Wednesday, June 04, 2008

Another Knott's Assortment

Time to head back over to the Berry Farm for more of the old west!

Here's a neat picture probably from the late 50's. This circle of covered wagons surrounded a sunken amphitheater, mighty handy for watchin' your favorite musical act (or even one that you had never heard of before). Like this band, whomever they may be. Country music to be sure, but what kind? I'll say bluegrass, but it's just a guess. They have a few of their albums on display, and probably for sale too. Who knows, the group might even be one that we'd recognize. It could happen!


Now we jump to September 1969, looking across the railroad tracks at two of the best rides at Knott's... the Calico Mine Train on the left, and the Log Ride on the right. The Log Ride was brand new in 69!


And finally we get a wonky view of the box canyon where you could pan for real gold. Since I learned in a previous post that this attraction is still there (though smaller), I wonder how much it costs to pan for gold these days? At around $900 an ounce, maybe I'll head on over to Knott's and make a little extra cash!

5 comments:

Jay Jennings said...

The band performing in the first photo is "The Wagonmasters". They were the farm's regular house band, so to speak, from 1954-68. Those are, indeed, their LP's on the table, which they would autograph for fans after the show. The woman on stage with her hair up in a fondue is Rachel Beeman, the wife of Billy Beeman. She sang most of the songs during her time with the band.

Major Pepperidge said...

Wow, THANKS Jay! Of course I'm not surprised that you would know. That information adds so much to the appreciation of this slide!

The Viewliner Limited said...

Fantastic pictures Major. Great information Jay. I saw them many many times.

Smee said...

My son did the gold about a month ago, think it was $7. It is in a different location, but about the same size. He got some flakes of what appears to be real gold.

Anonymous said...

I made my first million dollars panning for gold at Knott's. Had to knock a few brats away from my end of the sluice, though.