My great great grandfather was the engineer on this job. My great grandma was there as a child and wrote a book about it at the age of 100. Its called "The Bridges Stand Tall" by Priscilla Pyfrom if anyone is interested.

@pedenmk

9 ай бұрын

Thanks Nick.

@davidcouch6514

9 ай бұрын

Sounds Amazing, Thanks.

@Pudentame

9 ай бұрын

Cool

@altacat9702

9 ай бұрын

: ) !!!

@kimworkman2425

8 ай бұрын

I want to read it

I came to America on a boat from Cuba in May of 1980; it docked in Key West. My first car ride in this great nation was on the overseas highway from Key West to Miami. Thanks Henry.

@teddyjackson1902

4 ай бұрын

Fight to keep this nation as you found it in your youth.

I was in the Army and stationed at Homestead at the tail end of the Cuban Missile Crisis for a couple of years. Drove that route to Key West many times. The legend of a railroad intrigued me and I spent many hours and days exploring the backwaters down to Key Largo finding remnants of it. This is a great video and while it brings back many memories it also makes me realize how I miss that area. I know that today it is not all like it was and I would probably be disappointed at what I find. Today I'm about as far away as you can get up in the boonies of far NE Washington state and too old to go that far ever again. By the way evidence of that 1935 hurricane were still evident in the '60's. Blown down and blasted trees in the Everglades.

@saboabbas123

2 ай бұрын

It has changed tremendously, but it has not lost it's charm or it's personality.

I grew up in Key West in the 50’s through the 80’s.. This is probably one of the best documentary on Flagler’s Railroad I’ve seen..

Around 1995 visitors to Pigeon Key were being shown a very short video clip with no sound. I had bought one of the first digital editing system on the market and looking for a project to learn it on, I offered to redo the video, lengthen it and add sound. Word of mouth and an ad in local media about an after hours photo capture session at the Marathon library produced a treasure trove of private pictures from family albums that had never before been seen by the public. I'm proud that my first project was a success.

@dcasper8514

9 ай бұрын

You should be very proud.

@chasm351

9 ай бұрын

@@dcasper8514 My only regret was I never got to add the planned narration. I had the script but the powers got in a dispute over which of three large donors who wanted to do it to choose and rather than alienate nice, generous folks we left it like it was. It's been my secret up to right now that the soundtrack was from a subliminal motivational feel good tape.

What Flagler and his board couldn't imagine was that the US Navy decided to switch to oil to power their ships in 1910, thus the coaling stations were no longer needed, including the Keys coal dock. Oil allowed naval ships to cruise longer distances at greater speeds for less cost, and tankers were designed to refuel ships while at sea. This decision began the long decline of coal as oil and natural gas displaced coal as a fuel in shipping, homes, and industry. Even the railroads stopped using coal in the 1950s when they converted to diesels! Eventually Florida would become more modern with an electrical grid that allowed electrification of homes and industry so that by 1940 everything that Flagler had envisioned became a reality.

@dcasper8514

9 ай бұрын

Thank you for your comments too.

Thank you South Florida PBS for this excellent program. Ever since I was a child, I'm 78 now and have always wondered about Mr. Flagler's railroad. Now I know. From Chicago much obliged.

For those of you who enjoyed this documentary as I did, I would heartily recommend Les Sandiford's book, The Last Train To Paradise. It is an extremely entertaining but very scholarly treatment of Henry Flagler and his development of east Florida. Mr. Sandiford's description of the intensity of the hurricanes that came through the region during the construction of the over-sea railroad as well as the famous 1935 hurricane which is reputed to be the most powerful hurricane to ever make landfall in the US, are basically masterpieces of description. Mr. Sandiford's descriptions really bring it home.

@eddieafterburner

9 ай бұрын

I was just going to add a comment saying the same thing but since you already brought it up, I will just add to yours and say that I wholeheartedly agree. Les’s book is a must-read for anyone interested in this topic.

