<P> This episode presents the French and American efforts to build a canal through Panama to link the Atlantic Ocean with the Pacific Ocean . The first attempt to construct the canal by Ferdinand de Lesseps, the builder of the Suez Canal, was abandoned because of tropical diseases (which killed over 22,000 men) and the difficulty of constructing a sea - level canal through the mountains . The resulting financial scandals not only ruined de Lesseps and many investors, it also brought down the French government . The episode then takes up the story seventeen years later when the United States took up the challenge . A concentrated effort succeeded in eradicating the causes of the tropical diseases, but the attempt to build a sea - level canal once again failed . Instead the canal was built with locks . </P> <P> The episode follows the construction of the First Transcontinental Railroad, the first transcontinental rail system, which would unite the eastern and western seaboards of the United States . Started in Sacramento by a consortium of local shopkeepers with no experience in building a railroad, the episode follows their efforts to build from west to east through the forbidding Sierra Nevada mountains with the help of Chinese labourers whilst simultaneously following the efforts of the workers of the Union Pacific to build from east to west, and their problems in dealing with the lawless nature of the Wild West, attacks by hostile Indians, and financial corruption and scandal . </P> <P> The final episode focuses on the construction of the Hoover Dam during the Great Depression of the 1930s, focussing in particular on the ruthless pace set by Frank Crowe, the builder, whose eagerness to complete the project well before schedule and subsequent exploitation of the workforce (who were desperate for any employment and were forced to accept conditions of extreme hardship in the process) resulted in many deaths and the eventual construction of a new city to house the workers . </P> <Table> <Tr> <Th> DVD Region </Th> <Th> Release Date </Th> <Th> Publisher </Th> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> Region 2 </Td> <Td> 3 January 2005 </Td> <Td> BBC Video </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> Region 4 </Td> <Td> 6 February 2008 </Td> <Td> BBC Video </Td> </Tr> </Table>

Seven wonders of the industrial world season 1 episode 7
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