History of Knott's Berry Farm

The rock volcano at Knott's with the apparatus shed. It was operated by turning the crank in the foreground, built by Henry Legano

Walt built a 12-foot-tall volcano[15] of lava rock trucked in from the Pisgah Crater in the Mojave Desert and equipped it with a boiler that rumbled, hissed, and spit steam at the push of a button. Two signs posted nearby read:

"Danger, keep out" and

"Only active volcano in Southern California moved in from the Mojave Desert complete—and has been erupting faithfully ever since."

"It's not half as fool a thing as it seems," Knott told the Farm Journal. "When the customers pile up so we can't seat them, the girls send them out to ... play with the volcano. They get so interested that I've had to install a loud speaker system to call them to their meals when the tables are ready." The volcano cost $600, and Knott figured it paid for itself the first month.[16] At some point in the late '50s or early '60s, a fanciful mechanical contraption displayed within a 2'x2'[17] box replaced the manual push button. A small red devil with fiery wings cranked a chain behind the glass driving a larger black drum fitted with bent sheet metal acting as cams around its edge, several turns of the demon would cause the cams to strike switches and the active volcano would illuminate, rumble, hiss and/or steam – simulating vulcan activity. The caption sign above the enclosure read "This is the apparatus that controls the volcano. It was made by Henry Legano, and is operated by the gentleman turning the crank. (Sound effect by Bob Halliard.)". The volcano became the "Cornerstone" for a real gold mine,[18] both figuratively and literally.

The most popular genre of motion picture at the time was 'The Western,' and western theming was quick and easy to make: slap some concrete over chicken wire and carve it into rockwork before it sets, known today as shotcrete. This construction technique became the basis for fabricating much of what was to become Knott's – from stairways to mountains and tunnels, even the drinking fountains shaped like tree-stumps. Using techniques like those on the Watts Towers one could set decoration in it, like the sheet of quartz containing a dark sandy vein indicating gold – as was the entrance to the gold mine/pan for gold.

From the West side of the volcano, guests could enter a mine shaft following a vein of gold down[19] into a large open pit[18] and the Pan-for-Gold activity where customers could buy a ticket to pan for real gold to take home in a vial.[20] Nearby the gold mine shaft entrance, the prospectors mule would haul a stone around an Arrastra,[19] a circular ore grinding pit, filled with gold bearing quartz to release its gold. (In 1998, the mine entrance was converted to the entrance for the Ghost Rider rollercoaster which descended from the station into the former Gold Mine pit. Pan-for-Gold was moved West to School House Road between Boot Hill and the Miner's Bank, but has since been moved back to the original location.)

Little by little, Walt began building a ghost town in 1940, using buildings relocated from real old west towns such as Prescott, Arizona. Painted signs of Old Trails Hotel had a humorous scrawl of the letter 'G', as if to hastily change the name to Gold Trails Hotel. It was the first of many and re-built to house a salute to the hardship endured by early settlers.

The Wagon Train Panorama – a free, three-minute show. Originally the entrance was through the open end of a Conestoga Wagon[21] The canvas covering of the wagon entrance did not last long and was converted to a wooden extension of the hotel which effectively 'built-in' the wagon. The enclosed Conestoga Wagon showcased several artifacts relating to the pioneers who endured the hardship of traveling to California in covered wagons. Pioneers were welcomed to sign a '49er's guest book, while waiting for the free three-minute presentation in tribute to those hardy 1849 pioneers. The Covered Wagon Show featured a static diorama of a covered wagon train crossing Death Valley and ended with the voice of a little girl saying "Mommy, I want a drink of water!"

