document_title: Knott's Berry Farm

question_text: what was the first ride at knotts berry farm

question_tokens: what was the first ride at knotts berry farm

text: Knott's Berry Farm

text: History[edit]

text: Origin[edit]

text: The theme park sits on the site of a former berry farm established by Walter Knott and his family. Beginning around 1920, the Knott family sold berries, berry preserves, and pies from a roadside stand along State Route 39. In 1934, the Knotts began selling fried chicken dinners in a tea room on the property, later called "Mrs. Knott's Chicken Dinner Restaurant". The dinners soon became a major tourist draw, and the Knotts built several shops and other attractions to entertain visitors while waiting for a seat in the restaurant. In 1940, Walter Knott began constructing a replica Ghost Town on the property, the beginning of the present-day theme park. The idea of an amusement park really picked up in the 1950s when Walter Knott opened a "summer-long county fair".

text: In 1968, for the first time, an admission price was required to get into the park, originally set at 25 cents. The Calico log ride was added in 1969. The park became a popular destination for conservative college students in the 1960s, especially as conservative organizations like the California Free Enterprise Association, the Libres Foundation, and the Americanism Educational League were based there.[5] According to Assistant Professor Caroline Rolland-Diamond of the Paris West University Nanterre La Défense:

text: it also appealed to conservative Americans, young and old, because the idealized representation of a past devoid of social and racial tensions that it offered stood in sharp contrast with the political and social upheavals affecting California since the Free Speech Movement erupted at the University of California at Berkeley in 1964.

text: On April 12, 1974, Cordelia Knott died. Walter turned his attention toward political causes,[7][8] Roaring Twenties[9] re-themed Gypsy Camp in the 1970s with the addition of a nostalgic traditional amusement area, Wheeler Dealer Bumper Cars, Knott's Bear-y Tales. Then with the northward expansion of a 1920s-era Knott's Airfield themed area featuring the Cloud 9 Dance Hall, Sky Cabin/Parachute Sky Jump and Motorcycle Chase steeplechase roller coaster above the electric guided rail Gasoline Alley car ride.[10]

text: Sky Tower with the illuminated "K" in logo script at the top was built to support two attractions, the Parachute Sky Jump (now closed) and the Sky Cabin. Parachute Sky Jump boarded one or two standing riders anticipating the thrill of the drop into baskets beneath a faux parachute canopy. From the top, eight arms supported the vertical cable tracks of wire rope which lifted the baskets. The Sky Cabin ringed the support pole with a single floor of seats that are enclosed behind windows. The Sky Cabin ring revolves slowly as it rises to the top and back offering a pleasantly changing vista. Sky Cabin is very sensitive to weather and passenger motion, such as walking, which is prohibited during the trip. During winds 25+ mph or rain it is closed. When built, Sky Tower was the tallest structure in Orange County (a distinction briefly held by WindSeeker before its relocation to Worlds of Fun in 2012.)

text:
Motorcycle Chase, modernized steeplechase rollercoaster built in 1976 by Arrow Development, featured single motorbike themed vehicles racing side-by-side, each on one of four parallel tracks, launched together.[10] One or two riders straddled each "Indian motorcycle" attraction vehicle. The tubular steel monorail track closely followed dips and bumps in "the road" and tilted to lean riders about the curves. Gasoline Alley, an electric steel-guiderail car ride below, was built together and intimately intertwined, which enhanced ride-to-ride interaction thrill value.[11] Rider safety concerns of the high center of gravity coupled with the method of rider restraints caused it to be re-themed Wacky Soap Box Racers with vehicles themed to look like soap box racers, each seating two riders, strapped in low (nearly straddling the track), surrounded by the close fitting car sides, and the dips and bumps of the track were straightened flat in 1980.
Motorcycle Chase/Wacky Soap Box Racers was removed 1996 for a dueling loop coaster Windjammer Surf Racers and now Xcelerator, a vertical launch coaster, takes its place.

text: On December 3, 1981, Walter Knott died, survived by his children who would continue to operate Knott's as a family business for another fourteen years.

text: In the 1980s, Knott's built the Barn Dance featured Bobbi & Clyde as the house band. It was during the height of the "Urban Cowboy" era. The "Barn Dance" was featured in Knott's TV Commercials.

text: During the 1980s, Knott's met the competition in Southern California theme parks by theming a new land and building two massive attractions:

text:
Kingdom of the Dinosaurs (1987) (primeval re-theme of Knott's Bear-y Tales)
Bigfoot Rapids (1988), a whitewater river rafting ride as the centerpiece of the new themed area Wild Water Wilderness.

text: The Boomerang roller coaster replaced the Corkscrew[9] in 1990 with a lift shuttle train passing to and fro through a cobra roll and a vertical loop for six inversions each trip.

text: Mystery Lodge (1994),[12] inspired by General Motors "Spirit Lodge" pavilion, was a live show augmented with Pepper's ghost and other special effects, which was among the most popular exhibits at Expo 86 in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, which was produced by Bob Rogers of BRC Imagination Arts[13] and created with the assistance of the Kwagulth Native reserve in the village of Alert Bay, British Columbia.[14] Mystery Lodge recreates a quiet summer night in Alert Bay, then guests "move inside" the longhouse and listen to the storyteller weave a tale of the importance of family from the smoke of the bonfire.

text: The Jaguar! was opened June 17, 1995, to add another roller coaster to the mix of Fiesta Village alongside Montezooma's Revenge.

text: New owners[edit]

text: In the 1990s, after Walter and Cordelia died, their children decided to sell off their businesses:

text: In the late 1990s Cedar Fair acquired the Buena Park Hotel at the corner of Grand Ave. and Crescent. It was then brought up to Radisson standards and branded Radisson Resort Hotel as a franchise. In 2004, the park renamed the Radisson Resort Hotel the Knott's Berry Farm Resort Hotel.

text: In 1995, the Knott family sold the food specialty business to ConAgra Foods, which later re-sold the brand to The J.M. Smucker Company in 2008.

text: In 1997, the Knott family sold the amusement park operations to Cedar Fair Entertainment Company. Initially, the Knotts were given an opportunity to sell the park to The Walt Disney Company. The park would have been amalgamated into the Disneyland Resort and converted into Disney's America, which had previously failed to be built near Washington, D.C. The Knotts refused to sell the park to Disney out of fear most of what Walter Knott had built would be eliminated.