@firemanmike1619

9 ай бұрын

It's amazing that I JUST finished the very same book and found this looking for more information.

@TheCrazyCatColony

8 ай бұрын

Yes I have that and loved it. Great book.

@musntang1

7 ай бұрын

Thank you for the recommendation, I will definitely check it out. 👍

I will be visiting Key West in January. Until I watched this documentary I knew nothing about Flagler or his railway. It's a real shame that it failed to survive the Great Depression. A highway is no substitute for a railroad.

The 1935 labor Day storm was absolutely hell.Simple as that.

And our legacy is that we gave away the Panama Canal, let our infrastructure rot, and don’t even know how to build anything except smart phones…

@jp__878

2 ай бұрын

lol what. The Panamanian gov is essentially US client state so there’s that. America still leads the world is pretty much all medical research and high tech inventions. Smart phones aren’t difficult to make, you just need to millions of them so China does it. You still haven’t figured out how the whole capitalism thingy works 😂

A train would make even more sense today with the crushing amount of automotive traffic and gridlock. The transportation of tourists would be much more efficient by train. You don't need a car visiting Key West or any key for that matter. All you need is a suitcase and your body.

Seth Bramson was my professor of Florida history many years ago at FIU. Absolutely fascinating course (got an A). Glad to see he's doing well!

@VirtualRailfan

9 ай бұрын

He’s a great guy, absolutely fascinating!

This was an excellent documentary. I love PBS. Being a rail and transportation historian, I've been aware of the Flagler and Florida East Coast story for years. One of my favorite movies is Key Largo from 1948, which starred Humphrey Bogart, Edward G. Robinson, Lauren Bacall, Lionel Barrymore and Claire Trevor. Mentioned in that film are many of the places in the Keys. They even mentioned that hurricane of 1935 when the train was washed off the tracks. The story was told by Lionel Barrymore.

@caroleminke6116

8 ай бұрын

I ❤Key Largo but only the opening dock scene was filmed there

Riveting video. Brightline has just sent it's first passengers via high speed railway from Orlando to Miami. I'm central Florida born in 1965 and rode in my parents car to the Keys many times over the original overseas hwy. Even to this present time I drive to Key West every year and camp at Bahia Honda State Park. I love the Keys and have my reservations for next August. Thank you Mr. Flagler.

@davidcouch6514

9 ай бұрын

Have you seen any of the remains of the attempted “Florida Canal.” My Dad would point out to us kids driving through Central Florida.

@charlesgallagher8450

5 ай бұрын

I love Brightline. I hope it suceeds.

Congratulations! This is by far the best documentary off all time about this great engineering event. You also did a great job telling about the individuals involved in its completion. I've visited Whitehall a couple of times and have always been interested in Mr Flagler. Well done!

@KingGalby

8 ай бұрын

Hi Flagler!

I love the history of Flagler's Key West railroad and that you can still see part of it today. Living in Michigan I remember once driving on the Overseas Hwy while they were building the new one. Great documentary.

I haven't been everywhere, but I've to a lot of places in this increasingly small world and I have to say Key West is the most unique place I have ever been.

What an incredible achievement at the time! The piano soundtrack is a wonderful complement to the historical stills and film footage. Flagler's grit and drive were truly remarkable; building a raised embankment across the everglades and a seven-mile bridge all the way to Key freaking West simply because it had to be done. Makes me think of the Old Ridge Route in SoCal, carved along the snaking spine of the mountain range east of where the 5 fwy is now by men with picks, shovels, and horse-drawn scrapers in 1911 because there was no paved road connecting the area to the Central Valley that didn't get washed out every year. It was built so well that almost all of the original concrete remains in very good condition, 112 years later. And don't get me started on the epic California Aqueduct! lol Hats off to guys like Flagler, who just make it happen.

@caryleepierce2605

8 ай бұрын

The piano track is subtle and haunting at the same time. Her voice is so soothing

@sickstreaming

6 ай бұрын

Yeah, too bad they left out the part about Henry Flagler utilizing slave labor to build everything.

