) A drawing on the old map shows a black and white dog bounding toward a colorful tree while cyclists watch from a path. Title: 2018, Chesterfield.

[lively folk music]

Thirty-seven miles west of the confluence, the Howard Bend Water Treatment Plant has been providing clean water to St. Louis City since 1929, notably surviving the flood of '93.

(Describer) Curt Scouby.

We were able to prepare in advance because the river was building over time to the flood conditions, and it really made us an island. We had a levee that kept out the river, and we stayed in production, but it was a challenge. Employees came in by boat and stayed and did their job.

(narrator) Thanks to plants like Howard Bend, the Missouri River provides water to half the state's population, including both St. Louis and Kansas City.

(Describer) A smokestack looms over a river bend.

One of the many reasons why the Missouri is a great source for drinking water is that it's a relatively clean river before it even goes through the treatment process. Helping to keep it healthy is a priority for Missouri River Relief, a nonprofit that connects people to the river.

(Describer) Schnarr.

[lively folk music]

(Steve) We have the really lucky job of taking thousands of people out on the Missouri River in boats or canoes. We do a lot of river clean-ups, and we've had 25,000 volunteers, and we've picked up over 900 tons of junk off the river in 18 years. And we also do a lot of river education with students and adults. It's a powerful experience, and I think some kids, it actually really changes them just that one time.

(narrator) After decades of deforestation along the river's banks, efforts are being made to reinstate native plants and trees, including the iconic bur oak. Forest ReLeaf is a nonprofit that provides education programs and free trees all over the state, including along the Katy Trail.

(Describer) Scott Francis.

(speaker) We promote planting trees and enriching lives. There's been studies that have proven that it actually helps with mental health when you're walking through a natural area. The Katy Trail and trail heads like this give us the opportunity to show off these trees, show off the native trees that we have. So people can learn things as they see these trees, and they can actually see what native composition looks like. That tree, once it gets to its full maturity-- I won't be here-- but it's actually just leaving a lasting legacy from that tree. Not my legacy, but that tree's legacy, and I kind of help that happen. That's kind of the reason why I became a forester in the first place, is because the decisions that we make on a daily basis last hundreds of years.

(Describer) Cade Harp.

(speaker) Working with Scott and Forest ReLeaf is just really critical, but also important is Katy Land Trust. You know, our farmers and that have joined the trail, our business owners and the people that actually use the trail. I think it's about partnership and bringing different people together, and that's what the Katy Trail does so well. Hopefully, in 300 years, we'll leave a legacy for others, and the Missouri River Valley's gonna be as important then as it is now.

(Describer) An aerial view shows the vast valley full of autumn trees. Title: The Missouri River Valley. Yesterday and Tomorrow.

[birds chirping]

[lively folk music]

(narrator) The events of the last 100 miles and 200 years on the Missouri River tell the story of America. The waters that had carried the long canoes of the Missouria tribe and the keelboat of Lewis and Clark also provided a conduit for those seeking adventure and a better life. Promises of freedom brought German immigrants, while settlers from Kentucky followed Daniel Boone, and what had once been wilderness soon became farms and towns. Forests were cleared along the river banks to plant crops in some of the country's richest soil and the timber eventually used to build the grand steamboats that ruled the Missouri for a few short decades. As more wild places were cultivated to feed families and a growing economy, the railroads displaced the steamboats, and birds and wildlife were hunted to extinction. When the shadow of civil war fell over the country, the anti-slavery convictions of the newly arrived German Americans helped to turn the tide for the Union. And when America faced world conflict, the sacrifice of long-established communities fueled victory in the Second World War. As the river towns along the Missouri grew, nature was losing its place, and open green spaces were becoming scarce. Visionaries at the Missouri Botanical Garden turned abandoned farmland into a refuge for native plants and wildlife. A gift from Alice Busch created a 7,000-acre conservation area to preserve a place for picnics, fishing, and hiking.

(Describer) Cyclists bike on a trail.

Ted and Pat Jones converted the old MKT rails into the longest biking trail in America and built a park with a stunning river level view of the confluence.

[uplifting folk music]

(Describer) The spot where the Missouri meets the Mississippi appears. The distant sun sets on the calm, Missouri River.

To continue the legacy of preservation, thousands of Missourians work tirelessly as they provide habitat for pollinators and endangered wildlife, clean the river, eliminate invasive plant species, and plant trees, one sapling or acorn at a time--

(Describer) A little girl covers an acorn with dirt.

trees that will witness the future of this unique region as they have its past.

(Describer) Titles. Produced, Written, and Narrated by Kara Vaninger. Aerial photography, Brandon Sloane. Camera, Matt Bowman. Craig Phelps. Frank Popper. Laurent Torno III. Brandon Sloane. Post Production/Colour Grading Brian Holder. Storyline Editing Kara Vaninger. Additional titles appear.

[uplifting folk music]

Accessibility provided by the U.S. Department of Education.

[uplifting folk music continues]

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(Describer) Copyright 2018, Nine Network of Public Media. Accessibility provided by the US Department of Education.