Before there was Big Thunder Mountain, there was the Rainbow Caverns Mine Train. What it lacked in speed it more than compensated with thrills. The above undated 1950s shot shows Mineral Hall on the right, where the Black Light Corporation of America had a little display inside.
Behind the post you can see the original name of the attraction, before it became The Mine Train Through Nature’s Wonderland in 1960.
Another undated 1950s image with a great view of the original Rainbow Ridge mining town. While scale would have proved a problem, wouldn’t it have been great if the Barber Shop, Hardware Store, and Hotel were truly in operation for guests?
Zooming in for a look at the souvenir bag, which is not familiar to me, while the booklet in the gent’s suit pocket is.
It’s the back cover of the 1956 Guidebook:
The next consecutive shot shows a Rainbow Ridge bulletin board:
While I can’t believe a guest shot this back in 1956, I am so grateful!
Another undated (but most likely 1956-57) view of Rainbow Ridge, but this time the train is at the station:
I see three cameras (where are those photos/slides now?) and a popcorn bucket!
See more vintage Disneyland Nature’s Wonderland photos at my main website.
I've never seen details like that on the posters before. Those are new on me. People oft make a big ado about Disneyland having a bra store or a tobacco shop, but they forget there was a gun shop in Frontierland as well. ( I think it only sold replica guns ) This pre-1977 version will always be my favorite. Unlike MTMRR the mine train went slow enough that you could look around. I know many say Walt stole this from Knotts but the two mine train rides were so different ( flat ground / multi-level and inside a mountain ) that they were distinct enough. I'm not done building my "Frontierland for cats" office yet, but the catwalk around the top is themed to the pre-1977 main train, right down to the power transformer being hidden inside a box made to look like the gem shop. Next to it, a blacklight tunnel existing from the cavers with glow in the dark stalagmites and stalactites inside of it.
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