TEXT:Largest the world has yet seen. Gold fever is about to change the West, and the American character yet again. March 1836. Texas, the Alamo. The American nation is expanding, growing stronger, bigger. But there's something else out there even bigger, even stronger: Mexico-- a superp ower. A colossal empire stretching from Oregon to Guatemala. But Texas is disputed territory. The Mexican government has invited American settlers in, but are soon overwhelmed by the flood of pioneers.

Americans, by the thousands, were coming into Texas and they were not abiding to the agreements to come in as settlers. And once they out number--by 1835 Mexicans ten to one in that area, of course the Americans are thinking about independence. The Alamo is where Mexico tries to stem the flood. The shots that killed Davy Crockett and his fellow settlers echoed across America. The women and children are spared, sent back to send the Mexican message, "Don't come." But America hears something else. "Remember the Alamo." A turning point. America will now wage war to go West. Texas is won, California fought and bought. The same month California becomes American, it becomes the nation's greatest prize.

译文:储量之大堪称彼时世界之最。淘金热将改变整个西部，甚至重塑美国精神。1836年3月，德克萨斯阿拉莫之战，美国正在极速扩张日益崛起壮大。然而，在那里有更加强大的邻国，超级大国，墨西哥。这个庞大的帝国北抵俄勒冈，南达危地马拉，而德克萨斯正是双方的争议之地。墨西哥政府曾邀请美国人来此地定居，然而拓荒者的大潮很快席卷了整片土地。

埃尔·卡玛里罗[斯坦福大学教授]：“成千上万的美国人涌进德克萨斯，而他们作为移民却不肯遵守协议，到1835年此地的美国人数量已远超墨西哥人十倍，美国人自是不甘寄人篱下转而谋求独立。”墨西哥决定在阿拉莫开战力挽狂澜，杀死大卫·克罗克特及其同伴移民们的枪声在美利坚上空久久回荡。妇女和儿童被赦免遣返并带回墨西哥的警告"勿越雷池半步"。然而美国人听到的却是"牢记阿拉莫之耻"。西进运动的转折点，美国在西部发动战事，德克萨斯全线胜利，加利福尼亚则战后买入。加利福尼亚并入美国当月就成为美国的最大宝藏。