In this November 1971 color photo, we get a glorious view of the original Rainbow Ridge Mining Town. The town itself survived the changeover to the Big Thunder Mountain Railroad thrill ride, but has undergone a few changes. It would appear that the building on the upper right has now become the Assay Office, seen in this recent comparison view:
The design of the El Dorado Hotel (barely visible on the far right in photo #1) with a barber shop on the side has remained fairly consistent over the years, minus the awning. With big beautiful shade trees around it, I guess there's no need for an awning.
The Miner's Hardware seems to have been a casualty of the change.
See more Daveland Nature's Wonderland photos at my main website.
You know what would be cool? A multi-post series of photos showing a building by building comparison of Rainbow Ridge. Post an old Nature's Wonderland photo against a photo from the Big Thunder Mountain era showing the same building and captioning the similarities and differences. Do you have the images to do that? Now that would be cool!
ReplyDeleteAlso wasn't Rainbow Ridge in 1979 referred to as Thunder Ridge? For some reason that sticks in my head. Thanks, Dave.
Ken - You could be right on the name; was hoping someone else would chime in as I truly do not know! I probably do have the images to do a post that you suggest…one of these days I'll get around to it!
ReplyDeleteI'm sure you're busy with other things, but it would be a great series and definitely of historic value and documentation. I've never seen it attempted before. Just thought I'd throw the idea out there for possible future posts. Thanks, Dave.
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