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00:00:00Transcription by CastingWords
00:00:30Honored parents, I am now on an expedition to the westward with Captain Lewis and Captain Clark,
00:00:37who are appointed by the President of the United States to go through the interior parts of North America,
00:00:43to ascend the Missouri River with a boat, and then to go to the Western Ocean.
00:00:48If we live to return, and if we make great discoveries as we expect,
00:00:54the United States is promised to make us great rewards.
00:01:00They were a small party charged with going where no one from the outside world had ever gone
00:01:18to open one of the last great wilderness regions of Earth,
00:01:22a place they thought might still hold woolly mammoths and other prehistoric creatures.
00:01:29To find out what was really out there and to survive
00:01:33was the equivalent in its day of a journey to the Moon.
00:01:38The End
00:01:41The End
00:01:44The End
00:01:49To lead this dangerous expedition, President Thomas Jefferson chose his chief aide, Meriwether
00:02:18Lewis, a skilled soldier and woodsman.
00:02:23He called him a man of courage undaunted, with qualifications as if implanted by nature
00:02:28for this express purpose.
00:02:31He was only 28.
00:02:35Lewis wanted a co-captain for such a long and risky mission.
00:02:39His old army commander, William Clark, who was four years older, an expert mapmaker and
00:02:45river man and a proven leader.
00:02:50Lewis asked Clark to join him.
00:02:53In this enterprise, with its dangers and honors, there is no man on earth with whom I should
00:02:58feel equal pleasure in sharing them as yourself.
00:03:05Clark answered Lewis's letter.
00:03:07My friend, I'd join you with hand and heart.
00:03:12Many feared they would never return.
00:03:15But if they made it, they would forever change the course of history.
00:03:19At the time, the great powers of the world could only guess what existed in the uncharted world.
00:03:37At the time, the great powers of the world could only guess what existed in the uncharted West.
00:03:44Native Americans already called this land home.
00:03:47But other nations hoped for a wealth of natural riches and had staked competing claims.
00:03:52Britain to Canada and the Oregon country.
00:03:57Russia, the Pacific Northwest.
00:04:00Spain, the West and parts of the South.
00:04:04France, an immense track called Louisiana.
00:04:09By sending an expedition into foreign land, Thomas Jefferson hoped to open the West up for the United States.
00:04:15In 1803, a surprise.
00:04:18Napoleon offered to sell the entire Louisiana territory.
00:04:22The U.S. quickly purchased it for $15 million, more than doubling the size of the nation.
00:04:28To cross this unknown land would be among the most ambitious and difficult journeys ever conceived.
00:04:43Clark wrote in his journal.
00:04:45All in health and readiness to set out, boats and everything complete with the necessary stores of provisions.
00:04:52Though not as much as I think necessary for the multitude of Indians through which we must pass.
00:04:57They pushed off upstream from St. Louis.
00:05:04Young American soldiers and French Canadian river men handpicked for strength and wilderness skills.
00:05:10Among them, a man named York, Clark's slave and companion since childhood.
00:05:17All were leaving their families behind for years.
00:05:22Their main mission was to find a water route to the Pacific and the Orient beyond.
00:05:29A long hoped for Northwest Passage.
00:05:40Lewis was a studious and solitary man.
00:05:43Under Jefferson, he had been trained to observe and record for science every new thing he saw.
00:05:49And he spent hours exploring alone with his dog.
00:06:19In this unfamiliar territory, just collecting a specimen could be dangerous.
00:06:30Only two days out, Lewis had nearly lost his life with a long journey still ahead.
00:06:40But a greater challenge they faced every day.
00:06:43The back-breaking work of moving tons of gear upriver against the full flood of the powerful, unpredictable Missouri.
00:06:52William Clark.
00:06:54The sergeant at the helm run under a bending tree and broke the mast.
00:07:00I am tormented with mosquitoes and ticks.
00:07:05Meriwether Lewis.
00:07:06The barge run foul three times today on logs.
00:07:11Happily, no injury was sustained, though the barge was in imminent danger.
00:07:17Past a bad sandbar where our tow rope broke twice.
00:07:23A storm struck our boat.
00:07:25It would have thrown her up on the sand island.
00:07:27Dashed her paces in an instant.
00:07:28Then the party leaped out and kept her off.
00:07:31Some days they made only a few miles with more than 3,000 to go.
00:07:50Clark was a practical and plain-spoken man.
00:07:55He usually commanded the men on the river.
00:07:59And kept records to make an accurate new map of the West.
00:08:09As they pushed up the Missouri toward present-day Omaha, Nebraska,
00:08:14they were deep into Indian lands.
00:08:16Traders and trappers had been up here, but no well-armed military party.
00:08:21A party of Oto and Missouri nation came to camp.
00:08:36Captain Lewis and myself sent them some roasted meat.
00:08:40In return, they sent us watermelons.
00:08:42Then up the greater part of last night was Sergeant Floyd, who is as bad as he can be.
00:09:01He expired, having said to me before his death that he was going away.
00:09:14We buried him with all the honors of war.
00:09:18Much lamented.
