Aerial.America.S06E05.Iowa
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00:00A famous movie ghost once looked around an Iowa cornfield and asked if he was in heaven.
00:10A lot of folks in Iowa would answer yes.
00:14They know that in America's 29th state, the possibilities can be as endless as the sky.
00:23It's a place where fertile fields stretch to the horizon, magnificent animals still
00:28roam, and surprises await.
00:32In Iowa, people work hard, play hard, and have been even known to rock hard in a place
00:40where the music died when three of America's rock legends met their tragic fate in an Iowa
00:45field.
00:46Today, young writers flock to an Iowa farmhouse to create prize-winning works.
00:52Young scientists find new ways to feed our growing world.
00:57And followers of a famous Indian guru gather under giant golden domes to seek enlightenment
01:03and inner peace, while another gleams above one of the nation's most stunning capitals.
01:10It was here in Iowa that Hollywood turned a steamy romance ripped from the pages of
01:14one of the most popular novels of modern times into an Oscar-nominated movie, and transformed
01:20one family's fields of corn into a field of dreams.
01:25But Iowans don't need outsiders to tell them their fields are full of promise.
01:30All they have to do is look around, and it's plain to see this is Iowa.
01:50When you soar across Iowa, the American heartland stretches as far as the eye can see.
02:20There are perfectly planted rows of crops, towering silos, and old farmhouses, postcard-perfect
02:28images of a way of life that can only be found in the good old U.S. of A.
02:34But Iowa hasn't always been this red, white, and blue.
02:39In 1682, France claimed the land that's now Iowa as part of a vast region the French called
02:45Louisiana.
02:47But France then lost Louisiana to Spain in 1763.
02:53Napoleon took it back in 1800, and then surprised the world by turning around and flipping it
02:58to President Thomas Jefferson just three years later.
03:02By the time of that historic deal, Iowa had already begun its journey from near wilderness
03:08to statehood.
03:11The transformation began here on Iowa's eastern border, at a place called Horseshoe Bluff.
03:18But these towering walls of stone weren't carved by nature.
03:22They were hauled out of the earth by men, searching for treasure.
03:27A French-Canadian named Julian de Buque was one of them.
03:31He was also the first European to settle in what's now Iowa.
03:36In 1788, he made a deal with Iowa's native Meskwaki people to mine lead.
03:40But the Indians ended up doing most of the actual mining.
03:45Since this was Spanish territory at the time, de Buque named the region Mines of Spain.
03:52He remained here right up until his death in 1810.
03:55By then, the Mines of Spain actually lay inside the United States.
04:00Nearby, a stone tower marks de Buque's final resting place, high above the Mississippi
04:06River.
04:07It also offers a commanding view of a region he, and the many other miners who came after
04:12him, left forever changed.
04:17One of the biggest of those changes was the birth of Iowa's first city in 1837.
04:25It was named after de Buque himself.
04:29And it got its start here, on a bend in the Mississippi, when the miners arrived.
04:34Immigrants, fleeing overcrowded cities in the east, soon helped de Buque grow into a
04:39regional hub and a gateway to the west.
04:43Today, not far from the river, stands a fascinating piece of evidence from those early boom times.
04:52It's called a shot tower, and is the only one of its kind west of the Mississippi.
04:57This 120-foot high structure was built to turn the region's raw lead into what was
05:02called shot, the round, simple bullets of the day.
05:06There was a good reason the shot tower was so tall.
05:11To make shot, workers climbed to the top.
05:13From there, they poured molten lead down through a grid.
05:18As each little glob of lead fell down through the tower's long shaft, it formed into a perfectly
05:24round ball.
05:25At the bottom, each ball hit a vat of water and cooled into a hardened, round bullet.
05:32The tower operated for just two years before a larger rival firm in St. Louis lowered its
05:37prices on shot, and succeeded in putting de Buque's tower out of business in 1858.
05:43But de Buque itself continued to thrive, thanks to another boom in agriculture.
05:50By 1891, it boasted a prosperous downtown, centered on the de Buque County Courthouse.
05:58It still dominates the city skyline, and shows off de Buque's 19th century roots.
06:05Capping the building's 190-foot high dome is a soaring bronze statue of justice.
06:11But there's something even higher in de Buque.
06:15It's a unique landmark that climbs 296 feet up this nearby hill.
06:21It's known as the Fourth Street Elevator.
06:24The folks who run it claim it's the shortest, steepest railroad in the world.