text: Cedar Fair era to present[edit]

text: Since being acquired by Cedar Fair, the park has seen an aggressive shift towards thrill rides, with the construction of a number of large roller coasters and the addition of a high-performance Shoot-the-Chutes ride Perilous Plunge. Perilous Plunge had the record of being the tallest and steepest water ride in the world until September 2012 when it was closed and removed.[15] Also, in 2013, Knott's Berry Farm announced that the most popular ride at the park, the Timber Mountain Log Ride, would be closed for a major five-month refurbishment, led by Garner Holt Productions, Inc.[16]

text: On May 25, 2013, Knott's Berry Farm added three new family rides on the site of former Perilous Plunge. They include: Coast Rider (wild mouse roller coaster), Pacific Scrambler (Scrambler ride) and Surfside Gliders. All three of the rides added to the Boardwalk theme. The old bridge which connected the exit of Perlious Plunge and the boardwalk is now used as the entrance to Surfside Gliders and Pacific Scrambler. The Boomerang roller coaster was also repainted a lime-green color as part of the Boardwalk expansion.

text: On September 2, 2013, Knott's Berry Farm announced that Windseeker would be removed from the park.  The ride was removed and sent to Worlds of Fun for the 2014 season.

text: On November 22, 2013, Knott's Berry Farm made a major announcement for the 2014 operating season; the famous and historical Calico Mine Ride would be closed for a major six-month refurbishment beginning in January 2014.[17]

text: Timeline[edit]

text:
1920: Ten acres of berry farm land leased by Walter and Cordelia Knott
1927: Ten leased acres of berry farm purchased, named Knott's Berry Place
1929: Ten more acres purchased
1932: Rudolf Boysen gives Walter his last six crossbreed berry plants, as yet unnamed
1934: Tea room opens and Cordelia serves the first chicken dinner
1940: Living Ghost Town tribute started with free entertainment.
1941: 100 more acres of land are added, totals 120.
1946: Steakhouse
1947: Name change from Knott's Berry Place to Knott's Berry Farm.
1948: Bottle House and Music Hall
1949: Stagecoach
1951: Calico Saloon
1952: Ghost Town & Calico Railroad
1954: Haunted Shack, Bird Cage Theater
1955: Dentzel Carousel, Merry-Go-Round Auto Ride (later the Tijuana Taxi), Hunter's Paradise Shootin' Gallery, Model 'T' Children's Ride, Cable Cars
1958: Mott's Miniatures

text:
1960: Calico Mine Ride.
1966: Independence Hall
1968: Fence surrounds the park, and admission is charged.
1969: Timber Mountain Log Ride; Fiesta Village themed area; Tijuana Taxi (re-themed from Auto Ride); Mexican Whip; Fiesta Wheel; Happy Sombrero.
1971: John Wayne Theater (later the Good Time Theater, then the Charles M. Shulz Theater)
1973: Inaugural Knott's Scary Farm Halloween event
1974: Wild West Stunt Show replaces Wagon Camp shows.
1975: Corkscrew; Bear-y Tales.
1976: Motorcycle Chase; Sky Jump; Sky Cabin; Propeller Spin; Loop Trainer Flying Machine; Whirlpool; Gasoline Alley; Whirlwind.
1978: Montezooma's Revenge, Old MacDonald's Farm removed, Cable Cars removed
1980: Dragon Swing, Wacky Soap Box Racers
1983: Barn Dance featured Bobbi & Clyde Country Western Dancing; Camp Snoopy themed area built, forcing removal of Knott's Lagoon and its attractions around a lake which had been built north of Independence Hall, so that a parking area could be relocated.
1984: Studio K debuts. The most successful teen dance facility in the nation. Opened with a Dick Clark Special, "Rock Rolls On".
1986: Bear-y Tales removed; Tijuana Taxi removed; Fiesta Wheel removed; Mexican Whip removed.
1987: Kingdom of the Dinosaurs; Tampico Tumbler; Gran Slammer; Slingshot; Happy Sombrero renamed Mexican Hat Dance.
1988: Bigfoot Rapids; Bear-y Tales Funhouse.
1989: XK-1; Greased Lighting moved into enclosed building and renamed Whirlwind. Corkscrew removed/ refurbished and moved to Idaho; Propeller Spin removed; Loop Trainer Flying Machine removed.
1990: Boomerang built on former site of Corkscrew;
1991: Studio K closed.
1992: Indian Trails themed area.
1994: Mystery Lodge.®
1995: Jaguar! added
1996: The Boardwalk themed area (retheme of Roaring 20's); HammerHead; Greased Lightning renamed HeadAche; Whirlpool renamed Headspin; Wacky Soap Box Racers with Gasoline Alley removed.
1997: Windjammer Surf Racers; Cedar Fair Acquires Knott's; Bear-y Tales Funhouse removed.

text:
1998: GhostRider; XK-1 removed; Supreme Scream; Woodstock's Airmail; Slingshot renamed Wave Swinger; Mexican Hat Dance renamed Hat Dance.
1999: Wipeout; Coasters restaurant; Charlie Brown Speedway; Sky Jump removed; HeadAche removed and renamed The Blue Thunder at Miracle Strip Amusement Park; Pacific Pavilion removed; Radisson Resort Knott's Berry Farm.
2000: Windjammer Surf Racers closes; Perilous Plunge; Knott's Soak City U.S.A. water park; Haunted Shack removed.
2001: VertiGo; Windjammer Surf Racers removed; Wipeout relocated; Headspin relocated and renamed Wilderness Scrambler.
2002: Xcelerator added; VertiGo removed
2003: Tampico Tumbler removed; Gran Slammer removed; La Revolución; Joe Cool's Gr8 Sk8; HammerHead removed.
2004: Silver Bullet; Lucy's Tugboat; Rip Tide and Screamin' Swing opened; Kingdom of the Dinosaurs closed; Church of Reflections relocated to outside of park; Radisson Resort Knott's Berry Farm renamed Knott's Berry Farm Resort Hotel. Grand Sierra Railroad shortened to accommodate Silver Bullet.
2005: T.G.I. Fridays restaurant (California Marketplace).
2006: Pacific Spin (Soak City U.S.A.); Johnny Rockets restaurant; New Perilous Plunge boats put into operation; Walter K Steamboat removed; Woodstock's Airmail relocated.
2007: Sierra Sidewinder; Wilderness Scrambler removed.
2008:  Pony Express, Peanut's Playhouse removed.