00:09:19They pushed on into the heart of the Great Plains.
00:09:40The immense river.
00:09:46Water is one of the fairest portions of the globe.
00:09:50Nor do I believe that there is in this universe a similar extent of country.
00:09:54In this vast grassland, Lewis discovered new species, including animals that barked.
00:10:11Like little toy dogs, he wrote.
00:10:15They would be named prairie dogs.
00:10:17They would be named prairie dogs.
00:10:47The hidden
00:11:00이으
00:11:02The
00:11:11Where there were buffalo, there were also buffalo hunters.
00:11:36Lewis and Clark were under orders to be friendly with native tribes.
00:11:40Children, we have been sent...
00:11:43Lewis also let them know, in full military dress,
00:11:46that the United States now claimed their land.
00:11:52There were only medals and small gifts for now,
00:11:55but in the future, Lewis told them,
00:11:57other Americans would arrive with a wealth of trade goods.
00:12:01And to inform you that a great council was lately held
00:12:04between this great chief and your old fathers.
00:12:08Lewis and Clark were passing through a world unknown to them,
00:12:11but well known to the Arikara, Sioux, and Omaha,
00:12:15to the Crow, Cheyenne, and Blackfeet,
00:12:18to more than 170 tribes and hundreds of thousands of people
00:12:22living west of the Mississippi, hunters, farmers, fishermen.
00:12:26Some traded peacefully.
00:12:28Some were regularly at war.
00:12:32The Teton Sioux were the most powerful tribe in the middle Missouri.
00:12:39They controlled traffic on that stretch of the river
00:12:42and had stopped traders before.
00:12:46The expedition now approached Teton land
00:12:49and a tribe that had the superior numbers to annihilate them.
00:12:53The encounter did not go well.
00:12:58Three of the young men seized the cable of the boat,
00:13:01and the second chief was very insolent,
00:13:03declaring I should not go on.
00:13:22Finally, Chief Black Buffalo waved his men off.
00:13:25The entire expedition could have ended that day
00:13:31near the present site of Pierre, South Dakota.
00:13:34They had come some 1,600 miles in five months,
00:13:47but ahead lay the long, bitter cold of winter
00:13:51on the northern prairie.
00:14:04Lewis and Clark hoped to stay near the Mandan and Hindadza,
00:14:16buffalo hunters who were often visited by traders.
00:14:19The tribes welcomed them as friends,
00:14:21and the Mandan called them Mushi, the pretty people.
00:14:25Together, their five villages were home to some 4,000 people,
00:14:37more than lived in St. Louis at the time.
00:14:43Nearby, the expedition settled in for five months
00:14:46of bone-chilling cold.
00:14:49The thermometer stood at 45 degrees below zero.
00:14:53Snowed all day, the ice ran thick, air cold.
00:14:57Three men, frostbit, bad night.
00:15:12The captains knew almost nothing about the land of the West.
00:15:17They hired an interpreter,
00:15:19a French fur trader named Charbonneau.
00:15:22He had two young Shoshone wives captured by the Hadadza in a raid.
00:15:28The captains asked him to bring one along
00:15:30to help interpret on the trip.
00:15:32She was about 16 years old and pregnant.
00:15:36The Hadadza called her Sagagawea.
00:15:42Tribal leaders such as Black Cat told them
00:15:45of a chain of mountains far to the west
00:15:47that could be crossed in half a day.
00:15:49But they would need horses.
00:15:51Sagagawea's tribe, the Shoshone,
00:15:53would have horses and might help.
00:15:55In winter quarters they called Fort Mandan.
00:16:05The captains prepared a shipment for President Jefferson
00:16:07to be taken back downriver by some of the men in spring.
00:16:11Clark drew a map of the land while Lewis packed what he had collected,
00:16:17including dozens of new plant and animal species.
00:16:21Sagagawea gave birth in February,
00:16:27a difficult labor assisted by Lewis.
00:16:31Tiny Jean-Baptiste Charbonneau became the final member of the expedition.
00:16:51We were now about to penetrate a country
00:17:19in which the foot of civilized man had never trodden.
00:17:23The good or evil that had in store for us was yet to determine.
00:17:27I could but esteem this moment of my departure among the most happy of my life.
00:17:49The Innisfactory
00:17:52We had a theme.
00:17:55The Deeret Neutra
00:17:57The Sandshare
00:17:59The Sandshare
00:18:01The Sandshare
00:18:03The Sandshare
00:18:05The Sandshare
00:18:07To Retou
00:18:12The Sandshare
00:18:14Oh, my God.
00:18:44Sagagawea quickly grew more important to the expedition.
00:18:49She showed them edible plants and roots,
00:18:53white apples, wild artichokes, and licorice.
00:18:57When a boat overturned in a strong wind,
00:19:00it was Sagagawea who saved their most important items.
00:19:07Off the river, they faced other challenges.
00:19:14Where's the wind?
00:19:25Where's the wind?
00:19:35Where's the wind?
00:19:37In present-day Montana, the expedition came to a fork in the river, and a critical decision.
00:19:55Which of these rivers was the Missouri?