Along the south side of Main Street where the line of waiting diners wrapped around the building, he filled themed "shops" with relics set into a scene of whimsy. Starting at the corner of Gold Mine Road and Main Street, "Deadwood Dick's" grave marker showed that he died with his boots on, near Soldado José wood carving of a Mexican Soldier. The playback in the Assayer's Office pits the owner attempting to discover, and jump, the claim location against the prospector yet to stake his claim. Hop Wing Lee the proprietor of the Chinese Laundry[22] irons endlessly, singing western tunes in Mandarin. The Barber shaves One Eye Ike and contemplates his wanted poster hanging nearby. A piano player was hired to play outside the Silver Dollar Saloon where real cups of boysenberry drink could be purchased with snacks. The Sheriff's Office hosted a crooked poker game. To interest folks and entice them to the back of the line, Gold Dust Goldie's Hotel featured a live gentleman interested in a few details about your group about to visit Sad Eye Joe back in the Town Jail – to surprise them with personal comments. Goldie's leg in fishnet stocking and high-button shoe, covered with petticoats hung out of an upstairs window of Goldie's Place and would kick to thump the clapboarding, as if to advertise the brothel.[23]

Reflecting humor in illiteracy, the establishment's name was intentionally misspelled "Pitchur Gallery". In 1940, Gus Thornrose set up shop behind the 'G'old trails hotel, with standees, a Western saloon bar-room scene, and even a stuffed bucking bronco posed in mid throw. Near the cuspidor (spittoon) was a sign which was captured in many souvenir photographs "Spit on ceiling, anyone can spit on the floor." Folks could select from a wide variety of costuming and stand for a pose, or choose to put their faces through holes of humorous standees such as lifting weights, prospector dancing with a Can-can girl or sit behind painted oxen hauling a covered wagon to be captured with vintage wooden large format bellows cameras onto glass photographic plates. Digital capture has since replaced the labor-intensive development process. "You'll never know how good you look, until ya gits yer pitchur took."

Along the north side of Main Street were benches on the boardwalk featuring photo opportunities with fiberglass figures of the grizzled prospectors Handsome Brady with Whiskey Jim (although the sign behind the bench called him Whisky Bill, a misprint[24]) and the dancing girls Marilyn and Cecelia Hargrave, a very popular hand pump among the kids which recirculated water through a horse drinking trough, and Old Betsy the popular photo-opportunity of a small saddle-tank steam locomotive and borax train beside the Blacksmith's shop. A real live Blacksmith in a large leather apron would stoke the hearth with bellows. Then with a hammer, forge the red hot iron on an anvil to shape souvenir horseshoes. It still is a real working blacksmith, and much of the ironwork seen in the park was commissioned to be fabricated there. Guests can have implements made such as custom fireplace pokers and even branding irons.

Walter re-built a Windmill water pump originally from England and used here on a ranch beside the Livery Stable housing a collection of wagons, coaches, and horse-drawn hearses. Walter didn't think his collection of old buildings would get much bigger, so the stable was placed across "the end" of Main St. and the Dry Gulch Pack Train and stage coach ride planned for Stage Coach Road.

The Bottle House[25] (1948) housed a 4'x4' hundred year old oil painting of a Chief and his wife and a collection of ancient ornate musical instruments, coin-operated amusements, gambling devices, along with elaborate and rare music boxes from France, Switzerland, and Germany. The Swiss birdcages featuring whistling mechanical automaton birds were among the inspirations of Walt Disney to create Audio-Animatronics.[26]

The Sheriff John Show entertains visitors to the Covered Wagon Camp in 1963.

With the success of the free entertainment, another Western themed attraction was dug into a pit and terraced with concrete rockwork. Live performances of popular Country and Western bands and singers were featured, as guests gathered around a raging campfire, surrounded by a circle of Conestoga wagons,[27] humorously painted with slogans such as "California, or bust" on the Prairie Schooner canvas. Part of that installation included Sutters a fast food burger, hot dog, pizza, chilli, fries and drinks stand, served in a folding cardboard box as a box lunch for enjoyment in the Covered Wagon Camp,[28] setting a precedent and long-standing tradition of enjoying a meal purchased at Knott's to be enjoyed anywhere.

Knott's Berry Farm transitioned from a way-point into a destination as word spread.

A wild west style horse show was in an open air bleacher stadium, where Calico Mine Ride is now. It was similar to the Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show.

The Butterfield Stagecoach Line left every few minutes from the Stage Depot in 1949. Well trained four-horse teams hauled historic equipment – 3 original Butterfield coaches, 1 Halloday coach, 1 Overland Southern coach and the Knott's Berry Farm coach that was built for the farm in 1954. Guests enjoyed a Stagecoach journey North to Whiskey Flat looping around the badlands filled with bad men.

