The landscape of Frontierland in Disneyland has changed quite a bit over the years. When the park first opened, the northern end of Frontierland was largely undeveloped with just some hills and rivers. Here, visitors could travel the "painted desert" by way of the Mule Pack, Stagecoaches, Conestoga Wagons, and Buckboards.
The area was significantly developed in 1956 and by June of that year the Rainbow Caverns Mine Train opened. Stagecoaches and Pack Mules still roamed the new area.
At the end of 1959, the area was closed again for a massive redevelopment. The Stagecoaches had proven too dangerous for guests. Most visitors wanted to ride on top and the horses were easily frightened. This was something learned in the first weeks after the park opened as revealed in the caption of the 1955 Life article where the actors portryaing Indians had to stand still to avoid scaring the horses.
By the summer of 1960, the track for the Mine train had been
expanded and rather than being largely desert, a wide range of environments
had been created to reproduce scenes from Disney's popular True-Life Adventure
series of films, particularly Beaver Valley, Bear River, the Living
Desert, and the Olympic Elk.
At this time, the tracks for the Santa Fe and Disneyland Railroad formed the shape of a trapezoid with the shorter parallel side at the entrance and the longer one along the north side of the park. The trains travelled close to the Living Desert region with its Paint Pots and Old Unfaithful Geysers.
However, after the 1964 New York World's Fair, where Disney created several pavilions, an expansion of the north end of the park was made to bring home attractions like It's a Small World. The track for the Disneyland Railroad was altered to form the shape of the pentagon which is still used today. Once this occurred, the trains did not travel as close to the Living Desert.
The Pack Mules were closed in 1973 and the Mine Train itself was closed in January 1977. Some considerations were made to redesign the attraction to make it more interesting for guests, including more active and humorous animal scenes, changes of seasons, and even expanding the balancing rock canyon by simulating an earthquake. One idea considered involved having the train engine separate from the rest of the train and follow a second track in the Rainbow Caverns. It would meet up with the train again before returning to Rainbow Ridge.
Ultimately, these ideas were
abandoned and the attraction was removed to make way for a new exciting roller
coaster-type ride, the Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. Space Mountain opened
in 1977 and Big Thunder followed in 1979.
Care was taken to retain certain elements of the Mine Train attraction, including several of the buildings in the little mining town of Rainbow Ridge, Cascade Peak (now removed), the serene Bear River area with a portion of the trestle which crossed it, some of the buttes from the Living Desert, and even an omage to the Rainbow Caverns in the first lift for Big Thunder. Some of the animals seen around Big Thunder, including birds, tortoises, coyotes, and the goat, were originally part of the Mine Train.
Next to the attraction was a courtyard with a restaurant originally called Casa de Fritos and later renamed Casa de Mexicana when the corporate sponsorship ended. It has recently been expanded and redesigned and named Rancho del Zocalo. Before the Rainbow Caverns Mine Train opened, Casa de Fritos was located on the other side of the Golden Horseshoe.
One of the buildings in this courtyard featured a rock shop called Mineral Hall. This store was run by Ultra-Violet Products of San Gabriel, California, and they sold rocks and minerals, fluorescent lamps and materials, and Disneyland souvenirs. They also had a free exhibit with fluorescent minerals and materials. The shop opened in June 1956 with the Rainbow Caverns Mine Train and closed by 1963. The facade for this shop remained largely unchanged until the recent remodel of Rancho del Zocalo. The shape is the same but the facade on the right of the building named Mineral Hall is now two storeys intead of one. One of the windows bears a "Mineral Hall" stencil in respect for the past.
The area where the buttes from the Living Desert has been the Big Thunder BBQ and Festival of Fools stage. Today, the outdoor restaurant has been closed and the area is seldom used except for corporate events. Disneyland guests who want the kind of food they served are directed to the Rancho del Zocalo which has both BBQ and Mexican food.
It is interesting to take time to walk around the Big Thunder area and note the parts which hearken back to those earlier days. I like Big Thunder well enough but wish the Mine Train were still with us. It's better than the situation where the Submarines were removed to be replaced with ... oh yeah, there's still nothing there after nearly five years. I think Tony Baxter, the lead imagineer on Big Thunder, deserves credit for creating an attraction which still draws guests today but preserves the theme and elements of the original Mine Train attraction.
