Today I am doing a through-the-years comparison of the Indian Settlement, seen from the Mark Twain Riverboat as it cruises around the Rivers of America at Disneyland. This shot from 1956 is an unfortunate double-exposure.
Zooming in, you can see the work crew doing a little refurb as guests spin by on the Twain. Very uncharacteristic!
I originally thought that this image showing bright white tents was from when the park first opened, but in comparing the vegetation, it appears to be later than the previous shot.
July 1957:
By September 1959, a little Indian boy and his dog atop a canoe had been added to the tableau:
Check out the vegetation in 1969; this place is positively overgrown!
March 1974:
In this December 1977, you can barely see the settlement for the shade of the trees.
Jumping forward to December 2008 (my collection is nonexistent for the years in-between!), the Indian boy and his dog were moved upstream and taken out of the Settlement tableau. Perhaps Imagineers were trying to spread some of the scenery.
A detailed view:
Where the boy and his dog landed; he is now seen crouching down. Must have been to appease new safety standards!
In this September 2010, you can see the addition of the cave on the right with animatronic figures:
A closer view in this September 2013 photo:
Hope you've enjoyed this chronological exploration of a beloved scene on the Rivers of America!
See more Daveland vintage & current Disneyland Rivers of America photos at my main website.
3 comments:
Wonderful to see the scene evolve over time. I think they need guard rails on that log, though.
JG
Shush you, they'll DO it!
Cool to see it over the years, and almost a little sad to see how the canoe was once overgrown. Those white teepees were a terrible choice, I'm glad they went with more ornate ones. As for the two workers in white coveralls, they seem familiar. I think they're the same guys who were sent to Westworld to fix that renegade Yul Brynner gunfighter. I wonder how that worked out.
It's nice that there's still some vintage Disneyland left at the Park. One of the reasons I love Rivers of America so much is because it still has much of the pre audio-animatronic residents and wild life along its shores. Nice post. Thanks, Dave.
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