Mrs. Knott's Chicken Dinner Restaurant at Knott's Berry Farm in Orange County, California, ca. 1955.

The Calico Saloon at the west end of Market Street was the featured building fronting Calico Square. A tiny stage was located above the West end of the balcony, later it was replaced by a wide formal stage, south behind the bar. It hosted a variety show inside with a piano player, a few vaudeville routines, and "Dakota Dan", "Calico Kate" and Marilyn and Cecilia Hargrave, sister dancing girls performing the Can-Can finale (and later immortalized as the fiberglass dancing girl figures on a bench outside the saloon.) A wide stairway led up to the interior and outside balconies. The inside balcony provided additional seating and tables, along with the best view of the show. A pair of baskets operated like a dumbwaiter to lift meal orders up to the hostess there.

Outside in Calico Square Harvey Walker played Doctor I. Will Skinem performed his Medicine Show and peddled "Boysenberry Elixir" from his wagon/stage near the popcorn cart,[24] the same wagon stage featured Professor Mal-De-Mers, and a young Steve Martin on banjo between performances at the Bird Cage Theater. Cowboys confronted the Sheriff and his posse. They performed shootouts with flips and stunts, even a high fall. To wrap it up, fifteen minutes of comedy involved the Boot Hill Undertaker trying to remove the body from the Calico Square Wild West Show. The Knott's Berry Farm's Wild West Stunt show performances are scheduled at the Covered Wagon Camp nowadays, with impromptu shootouts in front of the Blacksmith, outhouse and Calico Saloon.

Between the saloon and the general mercantile was the Post Office which was for a time a real working U.S. post office and Wells Fargo Express walk-in attraction displays. The post office featured cutting-edge 1870s postal technology and the Express office depicted activities of a gunsmith. Contemporary postage stamps can be purchased there daily from 11:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. and mail deposited is dutifully forwarded to the U.S. Postal Service.

RGS No. 41 C-19 steam locomotive

Grand Opening of the Calico Railroad in 1952.

In 1951, work began to grade and lay track for a grand circle rail route for recently acquired authentic 3 ft (914 mm) narrow gauge C-19 engines No. 340 Green River (renamed Gold Nugget #40) from the Denver & Rio Grande and No. 41 Red Cliff from the Rio Grande Southern, historic Consolidation class (2-8-0) locomotives from Colorado. They would haul a yellow combination baggage/coach No. 103 Calico with arrows embedded near the baggage door (now renamed to original Chama, arrows and numbers removed and painted in heritage period Pullman-green livery of D&RGW) and several more vintage wooden passenger coaches filled with guests on round trip excursions when the route opened on January 12, 1952. The Durango parlor car, the Silverton observation sleeper and the B-20 Edna Business cars were held with the caboose on sidings during normal operation. Whether in the heavyweight steam train or the light duty Galloping Goose No. 3, the highlight for many guests was their encounter with the "train robbers" of Knott's Scenic Route of the Ghost Town & Calico Railroad.

Bud Hurlbut created this rumbling tour aboard six ore cars fitted along the sides with benches behind a fanciful representation of a small steam locomotive on a narrated journey touring the "Calico Mine". Admission could be purchased from the shack at the base of the trail up to the station. An underground lake, steam geyser, shaft elevator, Philip Deidesheimer's Square-set timbering construction techniques on the lift hill and several glimpses of the "Glory Hole" could be seen aboard this power assisted gravity coaster. A day-glow painted cavern featured several formations of stalactites hanging from the ceiling, and stalagmites building slowly from the floor, to dramatic organ music. Dead Man's Trestle was then crossed slowly before the train became a "runaway" through a blasting zone and cave-in for a thrilling climax of this enclosed, power assisted gravity roller-coaster.

Along the front was an overhang built to cover the Mule Train boarding area. The Mule Trail was relocated east across Beach Blvd, and then removed entirely when those shallow canyons were converted to the picnic grounds.