text:
2009: Pink's, Remodel and rebrand of Viva La Coasters in the California Marketplace.
2010: Snoopy's Starlight Spectacular added/Snoopy's Christmas Spectacular.
2011: WindSeeker added
2012: Park improvements – replacing area theme music, removing boardwalks and pouring concrete replacements, rebuilding rotted wood structures, keeping open until park closing attractions, restaurants & shops which had previously closed early. More aggressive youth marketing & advertising; Fast Lane, Perilous Plunge closes
2013: Boardwalk expansion: Coast Rider; Surfside Gliders; Pacific Scrambler (all replaced Perilous Plunge); WindSeeker removed[18]
2014: Charlie Brown's Kite Flyer; Linus Launcher; Pig Pen's Mud Buggies; Grand Sierra Scenic Railroad, Lucy's Tugboat and Rocky Road Trucking Company rethemed as Grand Sierra Railroad, Rapid River Run and Rocky Mountain Trucking Company; Charlie Brown's, Joe Cool's GR8 SK8, Kingdom of the Dinosaurs, Log Peeler and Snoopy Bounce removed. La Tiendita removed.
2015: Voyage to the Iron Reef, Screamin' Swing closed in preparation for removal, GhostRider closed for major refurbishment.
2016: Ghost Town is renovated to celebrate its 75th birthday; Rip Tide officially closed and demolished due to technical issues;[19] Starbucks replaces Dreyer's in the California Marketplace; Mrs. Knott's Chicken Dinner Restaurant undergoes major renovations;[20] GhostRider reopens from its major refurbishment on June 10, 2016.; Removed Wipeout.[21]
2017: Soak City gets an expansion[22] added Sol Spin; new Boardwalk Barbecue restaurant.[22] Brought back Ghost Town Alive;[22] Extended Boysenberry Festival;[22] Added VRCADE.[23] Montezooma's Revenge Receives new color scheme.[24] Boomerang closes.[25]
2018: HangTime opens. ; Sky Cabin reopened on February 10, 2018; Wipeout relocated.

text: Annual park events[edit]

text: The park's annual Knott's Scary Farm has drawn crowds since 1973. The idea for this event was presented at one of the regularly scheduled round table meetings for managers by Patricia Pawson. The actual event was created by Bill Hollingshead, Gary Salisbury, Martha Boyd and Gene Witham, along with other members of the Knott's Berry Farm Entertainment Department as documented in the DVD Season of Screams. Initially fake corpses and other static figures were rented from Hollywood prop house, but Bud Hurlbut, the creator/concessionaire of the Mine Ride, Log Ride and other rides at Knott's, decided that this wasn't enough.[26] He dressed up in a gorilla suit, and started scaring guests on the Mine Ride. Halloween Haunt was an instant hit, and by the next year, the event sold out nightly.[27] During this special ticketed event, the entire park (or major portions of it) re-themes itself into a "haunted house" style attraction in the form of mazes and "scare zones" in the evening. Over a thousand specially employed monsters are also scattered—often hidden out of view—throughout the park at this time. Some of the characters have become well-known, such as the green witch, which has been portrayed by Charlene Parker since 1983, the longest of any performer.[28][29][30][31][32][33][34] Several attractions are decorated for the event including the Timber Mountain Log Ride and Calico Mine Train and there are 13 mazes of various themes. Elvira (actress Cassandra Peterson) was introduced into the Halloween Event in 1982 and was prominently featured in many Halloween Haunt events until 2001. According to postings on her My Space page, Cassandra was released from her contract by the park's new owners due to their wanting a more family friendly appeal,[35] although she returned for one night in 2012 for the 40th anniversary of the event and has returned as a regular performer throughout the run of the event for the last several years.[36] During the month of October, Knott's Scary Farm generates half the revenue for Knott's Berry Farm's fiscal year.[citation needed]

text: Season of Screams is a DVD produced by an independent company which traces the beginnings of Halloween Haunt and the story behind how it all got started back in 1973. Season of Screams also highlights recent Halloween Haunts.

text: Winter Coaster Solace is an event that takes place in the first or second weekend of March every year when roller coaster enthusiasts can come before the park opens and stay after the park closes to ride the rides and eat at the Chicken Dinner Restaurant. It is intended to provide "solace" to visitors from other parts of the country where theme parks and roller coasters are seasonal, not year-round operations like the Southern California parks. Knott's Berry Farm also used to give attendees behind the scenes tours of the rides.

text: Every year since 1991, Knott's has offered free admission to veterans and their families during the month of November. Though this was originally started as a tribute to returning Gulf War veterans, they subsequently expanded it to include all veterans and have run it every year since.

text: A Christmas event known as "Knott's Merry Farm" also happens annually. Previous Merry Farm events have included manufactured snow, handcrafts exhibits, and a visit with Santa Claus. This event was originally created by Gary Salisbury in the Fall of 1985.

text: Praise (festival) has been a Christian themed celebration presented many years as a mix-in special event of music and comedy on New Year's Eve.

text: Current areas and attractions[edit]

text: The park consists of four themed areas:

text:
Ghost Town
Fiesta Village
The Boardwalk
Camp Snoopy

text: Ghost Town[edit]

text: Craftsmen in Ghost Town demonstrate the arts of the blacksmith, woodcarver, glass-blower, sign cutter, and spinner. Demonstrations of narrow gauge railroading and farm equipment hobbyists accompany additional merchant stalls of cottage-craft fairs seasonally at discounted admission which is restricted to Ghost Town only.

text: Western Trails Museum, relocated between the candy store and the General Store to accommodate Bigfoot Rapids, still features historical western artifacts large and small, from a hand powered horse-drawn fire engine to miniature replica of a borax hauling "Twenty Mule Team" and utensils necessary to survive the prairie and wilderness.

text: The Ghost Town area has a few other notable attractions. The Bird Cage Theatre only hosts two seasonal entertainments—during "Knott's Merry Farm," two small productions of "The Gift of the Magi" and "A Christmas Carol," and a Halloween Haunt thrill show. The Calico Stage, a large open-air stage in Calico Square, hosts a variety of shows and acts, big and small, from those of elementary school students, Gallagher, a local band, and the summer-spectacular All Wheels Extreme stunt show featuring youthful performers demonstrating aerial tricks with acrobatics, trampolines, and riding ramps with skates, scooters, skateboards, and freestyle bikes to popular music. Calico Saloon recreates the revelry of music, singing and dancing, with Cameo Kate hosting a variety of acts. Jersey Lily, Judge Roy Bean's combination courthouse/saloon, offers certified comical "genuine illegal hitchin'" alongside pickles, candy, and sports/soft drinks.

text: Many parts of Ghost Town are forever lost to progress. The conversion of the Silver Dollar Saloon to a shooting gallery, Hunters Paradise shooting gallery to Panda Express and the original Berry Stand, moved several times with its last location now occupied by the Silver Bullet station.

text: What is left of Ghost Town today was based on Calico ghost town and other real ghost towns in the Western United States such as Prescott, Arizona. Walter Knott inherited his uncle's silver mill and land, then bought more of the actual Calico ghost town in 1951 and developed it. In 1966, he donated that property to the corporate-municipal County of San Bernardino which then made the town of Calico, California into a public historic park, for which it charged an entrance/parking fee. See 'History – Ghost Town – Calico' section above.

text:
Thrill level (out of 5)[37]

  1 (low)   2 (mild)   3 (moderate)   4 (high)   5 (aggressive)

text:
Ride

Picture

Opened

Manufacturer

Description

Thrill level[37]

ButterfieldStagecoach

1949

Knott'sBerry Farm

A family stagecoach ride which takes guests through the areas of Fiesta Village, Camp Snoopy and the Indian Trails area.

