Greeting family, friends, neighbors and Disney buddies, you may find today's tale about Disneyland's early days a little fishy! Bill 

 Disneyana 

DISNEYLAND’S FISHY PAST 

“That was the island we played on in Marceline, Missouri. It was about twenty 

feet off shore, just a little sandspit on the Mississippi. Walt and I took boxes 

out there and we built this fort. The fort that Walt was building at Disneyland 

was the fort he played on as a kid. In his mind he knew what the fort looked 

like and exactly where it should be. And I believe Walt thought it was real”. 

-Roy Disney 

Walt Disney is credited with the designing of Tom Sawyer Island, the only Disneyland attraction he actually created entirely on his own. Unsatisfied with “Mickey Mouse Island”, “Treasure Island” or “Miniature Famous American Landmarks” concept proposals for Frontierland’s largest feature, Walt seized upon the opportunity to create a children’s attraction based on his own childhood experiences. Heavily Influenced with characters, exploits and 

mythology created by fellow Missourian Samuel Clemens, he established a home for Tom, Becky, Huck, and Injun Joe and circled his island with the Mark Twain Riverboat. 

The adventure began in 1956 when eager guests stepped off log rafts at Tom’s landing and into the labyrinth of passages of Injun Joe’s Cave, or discover the adventures on The Wilderness Trail leading to Smuggler’s Cove, the Old Mill, Point Lookout, Teeter Totter Rock and over a swinging Suspension Bridge to the Fort Wilderness of Walt Disney’s childhood. A stickler for detail, Walt 

created a Fishing Pier on Catfish Cove for youngsters to grab a pole and fish for real catfish stocked in a netted portion of The Rivers of America for thirty two hundred pounds of river catfish provided courtesy of the Mark Twain Hotel in Hannibal, Missouri. A cast member was on had in Huckleberry Finn Shed to clean and wrap fish in plastic for young guests, or for a nominal fee caught 

fish could be cleaned and packed in ice at Aunt Jemima’s Pancake House for pick-up at park closing time. The Tom Sawyer Island Fishing Pier was very popular to young guests, however many of the fish ended up being carried all day in the Anaheim heat, tossed in the bushes, or discarded in park trash cans. It was only a matter of weeks before the odor of dead fish permeated Disneyland and a strict policy of “catch and release” was implemented. 

Disneyland’s fishy story came to an end in the mid 1960’s when the fishing poles were removed and the Huckleberry Finn shed was replaced by restrooms. The island was re-themed in 2007 with a boatload of interactive activities based on the enormous success of The Pirates of the Caribbean films. 

Walt Disney’s Fort Wilderness is now off limits and is a storage and staging area for Disneyland’s night time Fantasmic show, and the Tom Sawyer’s 

Island has been re-branded Pirates Lair. Log rafts transport fun-seeking youngsters of all ages to Tom Sawyer’s Island in Frontierland where fishing, climbing and exploring can be enjoyed. 

1975 Disneyland Postcard 

-Bill 9/24