06:29It was built in 1893, after the neighborhood at the top of the hill, known as Fenland Place,
06:35expanded.
06:36Residents up top needed a convenient way to get down to work in the city, and back home
06:40again for a quick midday meal.
06:44Today, after a few modern updates, it still carts passengers up and down the hill, but
06:50now most of them are tourists.
06:52When it opened, it welcomed all comers at just five cents a ride.
06:58Now, the trip up and down costs three dollars.
07:04There's a certain thrill to riding up a hill in Iowa.
07:09That's because this state is not well-known for its jagged terrain.
07:16When most people imagine Iowa, they probably think of landscapes like this.
07:22Vast, flat stretches of farmland, covered by wide-open skies.
07:30And country roads that are so amazingly straight and long, they simply disappear into the horizon.
07:40That's why driving a truck in Iowa can be a big challenge.
07:46You have to get ready to follow the same straight road for miles, whether it's an old farm road
07:52or the interstate.
07:55Luckily, for truckers on Interstate 80, there's a big place to pull off and take a break.
08:02It bills itself as the largest truck stop in the world, and from the air, it looks like
08:08that could actually be true.
08:10It's known as Iowa 80, and has just about everything a trucker could ask for, like more
08:17than 900 parking places, a truck-o-mat for drivers to keep their rig shining bright,
08:24a truck museum, showers, restaurants, an on-site chiropractor, a barber, a dentist, and more.
08:35When truckers roll out of Iowa 80, they're refreshed and all ready for the long road ahead.
08:43This national highway cuts right across Iowa, from east to west, and offers a chance to
08:49discover what lies at the heart of this Midwest state, its farms.
08:55Here, strong-backed men and women have been making their livelihood from the land ever
09:02since European settlers began arriving here in the 1800s.
09:06Today, Iowa has more than 92,000 farms, and they cover 85% of the state.
09:13They have helped make Iowa one of the top three agricultural states in the nation.
09:20It's number one when it comes to soybeans and corn, a lot of which gets fed to the state's
09:25four million cows.
09:30But there's one field in Iowa that's not known for its cattle or crops.
09:35It's a place that's remembered for the memories of a tragedy that took place early one cold
09:41February morning in 1959, a date that's known as the day the music died.
09:50On the evening of February 2, 1959, three of America's hottest rock and roll stars arrived
09:59here in the little Iowa resort town of Clear Lake to perform two sold-out shows at the
10:04Surf Ballroom.
10:06Buddy Holly had won worldwide fame for hits like Peggy Sue.
10:10Richie Valens had broken ethnic barriers with La Bamba.
10:15The Big Bopper was a DJ who had scored a hit of his own with Chantilly Lace.
10:20That night, they gave more than 1,000 teenage fans at the Surf Ballroom a show they would
10:24never forget.
10:27At the time, Holly's song, That'll Be The Day, was number one on the charts.
10:32He was just 22 years old.
10:35When their performance was over, the three stars rushed off to the nearby Mason City
10:40Municipal Airport to catch a chartered plane to their next gig.
10:48At the time, there was just a light snow falling on the runway.
10:53By 1255 a.m., their 21-year-old pilot received clearance from the tower for takeoff, and
10:59the three musicians finally lifted off into the night.
11:03What happened next quickly made headlines around the world and left rock and roll fans
11:08across America in shock.
11:12Just a few minutes after takeoff, they flew into an approaching storm.
11:16High winds made the plane's instruments unreliable, and the young pilot's lack of experience led
11:22him to lose control.
11:25He dipped too low, a wing hit the ground, and sent the plane tumbling across this field.
11:31The next morning, a search and rescue team discovered the wreckage.
11:36There were no survivors.
11:39Today, a small marker identifies the spot where their bodies were found.
11:47Nearby, a giant pair of glasses, modeled on the ones Buddy Holly always wore, marks the
11:53trail that leads to the crash site.
11:56That tragic night was immortalized as The Day the Music Died by Don McLean in his hit
12:01song American Pie, and in two separate Hollywood biopics.
12:07More than 50 years later, fans still come all the way out here to this Iowa field to
12:12pay their respects to three of rock and roll's earliest stars.
12:24But this isn't the only spot in Iowa that's gained Hollywood fame.
12:28There's a little town 130 miles to the south that has too, and not just once, but twice.
12:37It's a place called Winterset, named for its chilly weather.
