Monday, August 20, 9-10 pm ET
HISTORY DETECTIVES investigates a letter that might reveal a connection between Lakota leader Red Cloud and the sculptor of Mount Rushmore; a '32 Ford roadster that could have been used for dry-lake racing in the 1930s and 40s; and a cast iron eagle that may have once sat atop New York City's Grand Central Station. 

Red Cloud Letter - A Nebraska man obtained a curious letter from his grandfather, who spent time on South Dakota's Pine Ridge Reservation during the early part of the 20th century. The letter is from the sculptor of Mount Rushmore, Gutzon Borglum, to a Lakota leader named James Red Cloud. It makes several ambiguous references to treaties between the U.S. government and the Lakota and, moreover, to Borglum's desire to help the tribe. The contributor asks: How was a leader of the Lakota people connected with the creator of a monument that was regarded by many as a desecration of sacred land? HISTORY DETECTIVES host Gwen Wright journeys to South Dakota's Black Hills for the answer.

'32 Ford Roadster - A man in Benicia, California, owns a 1932 Ford roadster that, upon purchase, had an engine too powerful for normal driving. The contributor suspects his car was used for dry-lake racing, a sport that had its heyday in Southern California in the 1930s and 1940s. In 1932, although America was in the midst of the Depression, Henry Ford forged ahead, designing a new model '32 car with the first powerful V8 engine affordable to the masses. Was the contributor's car among the popular hot rods raced out at the dry lakes? HISTORY DETECTIVES host Tukufu Zuberi high-tails it to California to examine one era's car-racing culture and to investigate one of the most iconic hot rods of all time. 

Cast Iron Eagle - One of the main attractions at a family-run zoo in Sussex, New Jersey, is a majestic, 12-foot-high cast iron eagle perched on an orb in the center of the park. The contributor's grandfather founded the park in 1927; family lore is that the eagle had once been perched atop an old post office in New York. However, a visitor recently told the contributor that the eagle resembles the giant cast iron eagles that graced the old Grand Central Station in Manhattan. The eagle dates to the post-Civil War period, when decorative style involved cast iron prefabrication. But was Grand Central Station - built for railroad magnate Cornelius Vanderbilt - its original home? To find out, HISTORY DETECTIVES host Wes Cowan heads to New Jersey, Pennsylvania and New York City, home of the arts and crafts movement at the turn of the 19th century.