1

Calico Mine Ride

1960

Bud Hurlbut

A 2 ft (610 mm) narrow gauge[38] mine train and dark ride. Riders board ore cars pulled by battery-powered[39] locomotives and journey deep into a faux mining excavation site. The ride closed for refurbishment in January 2014 and reopened on June 14, 2014.[40]

3

Ghost Town & Calico Railroad

1952

An authentic 3 ft (914 mm) narrow gauge[41] train ride around the park. The ten-minute ride takes guests through the Wild Wilderness area, the Boardwalk area and through Fiesta Village. All of the Passenger Cars came from the D&RGW, while one came from the Rio Grande Southern. Some of the D&RGW cars were used on the San Juan Express.

1

GhostRider

1998

Custom Coasters International

A wooden roller coaster featuring multiple banked turns.

5

Silver Bullet

2004

Bolliger & Mabillard

An inverted roller coaster.

5

Timber Mountain Log Ride

1969

Bud Hurlbut & Arrow Development

A classic themed log flume attraction. The five-minute ride features two major drops, of which the final drop is 42 feet. The ride opened in 1969, and re-opened in 2013 after an extensive refurbishment.

4

text: Wild Water Wilderness[edit]

text: Wild Water Wilderness is a section of Ghost Town that features two major rides: the Bigfoot Rapids river rafting adventure, and Pony Express, a horse themed family roller coaster installed in 2008. Nearby Bigfoot Rapids is Rapids Trader, a small merchandise stand. It is also home to Mystery Lodge, a multimedia show based on an Expo 86 pavilion featuring a Native American storyteller.

text:
Ride

Picture

Year Opened

Manufacturer

Description

Thrill level[37]

Bigfoot Rapids

1987

Intamin

An Intamin family river rafting ride in which riders board circular watercraft and journey down a faux white water river.

5

Pony Express

2008

Zamperla

A steel roller coaster in which riders dip, turn and dive while harnessed in vehicles intended to simulate equestrianism.

4

text: Indian Trails[edit]

text: Indian Trails is a section of Ghost Town that showcases native american art, crafts and dance.

text: Fiesta Village[edit]

text: Fiesta Village was built in 1969 with a pop-culture Mexican theme. It was the second area constructed after the completion of Ghost Town. Stores like Casa California, restaurants like Pancho's Tacos, La Papa Loca, and La Victoria Cantina, games like Shoot If Yucan, and the themed rides like La Revolución, Jaguar!, and Montezooma's Revenge, along with the former attraction Tampico Tumbler, all contribute to the Mexican and Aztec theme of the area. In 2013 colorful string lights were added for the summer season.

text:
Ride

Picture

Year opened

Manufacturer

Description

Thrill level[37]

Dragon Swing

1980

Chance-Morgan

A swinging pirate ship

3

Hat Dance

1969

A Teacups type ride. Riders spin sombrero themed cuencos as they rotate on counterrevolutionary turntables. Originally named Happy Sombrero

3

Jaguar!

1995

Zierer

A Steel roller coaster designed specifically for families with young children.

4

La Revolucion

2003

Chance-Morgan

Riders rotate 360-degrees while simultaneously swinging back and forth in a pendulum motion.

5

Merry-Go-Round

1955

Dentzel Carousel

One of the world's oldest working Dentzel Carousel, this 100-year-old ridestill revolves to the strains of its antique Band Organ. Mmenagerie carousel's 48 hand-carved animals including lions, tigers, ostriches, camels, zebras, giraffes, pigs, cats and horses.

2

Montezooma's Revenge

1978

Anton Schwarzkopf

Riders accelerate from 0 to 55 mph (89 km/h) in 4.5 seconds.[42]

5

Sol Spin

2017

Mondial

A thrilling topsy-turvy adventure over 6 stories high as they rotate in all directions on one of six spinning arms. It was build on the spot of Windseeker.

5

Waveswinger

1986

Zierer

A classic family swing ride. Riders board individual swing sets before orbiting a central tower. Originally named Slingshot. Riders cannot ride if the person's weight is above 230 lbs.

3

text: The Boardwalk[edit]

text:
Boardwalk Games include physical challenges such as a rock wall, soccer, basketball and a rope ladder crawl. A variety of traditional pitch three balls and win a prize type games, such as squirt gun into clowns mouth, knock off milk bottles, pitch a quarter onto a plate are pitched by hawkers along the Boardwalk Games midway. In September 2012, Perilous Plunge closed for an expansion of the Boardwalk. Perilous Plunge was noticeably known as one of Knott's major thrill rides. The boardwalk reopened after a year transformation with two flat rides and a new family roller coaster taking the spot of Perilous Plunge. The Boomerang roller coaster also got repainted with a new vibrant green and yellow color scheme.
The world's largest Johnny Rockets restaurant franchise is located at Knott's Boardwalk, featuring over 5,900 square feet (550 m2) of indoor dining space for more than 260 guests.

text:
Ride

Picture

Year opened

Manufacturer

Description

Thrill level[37]

Coast Rider

2013

Mack Rides

A steel wild mouse roller coaster. The ride's layout is on the former site of Perilous Plunge.

5

HangTime

May 18, 2018

Gerstlauer

A steel Dive Coaster. The ride's layout is on the former site of Boomerang and Riptide.

5

Pacific Scrambler

2013

Eli Bridge Company

Originally "Whirlpool" from 1989 to 1996, Pacific Scrambler is a classic scrambler amusement ride. When the area opened in 1996, this was a ride called Whirlpool, it was housed inside a building which featured 'undersea' murals on the walls, musical soundtrack effects, and concert-style lighting effects. In 2000, it was replaced with a Shoot the Chutes ride called Perilous Plunge. The ride eventually closed down in 2012 and was replaced with three new rides, including Pacific Scrambler

3

Sky Cabin

1974

Intamin

Ascend over 180 feet in the slow-moving Sky Cabin for a 360-degree panoramic view of Orange County and the LA basin.

2

SupremeScream

1998

S&S Worldwide

Supreme Scream features the highest drop in the park. A vertical ascending and descending drop ride. It features 3 Turbo Drop towers.

5

SurfsideGliders

2013

Larson International

A Flying Scooters ride with a height of 28 feet. Riders can pilot and move the gilders as it offers them a good view of the Boardwalk area.