12:42For decades, this town's imposing Madison County Courthouse was its main attraction.
12:46That is, until a family living in this little house on the south side of town brought Winterset
12:51its first brush with fame.
12:53It's the birthplace of one of the biggest stars in American movie history.
12:58He was born in 1907 as Marion Robert Morrison, but is better known to the world as John Wayne.
13:05Today, Winterset's main drag is named John Wayne Drive in his honor.
13:11It's a recognition of this Iowa native son's transformation into a cinema icon.
13:21But Wayne is no longer Little Winterset's only claim to fame, thanks to author Robert
13:26James Waller's best-selling romantic novel, The Bridges of Madison County.
13:32In 1994, production crews descended on this town to make a movie version of the book starring
13:37Clint Eastwood and Meryl Streep.
13:41Now, fans from around the world come to Winterset to visit the locations where the stars film
13:46their scenes.
13:49Many stop in at the Northside Cafe, a key location in the film, and then head out to
13:56see the famous Bridges of Madison County for themselves.
14:03One of the most popular is the 1883 Roseman Bridge.
14:07It may be the most famous covered bridge in the world.
14:11It's the one that photographer Robert Kincaid is looking for when he knocks on Francesca
14:15Johnson's door in Waller's famous novel.
14:20It's also where she leaves a note inviting him to dinner.
14:24But most of all, it's where Eastwood and Streep share one of their most passionate moments
14:28in the film.
14:30This romantic Hollywood story has inspired hundreds of couples to get married on the
14:36Roseman Bridge.
14:46But Iowa has plenty of real-life heroes, too.
14:50Down-to-earth men and women shaped by this state's rough winters and tough times.
14:56By hard days on the prairie and lonely nights on the frontier.
15:02By adversity and adventure.
15:06Iowans who have been known to risk everything and ask for nothing in return.
15:16One of those heroes was a 17-year-old Irish immigrant named Kate Shelley.
15:22In 1881, Shelley and her mother were living in a cabin close to Honey Creek.
15:28On the night of July 6th, the sound of a huge crash sent her rushing outside.
15:32A flood had washed part of a bridge away, and a work crew had plunged into the waters
15:37of the creek below.
15:41The young Kate knew that a Midnight Express passenger train was heading for the broken
15:45bridge, and that all those on board could plunge to their deaths if it weren't stopped
15:50in time.
15:52To warn the engineer, she had to crawl across a nearby bridge over the Des Moines River
15:57through wind, lightning, and rain.
16:00After finally reaching the other side, Shelley ran a half mile up the pitch dark tracks to
16:05the tiny Moingona station to sound the alarm.
16:09She got there just in time to stop the train and save the lives of 200 passengers on board.
16:16On her way home, she guided a rescue team back to the stranded workers.
16:22Today, two impressive spans over the Des Moines River, built more than 100 years apart,
16:29have been named the Kate Shelley High Bridge to honor her courage on that fateful night
16:36and the resolute spirit that is Iowa at its best.
16:43Sometimes, seeing Iowa from the air can play tricks on the eye.
16:49From a distance, these brown cubes just outside the city of Ames seem like cargo containers
16:54carefully arranged in a field.
16:56But get a little closer, and it's clear that they're not made from steel at all.
17:01They're actually the fabric nets of a plant farm at one of America's top agricultural
17:06schools, Iowa State University.
17:10Here in this field, scientists are developing new strains of seeds that can be tough enough
17:15to survive disease and disaster.
17:19Each of these nets is like a little lab with its own species of plants and its own pollinating
17:26insects, like bees.
17:28And that's why the researchers need to enter and exit the nets with great care, so the
17:33bees don't escape and cross-pollinate other plants.
17:38It's also why they have to water each net from outside, to bathe it with its own bug-free shower.
17:45After they're harvested, the seeds from these test plots will be checked in to a seed library,
17:50where they can later be checked out by scientists as they test and develop new strains of seedlings
17:55to help feed the modern world.
17:58This cutting-edge research got its start in Iowa almost 150 years ago.
18:04Iowa State University opened in 1869, with funding from a federal program designed to
18:09put a top agricultural college in every state.
18:14It was part of a wave of Western schools that chose to welcome women as students,
18:20alongside men, in the late 19th century.
18:24But women weren't the only ones welcomed at Iowa State. African Americans were, too.
18:29Future scientist George Washington Carver enrolled here in 1891 after a college in Kansas
18:35turned him down because of his race.