Bud Hurlbut (Wendell "Bud" Hurlbut 1918-Jan. 5, 2011) [29] [30] [31] of Hurlbut Amusement Company constructed Calico Mine Train which opened in 1960 on Walter Knott's property at a cost of $1.5 Million as a concession, and paid Walt a portion of ticket sales. When Walt visited Bud during construction he asked "Do you know what you are doing?" and even though he had invested every cent and more Bud replied "Yes." He told the story later and added "…and I never lied to him again.".[30] Bud lived in an apartment with a cot and refrigerator, hidden inside near the train storage tracks and repair shop; a short commute to an endless task. It incorporated many innovative designs, such as being the first attraction to incorporate a hidden switchback queue. When Walt Disney came to ride he was astonished enough to exclaim "You old S.O.B!" because the trail was obscured, it appeared to have a shorter wait than actual, which is now the industry standard.

Bud was also the operator of the Knott's Lagoon attractions – the merry-go-round, the row-boat and peddle-boat rental, the Cordelia K. Steamboat side-wheel steam boat,[29] and continued to construct superior amusement park steam locomotives and trains, like the Miniature Train circling Knott's Lagoon. He would continue to create world class attractions, such as the Antique Auto Ride and Timber Mountain Log Ride at Knott's and other theme parks. The Calico Mine Train remains a popular attraction.

A faithful re-creation of "The Jersey Lilly" Judge Roy Bean's Saloon in Langtry, Texas opened with casks on each end of the bar disguising Boysenberry Drink fountains. Coin-operated vintage gambling machines were converted to amusements where every pull was a winner and rewarded one souvenir token.

Couples could "Get Hitched" in a comedic mock matrimonial ceremony, conducted by "The Judge" barkeep and justice of the peace. The bent horseshoe nail 'wedding rings' were selected to fit the bride and groom from a pailfull. A painting of Lillie Langtry was purported to adorn the wall, which upon further examination turned out to be the unsinkable Molly Brown. This building was later moved west to Calico Square for construction of the Native Dancer performance stage of Indian Trails.

Jungle Island, home of the Woodamels could be reached by presenting a "C" ticket from the Super Bonanza Book or purchasing a ticket from the booth at one end of a covered bridge for admission across a shallow moat to a forested hill where children found adventure and played hide-and-seek games all day. Woodamles were "creatures" made from strange shapes of wood with glowing googly eyes and nearby speakers to give them voice. Kids could ride a pair of Woodamles at the water's edge like a teeter-totter, which activated splashing effects. Another woodamle nearby was ridden like a rocking horse to spray a stream of water out over the moat. There were paths up the terraced hill which led to more woodamles and activities. The "Catawampus" woodamle[32] survives beside the windmill in Ghost Town, but Jungle Island and the adjoining Burro Trail were incorporated into the private picnic grounds in the 1990s.

North of Jungle Island, Knott's lagoon covered more than an acre with an artificial lake, encircled by a miniature railroad with a carousel at its edge, by the ticket and boat house. Bud Hurlbut operated the amusements, and built most of them. The lake featured rental rowboats and paddle-boats and the Cordelia K. – a side-wheel riverboat excursion named for Walt's wife. Corn kernels could be purchased by the handful from gum-ball machines mounted on poles near the water's edge, and a popular activity for local residents was feeding the ducks who lived there year-round. Knott's Lagoon was bulldozed and paved over to become the main parking lot when Camp Snoopy was built on the former North parking lot. Some ducks moved to other parks and lakes, but many ducks still live and gather in the Jungle Island Moat north of Independence Hall, and many local residents still stop by regularly to feed the ducks and coots.

1973 Halloween Haunt poster advertising Knott's Haunted Shack and other attractions.

A featured attraction of 1954 which existed at both Knott's Berry Farm and the recently acquired Calico, California was a walk through amusement purporting to demonstrate aberrations of gravity.[33]

Tickets were sold at a window at the head of the queue which ended in a group waiting area. A tour guide would then collect the tickets as guests were seated on benches facing a fence built in forced perspective behind a level concrete slab in the shape of a cuneiform cross. A tall and short guest were selected as volunteers to demonstrate a mysterious property of the property – when they swapped places, they were perceived to change size. Guests were then led down a canyon to witness water flowing uphill. Then into the first room of a highly slanted shack containing a pool table where every shot sinks to the highest corner pocket, a shelf where a soft drink bottle was seen to roll uphill, and a broom was seen to stand unsupported at a slant.[33]

