Frontier City, USA
I recently scanned a bunch of amusement park slides; many of them were unlabeled, so I had to do some Googlin'.
First up is this 1965 photo of the 89er Ghost Mine, dug into the rocky (but snow-capped) cliffs. An anemic waterfall trickles down the face, and we can see animal bones, antlers, and at least one sheep (?). I can find surprisingly little about this ride, other than the not-very-helpful blurbs on the back of postcards. The Dark Ride Database isn't much more helpful:
While some sources state that 89er Ghost Mine opened in 1964, it already appeared on a photograph of August 1959. As Frontier City opened (in Oklahoma City) the year before, 89er Ghost Mine opened in either 1958 or 1959.
After the closure of the ride, the building of 89er Ghost Mine was left abandoned for a couple years, before Quick Draw (2008-present) was built as a replacement. The façade of 89er Ghost Mine stayed nearly the same.
Here's a vintage postcard with a more comprehensive look at the 89er Ghost Mine.
And the blurb on the back:
Next is this scan of a log fort; "Fort Apache", according to the sign over the entryway. "Doctor comoro's Famous Medicine Show" reminds me of Doctor Mal De Mer at Knott's. I had no idea where this fort was located, but...
...eBay revealed this postcard. Other than the angle, it's very similar to the scan.
....and whadday know, it turns out that this is also from Frontier City!
27 comments:
So is the 89er Ghost Mine is still a ride today, but called Quick Draw? As in Quick Draw McGraw?
If men drink before horses, then when do ladies drink?
I should have checked before leaving my comment. It looks like Quick Draw has nothing to do with Quick Draw McGraw......or Baba Looey! And they have painted out the snow on the mountain peak and turned off the water fall. Now it's an interactive "shooter" type of ride:
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/p/AF1QipPBuOSfIe8A-RxYTkmrNy_Drqg_reVQJvemNFgS=s1360-w1360-h1020
There is a man climbing that "scaffolding" in the second image. His name is Derrick.
Major-
Okay - I'm calling it... peeking-in from the right edge of the 4th image is a 1945, Mack Type 45 Truck, with a shiny paint job.
Thanks, Major.
I'm guessing those regularly spaced bumps in the waterfall are to make the water look more torrential, crashing over rocks. That is, when the water is flowing hard enough, not like it is in this first photo. It seems this waterfall suffers from the same malady as the Matterhorn's waterfalls (at times).
In the postcard (2nd image), is that a real guy up on the mining tower thingy? What's he doing? I see the sheep are still in the same spot... you'd think they would get bored and move on. ;-)
Back of the postcard, hmmm, it tells us absolutely nothing, except the gushing platitudes. I suppose the ride had the usual stuff, like glow-in-the-dark stalactites and such.
Fort Apache: My eye is immediately drawn to the skull with the red 'mouse ears', attached to the post. The Fort had a penny arcade. I wonder how extensive it was. I bet the "cold apple cider" was a popular item at the Old Cider Mill.
Tokyo!, "Derrick"... I don't know whether to laugh or cry.
Thanks for another Saturday Excursion, Major.
Frontier City isn’t exactly Disneyland , but it’s bright and clean and lots of fun!
Mike, and it's right next door to a welcome neighbor, our new G.E. Nuclear Power Plant, dear!
Tokyo: you get me.
Mike, of course I do! :-)
I lived in Oklahoma for five years as a teenager and young adult and never visited Frontier City. Still kicking myself. Granted, it was nearly three hours away at the speed limits of the time, but it’s not like I didn’t organize expeditions to go to the big malls (there were three), Enterprise Square, or the 45th Infantry Division Museum.
Mike & TM!, for some inexplicable reason I feel like buying a toaster.
When I grow up, I want to be Knott's Berry Farm! It looks like a fun day out in OKC. It seems that is an official acronym. Very frontiery, and as a kid I would find this as "acceptable" and be hounding my parents to go- probably to no avail. I did some mild NCIS, and it seems now this park is a Six Flags production. I was amazed that it was still open, unlike the more permanent looking Freedomland in the Bronx: now apartments... and a plaque. Penny is always Penny and not Penney- an arcade or not. Penney is a guy who started a monolithic department store chain. Penney did have a "spin off" of sorts: Sam Walton worked at Penney's and then started the brewing of his own even more monolithic chain. Penney's has gone into various reorganizations and chapters of bankcruptcy. The Waltons now own everything including Walton's mountain- which they have leveled and have turned into a Walmart. "Frontier City USA". Like "Disneyland USA" of yesterday's post. Frontier City Oklahoma City seems probably too redundant. I would like to go on the "Surrey with the Fringe on Top" ride at Frontier City in O K L A H O M A. The surrey still exists in a museum in Claremore OK where admission is free and you can learn about others like Patti Page. Nearby is the Will Rogers museum. Who knew? Now you know. Frontier City looks a wee Six Flags genericy now, but nice that they have kept some old things. If I ever get to OKC, perhaps a trip would be in order. Thanks Major for the trip!