00:19:57To mistake the stream would not only lose us the whole of the season,
00:20:01but would probably so dishearten the party that it might defeat the expedition altogether.
00:20:07The Hidatsa had told the captains to look for a waterfall as proof that they were still on the Missouri.
00:20:14What Lewis found would test the strength and spirit of his men.
00:20:37The Great Falls of the Missouri, and five massive cascades.
00:20:42To continue, they would have to carry everything vital to the expedition on a detour more than 17 miles around the falls, over rough terrain.
00:20:54To continue, they would have to carry everything vital to the expedition on a detour more than 17 miles around the falls, over rough terrain.
00:21:01We all believe that we are about to enter on the most perilous and difficult part of our voyage.
00:21:15All appear perfectly to have made up their minds to succeed in the expedition, or perish in the attempt.
00:21:23At every halt, these poor fellows tumble down and are asleep in an instant.
00:21:31Some are limping from the soreness of their feet.
00:21:34Others faint and unable to stand, yet all go with cheerfulness.
00:21:40The grueling portage left the men badly worn down with mountains still to come.
00:22:01But they willingly followed their captains.
00:22:05Very different men, who seem to command as one.
00:22:09There is no record the two friends ever argued or disagreed on an important decision.
00:22:24They had lost almost a month at the falls, and they needed to find the Shoshone and obtain horses before the cold weather set in.
00:22:31Sagagawea now recognized places from her youth and could help guide the men.
00:22:38But the Shoshone remained elusive.
00:22:40Finally, Lewis set out with a scouting party to search for them.
00:22:54If we do not find them, I fear the successful issue of our voyage will be very doubtful.
00:23:13Clark and the rest of the men labored on through frigid water that was barely passable.
00:23:17They planned to reunite further upriver once Lewis had found the Shoshone.
00:23:47Ahead somewhere was the Missouri's source.
00:23:54From there, the men hoped for a quick mountain crossing and then an easy ride downstream to the Pacific Ocean.
00:24:00Ahead of the boats, Lewis made an historic discovery.
00:24:10I had accomplished one of those great objects on which my mind has been unalterably fixed for many years.
00:24:17The source of the great Missouri River had finally been found.
00:24:24From the Continental Divide above, Lewis hoped to see a river heading westward toward the ocean.
00:24:47Instead, he confronted a scene of crushing disappointment.
00:24:54I discovered immense ranges of high mountains still to the west of us with their tops partially covered with snow.
00:25:05The need for horses was now more important than ever.
00:25:10The very next day, Lewis finally made contact with the Shoshone and persuaded them to accompany him to meet with Clark on the river.
00:25:31Once again, the fate of the entire expedition was in the hands of native people who had never seen strangers like these before.
00:25:45As Sagagawea began to interpret, the stakes could hardly have been higher.
00:25:54Suddenly, she paused.
00:25:56Across the years of separation from her tribe, Sagagawea recognized Kameoweit, the Shoshone chief.
00:26:17He was her brother.
00:26:18As the translation proceeded from Shoshone to Hidatsa to French to English, the two captains must have realized that once again, they were extraordinarily lucky.
00:26:35They would have their horses.
00:26:36They spent more than two weeks with the Shoshone.
00:26:55A time of reunion for one and rest for them all.
00:26:59But a head, a mountain barrier whose size no one had anticipated loomed like a monster with a hundred heads.
00:27:20The United States lay behind them now.
00:27:26Ahead, lands claimed by Britain, Spain and Russia.
00:27:30They entered the Bitterroot Range of the Rocky Mountains near today's Montana-Idaho border.
00:27:46An early storm brought bitter cold and made a dangerous crossing even more difficult, coating the steep slopes in snow and ice.
00:28:07The Shoshone guide, old Toby, lost the way for a time.
00:28:18I could observe high, rugged mountains in every direction, as far as I could see.
00:28:37Worse of all, there was almost no game.
00:29:02Worst of all, there was almost no game.
00:29:06The crossing became a starvation trek.
00:29:09We suffered everything cold, hunger, and fatigue could impart.
00:29:15I have been wet and as cold in every part as I ever was in my life.
00:29:33Indeed, I was at one time fearful my feet would freeze in the thin moccasins which I wore.
00:29:45After two agonizing weeks, they had nothing left to eat but a little soup, bear oil, and candles.
00:30:05Desperate, Clark and a small party went ahead hoping to find a way out of the mountains.
00:30:15Clark finally found a way down from the snow-covered mountains to a lush, open country.
00:30:40They were found by children of the Nez Perce tribe and made their way to a nearby village.
00:30:47As the story goes, the strangers might have been killed but for an old woman named Wat Kuwais who pleaded for their lives.
00:30:54The
00:31:08The
00:31:12The
00:31:18I don't know.
00:31:48For two weeks, the Nez Perce provided food and comfort.
00:32:04Lewis would later call the Nez Perce the most hospitable, honest, and sincere people we met
00:32:10with in our voyage.
00:32:11For the first time since setting out 17 months before, they were going downstream.
00:32:22But ahead were rapids so dangerous the nearby tribes gathered to watch the white men drown.
00:32:41I don't know.