Flagler's Key West railroad was a gift to Florida. Without, who knows how long it would have taken to settle Florida.

This is truly, one of the greatest accomplishments. Imagine not having the technology there is today, the architects were spot on. It’s incredible !! The only thing they couldn’t beat, was Mother Nature.

An outstanding production of this historical achievement. A truly wonderful production by PBS. Wish they could show this production on the broadcast air. Only PBS could do this. An Excellent production.

I drove down that highway/bridge with my dad...truly spectacular

What an interesting story of such a fascinating man. Little did I know the depth of achievement of Mr Flagler when I visited his splendid home in West Palm Beach. Thank you for sharing with us. Truly the internet at its best.

I remember my dad coming home and dusting his jacket as he hung up his keys and took off his boots. Ladies and gentlemen, I can assure you this is all accurate recollection

@dcasper8514

9 ай бұрын

Actual history.

Very nicely done!! Great to see Claudia Pennington displaying her calm and poignant thoughts about this part of history. Congrats to all!!

I was stationed at Boca Chica and was in awe of the bridges.

I worked at The Breakers in the early 1980's as a culinarian. Awesome experience going to the beach after work in winter.

I've been traveling to the keys since the late 60's when I began camping in Key West with the Webelos.

Fantastic documentary! My Mother grew up in Miami and her family would go down to the keys every summer, driving on the old railroad bridges. Just incredible to think they built a railroad line across the sea! I highly recommend reading any of Seth Bramson's books. He is south Florida's foremost historian.

@davidcouch6514

9 ай бұрын

I grew up in Miami 59-67. Went Fishing in Keys on something called “The Old Railroad Bridge.” It was wood and it seemed to never went anywhere. Skeeters 🦟 so big, fierce and dense it was absolute misery.

@sickstreaming

6 ай бұрын

Hmm. I wonder if Seth’s historic account details the situation as it was with Flagler, ie; Henry’s fondness of slave labor? Which, if google is correct, was utilized by Henry in contracting every last bit of his empire. Not just a shame, but a damn shame, to deny the people who truly built that bridge any form of acknowledgement….but, that’s how it goes in the good old USA. (FYI, I never knew about this until I had gotten a hunch while watching this video, in particular, when the individual spoke about the employment conditions in which harry was rumored to scoop a bunch of immigrants fresh off the boat. Even though this was refuted, it still caught my attention bc wtf is she saying all this for, if not to correct a common “misconception” about the labor practices. With that in mind, I googled “Flagler, Slavery” and what do you know!! a whole treasure trove of evidence regarding Mr.flaglers use of “forced labor”. I encourage you to look it up for yourself. Not everything is what it seems on the outside. even after watching a seemingly “in depth” documentary. You must always conduct your own due diligence, especially in this day and age.)

It's a shame there is no longer a train to Key West. The drive is soooo long!

Very interesting story. I've driven to Key West and saw some remnants of the railway. The credits say it was narrated by Jack Kelly but I swear it sounds like Peter Coyote.

Excellent Historical Documentary,

Excellent video. Honor and glory to all those heroes. Glory to this great Country.

I once read a library book called " The Train That Went To Sea" it was about an attempt to build a train to Cuba from the Keys.A hurricane took it out and was never accomplished. Could be this is the same train build. I can remember going to the Keys in the 70's I was only 12 and seeing remnants of an old bridge with the pilons still sticking out if the water... going south toward the Keys they were on the right of the long bridge. I think it was a 7 mile bridge.

@davidcouch6514

9 ай бұрын

That was the adjacent old bridge to key west; there is a 7 mile portion.

I have been on that 7 mile road in the 1960's and people bumper to bumper and hardly moving with ocean on both sides during a storm and it does scare you quite abit.

