Today we're taking a look at the Calico Mine Ride, which opened at Knott's Berry Farm in Buena Park in 1960. This attraction was designed, built and owned by the innovative Mr. Bud Hurlbut, who also gave us such trend-setting attraction as the Timber Mountain Log Ride.
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This is also my first attempt at posting a video to my blog, so please be patient with any technical difficulties. I boiled this footage down from the half-hour long 1960 film, "A Family Builds A Mountain," which we have a copy of at the O.C. Archives. In my edited version here, only small portions of the attraction can be seen.
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A historical society for the City of Rancho Santa Margarita was launched on April 23rd.
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The History Channel is trying to encourage young people to become historical preservationists through their Save Our History grant program. Museums, historic sites, historical societies, preservation organizations and libraries are invited to partner with a local school or youth group and apply for funding to help preserve the history of their communities. Deadline: June 6.
You mentioned the Log Ride, that was always my favorite ride at Knott's Berry Farm. They closed it down a while ago for repairs, was it ever reopened, or did they decide to get rid of it? There's a terrific video of the entire Log Ride on Youtube that I downloaded some time ago. At least I'll always have a historical record of it.
ReplyDeleteThe Log Ride and the old Marineland in Rancho Palos Verdes, it didn't get any better than that.
There is still (last I heard) an effort afoot to get the Log Ride open again. But it clearly needed some serious work done. They briefly reopened it for a while (many months ago), but there were major areas that still needed work. For instance, the ceiling was missing from some of the "woodland" scenes.
ReplyDeleteI didn't take the time before now to mention this, but I watched the video footage of the Calico Mine Ride and found it, like all of the photos posted here, to be an excellent history lesson. Thank you for making the video footage available for all of us to see.
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for sharing these videos! They bring so many memories, especially the spooky music in the cave. Great fun! Where can we get a copy of the entire film? Thanks again for all of your hard work on this site. You are a great historian...
ReplyDeleteDid Bud Hurlburt buy the old merry-go-round from Hersheypark?
ReplyDeleteAfter he did so, did it become the first ride at Knott's Berry Farm?
Lastly, did Hurlburt invent the concept of having a queue line go into and out of the building housing rides?
knott's berry farm is my home park . i watched the big k light up practically every night between 1975 and 1989.except when haunt came around. there used to be that much fog .. i just rode the log ride about a week and a half ago. the woodland scene was not in good shape, but the ride was in great working order. sadly i learned from an employee that bud hurlbut came to them and offered his services and they flatly told him "we dont need you" the man is a genius and one of my childhood heroes and i thought that was horribly sad.
ReplyDeleteto their credit cedar fair saw fit to restore many of the peek ins, and sad eyed joe has a brand new jail cell.bud hurlbut's masterpeice,the mine train, is in pristine condition, i know that ride by heart, and pretty much the only thing that has changed are the speed of the train. niether the log ride or the mine train are going anywhere ...
I rode the Calico Mine Train last week. It's still a fantastic ride, but the teenagers who operate it need to remove the microphone from their mouths when they speak. I couldn't understand a word, and I think I suffered permanent hearing damage!
ReplyDeleteLove Knott's to death, but at the rate Cedar Fair is going, it won't be recognizable in 20 years.
Wonderful videos of Knotts. I especially love your list of links to other history sites. I have a feeling I'll keep busy checking them all out.
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