Wednesday, September 21, 2011

Cascade Peak Construction, February 1960



Some February 1960 shots of Cascade Peak under construction. Hard to believe that this mountain is no longer here, even though its older "sister," the Matterhorn, is still thriving.



A view that cannot be duplicated today; from the construction scaffold of Cascade Peak, the photographer shot this view of the Rivers of America, Tom Sawyer's Island, and Frontierland:



This previously posted shot from March 1960 gives you a look at the construction in living color:



See more vintage Cascade Peak at Disneyland photos on my Cascade Peak web page.

6 comments:

stu29573 said...

Of course the big difference between the two is steel vs wood. Now class, who can tell me why we don't use wood on a design feature that uses running water?

Major Pepperidge said...

In the last photo, you can really see how well the forced perspective works, even at this stage. Once you see the construction workers right next to it for scale, you can tell that Cascade Peak wes really not very tall!

JG said...

I miss that mountain, that side of the river just isn't right without it.

On the whole, though, I approve of the changes made recently to the ROA figures and "story". Well done overall.

Thanks for the cool pics, Dave.

JG

Chiana_Chat said...

Thanks Dave, another of your super features!

Well y'all know that I wish an upgraded Nature themed Mine Train-style attraction was there alongside the Big Thunder thrill ride, and failing that, I wish they had incorporated Cascade Peak into Big Thunder. It would be great having the Big Thunder train whoosh under those falls by the river side. Even failing that I'd wish they weren't being so cheap and fixed and/or rebuilt it.

After the 1959 additions, including the behemoth Matterhorn, they were probably a bit tight on resources for something like this. They didn't have the money and resources Disneyland could have today, and of course they managed it anyway. What's there today?

I think it's ingenious how they managed to build it so efficiently using the hill etc. All considered it looked very good in most pics and more importantly, looked great in person.

Connie Moreno said...

Dang, that was cool.

Chiana_Chat said...

Yes it was, especially during some hot days when the spray from the falls would blow your way. ;)