Those ceilings are still in some of the structures here in my hometown. We lost a lot of it and beautiful theatre that was capable of bringing real national acts into town but in the past it was owned by United Mine workers and they used it for their meetings and movies but it WAS a real theatre with a decent size stage and about 30 line sets. ( line sets = fly rail to hang drops and scenery from). It must have been a great day to be USA citizen, especially one whom helped build this grand bridge that brought people and good together.

This was an Excellent Video ! Henry Flagler had a lot of courage to build this railroad ! Thank You for producing it.

I've read Flagler was paid 8,000 acres of Florida land for every mile of rail he built. Makes sense he went all the way to Key West.

A well presented, very complete documentary on the Florida East Coast Railway. I learned information on the railway that I had never heard before. As a child, I grew up just west of Coral Gables. The city ended there at the time. This was before the Palmetto Expressway was built around Miami. Dad would take me and my brother swimming in the old limestone quarry pits east of Tropical Park, when FEC spurs were still in place. Perhaps some of that shell rock built the Overseas Railway.

Anything IS possible in America! 🎉

A beautiful, sad, and well told story. : )

We are amazed !

What a great documentary! One of the best things i've watched in a long time.

Wanderfull journey and thankyou !!! 😉😎

The first Duval Crawl!

great story..

Great accomplishment

Love Ms.Pennington’s voice. Easy to listen to.

great piece. thank you.

thank you for this great video, I always wanted to know the history behind the overseas railway.... driving to and from The Key is such a bore!

It's 2023 and you couldn't upload this doc in anything better than 240p? 🤔

Unmentioned: Flagler and Rockefeller got Standard Oil rolling in Cleveland before relocating to New York City.

@dcasper8514

9 ай бұрын

Cleveland is where it all began. ESSO, (Standard Oil), gas stations were found everywhere .

My father told me many stories of the 1935 hurricane and what really happened. He was there 22 years old and was working on the keys projects.

@ashleydavis3342

2 ай бұрын

So what really happened?

I am from Homestead and one of our Main Streets was Flagler Ave. we learned in school that he was the Founder of our city. But he has a reputation of being a insurance scammer. Some of his big ships would turn up missing and turn up in other states under different names. He rushed his wealth and did this to keep up.

Amazing!

BRING IT BACK BRING IT BACK BRING IT BACK!!!

What fascinating story

Cost $50,000,000. $1,250,000,000 today. You couldn't do this today for 10 X that. Maybe not at all. These people were amazing.

@JC-nl3nh

5 ай бұрын

its called 'european'

Ty❤

if your ever in Palm Beach you need to see his home there ... awesome !

Excellent

Henry Flagler: Standard Oil baron.

I grew up down there. We use the old RR bridge (hwy) as fishing piers now.

I wish someone would rebuild this railway. It would get rid of all of the ridiculous traffic in the keys !

very cool

The beginning of the end of Paradise 🌴🌅

The first railroad in this country was the Lieper Railroad, in the Crum Creek valley of S.E. Pennsylvania. It was started during colonial times for the Lieper granite quarries.

@dcasper8514

9 ай бұрын

Thank you for your comments.

@FadkinsDiet

9 ай бұрын

Did it use draft animals or was it gravity powered?

@You-can-fix-it-yourself

9 ай бұрын

It used draft animals.

Great documentary. Enjoyed it very much. How come it has only 3k thumbs up? Should be 3m!

Damn!! These engineers and flagler’s staff and indeed Flagler himself seemed to really be on the ball. Some of the smartest people in the country and maybe the world. So which genius thought it a great idea to house these workers on oversized hous boats and remain on them while riding out a Florida hurricane?!?! That was a death sentence for those poor men and I’m sure th[laborers knew it!! I hope someone was charged with this heinous crime for god’s sake! So many dead fathers sons brothers husbands. They destroyed much more than just their work force 😢

I'm back to experience this video again. dystopian haunting foreshadowing of future Christmas past Seriously it's great . Camt wait to see what else is waiting. What about the sound tracks? Are those orchestrated by yourself then applied to video during mastering? It's all great.