00:33:41They were heading down the Columbia, the great river of the northwest. It was the last highway leading to the Pacific, the realm of tribes such as the Yakima, Umatilla, Walla Walla, and Chinook. There was one all-consuming thing on their minds.
00:34:03This great Pacific Ocean, which we have been so long anxious to see.
00:34:11Captain Lewis.
00:34:13Finally, the moment was at hand after a year and a half of exhausting struggle.
00:34:19Ocean in view!
00:34:25Ocean in view!
00:34:35Ocean in view!
00:34:37Ocean in view!
00:34:38Ocean in view!
00:34:39Ocean in view!
00:34:40Ocean in view!
00:34:41Ocean in view!
00:34:42Ocean in view!
00:34:43Ocean in view!
00:34:44Ocean in view!
00:34:45Ocean in view!
00:34:46Ocean in view!
00:34:47Ocean in view!
00:34:48Ocean in view!
00:34:49Ocean in view!
00:34:50Ocean in view!
00:34:51Ocean in view!
00:34:52Ocean in view!
00:34:53Ocean in view!
00:34:54Lewis must have felt triumphant his party had done what many considered impossible they had
00:35:09made it all the way to the Pacific alive the men appear much satisfied with their trip beholden
00:35:22with astonishment the highway dashing the rocks in this immense ocean it was late in this season
00:35:44and they had to face the reality of another long winter far from home the captains asked the entire
00:35:50Corps to vote on the location of a winter campsite well second option on the South Bank the first time
00:35:58in recorded US history that a slave or woman was allowed to vote near what is now Astoria Oregon
00:36:11they built winter quarters named Fort Clatsop after the nearby coastal tribe they traded with
00:36:18their Indian neighbors for salmon berries and roots and settled in for four miserable months there
00:36:26were only 12 days without rain the winter dampened their spirits as well they were homesick and long
00:36:35to see their loved ones back in the States most at home assumed they were dead
00:36:40nearly two years after setting out they headed back upriver crossing land now charted on Clark's new map the return trip
00:37:07would take only six months
00:37:14in the end the journey opened up the West to their fellow countrymen it was the beginning of a new era for the United States
00:37:22but the Native American way of life would never be the same they had passed among some 50 tribes without whose help they might never have returned none played a greater role in their success than the young woman at their side
00:37:29at the Mandan and Hadassah villages they bid farewell to Sagagawea who stayed behind and they had passed among some 50 tribes without whose help they might never have returned and they had passed among some 50 tribes without whose help they might never have returned and none played a greater role in their success than the young woman at their side
00:37:36At the Mandan and Hadassah villages they bid farewell to Sagagawea who stayed behind with her family
00:37:51At the Mandan and Hadassah villages, they bid farewell to Sagagaweah, who stayed behind
00:37:59with her family.
00:38:05She had endured every danger and deprivation while also caring for a child.
00:38:11Most of the men would never see her again.
00:38:18Twenty-eight months after setting out, Lewis and Clark reached St. Louis, ending an 8,000-mile
00:38:24odyssey.
00:38:25They were acclaimed as national heroes, the first U.S. citizens to cross the continent.
00:38:33Lewis had described at least 178 plants and 122 animals new to science.
00:38:43Clark had drawn new and accurate maps that would guide the next generation of pioneers.
00:38:51Together they had blazed the path of their nation's future.
00:39:02Friends to the end, the two captains met very different fates.
00:39:07Meriwether Lewis was named governor of the Louisiana Territory, but he fell into a deep
00:39:12depression and is believed to have taken his own life only three years after the expedition.
00:39:23By contrast, William Clark went on to a life of success, serving as governor of the Missouri
00:39:29Territory.
00:39:34So different in nature, the two never lost admiration for one another.
00:39:40Clark was a father to ten children.
00:39:43His firstborn, he named Meriwether Lewis Clark.
00:39:49The End.
00:39:59The End.
00:40:01The End.
00:40:02The End.
00:42:06This bear is being shot, but not with guns.
00:42:10A National Geographic film crew is shooting him on 70mm IMAX film.
00:42:15I love working in this format because it's so much about the photography.
00:42:20Back to one, that's looking good.
00:42:23Here we go, everyone.
00:42:24Big camera, big gear, big adventure.
00:42:31It's the largest movie film format on Earth.
00:42:35When you pull one person out, the whole thing can crumble.
00:42:39So everybody's willpower is what makes these things happen.
00:42:44It's a larger-than-life film about one of the greatest adventures in history,
00:42:49the epic journey of Lewis and Clark across the American West.
00:42:54In 1802, President Thomas Jefferson commissioned Meriwether Lewis to find an all-water route to the Pacific.
00:43:18He urged Lewis to study the face of the country and to make a careful record of the plants, animals,
00:43:31and the inhabitants, and the inhabitants of this strange new land.
00:43:35Most of the country west of the Mississippi was a mysterious blank on the American map.
00:43:45When the explorers left their familiar world behind, they entered a land as unknown to them as the moon.
00:43:55Yeah, that's better.
00:43:56Two centuries later, director Bruce Nyber and his production team are setting out to capture the journey on IMAX film.