3

Voyage tothe Iron Reef

2015

Triotech

A 4-D interactive dark ride attraction where riders aim and shoot at animated targets to score points

2

Wheeler Dealer Bumper Cars

A classic family bumper cars attraction.

4

Xcelerator

2002

Intamin

A launched roller coaster in which riders accelerate from 0 to 82 mph (132 km/h) in 2.3 seconds and climb 20 stories into the air. Xcelerator is currently the tallest roller coaster at Knotts Berry Farm. Pictured is Xcelerator's tower structure. Xcelerator features the park's second highest drop.

5

Wipeout

2018

Chance Rides

A Trabant circular ride located between Hangtime and Sky Cabin.

4

text: Camp Snoopy[edit]

text: Camp Snoopy is home to the park's family and children's rides, with many of the rides and attractions being built specifically for children and guests who cannot ride the park's more aggressive attractions. Its theme is Charles M. Schulz' "Peanuts" comic strip characters. Snoopy has been the mascot of Knott's Berry Farm since 1983, and the characters can now be seen at all of Cedar Fair's parks, except Gilroy Gardens, which is managed by Cedar Fair and owned by the city of Gilroy. The 14 rides include a mini roller coaster called the Timberline Twister, a Zamperla Rockin' Tug called Rapid River Run, and a steel spinning roller coaster called Sierra Sidewinder. For guests who cannot ride the park's more aggressive and thrilled rides, Camp Snoopy contains a good number of rides for guests of all ages including infants, children, and seniors. With the exception of Sierra Sidewinder and Timberline Twister, the rides are relativity tame and not aggressive.

text: Knott's Berry Farm also built the Mall of America's indoor theme park, which itself was originally called Camp Snoopy. (In fact, Charles M. Schulz hailed from St. Paul.) However, today the park is no longer affiliated with Knott's or Cedar Fair, and is now called Nickelodeon Universe.

text: On November 22, 2013, Knott's Berry Farm announced major improvements in the area of Camp Snoopy. Camp Snoopy will receive a makeover as the section is approaching its 30th anniversary. In summer 2014, Knott's Berry Farm will open up new rides in Camp Snoopy.[17]

text: The 2 ft (610 mm) narrow gauge[43] Grand Sierra Railroad takes guest on a four-minute train ride through the reflection lake. The ride was made shorter with the construction of Silver Bullet.

text:
Ride

Picture

Opened

Manufacturer

Thrill level[37]

Balloon Race

1983

2

Camp Bus

1992

Zamperla

2

Linus Launcher

2014

Zamperla

3

Charlie Brown Kite Flyers

2014

Zamperla

2

Flying Ace

1986

Chance-Morgan

2

Grand Sierra Railroad

Re-Themed 2014

Crown Metal

1

High Sierra Ferris Wheel

1983

Eli Bridge

3

Huff and Puff

1983

larson International

1

Pig Pen's Mud Buggies

2014

Zamperla

2

Rapid River Run

2004 Re-themed 2014

Zamperla

2

Rocky Mountain Trucking Company

Re-Themed 2014

Zamperla

1

Sierra Sidewinder

2007

Mack Rides

4

Timberline Twister

1983

Bradley and Kaye

4

text: Indian Trails[edit]

text: Located next to the Bottle House in Ghost Town, Indian Trails is a small area sandwiched between Camp Snoopy, Ghost Town, and Fiesta Village, showcasing Native American art, crafts, and dance. One ride is located in this area. It is called Butterfield Stagecoach which is a family ride where an actual stagecoach take guest on a circular ride through Fiesta Village and Camp Snoopy. It is one of the original rides at the park. The ride was developed directly by the park and it opened in 1949.

text: Public area[edit]

text: Many of the original attractions are outside the gates of the current-day theme park along Grand Ave. at the California Marketplace, mostly things which would no longer be considered interesting to today's audience, or things which were merely there for decoration. Near the restrooms behind Berry Place are the waterfall overshooting the water wheel and historic gristmill grindstone, a replica of George Washington's Mount Vernon estate fireplace hearth, and what remains of the visible beehive. Some attractions still exist, but have been incorporated into backstage areas, such as the Rock Garden, now an employee smoking area. Other attractions have been removed, such as the historic volcano, and the cross-section of giant sequoia with age rings denoting historic events such as Christopher Columbus visiting America.

text: East property[edit]

text: The east side of the property, divided by Beach Blvd., features the main parking lot, Knott's Soak City a seasonal water park that requires separate admission, the picnic grounds rental areas, complementary admission to Independence Hall and gift shop, and the Church of Reflections which was moved outside the theme park in 2004 and held non-denominational Sunday services until 2010, but is still used for wedding ceremonies. A tunnel and pedestrian underpass beneath Beach Blvd. connects the main parking lot to the shops, restaurants and theme park.

text: Former attractions[edit]

text:
Boomerang – 1990-2017
Cable Cars – 1955–1979[44]
Corkscrew – 1975–1989[45]
FearVR: 5150 – closed shortly after opening in 2016
Fiesta Wheel – 1969–1986
Gasoline Alley – 1969–1996
Gran Slammer – 1987–2003
Hammerhead – 1996–2003
Haunted Shack – 1954–2000
Henry's Auto Livery – ?–1980s
Knott's Bear-y Tales/Kingdom of the Dinosaurs – 1975–2004
Knott's Lagoon – ?–1983
Loop Trainer Flying Machine – 1976–1989
Merry-Go-Round Auto Ride/Tijuana Taxi – 1969–1976
Mexican Whip – 1969–1986
Motorcycle Chase/Wacky Soap Box Racers – 1976–1996
Mott's Miniatures – 1956–1992
Perilous Plunge – 2000–2012
Propeller Spin – 1976–1989
Riptide – 2004-2016
Screamin' Swing - 2005-2015
Sky Jump – 1976–1999
Tampico Tumbler – 1987–2003
VertiGo – 2001–2002
Walter K. Steamboat – 1969–2004
Whirlwind/Greased Lightning/HeadAche – 1976–1999
Wilderness Scrambler - 2001-2007
Windjammer Surf Racers – 1997–2000
Windseeker – 2011–2013
XK-1 – 1990–1997

text: FearVR: 5150 controversy[edit]

text: For Halloween Haunt in 2016, Knott's Berry Farm introduced FearVR: 5150, a virtual reality attraction that was met with controversy from the mental health community regarding the negative portrayal of mental illness.[46] The ten-minute-long attraction immersed guests inside of a chaotic mental hospital haunted by a supernatural central character named Katie and zombie-like patients.[47] The initial controversy came from the attraction's name, with 5150 referring to the California law that allows a law enforcement officer or clinician to involuntarily commit a person suspected of having a mental illness and determined "a danger to themselves or others". The backlash was focused on Cedar Fair's use of painful experiences suffered by those dealing with mental illness and to have it "transmogrified into spooky entertainment".[46] In response, Cedar Fair removed "5150" from the name, and after continued opposition, permanently closed the attraction on September 28, 2016, only six days after its debut.[48][49] A petition was signed by more than 2,000 people hoping Cedar Fair would bring it back, with the petition's organizer stating that Cedar Fair shouldn't be "forced to shut down an attraction based on the words of people who had not even experienced the attraction".[50]

text: Knott's Soak City[edit]

text: Knott's Soak City is Knott's Berry Farm's water park. It opened in 1999 as Soak City U.S.A. It requires separate admission from Knott's Berry Farm.

