Today I have a few more rescanned slides; when viewing the images as thumbnails, the difference is not readily apparent. But when you view the full-sized images, you can see that the color is better and the photos are clearer.
Just because, I decided to use two photos in which some massive Frontierland construction is underway. This first view was posted in 2007, and was kind of dark and drab.
The rescan improves things a little; it's certainly sharper. I really love this shot of the raft to Tom Sawyer Island, with Frontierland reduced to mounds of dirt, wood framing, and a few scraggly trees. (The slide is dated April, 1962).
This next one is also from 1962 (and originally posted in 2008). It's one of those slides that had turned an unpleasant shade of orangey-pink.
As you can see, I had previously cropped the square slide into something more resembling a 35mm slide. Now I'm including the complete image. It's hard to tell with that big sternwheeler in the way, but I think that this picture must have been taken roughly around the same time as the first one.
Zooming in to the left, we can see work trucks, while men dig in the foreground. I think we can just see the Monorail beamway in the background.
Over to the right, more vehicles are vislble, while the Disneyland Railroad passes by.
I hope you have enjoyed today's rescans!
Major-
ReplyDeleteAlthough it's a bit hard to tell, I presume the construction we see here is the beginning stages of making New Orleans Square. These are some wonderful views.
Thanks, Major, for resurrecting these rare images.
If it weren't for the vintage trucks (and the Monorail beam), these pics could be confused for current shots of Frontierland. There, I said it.
ReplyDeleteWowza! Big time dirt, and I love it. I think you're dead on about the monorail beam, Major, And I think that's the Sierra Tower going up way back in the distance. I'm off to GoogleMaps to draw some lines...
ReplyDeleteNanook, I think that is certainly correct; what I am wondering about is the fact that these are both from 1962, but New Orleans Square officially opened in May of 1966 (it was Walt Disney’s last major public appearance). At what point did shops and eateries open? Surely the area wasn’t dirt and 2 X 4’s for four years. And was the area referred to as New Orleans Square for years before the dedication ceremonies? If I had access to my INA guides I’d do some research!
ReplyDeleteTokyoMagic!, it had to be said.
Patrick Devlin, let’s see those lines!
Well, belatedly, nice work on the rescans, Major. Your work is a generous gift.
ReplyDeleteNanook, the line I drew was from halfway between the load building for the Mark Twain and the current raft loading station. I drew straight over the new Frontierland Station platform shelter, which is what is visible, I think, in those shots. It ends up pretty much dead on the Sierra tower. There's a funny (funny peculiar, not funny ha-ha) effect when the sight-lines open up at the Park: Everything is so much closer than we imagine when trees and other things get in the way. (I'm again pointing out the obvious to the choir here (to mix a metaphor(and to needlessly nest parenthetical remarks)) but I can ramble).
I think those might be piles of overburden and spoils from the New Orleans dig. Maybe, maybe not. But I can remember that hole, lined by a concrete wall and topped by orange steel beams, for what seemed a couple of years and probably was. We'd peek through the gaps in the big green fence and there was just...a hole! Oh, the anticipation...
When worlds collide! Just seeing the monorail beam visible from Frontierland makes this pic extra-special. Thanks, Major!
ReplyDeleteTokyoMagic! I believe that Frontierland's 2016 construction is part of the "Limited Time Magic" program. Remember when Frontierland was torn up in 1962? Come live the magic once again!
So much for Marty Sklar's being the only truck parked along the Rivers of America the day Walt got upset with him. ;-)
ReplyDeleteAlways your pal,
Amazon Belle
Some how my eye always picks up on the strange details: In the fourth pic, the overall shot of the Twain, the stern stairway ("companionway") on the main deck is AWOL.
ReplyDeleteVery cool pics indeed. 1962 seems early for NOS, but it looks like too much earth to be just the below-grade part of the Haunted Mansion.
ReplyDeleteNice work on the lines. What did we do before Google Earth?
JG
Patrick Devlin, you were willing to do way more work than I was! On one of my anniversary posts I have a photo of New Orleans Square when it was a hole in the ground with cinder blocks and orange steel beams.
ReplyDeleteK. Martinez, in 1958 and 1959, during all of that major construction in Tomorrowland, flyers were given out at the gate: “The Greatest Construction Show on Earth!” - making the construction an “attraction”!
Matthew, I’ve read Marty’s story, and am surprised when I see a photo of workers out in the open during regular hours. It doesn’t happen a lot, but it definitely DOES happen!
Steve DeGaetano, I seem to remember reading that, at one point, one of the Twain’s stairways was reconfigured in some way, though I am unclear as to exactly what was changed. I wonder if that is why the stairs are missing?
JG, I do believe that the piles of dirt are from both the Mansion and from the digging going on over where "Pirates" would eventually go.
I am crazy to disagree with Steve DeGaetano, but I think the stairway's there. I see a couple of banister posts, the silhouette of the railing and part of the landing. I think what throws it off is that the exhaust stack obscures part of it and looks like a solid structure against the white background.
ReplyDeleteYou're not crazy, Patrick--I think I see it too!
ReplyDelete@ JG-
ReplyDelete1962 really does seem early for NOS construction to have commenced, but it did begin then, starting with the demolition of the Chicken Plantation House, back in January. That date is fairly well-documented (the 1962-part of it). By 1963, the exterior of what would eventually become The Haunted Mansion was already erected and attracting interest from guests. The show building on the other side of the railroad tracks, was some years away from completion, however.
I think I read somewhere that the construction "hole" in Frontierland was there for a while because of Disney's distractions with the New York World's Fair activities it was involved with.
ReplyDelete"Limited Time Magic"...ha,ha Ken! And let me guess....since the Disney Suite didn't exist back then, now they select a family and tell them they get to spend the night in a dirt hole!
ReplyDeleteMajor, your memory is correct - the midship staircases on both the Twain's main (1st) and boiler (2nd) decks were moved aft sometime between the summer of 1960 and the summer of 1961. The midship cabin on the boiler deck seems to have been removed at the same time. I'm assuming the reasoning was to improve guest sightlines and mobility, although it also opens up space for several gun mounts.
ReplyDeleteYou can see the original configuration in this wonderful, undated-but-definitely-1950s shot from Daveland: http://davelandweb.com/marktwain/images/50s/Pre59BWNeg_N21.jpg . Note that while they removed the aft cabin on the boiler deck, the Texas (cabin) on the hurricane (3rd) deck remains unchanged. You know why? That's right - nobody messes with Texas.
Chuck, once again your amazing research and insights on these posts add much to my enjoyment of this site. Thanks!
ReplyDelete@ Chuck-
ReplyDeleteYou've done it again-! (Are you certain in a prior lifetime you weren't a research librarian-??) Thanks for passing this along.
The raft shot with the construction view is truly amazing.
ReplyDeleteOn a side topic, I wonder, has anyone ever fallen off or been pushed from the rafts into the water? Seems like a fairly easy thing that could happen, say with a few rowdy teenagers.
@Nanook, thanks for the clarification. My memories of that era are necessarily hazy. I checked over on the DL Hotel sites and it seems that the Sierra Tower didn't open till much later, so maybe these pics are toward the later end of the period. I doubt that the tower would have taken more than 2 years in that era.
ReplyDeleteIn any event, the subgrade work for Pirates and HM would make a heckuva hole.
JG