It's always a bit of a disappointment to scan some early Disneyland slides that appear (to the naked eye) to be very nice, but they turn out to be just a little bit out of focus. Today's examples are from a lot from March, 1957, and while they have their flaws, they are still worth a gander.
It's a beautiful, sunny day, though perhaps cooler than you might think (notice a number of coats and sweaters). Looks perfect to me. The entrance to Frontierland looks a bit sparse, but that's how life on the plains was. Trees were not plentiful, because they were all cut down to build log forts, stockades, cabins, and 6-11s (they change the name to "7-11" in the 1940s). You can still see some of the stumps of trees in the lower left, I don't think those remained there for much longer (tree stumps became a valuable resource during the Cold War).
This next one was a real heartbreaker, I always love a good view of the pre-Nature's Wonderland Mine Trains in their original dark green paint scheme. Lucky guests ride up in the locomotive while a brave Redshirt keeps an eye out for mountain lions and vampire bats. The train is passing through the Saguaro Forest, and it looks like some California poppies have sprung up on that hillside. Our State flower! Just over that mini-berm is the tallest mast of the Pirate Ship.
