Monday, March 14, 2011

Mule Krazy at Knott's!

That's right folks, if you love mules (and who doesn't) you'll love today's post! Unless these are actually burros - in which case, I apologize for getting you all excited for nothing.


No "old west" style amusement park is complete without a grizzled prospector. This one could at least try to flash a toothless, slightly loony smile (and maybe do a little "I struck it rich" jig for us).


More mules (or burros)... maybe these fellas bite, judging from those extra-strength mouth guards.


By the way, what exactly is that contraption that they are supposed to be pulling? Did it involve crushing gold ore? Was it a tiny water ride for gophers?


These were all from stereo slides. In a previous blog post, somebody requested that I post both images so that they could do that crazy cross-eyed thing and view it in 3-D. I've tried, and it just makes my eye bones hurt, but if you can do it, go for it!


7 comments:

fuzzhead said...

The crosseyed thing really works! Cool!

Formally known as Jim.

Bryce said...

It does, but the images are arranged for parallel-eyed viewing, not cross-eyed. If you look at them with crossed eyes, the subjects in the distance are brought to the foreground, and vice versa. The brain gets confused! To look at them cross-eyed and get the proper look, you need to flip the images, so that the photo on the right is positioned on the left. But thanks!!

TokyoMagic! said...

I tried the cross-eyed thing last night after clicking and enlarging the images and nothing happened. I just now tried again without enlarging them and it worked....everything was in 3-D, but it was also out of focus!

. said...

The first photo is of Old Prospector Roy Bryant who joined Knott's in the late 1940s. He lent atmosphere to the farm as an old-timer, walking with his burro around Main Street and The Gold Mine.

The third photo is of an apparatus called an "arrastre" which was used for pulverizing ores, especially those containing gold.

That particular one is still at Knott's outside the Ghostrider exit. It was brought to the farm in 1944 from an abandoned mine near Death Valley. At Knott's it was referred to as the "Prospector's Arastra."

Major Pepperidge said...

Bryce, you sound like you know a lot more about "free viewing" (I think that's what it's called) that I do, but I have to admit that I can do the crosseyed thing with the small version, and it sure looks properly 3-D to me.

KBF Museum, thank you for all of the great info!

Connie Moreno said...

Hmmm...think I could get a job at Knott's as a grizzled, toothless prospector??

JG said...

I second the arrastra comment. The ground up rocks
Would be put in a sluice for panning or chemically processed to extract the gold.
JG