AllMovie

This documentary is one of a six part series on the colorful figures who pushed west, as America's lands were opened up to further expansion. Narrated by Kris Kristofferson, this segment examines the role of the men and women who went first -- going where no one had ever been. Driven by a sense of adventure -- or sometimes by the law -- these explorers were a special breed. Facing the unknown, with all its dangers, they also enjoyed an unmatched sense of freedom. We meet here the pathfinders who explored the uncharted land west of the Mississippi, procured by the United States in the Louisiana Purchase of 1803 . The viewer follows the Lewis and Clark expedition; explores the Rocky Mountains with John Charles Fremont and Carl Preuss; and travels down the Colorado River with John Wesley Powell. Diaries, letters, photographs capture the lives of these trailblazers.