Well done documentary! I enjoyed learning about this unique train history. Is there anything that could be done to have better resolution and a brighter picture?

FEC still going today in 2023😊

@FredFredrickson-bip-bang

9 ай бұрын

And with Brightline passenger service between Miami and Orlando beginning September 22, 2023! The Roaming Railfan channel has a whole series on it.

@psycotria

9 ай бұрын

FEC has been doing well, it seems. Brightline passenger service. Upgraded Port Everglades intermodal yard. Shell rock trains still run north. FEC even has clean running propane/diesel units; two locomotives that share a propane tender between them. A well-run railway!

She sounds like the voice from The Orb's "Little Fluffy Clouds"

The Guilded Age success because of less government. Could not be done today. My father helped to build the overseas highway and the water pipeline to Key West.

Flagler was smart. His museum in Stuart is very neat.

Standard Oil made it's millions from buying and scrapping our nation trolley systems which at the time travelled for miles out into the farm land countryside .Forcing people to buy a car or walk.

I've been to the Flagler/Breakers Hotel(Palm Beach), and the one north in Ormond Beach. There is also a Flagler College in St. Augustine

Railway Empire 2 bought me here.

If only.....there would have not have been the storm and perhaps the railway would have survived.

Also read, The Bridges Stand Tall, by the daughter of the engineer of building the railroad across the Keys.

It's a pity the resolution of the video was so poor that it cannot be enjoyed to it's full potential

@joscallinet6260

9 ай бұрын

When 1080p and 2160p videos are now STANDARD FARE on KZread, why is this video being presented in the lowest-possible resolution? Answer: It is largely because this particular subject matter (HISTORY plus OLD TRAINS) is of very little interest to the great majority of today's viewers - therefore, naturally, what we have here is a miserable CRUMB tossed at the tiny handful of people who'd even bother to take the time out of their busy lives to watch it. It's a shame, because whoever created this film in the first place put a lot of hard work into researching and producing it - but never mind all of that - what we have here reflects the harsh reality of today's media universe, and what it prioritizes and values versus what it does not. Remember, also, that Public Broadcasting is the poor stepchild of the major news and Internet streaming news services, and so their material gets short shrift.

@weevie833

9 ай бұрын

This is likely a copy of a copy of a copy of video file that has been compressed umpteen times because no one knows where the original master is located. No bad intent was involved, I assure you. I used to deal with broadcast TV as an editor.

@eddieafterburner

9 ай бұрын

It’s quite fanciful to dream up story lines about purposely degrading historical content, or posit that funding woes are somehow responsible for an inability to upload in 1080 (as if these two things are even related?!), but the lousy quality appears to be a case of human error, plain and simple. To wit, even the copy of this on PBS’s very own website-which is its “original source”, so much for the “copy of a copy of a copy” theory, too-is equally degraded. This program is from 2012, which was well into the hi def era, so there has to be a pristine 720 or 1080 version on somebody’s hard drive somewhere. Someone just goofed when they uploaded it. There’s a reason for that old saying about the simplest explanation usually being the most plausible.

@nicoleking772

8 ай бұрын

@@joscallinet6260 This program first Aired: 01/23/2012 The original source material is old stock black and white film stock, filmed 100 years ago PBS/WPBT is a top shelf broadcasting company that has created MANY outstanding documentaries for decades. Sorry that your sensibilities are hurt because of a lack of 1080 p I guess you missed the message behind this documentary.

Saved by a 400 ton loco? That's some engine

Despite being English, b.1848; I feel sad about the circumstances that led to the end of the original Rly. Even more so having listened to your excellent narrative. All the builders from the architects to the ‘Navvy’s,’ as they were called in GB, we’re as brave and dedicated as military servicemen. They deserve better than to have their dream evolve into a dreary, bridge for boring and ubiquitous -and polluting- road vehicles. I don’t think our Chunnel comes near the Key West Bridge, for inspiration and enjoyment.