18:38Born into slavery, Carver earned two degrees at Iowa State and became the first black member
18:44of the faculty before moving on to a celebrated scientific career as a botanist and inventor.
18:51He gained fame for his work developing more than a hundred new products from peanuts
18:56in order to try and help poor farmers across the South.
19:01A tough tackle from Ohio named Jack Trice was one of many black students who followed
19:06in Carver's footsteps.
19:09In 1922, Trice became the first African American player on the Iowa State football team.
19:16But his own dreams of helping black farmers in the South were cut short.
19:23In 1923, Trice was trampled to death during a game against an all-white University of Minnesota squad.
19:34He died from hemorrhaged lungs and internal bleeding.
19:37Some of Trice's teammates called it murder and accused the Minnesotans of deliberately
19:43causing his fatal injuries because he was black.
19:48It would be more than six decades before any Iowa State football team would agree
19:53to play Minnesota again.
20:01Today, thousands of students here pursue degrees and conduct research in every kind
20:05of agricultural science.
20:09There are cutting-edge labs to study just about every aspect of modern food production.
20:15One of the proudest breakthroughs of Iowa scientists led to the creation of one
20:20of America's most famous cheeses.
20:24It happened here, in the Food Sciences Building in the 1930s.
20:29Microbiologists Clarence Lane and Bernard W. Hammer were trying to find a way
20:35to make European-style cheese in America.
20:38The problem was, French blue cheeses like Roquefort, made from sheep's milk,
20:43required a delicate process that was proving hard to replicate in the U.S.
20:48Lane and Hammer developed a way to do it successfully using homogenized cow's milk instead.
20:55Two heirs to the Maytag appliance fortune helped fund the research in the hopes
20:59of finding new uses for the milk from the Holstein cows on their family farm.
21:05In 1941, here on the Maytag dairy farm in Newton,
21:09they produced their first batch of cheese using the Iowa state method.
21:16Today, Maytag blue cheese is prized across the nation.
21:21And it's still made right here, on this Iowa farm.
21:30A little over two centuries ago, very little was known about the land
21:34that's now Iowa.
21:38But in 1804, famed explorers Lewis and Clark set foot on its shores,
21:44where they endured one of the biggest tragedies of their epic journey across the American West.
21:55It's still possible to travel up the Missouri River, along Iowa's western border,
22:01and imagine what it must have been like to navigate this great waterway,
22:05more than two centuries ago.
22:09In places, the Missouri's slow-moving waters and wild banks
22:14appeared much as they probably did to the famed American explorers
22:18Meriwether Lewis and William Clark.
22:22In 1804, they stepped aboard a keelboat,
22:25which looked much like this modern-day replica, and headed up the Missouri.
22:31President Thomas Jefferson himself had given them their orders
22:35to make the first crossing of the newly-acquired Louisiana Territory,
22:40find out what was there, and map a route to the Pacific Ocean and the West.
22:46Much of the time, they were forced to drag the boat upriver, using ropes from shore.
22:53In late July that year, they arrived on a stretch of the Missouri River
22:58that now serves as the border between Iowa and Nebraska.
23:02By August 19, 1804, they had reached a sharp bend in the river,
23:06just south of what's now Sioux City.
23:10They set up camp near a bluff.
23:13By now, one of their crew members, Sergeant Charles Floyd, had fallen gravely ill.
23:19By the next afternoon, he was dead.
23:23Modern doctors think he probably died from appendicitis.
23:28Surprisingly, he was the only member of the Lewis and Clark Expedition to perish
23:32during their epic journey across the American West.
23:37In 1901, this 100-foot-tall stone obelisk was erected here in Sioux City to mark Floyd's grave.
23:45It honors a sacrifice that helped pave the way for a flood of settlers
23:49seeking better lives in Iowa and across the West.
23:58But that settlement came at the expense of the people who already lived here.
24:03Iowa got its name from the Iowa Indians, a Sioux people who had long called this region home.
24:12But in the early 1800s, their ancient way of life came to an end,
24:17as they and other native tribes were pushed aside by settlers from the East.
24:23By 1840, there were 43,000 new immigrants in Iowa alone.
24:30Within just 10 years, that number had shot up to 190,000.
24:44Most immigrants came to carve farms out of Iowa's virgin land,
24:48using tools and techniques that seem primitive today.
