When Disneyland first opened, the banks of the Rivers of America were positively barren. Dirt on both sides did not make for very interesting views. Tom Sawyer Island was a welcome addition on the left side; on the right, as you can see, there was nothing but a bank of dirt next to the Mark Twain dock. In the Spring of 1960, that would all change.
The following undated photos below show the initial construction for Cascade Peak (aka Three Sisters Falls), a 75' tall addition to the Park that was built to coincide with the nearby Nature’s Wonderland attraction upgrade.
The overhang you see in the detail shot below was built for the Nature’s Wonderland Mine Train to be able to pass through underneath the Peak’s thunderous waterfall.
This recently acquired undated image also shows the construction of the new “mountain.”
By October 1960, Cascade Peak had been entertaining guests for months.
The water added movement to the Park and much needed aeration to the river!
A November 1960 shot of the Mine Train about to enter the short tunnel underneath the falls:
The structure that formed Cascade Peak and its waterfalls was demolished in 1998 after it was found to be suffering structurally from the decades of water that flowed over it. This was during the era of cheap, when Paul Pressler was the President of Disneyland. Deferred maintenance contributed to the demise of this beautiful structure, while the cost-slashing of Pressler was the final death knell. The shot below is from 1994, just four years before the peak was removed.
This April 2012 shows the empty bank. With the growth of the trees in this section of the Park, the 75' peak would have been difficult to view anymore.
See more Disneyland Cascade Peak photos at my
main website.
