Greetings family, friends and neighbors. Today's theme park snippet is

inspired by a 50 year old Knott's Berry Farm postcard. Here's a short story

of the Calico Log Ride and it's creator Bud Hurlbut.....Bill

Theme Park Snippets

CALICO LOG RIDE

Unique among thrill attractions, the Calico Mine Ride at Knott’s Berry Farm is the latest addiction

the 150 acre recreation center. When you ride the new wild logs through the 2100 foot waterway

you will see the workings and operations of an authentic 1800’s sawmill complete with

mechanical and hand equipment, animated figures and true-to-life sound effects. Water current

is controlled by three 125 horsepower pumps circulating 24,000 gallons of water per minute cause

logs to rush through a flume at speeds ranging from eight to 22 feet per second. A reservoir of

350,000 gallons of water is required to maintain the flow. Sweeping through the water on their

own power, the “free floating” logs take you on one of the most thrilling rides in a lifetime. As you

flash down the final 40 feet of the flume into the log pond, you will feel like a “logger” of 100

years ago! Circa 1970’s “Calico Log Ride” Postcard Folder.

Bud Hurlbut’s Calico Mine Ride concession was a huge success and he was beginning to get itchy

to create another ground breaking attraction at Walter Knott’s western themed park. Hurlbut’s

original concept was to design a roller coaster ride with vehicles in a trough so it would appear

that they were floating, however after consulting with Arrow Development, Hurlbut was

convinced to build free-floating ride conveyances in an actual water flume. Unable to get Knott

on board with the untested ride concept, Arrow’s log ride system was instead sold to Six Flags

Over Texas in 1963. Bud Hurlbut’s concept for a log flume amusement ride was based on actual

flumes in the wooded western slopes of the Sierra Nevada range, that transported bundles of

rough cut lumber, and an occasional brave soul, great distances from mountain mills, through

deep canyons and over spidery trestles to finishing mills in California’s Central Valley.

Ultimately, Hurlbut was able to convince Knott of the viability of a highly detailed lumber camp

log flume experience in an eighty five foot by three hundred thirty foot “mountain range”

complementing the Calico Mine Ride. The three and a half million dollar investment opened to

great fanfare and an appearance by John Wayne in the summer of 1969, temporarily diverting

attention from Walt Disney’s nearby enterprise.

-Bill