00:44:03I think that the hardest thing is going to be maintaining a feeling for the audience that they are there somehow watching.
00:44:15Co-producers Lisa Truitt and Jeff Miller scoured the western United States for the best locations.
00:44:22We've had to go around and pick places in America, the general area where Lewis and Clark went,
00:44:28and they're just the most beautiful spots in America, you know, except for these big cameras we've got.
00:44:32I think it's 200 years ago.
00:44:35During the next few months, the crew will travel from Oregon to Nebraska,
00:44:41recreating the hardships and the triumphs of the original expedition.
00:44:48Director of Photography T.C. Christensen heads the camera crew.
00:44:52An IMAX frame is about ten times the image size of that negative in a movie theater.
00:45:02So every frame is almost the size of a postcard.
00:45:06Hold on, moving. Cranes moving.
00:45:08Everything about this production is huge.
00:45:11The crew, the cranes, the camera, the film stock, and the animals.
00:45:18The very first day of the shoot, the crew faces down an 800-pound grizzly named Tank.
00:45:29Lewis and Clark had never seen anything as fierce as a grizzly.
00:45:33Even when shot, these bears chase the explorers down.
00:45:36The crew is going to recreate a scene where a grizzly chases Lewis and Clark's men into a river.
00:45:46I'm going to have the bear in back of me.
00:45:48Clint Younggreen is one of Tank's trainers.
00:45:50If anything happens, if you trip and stumble and the bear comes up on you or anything like that,
00:45:56don't worry about it.
00:45:58It's my job to protect you. Don't do anything.
00:46:01Yeah, and they may be trained, but there's always that room for unpredictability, I suppose.
00:46:05So, yeah, the fear is going to be soon, I believe.
00:46:09Oh, good.
00:46:11Owner and head trainer Doug Seuss gets Tank into position.
00:46:14All right.
00:46:16Stay back.
00:46:17Finally, the chase is on.
00:46:24It's a good thing Tank is a trained bear, because these actors would be easy prey.
00:46:31They told me where I'm supposed to run, and so I'm just running for my spot.
00:46:36Action.
00:46:42Tank has worked like a pro.
00:46:44He's earned the chance to cool off with a big gulp of Gatorade.
00:46:48Come on.
00:46:48Good law.
00:46:50Good law.
00:46:51You want to arrest him first?
00:46:53Good law.
00:46:54You guys got it?
00:46:57In the spring of 1804, Lewis and Clark pushed out into the Missouri and began their journey west,
00:47:04into the unknown.
00:47:05They were co-captains of 40 men on a military expedition into territory that had only recently
00:47:16become part of the United States.
00:47:19Two days upriver, Lewis had an accident that could have put an end to the entire venture.
00:47:25Lewis, very early on in the expedition, fell off a cliff, basically, and slid about 20 feet
00:47:31down, a 300-foot drop, and stopped himself with his hunting knife.
00:47:35So it's a great scene, but it's really hard to do.
00:47:39Lewis often walked for miles along the riverbanks, searching for specimens to send back to President
00:47:45Jefferson.
00:47:46In the film, he's just found a flower he's never seen before.
00:47:51He's got his flower.
00:47:52That's all he cares about.
00:47:53That's all he's focused on, is he's got this new specimen.
00:47:56Lewis is so fascinated with his discovery that he loses his balance and nearly falls to
00:48:01his death.
00:48:05A stunt double will recreate the first part of the fall.
00:48:09He'll tumble down 20 feet, bounce off the rocks, and hope his harness stops him from going
00:48:14all the way.
00:48:15I'm hoping it'll be essentially just a good little bungee jump.
00:48:18Okay, we're ready.
00:48:20Camera.
00:48:20Go leg.
00:48:21Yeah.
00:48:30To give the audience the sensation of falling off the cliff, the crew is going to push the
00:48:35camera over the edge.
00:48:37We're basically dropping the camera over the cliff, and it's going to give this scene a
00:48:42real momentum and a real exciting feel in the theater.
00:48:46So we really want this shot.
00:48:47But I mean, there's, everything should go fine.
00:48:53There's only three of these cameras in the world, this exact style of camera.
00:48:58So we throw that over the edge and something breaks, the show's over.
00:49:02You know, it's not a matter of, oh, we need another, and oh, we have it broken.
00:49:05The show's over.
00:49:07Camera speed.
00:49:08Three, two, one.
00:49:12That's one of the shots that I hope people notice and talk about when they come out of
00:49:17the theater, was, wow, how did your stomach feel when they went over the top of that cliff
00:49:22and go almost straight down?
00:49:24The camera survived the plunge to film again.
00:49:30Lewis has lost his precious specimen in the fall.
00:49:33For this shot, he's trying to catch the flower as he clings to the crumbling cliff.
00:49:40But the prop just won't fall in the right place.
00:49:43Flower!
00:49:44You know, I was kind of surprised when the first couple of rocks bounced off my skull,
00:49:47and I thought, these are not little rocks, these are big rocks.
00:49:50And flower.
00:49:53Tilt.
00:49:56And flower.