24:53To show just how hard that work could be,
24:56reenactors at Iowa's Living History Farms
24:59are helping recreate conditions on an Iowa homestead in the 1850s,
25:03when settlers relied on their own hard labor, simple tools,
25:07and the wool from herds of sheep to survive Iowa's cold Midwestern winters.
25:14But these settlers went through some big changes over the next few years.
25:18Soon, towns began sprouting up among the homesteads.
25:23Together with the railroads, they brought the farmers store-bought supplies
25:27and conveniences they could only dream of before,
25:31and marked the beginning of the end of the frontier days.
25:39Iowa's transformation into a modern state was well underway.
25:45Congress declared Iowa an official territory in 1838.
25:50Its new borders stretched from Canada in the north,
25:54all the way down to what's now the state of Missouri in the south.
25:59In 1846, the lower part of this vast territory was split off
26:03to create the state of Iowa.
26:06It's the only state in the U.S. to have a state of its own.
26:10It's the only state in the Union with navigable rivers on two of its borders,
26:15the Mississippi to the east, and the Missouri to the west.
26:20The eastern town of Iowa City was chosen as the state capital.
26:25It was already home to the territorial government,
26:27and had a building that Iowa could use as the statehouse.
26:32Inside, newly elected officials immediately set about bringing order
26:35to their booming new state.
26:37But as Iowa's population expanded rapidly from east to west,
26:41its new residents demanded that the state capital be moved west, too.
26:51They finally got their way in 1857,
26:54when state officials loaded their desks, chairs, safes, and official papers
26:58onto oxcarts and moved the capital west,
27:02from Iowa City to Missouri.
27:06From Iowa City to Des Moines.
27:11At the time, Des Moines was more centrally located,
27:15but that was just about the only thing it had to offer.
27:22The town got its start in 1843,
27:25when the U.S. Army built a fort near the spot where the Des Moines
27:28and Raccoon Rivers converge,
27:30right where the minor league Iowa Cubs play their home games today.
27:36Soon after Des Moines was declared the new capital,
27:39work began on a new statehouse.
27:43But it would be almost 30 years,
27:45and 2.8 million dollars later,
27:47that it finally opened its doors.
27:50Today, it's one of the most impressive statehouses in the nation,
27:54thanks in part to its five stunning domes,
27:57including this massive central vault,
28:00gilded in 23-carat gold.
28:02But the architects of Iowa's new capital
28:05were out to do more than just dazzle the eye.
28:09They designed every detail of their Renaissance Revival masterpiece
28:13to endow the new state government with dignity,
28:16and to highlight its links to traditions of self-governance
28:19going back to ancient times.
28:28The deal that sent the capital west
28:31had compensated Iowa City for its loss
28:33by naming it the University of Iowa's permanent home.
28:38They also donated the old state building to the new school.
28:42It remains the center of a campus
28:44that now flanks both sides of the Iowa River.
28:48But on a lot of Saturday afternoons in the fall,
28:51the heart of the University of Iowa campus
28:53is the field of Kinnick Stadium.
28:56It's named to honor Iowa's 1939 Heisman Trophy winner
29:00and World War II hero, Nile Kinnick,
29:03who died while training to be a fighter pilot in 1943.
29:09Its official capacity is now 70,585,
29:13and games almost always sell out.
29:16Over the years, the Hawkeyes have had 11 undefeated home seasons.
29:22But the folks who gather in this little Victorian house
29:25on the other side of campus
29:27have racked up an even more impressive record.
29:3017 Pulitzer Prizes, a number of National Book Awards,
29:33and a slew of other honors.
29:36They were all won by graduates of the Iowa Writers' Workshop,
29:40a unique creative writing program
29:42that was founded at the University of Iowa in 1936.
29:46This graduate program brings some of the country's
29:48most promising young writers to Iowa.
29:50Flannery O'Connor, Rita Dove, John Irving,
29:53and Michael Cunningham are just a few of those
29:56who've passed through.
30:00After teaching here in the 1960s,
30:02Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. warned an incoming fellow teacher,
30:05every so often you'll go nuts.
30:07The cornfields get to you.
30:12But maybe the endless rows of corn around Ames
30:15have inspired some writers
30:17to create their greatest works.
30:19Just as these rugged Iowa hills
30:21have inspired engineers
30:23to create one of the nation's greatest bridges.
30:31When a team of workers and engineers
30:33arrived here in Boone County, Iowa, in 1905,
30:36they knew well that this state is not entirely flat.