Yep, I got that Carousel of Progress reference.
I have that postcard of the 89er Ghost Mine. Never been there though. Always appreciate an amusement park that has a "mountain" or some rockwork.
Thanks, Major.
Mr. Hurlbut should be checking with his IP legal counsel.
Tokyo, snort. Is his brother Chad?
Mike C, double snort, I got that reference.
Tokyo, triple snort, nuclear plant indeed.
Major, what a great find, this looks like a fun little park. Even the sheep can’t get enough. Thank you!
JG
Everythin’s up to date on Frontier City,
They’ve gone about as fer as they kin go.
They went and built a ghost train ride and called it 89,
An’ topped it with a waterfall an’ snow.
JB, I don’t think sheep bore very easily.
Melissa, no, sheep do not bore easily. It’s hard to operate drilling equipment without opposable thumbs.
Are nuclear plants something that Sea Monkeys have in their gardens? Just asking.
TokyoMagic!, I only WISH it was a Quick Draw McGraw ride. Would El Kabong make a cameo appearance??
TokyoMagic!, an interactive shooter… yawn. Something like a less-fancy “Buzz Lightyear’s Astro Blasters” (which I am not crazy about)?
TokyoMagic!, now stop that!
Nanook, far be it from me to ever doubt you! “With a shiny paint job”… was there any other kind?
JB, I’m sure you are right about the bumps, otherwise the water would just flow down the face of the mountain like a glassy stream. No good! Who knows what guys on mining tower things do? Not me. Yes, the postcards are no help at all, which is actually not that unusual, surprisingly. You’d think they’d do a better job of making potential visitors excited to see the 89er Ghost Mine. Hmmm, what the heck are those “mouse ears” anyway? Weird. I love me some cold apple cider on a hot day!
Mike Cozart, but is it sincere?
TokyoMagic!, I’m going to start calling Mike Cozart “dear”.
Mike Cozart, I get you too, I just don’t want to brag.
TokyoMagic!, This is all so beautiful, I might cry.
Chuck, three hours is a pretty long drive, heck, I complain about my drive to Disneyland, which is (on a Sunday) maybe an hour, give or take. Di the 45th Infantry Division Museum have balloons with kepis? Also, may I suggest a nice oven? That way Mother will have more time for leisure activities. Please start calling your wife “Mother”.
Bu, Frontier City sure does seem to owe a lot to Knott’s Berry Farm, but then again, there were plenty of small western-themed parks around the country. It’s just that Knott’s was there since at least the 1940s, so they get a lot of credit. Not sure why Six Flags parks all start to feel so generic; that’s not to say that there aren’t wonderful things, it looks like Six Flags Over Texas is (or was?) pretty great. I didn’t even know there was a plaque for Freedomland, so hey, that’s something. I should have started my own mega-chain of discount markets. “Pepperidge’s”. I’d pay my employees as little as possible! Nothing personal, it’s just business. How about “Frontier City Oklahoma City U.S.A.”? The more words, the more impressive it is. That’s my theory, anyway. Do I want to learn about Patti Page? Maybe I do. Did she ever do professional wrestling? I’d love it if you managed to take a trip to Frontier City - we’d need a full trip report!
K. Martinez, yes, that rockwork has that old-timey charm. It’s not realistic, but that’s sort of the point. I wonder if they turned off the little waterfall for the same reason they tend to eliminate fountains? Maybe still winds got the guests wet.
JG, it took me a minute to get the “Chad” joke. Assuming I’m actually “getting it”. He’s hanging! I guess? Please write a 1,000 word essay explaining it. Hey, I got Mike’s reference too. Eventually. At first I thought maybe he’d watched too many old commercials.
Melissa, hooray, and “Oklahoma!” reference!
Chuck, you need diamond-sintered sheep.
Bu, that would explain a lot, to be honest.
BTW, I love finding multiple typos in my posts.
Derrick is looking for The Thing on the Fourble Board
If we're going to quote the CoP, the mention of Buzz Lightyear's Astro Blasters demands a reference to "If You Had Wings..." had wings... had wings...