00:49:59We cut.
00:49:59Camera reloads.
00:50:01Camera reloads.
00:50:02Nine takes later, the flower finally tumbles within reach.
00:50:07You know, there was no blood.
00:50:08It was good.
00:50:09And it just felt like real movie making.
00:50:12It felt like, okay, this is what it's about.
00:50:14Okay, moving on.
00:50:15It's 5 a.m., and the beginning of a long time,
00:50:20it was a long day for the actors.
00:50:22Alex Rice plays Sacagawea.
00:50:26Sonny Surwick plays William Clark.
00:50:30Kelly Boulware is Meriwether Lewis.
00:50:33Let's go to work.
00:50:36South Dakota.
00:50:37Toby Tyler plays Clark's slave, York.
00:50:40And to play the men who became known as the core of Discovery,
00:50:49the production hired 23 river guides from Jackson Hole, Wyoming.
00:50:58The first thing for all the actors is to get into wardrobe and makeup.
00:51:02I tell you what, I was excited to be John Coulter until I found out what I had to wear.
00:51:07You take the leather chaps.
00:51:13Put them over the leather pants,
00:51:16a leather vest on top of that,
00:51:18and then normally a leather jacket.
00:51:20Nice and cool in this type of weather.
00:51:22But that's showbiz.
00:51:25Ed is creating a boil.
00:51:27Wow.
00:51:28Ed's really good because I can tell it's starting to hurt.
00:51:32Seven, you're going to have a seven-story boil.
00:51:36The IMAX image will be so huge when it's projected
00:51:39that the tiniest detail must be exactly right.
00:51:43All right, here's a real test of Ed's work.
00:51:46Oh, yeah.
00:51:50Ooh, wow.
00:51:52The makeup team is working from early paintings of Mandan Indians
00:51:57to make the body paint authentic for the next scene.
00:52:00Every color, every brush stroke, matches the original design.
00:52:09Looking good.
00:52:11Very sharp.
00:52:16This is the biggest set piece of the entire movie
00:52:19with a reconstructed Indian village and a hundred extras.
00:52:25The crew is racing against time to get a shot before dark.
00:52:30The choreography of the dancers, the firelight,
00:52:33and the placement of the camera are all critical.
00:52:37There should be no smoke in this shot, okay?
00:52:39In this CGI shot.
00:52:42No smoke.
00:52:44This could later be just empty.
00:52:45For the final film, computer-generated images
00:52:48will turn Seven Lodges into a large village.
00:52:55C'est bon?
00:52:56Parfait, merci.
00:53:03I love it.
00:53:04It's great, man.
00:53:06How do you like it?
00:53:06A little cold, but I mean, so...
00:53:08You see all those Indians, I'm like in a dream, you know?
00:53:10You know, it feels...
00:53:12It makes me feel powerful.
00:53:14This is a good night.
00:53:15Oh, dang good night.
00:53:16This is, uh...
00:53:17This set is amazing.
00:53:19Yeah.
00:53:19Absolutely amazing.
00:53:21Yeah, I'm overwhelmed.
00:53:22I don't know what to say.
00:53:23I'm overwhelmed.
00:53:24I love this.
00:53:25Guys, we need you all to sit down, please, in your marks.
00:53:36Okay, guys, you're on.
00:53:40Clearing!
00:53:41Clearing!
00:53:41Clearing!
00:53:42Can I help?
00:53:43Take those two.
00:53:44Clearing.
00:53:47Okay, here we go.
00:53:48No, that's fine.
00:53:49Stand low.
00:53:49There's a hard stuff on the ground, okay.
00:53:51And roll sound.
00:53:52Ready!
00:53:53Go leg!
00:53:54Action!
00:53:55Action!
00:53:56Action!
00:53:56Murder!
00:53:57Murder!
00:53:58Murder!
00:53:59The film crew is recreating a Mandan hunting ceremony.
00:54:06The friendship of these Indians would become crucial to the expedition's success.
00:54:10They welcomed the explorers and gave them vital information about the journey upriver to the Rocky Mountains, where the Shoshone Indians lived.
00:54:24Lewis and Clark stayed with the Mandan through the fall and the long, cold winter.
00:54:30Cut!
00:54:31Cut!
00:54:31Cut!
00:54:32Cut!
00:54:33Cut!
00:54:34Cut!
00:54:35Hey, guys, listen up!
00:54:36Listen up, please!
00:54:37All those folks who've got a hairpiece, wig, things like that, you have to return to the hair and makeup trailer.
00:54:43And they will take it off of you.
00:54:48Recreating Mandan winter scenes meant shooting in February in sub-zero temperatures.
00:54:50The cast and crew are getting a taste of the arctic cold the explorers experienced.
00:54:53The cold today is the kind of cold that no matter how many layers you have on it, it's cold.
00:54:58It's cold.
00:54:59It's cold.
00:55:00It's cold.
00:55:01It's cold.
00:55:02It's cold.
00:55:03It's cold.
00:55:04It's cold.
00:55:05It's cold.
00:55:06It's cold.
00:55:07It's cold.
00:55:08It's cold.