30:42In fact, the state of Boone County
30:46In fact, that's exactly why they were here.
30:50They'd come to build a railroad bridge
30:52over this deep but narrow gorge.
30:54In its day, the Bass Point Creek High Bridge
30:57was state of the art.
30:59It had to be.
31:01The engineers' first bridge, made of wood,
31:03was damaged in a flood.
31:05To make sure it never happened again,
31:07they replaced it with this towering steel span.
31:11It's still the tallest single-track
31:13interurban railroad bridge in the U.S.
31:16For decades, the trains that crossed it
31:18carried Iowa coal and gypsum
31:20to markets across the nation.
31:22Now, they carry tourists.
31:25As soon as the train leaves the trees
31:27and starts its journey over the bridge,
31:29passengers get to enjoy one of this
31:31relatively flat state's most thrilling views.
31:35And a chance to relive a time
31:38when trains were a key link
31:40between Iowa and the outside world.
31:46Once, the state was crisscrossed
31:48by more than 10,000 miles of track.
31:52Today, less than 4,000 miles are still in use.
31:55But trains still play a vital role
31:57in delivering Iowa's goods to market.
32:00One of those is a supermarket favorite
32:02from Cedar Rapids
32:04that's one of America's top brands,
32:06Quaker Oats.
32:10In the 1870s, an ambitious father and son team
32:13named Robert and John Stewart
32:15built a little oatmeal here on the banks
32:17of the Cedar River.
32:19In 1901, they joined forces
32:21with three rival mills
32:23and a new food giant,
32:25Quaker Oats, was born.
32:28Over the next decades,
32:29the Stewart's modest mill
32:31was transformed into an enormous
32:33manufacturing plant.
32:35The railway and new industries like Quaker Oats
32:37helped make Cedar Rapids
32:39a booming little city that lured new
32:41residents from around the world.
32:44Including the Middle East.
32:46Most of those came from an area
32:48that now lies in Lebanon and Syria.
32:51Many were Muslim.
32:53After renting a local hall to practice their faith,
32:55Cedar Rapids' Arab Muslim community
32:57banded together and built their own
32:59mosque in 1934.
33:02Today, this little building
33:03with its distinctive green dome
33:05is the oldest standing mosque
33:07in the United States,
33:09which is why it's known as the Mother Mosque.
33:11During the famous
33:13Iowa Flood of 2008,
33:15the Mother Mosque was flooded
33:17with 10 feet of water,
33:19which destroyed many of the historic papers,
33:21film, and photographs that documented
33:23its rich history.
33:25The building itself has since been restored.
33:29Iowa's 2008 flood was so unexpected,
33:31it nearly swallowed
33:33Cedar Rapids' City Hall,
33:35which lay here on Mays Island.
33:38Photographs of the flood
33:40show the bottom floors of the Lynn County
33:42Courthouse completely swamped
33:44by the river's raging waters.
33:48It took years for Cedar Rapids to recover,
33:50but today,
33:52it remains a very productive, working-class town.
33:55Fly over the south of the city,
33:57and the aroma of one of America's
33:59most popular breakfast cereals
34:01fills the air.
34:03Freshly baked Cheerios,
34:05coming from this huge plant
34:07owned by another breakfast food giant,
34:09General Mills.
34:12Iowa boy Ashton Kutcher
34:14had a summer job here sweeping Cheerio dust
34:16off the floor,
34:18before moving on to Hollywood and fame.
34:22Plants like this one provide a steady demand
34:24for grain from Iowa's farmers,
34:26which is why much of the Iowa landscape
34:28remains an impressive
34:30and seemingly endless quilt
34:32of farmland.
34:35Sometimes,
34:37it even seems like the most
34:39important things in Iowa
34:41happen out in the fields.
34:43The Iowans gathered here today
34:45in the town of Amana would probably agree.
34:49They're here to pay homage
34:51to an all-American icon
34:53and prove that farmers and tractors
34:55share a special bond,
34:57especially when the tractor
34:59is a classic Alice Chalmers.
35:01Alice introduced its first model
35:03in 1914
35:05and then turned out a series of tractors
35:07aimed at the small and medium-sized farmer.
35:09With their signature
35:11orange paint jobs,
35:13they were some of the most popular ever built.
35:15The company stopped production
35:17in 1985,
35:19and now for many,
35:21owning a vintage Alice Chalmers
35:23is a big source of pride.
