The West. Eps 3 and 4: The Speck of the future. Death runs riot

Episode of Series “The West”.
Episode three (1848-1856): “The Speck of the future” (85 mins) - The discovery of gold in California in 1848 changed the West forever. Gold diggers from all over the world came to seek their fortune. The gold rush also brought thousands of American immigrants travelling in wagon trains and by boat. Wherever gold was discovered, the pattern set in California repeated itself - Americans rushed in, towns sprang up, and Indian tribes found themselves outnumbered in their own lands. This episode talks about the “Forty-niners”; Kit Carson; the Fort Laramie Treaty of 1851; the devastating effect of the invasion of foreigners to the Native Indian tribes - the slaughter, the famine and the diseases; San Francisco (the West’s first full-fledged city), and Levi Strauss. Episode four (1856-1868): “Death runs riot” (85 mins) - A myth had grown up about the West: “you could escape and be free”. The Americans began moving West in increasing numbers, staking claims on Indian land, clearing the land, building towns and cities. But with it came slavery, the American nation’s most divisive issue, bringing war and bloodshed and eventually the Civil War. Mexican-Americans also suffered persecution and removal by murder or otherwise at the hands of the Texas Rangers. The Cheyenne Peace Chiefs led by “Black Kettle” faced a losing battle with the whites and war and revenge would rage for many years. Narrated by Peter Coyote.