Melissa, not sure if you mean 'bore' as in ennui, or 'bore' as in drill into. Either way, I guess it applies to sheep... real or unreal.
Chuck, I knew you'd turn that double meaning into a joke before I could. It's your superpower.
Bu, I bet yer right about Sea Monkeys and nuclear plants. Those weird little critters are weirdly weird! I'm sure that radiation played a part in their evolution. They did have nuclear plants 100 million years ago, right?
Major, "El Kabong". Haha, I hadn't thought of that name/character for at least half a century. Only on GDB!
I will assume (yes, I know... 'ass', 'you' 'me') that the red mouse-ears are two, regular latex balloons. I will also assume that somebody at Frontier City thought it was reeeeally funny to lampoon Disney's Mouse by placing those 'ears' on a skull. And they would be correct.
Major, the 45th Infantry Division wasn’t formed until 1920, so nary a kepi in sight. They started with WWI-style uniforms and moved forward with the rest of the Army from there, although they had to change their original insignia in the late ‘30s thanks to Adolf Hitler. They did liberate Dachau, though.
Dean Finder, I actually thought of that looking at the postcard but figured it was so obscure nobody would get it. We have it on a CD collection of old radio dramas that we would listen to on long car trips. It scared the living daylights out of my oldest when he was about 10 or 11. Still find it delightfully horrifying myself.
JB, it’s the power of your yellow sun that gives me my wordplay abilities. On my home planet, I have a hard time stringing words together into coherent sentences. Nobody back home ever mistook me for some sort of Brainiac.
Dean Finder, I used to listen to a LOT of OTR shows, starting with the days when local college station KUSC would play them. Then I discovered websites with thousands of shows, and loved so many, including “Quiet Please”. Not sure if I’ve heard “The Thing on the Fourble Board” though, so I’m looking forward to hearing it.
JB, Chuck was bitten by a radioactive standup comic. Sea Monkeys might seem strange, but I had a dream in which they saved the world. I made it into a screenplay, and we’re trying to get Tom Cruise to play Jack Seamonkey. You should see him run! I loved “El Kabong”, and generally loved all of those old Hanna Barbera cartoons - so I was shocked when my buddy said that he thought they were terrible. What does he know?? I’m always OK with anybody making fun of Disneyland, in a way they asked for it.
Chuck, I still think that balloons with kepis would be big sellers. Kids love hats that are flat on top! I sometimes think about the soldiers who first saw the concentration camps, and how horrific it must have been. Er, what postcard are you talking about? I guess I need to watch a video of Buzz Lightyear’s Astro Blasters, maybe it will all become clear. I’m so tired of our yellow sun, and wish it was purple, like all the best stuff at Disneyland.
I don't know how I'd've gotten through COVID without the 11-hour compilations of the Jack Benny radio show I found on youtube. Gave me a terrible craving for Jell-O, though.
Chuck, so yer from another planet... I knew there was a reason for your weirdness. :-p (Does Mrs. Chuck know?)
Major, making fun of Disneyland?!?! No one, repeat, NO ONE is allowed to make fun of the happiest place on Earth where fantasmic magical dreams and wishes really do come true! (The noive!)
Major, sorry - the postcard with “Derrick” on it. Listen to “The Thing on the Fourble Board” and it will make sense.
JB, I managed to keep her from finding out for years, which was hard while we both worked at a major metropolitan newspaper, but she eventually figured it out when the left earpiece on my my horn-rimmed glasses broke and they fell off my face. And per the Major, I’m not supposed to call her “Mrs. Chuck” anymore - it’s “Mother.”
Major, here’s the Chad explanation, sorry I can’t stretch it to 1000 words…
Chad is now a name synonymous with frat boys who wear their pullover sweaters knotted around their necks and act generally entitled and sleazy. I thought Derrick (Derek) just sounded to me like he would be a Chad, especially climbing the tower and making someone else risk life and limb to rescue him.
Not particularly witty, but everyone else today is just sparkling. The Derrick joke is brilliant, Tokyo. Cheers.
For the record, I don’t know anyone named either Chad, Derrick, or Derek.
JG
It's hilarious that a bunch of Jr. Gorillas all knew the Quiet Please episode, but assumed an OTR reference was too obscure.
BTW, there are still a few stations that play OTR regularly. WBAI in NYC is the one I've been listening to since I was a middle schooler in the 1980s. There's also a site called YesterdayUSA that runs continuous shows.
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