It's picture time for two little girls who want to pose with Handsome Brady and Whiskey Bill. Looks like the building behind them was repainted, but it was easier to just leave a big unpainted spot behind the boys. Or maybe the darker wood made for a more practical backdrop for photos.
This statue represents a fellow named "Seldom Seen Slim", even though he was seen by millions of people over the years. The plaque reads: SELDOM SEEN SLIM, 1892 - 1963. HE WAS A REAL HERMIT. SLIM (CHARLES J. FERGE) SPENT NEARLY FIFTY YEARS AS THE ONLY RESIDENT OF BALLARAT. A DESERT GHOST TOWN. A GOLD PROPECTOR, HE CALLED HIMSELF "HALF COYOTE AND HALF WILD BURRO." That's a pretty cute story, but why is he immortalized at Knott's? Why not me? I'm half coyote, half raccoon, and half monkey.
These last two are real snoozers, although I still like the bits of the old Ghost Town that are evident. That city slicker is mighty interested in that old mule. Maybe a bit too interested, if you catch my drift.
A nearby sign says: THE ARASTA WAS BUILT AND USED FOR 20 YEARS BY DESERT JIM AT A MINE FAR BACK ON THE DESERT NEAR DEATH VALLEY. DRAGGING THE LARGE ROCK CRUSHED THE ORE, SO GOLD CAN BE EXTRACTED. THE (ILLEGIBLE) TO CAL IN 1849. I must know what that last sentence was, or I'll cry.
No Snoozers there, Major! Thanks for showing us everything you have. Oh, and I love the seventies....at Knott's or Disneyland, it doesn't matter!
ReplyDeleteGoldmine pics are never snoozers, well, pics of the current Goldmine would be snoozers but these are gems.
ReplyDeleteLet's see, if you're "half coyote, half raccoon, and half monkey" what's your last half?
You can see that in the last pic the city slicker is also wearing an Enriched Flour shirt. How strange. If I were to take a stab at deciphering that last sentence in the sign, try this one: THESE CAME TO CAL IN 1849.
ReplyDeleteBut only a Knott's historian would really know, anyone?
Death Valley...love that place.
ReplyDeleteThank you Major, great pics.
JG
I ain't no big city historian, but I blowed it up real big and twiddled some flibberty-jibbers in Photoshop and agree with Andrew: "These came to Cal..." There aren't (sorry, "ain't")really many letters or much space to work with.
ReplyDeleteI think the paint behind the fiberglass cowboys in the fist picture was actually worn off by people wedging themselves behind the bench trying to get in the shot.
ReplyDeleteThat building was originally painted with a very thin special effects paint to give it that old timer look, and I doubt it would take much to rub off.
Tim, those are the only halves I know of!
ReplyDeleteAndrew and Brian, I thought it might say THESE CAME TO CAL... also, but it didn't make sense to me since it supposedly came from Death Valley in the first place. I guess they meant that it first came to Death Valley in 1849?
And Katella Gate, you might be right... it actually does kind of look like the vague outlines of people-shapes!
Yeah, I take the "these" to mean "this kind of technology," rather than these specific pieces. Like you'd say, "The railroad came to California in 1863" or whatever. Like, these rock-grinding whatchamacallem's started appearing in California (including Death Valley) during the Gold Rush. But heck if I know! I ain't one for fancy book larnin'!
ReplyDeletevery cool..im with ToykoMagic in that i love the 70s as well. it was my decade!
ReplyDeletein the last picture, on the right is the Gold Mine Tunnel...
was there actually a cave or something you could you go into or was it just a tunnel thru to whatever is on the there side of the building or was it just a facade? i like that sort of thing...
thanks for posting these...im wide awake!! ;-)
Nancy, it was a tunnel that you could walk down into and you would exit out at the Pan For Gold attraction. Today, it has been converted into the entrance for the rollercoaster, "Ghost Rider."
ReplyDeleteI guess the Flour Sack shirt was all the rage in the '70s. Here is another example:
ReplyDeletehttp://weirdbabe.typepad.com/photos/uncategorized/queens_pride.jpg
thanks for the info, ToykoMagic.
ReplyDeleteim hoping to get to that park one of these days, even tho its not the same
This brings back some memories I'd forgotten I had. Knott's in the 70s...oh, what I'd do for an '85 Delorean, a flux capacitor, and 1.21 GW...
ReplyDeleteThe Gold Mine Tunnel was pretty scary for me when I was 6 or 7 - dark, dimly lighted, etc. - until I discovered nothing was going to jump out at me. Quite unlike my own 8- and 5-year-olds' experience last summer in what used to be Injun Joe's Cave on Disneyland's TSI. Stupid pirate rehab made me into a liar in front of my own kids...
I'd also forgotten my mom had a flour sack shirt. Or maybe it was a shirt flour sack...I was pretty young.
As always - thanks for sharing!
I remember a brief time when those flour-sack shirts were popular here in Florida. Same time as denim overalls. Right before Jimmy Buffett hit the big time, and we all switched to Hawaiian shirts, pukka shells and boardshorts.
ReplyDeleteI read that last line as "FIRST CAME TO CAL IN 184*.
ReplyDeleteMakes more sense to me, anyway.