00:55:09It's cold.
00:55:10It's cold.
00:55:11It's cold.
00:55:12You know how many layers you have on, it eats right through it, chills you to the bone.
00:55:17It's like a thousand needles of ice stabbing at my feet.
00:55:24It was here that Lewis and Clark met the teenage Shoshone girl, Sacagawea.
00:55:31Years earlier, she had been kidnapped from her family by an enemy tribe, then won in a bed
00:55:37by a French fur trapper named Charbonneau.
00:55:40Lewis and Clark realized how valuable she would be as an interpreter with the Shoshone.
00:55:47When the expedition set out again, Charbonneau and Sacagawea went with them.
00:55:53She would carry their newborn son for thousands of miles across the continent.
00:56:01Finally, Sacagawea was heading toward home.
00:56:04We're ready to try it?
00:56:05Okay, let's try it.
00:56:06TC, you ready?
00:56:07Here we go.
00:56:08Crane.
00:56:09Action.
00:56:10Crane shots give the film a feeling of sweeping through the vastness of space, capturing the
00:56:27grandeur of the natural world.
00:56:33The crew is rigging one of the most difficult crane shots of the production.
00:56:38To give the audience a sense of the awe Lewis must have felt when he first saw the great falls of the Missouri, the camera will sweep out over the chasm, revealing the thundering falls below.
00:56:49The grips are working in harnesses at the edge of a sheer drop, one slip and they'd literally be at the end of their rope.
00:57:02The crew couldn't film this scene at the real great falls because a hydroelectric dam blocks the view.
00:57:09Instead, they're shooting at Twin Falls, Idaho.
00:57:12Even here, they have to frame out power lines and other 21st century intrusions.
00:57:18Computer generated images will enhance the scene to look like the awesome cascades of the great falls in 1805.
00:57:29That's beautiful, Todd.
00:57:34We're good.
00:57:35Finally, the crane is rigged.
00:57:37Okay, you done adding stuff?
00:57:39Yes, sir.
00:57:40All right, let's just slide the slider back about a foot.
00:57:43Okay, crane.
00:57:45Arm.
00:57:46The grips control the crane moves.
00:57:48That's good speed, Todd.
00:57:50TC guides the camera and watches the shot on a video monitor.
00:57:54It's like writing calligraphy with a two-ton pen.
00:58:01The huge, bulky equipment must be handled with precision to get everything in the frame.
00:58:07And they do.
00:58:09It's a stunning shot.
00:58:11To get around the great falls, Lewis and Clark had to haul their canoes and supplies 17 miles through prickly pear cactus and blistering heat.
00:58:30Keep the momentum.
00:58:31It's fun.
00:58:32In this broiling, dusty location near Twin Falls, the cast and crew are getting another taste of the struggle of the original expedition.
00:58:45Oh, my God.
00:58:47Is that a blister?
00:58:48Yeah, that was a blood blister that popped.
00:58:51Have they seen that?
00:58:53We could put some blood on that and it would look really good.
00:58:55I see that.
00:58:56Basically, the corps members have been traveling and their feet are all beat up.
00:59:00And I'm going to be an example of what their feet look like.
00:59:02Because they were refreshing.
00:59:04Oh, yeah.
00:59:05Put some blood right under there.
00:59:07Oh, yeah.
00:59:08And your toenail.
00:59:09Just a toenail.
00:59:10Give me a break.
00:59:11That's the problem now.
00:59:12How's it going to work?
00:59:14The explorers continued upstream to the source of the Missouri.
00:59:19It was there that they found Sacagawea's people and witnessed one of the most remarkable reunions in history.
00:59:26A moment the filmmakers will recreate for the big screen.
00:59:30As Sacagawea begins to interpret for Lewis and Clark, she realizes she's not just talking to a Shoshone chief.
00:59:38She's talking to her brother.
00:59:41She's talking to her brother.
00:59:56We've all lost somebody, you know, we've all, we've all had to come home at one time
01:00:11or another.
01:00:12Oh, that was wonderful.
01:00:22The Shoshones are telling us that they would have said Sacajawea, and the Mandan had that
01:00:26answer have been telling us that they would say Sacagawea, so we don't know which it is.
01:00:32No matter how the name is supposed to be said, it's a very hard one to pronounce.
01:00:37Sacajawea?
01:00:38Sacajawea.
01:00:39Sacajawea.
01:00:40Sacajawea.
01:00:41Sacagawea.
01:00:42Sacagawea.
01:00:43I don't know.
01:00:44Sacajawea.
01:00:45I can't say it.
01:00:47Sacagawea.
01:00:48Sacagawea.
01:00:49The correct pronunciation, I believe, is Sacajawea.
01:00:53Actually, Lewis and Clark's journals record the name as Sacagawea.
01:00:59Sacagawea means bird woman.
01:01:01So it's a lovely name.
01:01:03When the explorers headed west again, Sacagawea went with them.
01:01:10The bitter root range stretched on ahead, blocking their path.
01:01:15There was no all-water route to the sea.
01:01:19Lewis later wrote, we suffered everything cold, hunger, and fatigue could impart.