In the next room, guests were selected to stand "off the wall" and women were challenged to rise "Lady Like" from a seat. Then moving outside, water was hand-pumped to a hanging pail but always flowed to one side and missed. To explain the water, a sliding panel was moved revealing a water faucet hanging in mid air from a wire, with a steady stream of water pouring out. Then the group moved into the bedroom to witness a scene with the shack's owners, 'Shaky Sadie' in a rocker and 'Slanty Sam' in bed. The lights dimmed revealing spooks of luminous paint. From an outhouse at the exit, words were heard complaining about the sudden queue for the potty from inside, stating they may have to wait awhile – then the door would fling open revealing the surprise of a seated human skeleton with newspaper as if reading.[34]

The Haunted Shack was an attraction at Knott's Berry farm and Ghost Town from June 1954, until it was demolished in 2000.[34]

Walter Knott moved the core structure from Esmeralda County, Nevada to his replica ghost town of "Calico" which he began building in the 1940s. Lester Wilson designed and operated the attraction.[33][35]

The tour would be led by the character "Slanty Sam" or "Shaky Sadie".[36] The guide would tell "The Legend of the Haunted Shack" and show a number of optical illusions including water that appeared to flow uphill, a usable chair that appeared to be perched on a wall, and brooms that appeared to stand on end.[33][35]

The Shack was removed in 2000,[35] and replaced by the "Monster Maze"[37] after plans for a reverse bungee ride failed.[38]

At a 2017 auction of Knott's Berry Farm memorabilia, a sign from the shack sold for $8,962.[39]

Walter's son Russell's personal collection of fluorescent rocks that glowed under ultraviolet light;

El Camino Real adobe arch entrance portal and rental stroller.

In 1956, a miniature El Camino Real was completed, running North from the end of Stage Road at the railroad depot, underneath a pedestrian underpass of the Stagecoach trail then alongside it, up to the far edge of the park at La Palma Avenue. Along the way were twenty-one adobe enclosures each displaying a miniature model accurately portraying life and activities of the next Spanish mission in California to the north, with descriptive text beside the viewing window.[40]

The Candy Parlor anchored the South end of Gold Mine Road, rose garden featuring an antique four-face pedestal clock, past the Steak House with its Bakery, Garden Room and Rock and Book Shop across from Gold mine. Across Main Street, the Hangman's Tree stood ominously beside the adobe Fire Station providing little shade to the ore grindstone pulling burro circling the arrastra,[41] and one could view the Covered Wagon Show Wagon Train Panorama in the 'G'Old Trails Hotel.

Across Market Street and to the East guests were entertained while circled around the bonfire in the Covered Wagon Camp. The path split as "The Trail to the Chapel" and "Trail to Indian Post and Art Glow" which went North across the Cable Car tracks, between the Seal Pool and Old MacDonald's Farm, under the Stagecoach path to the Merry-Go-Round, Children's Model T Ride[42] – glorified coin-operated kiddie-rides set into pavement near miniaturized city street facades, and Antique Auto Ride[43] – a car ride built by Bud Hurlbut electrically powered and guided by a center rail, which was later renamed Tijuana Taxi.

Calico Square expanded South as well. In 1958, Mott's Miniatures opened at the West end of Museum Lane in Jeffries Barn with the Boxing Museum. Next door to the East, the Western Trails Museum, then the School House and at the junction of School road – a reproduction of The Bird Cage Theater the famous Tombstone, Arizona landmark.

Knott's Bird Cage Theatre featured Live Old Time Melodramas with fanciful subtitles such as Riverboat Revenge and Wreck of the Bluebell Express or Don't Switch the Engine, it has a Tender Behind wherein the audience was encouraged to participate by cheering the hero, "Aw" for the heroine and to boo and hiss at the villain.,[44] which was the starting place for many small-time actors, as well as that of Steve Martin. Between shows, the actors would pose for photographs as walk-around atmosphere characters of Ghost Town.

