Monday, January 17, 2011

Frontierland Scenes, March 1961

I have three nice photos from Frontierland; they're all a little on the dark side, but still worth a look.


This sign tells the story of the Indian Village (see a slightly better shot of the sign here). Once the Indians of the Pacific Northwest were represented in the village, this sign would have been obsolete. There's another sign in the distance with info about the birch bark lodge nearby, which you can read about here.


Another sign, in the form of a shield, tells the story of the burial ceremony: AFTER DEATH, A BRAVE'S BODY IS WRAPPED, PLACED ON HIGH POLES AND FACED TO THE EAST...


THE TALL POLE IN FRONT REVEALS HIS LIFE STORY...THE SCALPS PROVE HIS COURAGE IN WAR... THE BUFFALO SKULL SHOWS HE WAS A HUNTER... ON THE GROUND BELOW ARE HIS WEAPONS AND TOOLS.


I like this photo of the Friendly Indian Village as night approaches. As you can see, the industrious Indians continue to work until the very last sunlight is gone. The shiniest boy in the world still stands on his upturned canoe, as well. You can see a tiny red light to the right, presumably part of the signal system for the Disneyland RR.


13 comments:

Chiana_Chat said...

Very cool pics of a scene reflecting a key part of Frontierland - the people of the land - that "we" seem to be too touchy to include anymore... progress? Hm.

Tarps are covering the birch lodge. Looks like the re-creation wasn't quite perfected and sprung some leaks? None the less I'm fascinated by it for some reason. Would sure like to see it in person if something like it were there today.

"The shiniest boy in the world" LOL I see he's armed himself! :p

Chiana_Chat said...

Chuck - in an earlier post you asked if the Three Sisters were switched off after Nature's Wonderland was closed. No, the falls were actually kept running, afaik the whole time, as they could still be seen by the rivers. In fact water damage was the cause I'd heard cited for their demolition (setting aside details that would entail any investment, like maintenance or repair).

Major Pepperidge said...

Chiana, somehow I didn't even notice those tarps; yeah, it does seem like the birch lodge must have been leaky. Or maybe it was being tented for termites! ;-)

TokyoMagic! said...

I don't see any papooses drying in the sun in that last pic...those must have been added later!

Major, Who is "Pop Culture Safari" and why do they have so many links listed at the end of your most recents posts? And why is there a link to my current post included in that list today? I didn't include a link in my post! What's going on with Blogger?

Connie Moreno said...

Very cool pics indeed!

Major Pepperidge said...

TokyoMagic!, I honestly have no idea why there are so many links to Pop Culture Safari is, but I can't complain about it I guess! I wonder if my blog is just on his blog list, which might be enough for Blogger to pick up on it.

Connie, thanks!

Orange Co Native said...

I like the last photograph of the Indian Village, Different mood when seen at night or near dusk. I don't think you can even ride the Mark Twain or Columbia at night even when Fantasmic is not playing. Correct me if i am wrong.

Orange Co Native said...

Chuck asked in the Cascade Mt post
"Does anyone know if the Three Sisters were switched off after Nature's Wonderland went to Yesterland?"

Chuck, I have some slides from 1987 and the water was flowing then. That is a good 8 years after the opening of Thunder Mountain in 1979. I seem to remember that when I was there in 1997, it was still flowing and then it was torn down soon afterward.

I hope that helps.

Major Pepperidge said...

O.C. Native, you can ride the Mark Twain at night when Fantasmic is not playing... I rode it last October, and it was wonderful. We had a group of kids with little light-up toys, which was a bit distracting, but they were so into the journey that it made it OK.

The Twain only ran for a few hours after sunset, not until closing, but still, it could be done.

Anonymous said...

I miss the fireworks cruises on the Twain, where they'd pause the ride in the far back for the entire show.

I think the last time I experienced that was about 25 years ago.

- SGV

JG said...

Major, thank you for these pics, and to all the commenters, for the good information.

Some of my favorite places.

Thanks Chiana, for your insightful step-by-step commentary.

JG

Chuck said...

Thanks everyone for the info on the Three Sisters. Makes sense to keep them running if they were still visble from the back-country parts of the Rivers of America.

You guys are awesome. You post a question and it gets answered quickly and accurately (unless, of course, I'm writing the answer).

Anyone know tomorrow's winning lotto numbers?

JG said...

@Chuck: I have all the winning Lotto nummbers.

What I need are the dates on which they are valid.

Can you help?

JG