@FadkinsDiet

9 ай бұрын

ITYM 1948?

I can remember riding on the highway down to Key West in 1954 and when we looked off to the right one could clearly see the Wood Pylons/Poles that were still sticking out of the water that used to support Flagler's R.R. Tracks. There was nothing made of concrete visible like this video shows.

@FadkinsDiet

9 ай бұрын

Weren't the concrete piles taken over by the highway for much of the length?

@oinkoink870

8 ай бұрын

The road built on top of the Railroad structures

I don't understand why the modern video is such poor quality, and a little "fuzzy", as if shot in very low resolution. It's a shame, as in style this appears to be one of the better US-produced documentaries I've come across, but the video is doing bad things to my eyes, so I'm having to bail out. Might come back to just listen to it, one day, though. I had no idea that Florida was SO unpopulated at the time, I hadnt heard about the railroad, and I love learning new things about history and large engineering feats!

@FadkinsDiet

9 ай бұрын

Looks like instead of using the original 1080p video, they ripped it /re encoded it at 240p to save disk space and upload faster.

@53:00- That highway became the extension of U.S. route 1.

Why has it been posted at 240k resolution? Was it made and uploaded in 2003??? I would be very interested in watching it, but not like this. BTW have several books on the subject - fascinating.

What an exciting time…. Imagine an era of unapologetic achievements and ambition instead of state institutions trying to indoctrinate, tax and demoralize you into self-flagellation and serfdom.

Anyone else here because they live in the Florida Keys?

See Ernest Hemingway's short story, "Who Murdered the Vets" about the storm and it's aftermath.

I live just down the road from Flaglers home on the island, this and The Breakers should be UNESCO sites. Truly beautiful places. Flagler was however a terrible person, with no problem usuing Jim Crowe Slavery, and prison labor with no compensation to prisoners. He's also the reason Florida is an ecological disaster, and unmaintainable for human habitation. Should i evenentiin Rosewood, or the fact that as of 2022 the only indication thebtown had existed or the tragedy that had taken place was a small faded green sign that said "Former site of Rosewood". The whitewashing of the workforce, as a workers paradise. The fact they literally said at least there wasnt any slavery is DISGUSTING! No mention of native labor. Or mention that the only reason flaglers first surveyors returned at all was with the help of several tribes who found these guys starving and sick in the glades and got them home.

The problem with the Florida Keys is once you get there, there's no there there.

This is a good documentary, but it's clear that the discussion of anti-trust laws (and Standard Oil's monopoly) was downplayed because of who provided the funding.

That's insane, 50 million was helluva lot of money back then. that would be a billionaire today easily. Where in the hell would man come up with that much wealth back then? Gold would be about the only thing I can think of. I found this and it seems contradictory because Standard Oil forced Flagler to bankruptcy. That is where he got his wealth from prior to building the bridge. About 1850 Flagler became a grain merchant in Bellevue, Ohio, where he met Rockefeller and sold grain through him. With $50,000 capital, Flagler made an unsuccessful attempt to manufacture salt in Michigan and returned to Cleveland, where in 1867 he joined Rockefeller in an oil company that became Standard Oil in 1870.

Can you please reupload this at original quality? 240p is garbage.

Very poor video resolution...can't watch it when it's so blurry. "Quality 240 P"

So, what happened to the rest of train system? Did it become commercial only(freight)?

@ltmundy1164

8 ай бұрын

Overseas Highway. Developed upon the remnants of the 1935 hurricane, A1A south of Dade County would become the successor to the original Overseas Railroad. FEC still operates freight rail from Dade northbound. Brightline passenger rail operations currently use this right of way between Miami and W Palm Beach, with newly built extensions now serving MCO/Orlando, with plans to extend to Tampa/St Petersburg.

Building the base for the piers required a special concrete fro Germany

I don't know about the style but trains are about comfort. 7 Mile bridge should be at least a tourist railroad.