text: Fast Lane queuing[edit]

text: Fast Lane is Knott's Berry Farm's virtual queue system. For an extra fee, visitors get a wrist band that enables them to get to the front of the line on some of the most popular attractions without queuing.

text: Food products[edit]

text: The J.M. Smucker Company continues to sell the jam and preserves made famous by the Knott family; however, other products such as the syrups have been discontinued due to low demand.[51]

text: In November 2013, Knott's Berry Farm began selling their "Berry Market" brand of preserves at the park. The Berry Market brand is all-natural and uses the Knott family's original recipe. They are unable to use "Knott's" on the label, since Smucker's owns the rights to the name.

text: Public Transportation[edit]

text: Knott's Berry Farm can easily be accessed by public transportation. Service is available by both Los Angeles Metro and the Orange County Transportation Authority.[52] Bus routes serving the park include Metro Express Line 460 which provides direct express service between Downtown Los Angeles and Disneyland and OCTA bus routes 29 and 38.[53]

text: In popular culture[edit]

text:
Summer School starring Mark Harmon and Kirstie Alley. Mr. Shoop (Harmon) takes his band of under-achieving students on a field trip to Knott's Berry Farm (among other places) instead of teaching them.[54]
BrainRush (first aired June 20, 2009), a Cartoon Network TV quiz show was filmed as contestants compete while riding aboard Knott's Berry Farm roller coasters.[55]
Future entertainers: Christian author Stormie Omartian, comedian Steve Martin, the creator of Las Vegas "Legends In Concert" and the worldwide impersonation empire; John Stuart, and Kathy Westmoreland (back-up singer for Elvis Presley) all worked at the Birdcage Theater.

text: Attendance[edit]

text:
2008
2009
2010
2011
2012
2013
2014
2015
2016
Worldwide rank

3,565,000[56]
3,333,000[57]
3,600,000[58]
3,654,000[58]
3,508,000[59]
3,683,000[59]
3,683,000[60]
3,867,000[3]
4,014,000[2]

28


document_title: Middle Passage

question_text: how long was the atlantic slave trade journey

root

text: Middle Passage

text: Journey[edit]

text: The duration of the transatlantic voyage varied widely,[2] from one to six months depending on weather conditions. The journey became more efficient over the centuries; while an average transatlantic journey of the early 16th century lasted several months, by the 19th century the crossing often required fewer than six weeks.[9]

tag: p

text: It is believed that African kings, warlords and private kidnappers sold captives to Europeans who held several coastal forts. The captives were usually force-marched to these ports along the western coast of Africa, where they were held for sale to the European or American slave traders in the barracoons. Typical slave ships contained several hundred slaves with about 30 crew members.[10]

text: The male captives were normally chained together in pairs to save space; right leg to the next man's left leg — while the women and children may have had somewhat more room. The chains or hand and leg cuffs were known as bilboes, which were among the many tools of the slave trade, and which were always in short supply. Bilboes were mainly used on men, and they consisted of two iron shackles locked on a post and were usually fastened around the ankles of two men.[11] At best, captives were fed beans, corn, yams, rice, and palm oil. Slaves were fed one meal a day with water, if at all. When food was scarce, slaveholders would get priority over the slaves.[citation needed] Sometimes captives were allowed to move around during the day, but many ships kept the shackles on throughout the arduous journey. Aboard certain French ships, slaves were brought on deck to periodically receive fresh air. While female slaves were typically permitted to be on deck more frequently, male slaves would be watched closely to prevent revolt when above deck.[12]

text: Slaves below the decks lived for months in conditions of squalor and indescribable horror. Disease spread and ill health was one of the biggest killers. Mortality rates were high, and death made these conditions below the decks even worse. Even though the corpses were thrown overboard, many crew members avoided going into the hold. The slaves who had already been ill ridden were not always found immediately. Many of the living slaves could have been shackled to someone that was dead for hours and sometimes days.[11]

text: Most contemporary historians estimate that between 9.4 and 12 million Africans arrived in the New World.[13][14] Disease and starvation due to the length of the passage were the main contributors to the death toll with amoebic dysentery and scurvy causing the majority of deaths.[citation needed] Additionally, outbreaks of smallpox, syphilis, measles, and other diseases spread rapidly in the close-quarter compartments.

text: The rate of death increased with the length of the voyage, since the incidence of dysentery and of scurvy increased with longer stints at sea as the quality and amount of food and water diminished. In addition to physical sickness, many slaves became too depressed to eat or function efficiently due to loss of freedom, family, security, and their own humanity.

text: Sailing technologies[edit]

text:
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tag: table

text: The need for profits in the 18th century's Atlantic market economy drove changes in ship designs and in managing human cargo, which included enslaved Africans and the mostly white crew. Improvements in air flow on board the ships helped to decrease the infamous mortality rate that these ships had become known for throughout the 16th and 17th centuries. The new designs that allowed ships to navigate faster and into rivers' mouths ensured access to many more enslaving posts along the West African coast.[15] The monetary value of enslaved Africans on any given American auction-block during the mid-18th century ranged between $800 and $1,200, which in modern times would be equivalent to $32,000–48,000 apiece ($100 then is now worth $4,000 due to inflation). Therefore, ship captains and investors sought technologies that would protect their human cargo.[16]

text: Throughout the height of the Atlantic slave trade (1570–1808), slave ships were normally smaller than traditional cargo ships, with most slave ships weighing between 150 and 250 tons. This equated to about 350 to 450 enslaved Africans on each slave ship, or 1.5 to 2.4 per ton. The English ships of the time normally fell on the larger side of this spectrum and the French on the smaller side. Ships purposely designed to be smaller and more maneuverable were meant to navigate the African coastal rivers into farther inland ports; these ships therefore increased the effects of the slave trade on Africa. Additionally, the ships' sizes increased slightly throughout the 1700s; however the number of enslaved Africans per ship remained the same. This reduction in the ratio of enslaved Africans to ship tonnage was designed to increase the amount of space per person and thus improve the survival chances of everyone on board. These ships also had temporary storage decks which were separated by an open latticework or grate bulkhead, Ship masters would presumably use these chambers to divide enslaved Africans and help prevent mutiny. Some ships developed by the turn of the 19th century even had ventilation ports built into the sides and between gun ports (with hatches to keep inclement weather out). These open deck designs increased airflow and thus helped improve survival rates, diminishing potential investment losses.[15]