35:25Every year,
35:27dozens of farmers and fans
35:29show off their tractors,
35:31do a little wheeling and dealing
35:33in parts,
35:35and celebrate what collectors
35:37like to call the orange spirit.
35:41There's a very good reason
35:43why Iowans are especially fond
35:45of these old machines.
35:47The gasoline-powered tractor
35:49was invented right here in Iowa.
35:51But it took more than a century
35:53of innovation.
35:55By the 1890s,
35:58the slow oxen had been replaced
36:00by faster horses.
36:02But plowing and reaping with animals
36:04was still very hard work.
36:10Today, this modern tractor
36:12allows one operator to do a job
36:14that would once have taken teams of horses.
36:18When these machines arrived in the early 20th century,
36:20they set off a revolution
36:22in American farming.
36:24Thanks to an Iowa farmer
36:26and inventor named John Fralick.
36:28Back in 1892,
36:30he managed to build the first
36:32gasoline-powered tractor
36:34that could move forwards and backwards.
36:38His company was bought out in 1918
36:40by industry giant John Deere,
36:42which didn't have a tractor of its own
36:44at the time.
36:46Now, John Deere is one of the largest
36:48producers of tractors in the world.
36:50Most of them are still made
36:52here in Waterloo, Iowa,
36:55a plant that stands on the site
36:57of Fralick's original factory.
37:01The huge complex has its own foundry,
37:03engine factory, engineering center,
37:05and assembly plant.
37:07John Deere claims
37:09it's the largest tractor factory
37:11in the world.
37:13Thousands of these green machines
37:15are shipped out of here every year
37:17to over 130 countries.
37:21Helping to lift John Deere's income
37:23by 2013.
37:31Inventors have done well in Iowa,
37:33but dreamers
37:35and idealists have, too.
37:41Some came fleeing persecution
37:43for their unorthodox religious beliefs.
37:45Mormons were among
37:47the first to arrive.
37:49They began flooding into Iowa
37:52in 1946, after their homes across
37:54the river in Nauvoo, Illinois
37:56were attacked by anti-Mormon mobs.
38:01Thousands more would follow them
38:03through Iowa over the next few years
38:05as the Mormons made their mass migration
38:07west to Salt Lake City.
38:09Many would have to walk,
38:11pulling their belongings in hand carts.
38:13With so many Mormons crossing Iowa,
38:15some travelers stopped
38:17and started camps to serve
38:19their fellow refugees.
38:21But one of the largest
38:23lay here on a slight rise
38:25in the land,
38:27in Iowa's southwest corner.
38:29It was named Mount Pisgah
38:31after the Old Testament peak
38:33that gave Moses his first glimpse
38:35of the Promised Land.
38:37From 1846 to 1852,
38:39the men and women who ran the camp
38:41gave shelter to a flood
38:43of exhausted Mormon refugees,
38:45up to 2,000 at a time.
38:47They housed them in tents
38:50like this replica on the site.
38:52They fed the hungry travelers
38:54using produce grown
38:56in these nearby fields
38:58before sending them on their way.
39:00But as many as 800 Mormons
39:02died before they could continue
39:04on to Utah.
39:06After the exodus came to an end,
39:08Mount Pisgah was abandoned.
39:12Today, foundations of a few
39:14of the original cabins can still be seen
39:16in the fields here.
39:18And there's a slender monument
39:20hidden in the trees.
39:22These are just about the only signs
39:24that the Mormons ever passed this way.
39:32In 1974,
39:34the little Iowa farming town
39:36of Fairfield began a surprising
39:38transformation, thanks to the
39:40arrival of an Indian spiritual guru.
39:42His name was
39:44Maharishi Mahesh Yogi.
39:46His followers
39:48were practitioners of Transcendental
39:50Meditation, or TM,
39:52and arrived to take over an abandoned
39:54college campus here.
39:56Their TM movement was founded
39:58in the 1950s and has
40:00inspired everyone from the Beatles
40:02to Oprah, director David Lynch,
40:04Jerry Seinfeld, and about
40:066 million others around the globe.
40:08Fairfield
40:10is now the group's U.S. headquarters.
40:12From the air,
40:15it looks like any other Iowa town,
40:17except for these two giant golden
40:19domes. One is
40:21for men, the other
40:23for women. Twice a day,
40:25thousands of TM meditators
40:27from across Fairfield come to these domes
40:29to sit in quiet contemplation.