Across Museum Lane to the North, Antique Pianos, the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad Supply House Miniature Train store and the Gun Shop.[45]

In the early to mid-1960s, the park was visited more by "locals" than tourists. Children fortunate enough to have grown up in the area may still recall taking a battery-electric powered San Francisco Cable Car[46] to the South end of the parking lot to drive a Model-T[47] at Henry's Auto Livery on the Northwest corner of Beach Blvd. and Crescent Ave.

Boot Hill cemetery at Knott's Berry farm in the 1950s.

Between the blown-up Miner's Bank and the Grist Mill with its water-wheel grindstone bagging corn meal or wheat flour was a collection of mining equipment, shafts, and shacks playing fanciful recordings of their activity. A few steps beyond, in Boot Hill Cemetery, headstones and grave markers gave macabre humor to the fate of the deceased – Hiram McTavish even invited bystanders to good luck by feeling the heartbeat by standing on his mound.

Organ Grinder – Stepping out onto Market Street kids of all ages would surround the circle of yellow paint on the ground under the pepper trees near the adobe arches and wait for the organ grinder[48] to arrive. Turning the crank on the brightly painted music box, his trained monkey "Shorty"[49] would hop around the edge of the circle, snatching your pennies and tipping his hat by way of thanks.

North past the Church of Reflections and Our Little Chapel by the Lake, was the Indian Trading Post on an island in the lake, Inspiration House, Art Glow and Flamingo Pond,[50] towards the area which would soon become home to Fiesta Village, one would cross the Cable Car tracks and walk past Old MacDonald's Farm to get to the Seal Pool.

Old MacDonald's Farm and ticket booth, with the Seal Pool outside the entrance.

Old MacDonald's Farm,[51] an elaborate petting zoo was an animal attraction that lasted longer than the Burro Train and Seal Pool, replaced in 1978 with Montezooma's Revenge and a restaurant. In Old MacDonald's Party Garden there were a handful of themed areas where parents could host their children's birthday party for a nominal rental fee. The coveted spot was the birdcage, an actual metal framework built up on stilts.

North, across the Cable Car tracks, was Old MacDonald's Farm – a petting zoo with: goats, bunnies, and chickens, even a pair of hundred year old Galapagos tortoise, and for a short while, a baby elephant.[52] A goat could climb the wall to a cage high atop the corner and becon folks into the enclave, for 25 cents. Parents cautioned their children to keep a tight hold on their shirt tails and bags of candy, for nothing was safe from the curious nibblings of the wandering goats. A nickel cranked in nearby converted gumball machines would buy a handful of alfalfa pellets to feed them. Henrietta – the piano-playing chicken[53] could be found within a wooden coop surrounded by glass. Pushing a nickel in the coin slide would illuminate a red lamp atop her toy piano and signal her to peck out a song; when she'd hit enough keys, a sprinkling of corn would be released into her food tray. The petting zoo was also home to a unique riding attraction – a one horse powered carousel swing.[54] The Knott's had ingeniously converted a hot walker into a kiddie ride. Pairs or trios of children would sit on wooden seats suspended from the end of eight poles radiating from a central axis where a mule patiently waited under the canvas shade. The handler, wearing overalls with a bandanna around the neck, would sit on the rig behind the mule and start the swings circling by walking the mule.

Seal Pool.[55] Park goers were delighted by the sights and sounds (and smells) of the Seal Pool. Perhaps nothing was more exciting than holding the rapt attention of the seals as guests dangled one of a half dozen sardines, sold nearby in small paper bags – 15¢ or two for a quarter.[56]

All visitors to Buena Park are encouraged to enjoy complimentary admission to this patriotic attraction – re-created brick-for-brick on the east property in 1966.[57] Independence Hall continues to feature an audio presentation, with speakers located at appropriate tables, which recalls the debate which led to the United States Declaration of Independence, and is frequented by "Adventures in Education" student groups. Displays have included a replica of the Liberty Bell and a replica of the original Star Spangled Banner Flag which flew over Fort McHenry through a British attack during the War of 1812, which influenced Francis Scott Key to pen the poem that became the National Anthem of the United States. This replica of Philadelphia's Independence Hall was so accurately re-created that it was used in the 2004 film National Treasure, and the blueprints of the replica were requested to reference during the restoration of the original Independence Hall in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

By 1967, the property, with access from all directions, became very attractive to locals and visitors from near and far.