text: Another major factor in "cargo protection" was the increase in knowledge of diseases and medicines (along with the inclusion of a variety of medicines on the ships). First the Dutch East India Company in the 18th century, followed by some other countries and companies in the late 18th early 19th centuries, realized that the inclusion of surgeons and other medical practitioners aboard their ships was an endeavor that proved too costly for the benefits. So instead of including medical personnel they just stocked the ships with a large variety of medicines; while this was better than no medicines, and given the fact that many crew members at least had some idea of how disease was spread, without the inclusion of medical personnel the mortality rate was still very high in the 18th century.[17]

text: Slave treatment and resistance[edit]

text: Slaves' treatment was horrific because the captured African men and women were considered less than human; they were "cargo", or "goods", and treated as such; they were transported for marketing. Women with children were not as desirable for they took up too much space and toddlers were not wanted because of everyday maintenance.[18] For example, the Zong, a British slaver, took too many slaves on a voyage to the New World in 1781. Overcrowding combined with malnutrition and disease killed several crew members and around 60 slaves. Bad weather made the Zong's voyage slow and lack of drinking water became a concern. The crew decided to drown some slaves at sea, to conserve water and allow the owners to collect insurance for lost cargo. About 130 slaves were killed and a number chose to kill themselves in defiance, by jumping into the water willingly. The Zong incident became fuel for the abolitionist movement and a major court case, as the insurance company refused to compensate for the loss.

text: While slaves were generally kept fed and supplied with drink as healthy slaves were more valuable, if resources ran low on the long, unpredictable voyages, the crew received preferential treatment. Slave punishment and torture was very common, as on the voyage the crew had to turn independent people into obedient slaves.[citation needed] Whipping and use of the cat o' nine tails were a common occurrence; sometimes slaves were beaten for "melancholy".[citation needed] Pregnant women on the ships who delivered their babies aboard risked the chance of their children being killed in order for the mothers to be sold.[18] The worst punishments were for rebelling; in one instance a captain punished a failed rebellion by killing one involved slave immediately, and forcing two other slaves to eat his heart and liver.[19]

text: As a way to counteract disease and suicide attempts, the crew would force the slaves onto the deck of the ship for exercise, usually resulting in beatings because the slaves would be unwilling to dance for them or interact.[20] These beatings would often be severe and could result in the slave dying or becoming more susceptible to diseases.

text: Suicide[edit]

text: Slaves resisted in many ways. The two most common types of resistance were refusal to eat and suicide. Suicide was a frequent occurrence, often by refusal of food or medicine or jumping overboard, as well as by a variety of other opportunistic means.[21] If a slave jumped overboard, they would often be left to drown or shot from the boat.[22] Over the centuries, some African peoples, such as the Kru, came to be understood as holding substandard value as slaves, because they developed a reputation for being too proud for slavery, and for attempting suicide immediately upon losing their freedom.[23]

text: Both suicide and self-starving were prevented as much as possible by slaver crews; slaves were often force-fed or tortured until they ate, though some still managed to starve themselves to death; slaves were kept away from means of suicide, and the sides of the deck were often netted.[citation needed] Slaves were still successful, especially at jumping overboard. Often when an uprising failed, the mutineers would jump en masse into the sea. Slaves generally believed that if they jumped overboard, they would be returned to their family and friends in their village or to their ancestors in the afterlife.[24]

text: Suicide by jumping overboard was such a problem that captains had to address it directly in many cases. They used the sharks that followed the ships as a terror weapon. One captain, who had a rash of suicides on his ship, took a woman and lowered her into the water on a rope, and pulled her out as fast as possible. When she came in view, the sharks had already killed her—and bitten off the lower half of her body.[25]

text: Identity and communication[edit]

text: In order to interact with each other on the voyage, slaves created a communication system unbeknownst to Europeans: They would construct choruses on the passages using their voices, bodies, and ships themselves; the hollow design of the ships allowed slaves to use them as percussive instruments and to amplify their songs. This combination of "instruments" was both a way for slaves to communicate as well as create a new identity since slavers attempted to strip them of that. Although most slaves were from various regions around Africa, their situation allowed them to come together and create a new culture and identity aboard the ships with a common language and method of communication:

text: [C]all and response soundings allowed men and women speaking different languages to communicate about the conditions of their captivity. In fact, on board the Hubridas, what began as murmurs and morphed into song erupted before long into the shouts and cries of coordinated revolt.[26]

text: This communication was a direct subversion of European authority and allowed slaves to have a form of power and identity otherwise prohibited. Furthermore, such organization and coming together enabled revolts and uprisings to actually be coordinated and successful at times.

text: Uprisings[edit]

text: Aboard ships, the captives were not always willing to follow orders. Sometimes they reacted in violence. Slave ships were designed and operated to try to prevent the slaves from revolting. Resistance among the slaves usually ended in failure and participants in the rebellion were punished severely. About one out of ten ships experienced some sort of rebellion.[27]

text: Ottobah Cugoano, who was taken from Africa as a slave when he was a child, later described an uprising aboard the ship on which he was transported to the West Indies:

text: When we found ourselves at last taken away, death was more preferable than life, and a plan was concerted amongst us, that we might burn and blow up the ship, and to perish all together in the flames.[28]

text: The number of rebels varied widely; often the uprisings would end with the death of a few slaves and crew. Surviving rebels were punished or executed as examples to the other slaves on board.

text: African religion[edit]

text: Slaves also resisted through certain manifestations of their religions and mythology. They would appeal to their gods for protection and vengeance upon their captors, and would also try to curse and otherwise harm the crew using idols and fetishes. One crew found fetishes in their water supply, placed by slaves who believed they would kill all who drank from it.[24]

text: Sailors and crew[edit]

text: While the owners and captains of slave ships could expect vast profits, the sailors were often badly paid and subject to brutal discipline. A crew mortality rate of around 20% was expected during a voyage, with sailors dying as a result of disease, flogging or slave uprisings.[29]

text: The sailors were often employed through coercion as they generally knew about and hated the slave trade. In port towns, recruiters and tavern owners would induce sailors to become very drunk (and indebted) and then offer to relieve their debt if they signed contracts with slave ships. If they did not, they would be imprisoned. Sailors in prison had a hard time getting jobs outside of the slave ship industry since most other maritime industries would not hire "jail-birds", so they were forced to go to the slave ships anyway.[30]


document_title: History of the Panama Canal

question_text: who was president when the panama canal opened

question_tokens: who was president when the panama canal opened

text: History of the Panama Canal

text: French project[edit]

text: The idea of a canal across Central America was revived during the early 19th century. In 1819, the Spanish government authorized the construction of a canal and the creation of a company to build it.