40:31Their homes reflect
40:33their beliefs, too.
40:35They've sparked a boom in houses built according to
40:37ancient Indian ideas.
40:39Large or small, each one
40:41faces east,
40:43and the central rooftop skylight is designed
40:45to let sunlight into a sacred spot
40:47below, known as a
40:49Brahmastan.
40:51So many followers of the Maharishi
40:53come to Fairfield, there's even a huge
40:55trailer park to house them.
40:57It's called Utopia Park.
41:01The little college that started
41:03it all is now known as MUM,
41:05the Maharishi University
41:07of Management.
41:09Graduates leave ready to pursue both
41:11jobs and inner peace.
41:15Fairfield may be a utopia
41:17for those seeking quiet contemplation,
41:19but all around this
41:21town, Iowa's farmers
41:23are hard at work, 24-7.
41:25Their fields
41:27blanket the land
41:29and create amazing patterns
41:31in the soil, especially
41:33from the air.
41:35Come late spring, their rows of
41:37corn rise from the earth
41:39and run on forever,
41:41right up to the horizon.
41:43Once it's harvested,
41:45much of that corn actually ends up in our
41:47gas tanks as ethanol.
41:51That transformation takes place
41:53here, at a massive facility
41:55run by agricultural giant,
41:57ADM.
41:59Today, gas at the pump is about 10%
42:01ethanol, which means
42:03it's big business.
42:05This one plant is the single largest
42:07producer in the country.
42:09Keeping it running at full capacity
42:11uses up to 5,000 acres
42:13worth of corn a day.
42:15Some say the massive diversion
42:17of corn to fuel production
42:19is driving up costs and contributing
42:21to food shortages.
42:23Or complain that ethanol takes too much
42:25energy and water to make.
42:27And that agro-industrial giants like
42:29ADM help drive family farms
42:31out of business.
42:33Today, corporate farming in Iowa
42:35is on the rise, while the number
42:37of family farms is shrinking.
42:41When you see Iowa
42:43from the air, you quickly
42:45discover that this state's bounty
42:47isn't all man-made.
42:49There are also lush forests
42:51and rolling hills.
42:53And vast bodies of water
42:55that are some of the state's great
42:57treasures.
42:59In the northwest corner of Iowa,
43:01a number of large bodies of water stretch
43:03right up to the Minnesota border.
43:05Iowans call these their
43:07Great Lakes.
43:09They were all formed by glaciers
43:1110,000 years ago.
43:13Lake Okoboji is the
43:15largest, and maybe the most fun.
43:19Summer vacationers have been coming here
43:21for more than 100 years.
43:27When they're not on the water,
43:29they're often riding Okoboji's
43:31Ferris wheel,
43:33or just passing the time away by the shore.
43:47When the summer's over,
43:49many head back to their farms.
43:51Those farms have always held
43:53the promise of Iowa's future,
43:55which explains why the Iowa State
43:57slogan is, Fields of Opportunity.
43:59But the opportunities
44:01that come knocking out here
44:03under Iowa's blue skies
44:05aren't always what one might expect.
44:07Like the time Hollywood came knocking
44:09on the Lansing family farm
44:11outside the small town of Dyersville.
44:15In 1988, the producers of a new
44:17Kevin Costner film arrived here
44:19with a special request.
44:21They wanted permission to put a picket fence
44:23around the Lansing's house, and then
44:25build a baseball diamond
44:27cornfield.
44:29When the Lansing said yes,
44:31the Field of Dreams was born.
44:33Costner's Oscar-nominated
44:35hit movie made this little playing
44:37field, and Iowa,
44:39famous around the world.
44:41More than 25 years later,
44:43people still stop by here almost
44:45every day to snap photos,
44:47get married, or even
44:49join in a game.
44:51The movie's build it and he will come
44:53mantra has made this corner of Iowa
44:55a symbol of unbridled faith
44:57and can-do optimism.
44:59But the rich history of this great
45:01state proves that folks here in Iowa
45:03don't need Tinseltown to show
45:05them the way.
45:07From the native tribes that first unearthed
45:09riches from its soil,
45:11to the hardy settlers who first
45:13plowed its fields,
45:15and the inventor who came up with the machine
45:17that farmers around the world
45:19now depend on today.
45:21Long before Hollywood ever arrived
45:23here, the fields of Iowa
45:25were already
45:27the Fields of Dreams.
45:53music
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