THE GOLDEN WEST
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Year Published: 1950s
Creator: leslie-winik-official-films
Description: Created by Leslie Winik and released by Official Films, "The Golden West" presents a look at the legendary American West with its prospectors, claim jumpers, outlaws and Indians. The film then looks at the "modern" west, circa 1950, with its Indian schools and romantic heritage. 00:00-0:19: Introduction to the "golden west", stronghold of the Navajo. A band of Indians stages an attack on a group of pioneers. • 0:19-0:46: Navajo raiders' resistance against white settlers with covered wagons. • 0:46-1:15: The terror experienced by herdsmen and lone ranchers. • 1:15-1:28: Discovery of gold in the Sierras. • 1:28-2:03: A mining camp and a sluice to prospect for gold. Rapid development of towns and the feverish search for gold. Bank in the old west. • 2:03-2:26: A saloon with dance hall girls. Raw gold as currency and the rush to get rich quickly. • 2:26-2:46:Stagecoach on the move. Presence of claim jumpers and outlaws. • 2:46-3:17: Decline of individual miners and the return of tumbleweeds. A ghost town, possibly Rhyolite, Nevada, or Calico or Bodie. • 3:17-3:36: Modern Navajo cowboy surveying their heritage. Window Rock, Arizona with its large natural arch. • 3:36-4:00: Government planners from Bureau of Indian Affairs. Efforts to help the Navajo on reservations. • 4:00-4:47: Transition from dance halls to schoolhouses and the importance of education. Navajo Indian School, possibly in Chinle, Arizona. Girl learns to use a sewing machine, man learns to cut hair. • 4:47-5:33: Persistence of traditional Navajo culture, like sand painting. • 5:33-6:08: Virginia City, Nevada, home to Victorian buildings built during a 19th-century mining boom. The sign for the Crystal Bar is shown. Revival of gold mining with modern methods. • 6:08-6:43: Hydraulic mining and reopening of old mines. • 6:43-7:02: Group of geologists gets out of a Ford woodie station wagon to examine rocks. The romance of gold mining persists with modern science. • 7:02-7:28: A prospector moves across frame with his burro. Success of lone prospectors without advanced equipment. • 7:28-8:10: The ongoing search for gold and the allure of potential strikes. • 8:10-8:51: The enduring mystery and promise of the Sierras' gold.
Complete Record: Created by Leslie Winik and released by Official Films, "The Golden West" presents a look at the legendary American West with its prospectors, claim jumpers, outlaws and Indians. The film then looks at the "modern" west, circa 1950, with its Indian schools and romantic heritage. 00:00-0:19: Introduction to the "golden west", stronghold of the Navajo. A band of Indians stages an attack on a group of pioneers. • 0:19-0:46: Navajo raiders' resistance against white settlers with covered wagons. • 0:46-1:15: The terror experienced by herdsmen and lone ranchers. • 1:15-1:28: Discovery of gold in the Sierras. • 1:28-2:03: A mining camp and a sluice to prospect for gold. Rapid development of towns and the feverish search for gold. Bank in the old west. • 2:03-2:26: A saloon with dance hall girls. Raw gold as currency and the rush to get rich quickly. • 2:26-2:46:Stagecoach on the move. Presence of claim jumpers and outlaws. • 2:46-3:17: Decline of individual miners and the return of tumbleweeds. A ghost town, possibly Rhyolite, Nevada, or Calico or Bodie. • 3:17-3:36: Modern Navajo cowboy surveying their heritage. Window Rock, Arizona with its large natural arch. • 3:36-4:00: Government planners from Bureau of Indian Affairs. Efforts to help the Navajo on reservations. • 4:00-4:47: Transition from dance halls to schoolhouses and the importance of education. Navajo Indian School, possibly in Chinle, Arizona. Girl learns to use a sewing machine, man learns to cut hair. • 4:47-5:33: Persistence of traditional Navajo culture, like sand painting. • 5:33-6:08: Virginia City, Nevada, home to Victorian buildings built during a 19th-century mining boom. The sign for the Crystal Bar is shown. Revival of gold mining with modern methods. • 6:08-6:43: Hydraulic mining and reopening of old mines. • 6:43-7:02: Group of geologists gets out of a Ford woodie station wagon to examine rocks. The romance of gold mining persists with modern science. • 7:02-7:28: A prospector moves across frame with his burro. Success of lone prospectors without advanced equipment. • 7:28-8:10: The ongoing search for gold and the allure of potential strikes. • 8:10-8:51: The enduring mystery and promise of the Sierras' gold.
Transcription
[Music] 100 years ago the golden west was the stronghold of the Navajo a wrist of western Indians [Music] resentful of the encroachment of the white aliens The Arrogant Navajo Raiders thundered Across The Plains of their domain what they wanted they took life was a terror for herdsman and lone Ranch [Music] then came the call Gold in the sieras and irresistible load Stone drawing Caravans of pilgrims across the continent like magic towns sprang up from the barren soil Fame and Fortune at the turn of a spade the search for gold became a fever with shovel and pick and riffle and pan they Coke small fortunes from gravel and stream [Music] the raw mineral was their currency no time to Mint it hardly time to spend it lend it or throw it away this was the land of get it quick and get it easy there were some who weren't particular how they got it the Claim Jumper Ambush artist and two gunman were all part of the rawh high days but suddenly the highgrade a gave out and as quickly as they came the individual miners moved out and the tumble weed moved back in but that was long ago today the modern Navajo roams the plains to survey his heritage from the government buildings at Window Rock Arizona the Navajo is Guided by intelligence and understanding on a reservation the size of Belgium and Holland he is being helped to become a happier and healthier Indian to take his post in the ranks of Young America [Music] where the 49er built a dance hall the 41 builds a school house the stage coach gives way to the school bus rustic but serviceable the navajos have no written language so the three preparing young Redskins for the advantages of Higher Learning most Indians see little value in these accomplishments and before the children can be taught they must must be brought to school so each School building provides tools and facilities for adults to do odd jobs and papa will come to school to sharpen his axe or mend his shoe and bring Junior along as a matter of course but after years of contact with the white man some of the old Indian culture still prevails on the reservation sand painting The Medicine Man continues to spread his colored chalk on clean sand in an appeal to the gods of the wind and clouds deities of the sun and the rain [Music] the stirring frenzy of the days of 49 are gone but another Gold Rush is on Virginia City and her boisterous sisters are revitalized by The Return of the industry or with the devaluation of currency and the development of modern mining methods it is again profitable to take gold from the sieras [Music] the walls of canyons yield treasure when subjected to the man-made erosion of powerful Jets of water under hydraulic [Applause] pressure underground some of the great minds of the past are being reopened iron chains chew art of fragments and digest it in this that capture the invisible metal flakes from this gold-bearing [Music] sludge even with this machine age the Romance of the Golden West is not all gone young men trained in college Laboratories enlist science in the search for gold but the men who have already found $700 million in these Hills had no scientific equipment or engineering degrees the lone prospector without special knowledge or equipment has made every important goal strike and this type of prospector still wanders through the sieras following in the footsteps of those who found the comto load or made the tonopas strike e [Music] this is good-looking Rock maybe the biggest strikes in su's Mill a look it's quartz yes but no sign of gold a cruel nugget of nothing The Rock splits the sun reflects a yellow glitter it's gold gold Builder and break man gold the mighty will of the Wisp that has built and destroyed [Music] Empires but the sieras are still arrogant they smile and watch confident that they hold more gold than man has ever seen or who knows [Music]
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