01:01:27Finally, they crossed the Rockies and discovered a river flowing west.
01:01:35With the help of the Nez Perce Indians, they carved dugout canoes and headed downstream toward
01:01:41the Pacific.
01:01:42For the first time on the journey, the explorers are going with the current.
01:01:49They probably should have portaged.
01:01:56They were just so anxious to get to the Pacific, and it felt so good to have that current helping
01:02:02them rather than fighting them that they jumped in the boats and ran the rapids.
01:02:09It's a complicated shoot with the IMAX camera and a waterproof housing mounted on a rubber
01:02:15raft for boat-to-boat shots.
01:02:16Kevin Costner or Steven Spielberg or anybody that worked on water, I'll tell you, it's
01:02:23tough.
01:02:24The river may look easy, but there are hidden dangers.
01:02:29If you stay in for a couple of minutes, you can really get hypothermic pretty quick.
01:02:34You can flip your boat, you can get it pinned against rocks, you can get sucked under into
01:02:38holes, it can keep you down.
01:02:40And roll.
01:02:41The prop dugouts are actually made of hard foam.
01:02:46For the movie, they're supposed to stay upright through the rapids, but it's nearly impossible
01:02:50to keep them from swamping.
01:02:53And go, Todd.
01:02:54Oh, that's nice.
01:02:55Oh, they're gonna eat it.
01:02:56No, they're not.
01:02:57No, they're not.
01:02:58No, they're not.
01:02:59No, they're not.
01:03:00Yeah!
01:03:01No!
01:03:02No!
01:03:03No!
01:03:04No!
01:03:05No!
01:03:06No!
01:03:07No!
01:03:08No!
01:03:09No!
01:03:10No!
01:03:11They're off!
01:03:12They're off!
01:03:13Woo-hoo!
01:03:14The next day, a cold rain sweeps through.
01:03:19They have to get into wet clothes today.
01:03:24You know, their pants, their leathers, and their shirts haven't been dry for four or five
01:03:29days.
01:03:30Costumes are getting kind of mucked up, and the guys are freezing.
01:03:33But the real guys, 200 years ago, were out in this for days on end.
01:03:38And they couldn't switch out.
01:03:39You know, they couldn't go dry off and warm up.
01:03:42And so it does really make you wonder how they made it.
01:03:45I'm soaked to the bone.
01:03:47These things weigh about 150 pounds each.
01:03:50I'm gonna be very upset if I have to put my stuff on again.
01:03:54Hey, my man.
01:03:55Hey, pass the baton, baby.
01:03:57I'm going in.
01:03:59I'm thinking I should have taken that office job.
01:04:02Nice job.
01:04:05Wet and cold, the cast heads into the river again.
01:04:09For actor Toby Tyler, the rapids are more than he bargained for.
01:04:13And I could feel the boat.
01:04:15The back of the boat start to sink, and I just kept digging.
01:04:17And then really quick, I just remember the boat on top of me and me underneath it.
01:04:24Safety kayaker Britt Farthing is trying to get to Toby.
01:04:30He went down.
01:04:31I could see his hands.
01:04:32That was it.
01:04:33And he stayed down.
01:04:34And I looked up, and I could see the boat.
01:04:37And when I came up, I started pushing up.
01:04:39As soon as he came up, he had big eyes.
01:04:41So I went straight to him and pulled him.
01:04:43Pulled him aside.
01:04:44He was re-shocked.
01:04:45He thanked me more than once.
01:04:48Even 10 minutes later, he even said thanks as he was leaving the river.
01:04:52Cut.
01:04:53And here comes Sacagawea.
01:04:55Here we are.
01:04:56I was a little bit scared.
01:04:58But once I got in the water, I just committed myself and just went away.
01:05:14After 18 months and more than 4,000 miles of hard traveling, the explorers are finally within reach of their goal.
01:05:25William Clark wrote simply, Ocean in view, oh the joy.
01:05:33They had crossed a continent and survived.
01:05:38Clark's map of the west would become the standard for decades to come.
01:05:44Lewis had found 178 plants and 122 animals new to science.
01:05:55Near the mouth of the Columbia River, the film crew is capturing a moment when Lewis and Clark look out across the western sea.
01:06:07You know that sun comes up every day and it goes down every night.
01:06:11Well, sometimes that creates tension because we're fighting and hurrying to get work done before the sun goes down behind that hill.
01:06:20Stand by, we're going to reload.
01:06:22The film always runs out at a crucial time.
01:06:26For me, it's more a matter if we're chasing the light.
01:06:29If it's really important that we're trying to get this before the sun goes down and right then we roll out a film.
01:06:41Here we go. Action, Sunny. Action, Kelly.
01:06:56Cut. Cut. Cut.
01:07:00Beautiful. Great.
01:07:02Hey, thank you very much. That's a wrap. That's it.
01:07:06The sun has set on the National Geographic film crew.
01:07:15Their giant images will play across seven story screens, transporting audiences to a time when the west was still a wild, uncharted place.
01:07:25The 21st century teen may be invisible in the theater, but their work is in every frame.
01:07:34This was completely different.
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