Tuesday, June 14, 2011

Views From Tom's Treehouse, 1957

Before 1959 (and the construction of the Matterhorn), the highest point in Disneyland was Tom's Treehouse on Tom Sawyer Island. The tree itself wasn't that tall, but it sat on top of a hill and afforded adventurous guests with some very nice views.


This first image looks towards Rainbow Ridge, with the dirt loading area for the Stage Coaches and the Conestoga Wagons to our left. The little hive of cloth-roofed buildings was "El Zocalo", a little marketplace full of wondrous souvenirs. And there's the sails of the Pirate Ship, the Skyway in the distance, and the castle. But wait, I see something else of interest!


There's the Viewliner! Unfortunately our photographer did not take any other pictures that captured the Train of Tomorrow, so this one will have to do.


I think we're looking to the north and a bit to the east here, and Frontierland was still pretty empty. It helped to give it that authentic frontier ambiance I suppose. There's an interesting detail in this pic as well!


On top of that rock stands our old pal Stormy! That's what I call him anyway. You can call him whatever you want. This proud pony wasn't there for very long. In fact I have a photo from the following year in which Stormy has been replaced with a mountain lion (here's a better shot of him).


10 comments:

Pegleg Pete said...

These are great! Thanks.

Jason Schultz said...

Major, this is a very subtle way of acknowledging the Matterhorn's birthday today!

Vintage Disneyland Tickets said...

The tree house sure seems in these photos, Jason, how high is the tree house? Great view in that first one - WOW, I want to step right in.

Major Pepperidge said...

Pegleg, thank you!

Progressland, what about my subtle way of acknowledging Flag Day??!

VDT, if I could find my issues of "The E-Ticket" magazine it would probably have the height of the treehouse. No such luck!

Thufer said...

It' so funny, every time I think of Tom's tree house I am always drawn to remember the 'Great Hippie Invasion'.

JG said...

The "Great Hippie Invasion" really upset me.

My parents postponed a Disneyland trip after hearing of the disturbance.

Oh well. The treehouse is great.

JG

Connie Moreno said...

Major, what a great post!!!

Chuck said...

Is the second slide reversed? The shoreline seems all backwards for a NNE-facing shot from the treehouse.

My research indicates that Stormy was actually eaten by the mountain lion.

Major Pepperidge said...

Chuck, I am easily discombobulated, so I'll have to do some research. It's possible that I accidentally scanned the slide the wrong way, but I try to be careful...

Chuck said...

I could easily be mistaken. It's not like I'm in the treehouse every day. Heck - I consider it a good decade when I can make it up in the treehouse at least once in a 10-yaer period. The 2000s were almost a bad decade...