text: Although the project stalled for some time, a number of surveys were made between 1850 and 1875. They indicated that the two most-favorable routes were across Panama (then part of Colombia) and Nicaragua, with a third route across the Isthmus of Tehuantepec in Mexico another option. The Nicaraguan route was surveyed.

text: Conception[edit]

text: After the 1869 completion of the Suez Canal, France thought that an apparently-similar project to connect the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans could be carried out with little difficulty. In 1876 an international company, La Société internationale du Canal interocéanique, was created to undertake its construction; two years later, it obtained a concession from the Colombian government (since Panama was a Colombian province) to dig a canal across the isthmus.

text: Ferdinand de Lesseps, who was in charge of the Suez Canal construction, headed the project. His enthusiastic leadership and his reputation as the man who had built the Suez Canal persuaded speculators and ordinary citizens to invest nearly $400 million in the project.

text: However, despite his previous success de Lesseps was not an engineer. The Suez Canal, essentially a ditch dug through a flat, sandy desert, presented few challenges. Although Central America's mountainous spine has a low point in Panama, it is still 110 meters (360.9 ft) above sea level at its lowest crossing point. The sea-level canal proposed by de Lesseps would require a great deal of excavation through a variety of rock, rather than Suez' sand.

text: Less-obvious barriers were the rivers crossing the canal, particularly the Chagres (which flows strongly during the rainy season). Since the water would be a hazard to shipping if it drained into the canal, a sea-level canal would require the river's diversion.

text: The most serious problem was tropical disease, particularly malaria and yellow fever, whose methods of transmission were unknown at the time. The legs of hospital beds were placed in cans of water to keep insects from crawling up them, but the stagnant water was an ideal breeding place for mosquitoes (carriers of the diseases).

text: The project was plagued by a lack of engineering expertise. In May 1879, an international engineering congress led by de Lesseps convened in Paris. Of its 136 delegates, only 42 were engineers; the others were speculators, politicians and friends of de Lesseps.

text: He was convinced that a sea-level canal, dug through the mountainous spine of Central America, could be completed at least as easily as the Suez Canal. The engineering congress estimated the project's cost at $214 million; on February 14, 1880, an engineering commission revised the estimate to $168.6 million. De Lesseps reduced this estimate twice, with no apparent justification: on February 20 to $131.6 million and on March 1 to $120 million. The congress estimated seven or eight years as the time required to complete the canal; de Lesseps reduced this estimate to six years (the Suez Canal required ten).

text: The proposed sea-level canal would have a uniform depth of 9 meters (29.5 ft), a bottom width of 22 meters (72.2 ft) and a width at water level of about 27.5 meters (90.2 ft); the excavation estimate was 120,000,000 m3 (157,000,000 cu yd). A dam was proposed at Gamboa to control flooding of the Chagres River, with channels to drain water away from the canal. However, the Gamboa dam was later found impracticable and the Chagres River problem was left unsolved.

text: Construction[edit]

text: Construction of the canal began on January 1, 1881, with digging at Culebra beginning on January 22.[1] A large labor force was assembled, numbering about 40,000 in 1888 (nine-tenths of whom were afro-Caribbean workers from the West Indies). Although the project attracted good, well-paid French engineers, retaining them was difficult due to disease. The death toll from 1881 to 1889 was estimated at over 22,000, of whom as many as 5,000 were French citizens.[3]

text: By 1885 it had become clear to many that a sea-level canal was impractical, and an elevated canal with locks was preferable; de Lesseps resisted, and a lock canal plan was not adopted until October 1887. By this time increasing mortality rates, as well as financial and engineering problems coupled with frequent floods and mudslides, indicated that the project was in serious trouble. Work continued under the new plan until May 15, 1889, when the company went bankrupt and the project was suspended. After eight years the canal was about two-fifths completed, and about $234.8 million had been spent.

text: The company's collapse was a scandal in France, and the antisemitic Edouard Drumont exploited the role of two Jewish speculators in the affair. One hundred and four legislators were found to have been involved in the corruption, and Jean Jaurès was commissioned by the French parliament to conduct an inquiry which was completed in 1893.[2]

text: New Panama Canal Company[edit]

text: It soon became clear that the only way to recoup expenses for the stockholders was to continue the project. A new concession was obtained from Colombia, and in 1894 the Compagnie Nouvelle du Canal de Panama was created to finish the canal. To comply with the terms of the contract, work began immediately on the Culebra excavation while a team of engineers began a comprehensive study of the project. They eventually settled on a plan for a two-level, lock-based canal.

text: The new effort never gained traction, mainly because of US speculation that a canal through Nicaragua would render one through Panama useless. The most men employed on the new project was 3,600 (in 1896), primarily to comply with the terms of the concession and to maintain the existing excavation and equipment in saleable condition. The company had already begun looking for a buyer, with an asking price of $109 million.

text: In the US, a congressional Isthmian Canal Commission was established in 1899 to examine possibilities for a Central American canal and recommend a route. In November 1901, the commission reported that a US canal should be built through Nicaragua unless the French were willing to sell their holdings for $40 million. The recommendation became law on June 28, 1902, and the New Panama Canal Company was compelled to sell at that price.[3]

text: Results[edit]

text: Although the French effort was, to a large extent, doomed to failure from the beginning due to disease and a lack of understanding of the engineering difficulties, it was not entirely futile. The old and new companies excavated 59,747,638 m3 (78,146,960 cu yd) of material, of which 14,255,890 m3 (18,646,000 cu yd) was taken from the Culebra Cut. The old company dredged a channel from Panama Bay to the port at Balboa, and the channel dredged on the Atlantic side (known as the French canal) was useful for bringing in sand and stone for the locks and spillway concrete at Gatún.

text: Detailed surveys and studies (particularly those carried out by the new canal company) and machinery, including railroad equipment and vehicles, aided the later American effort. The French lowered the summit of the Culebra Cut along the canal route by five meters (17 ft), from 64 to 59 metres (210 to 194 ft). An estimated 22,713,396 m3 (29,708,000 cu yd) of excavation, valued at about $25.4 million, and equipment and surveys valued at about $17.4 million were usable by the Americans.[citation needed]

text: Nicaraguan canal[edit]

text: The 1848 discovery of gold in California and the rush of would-be miners stimulated US interest in building a canal between the oceans. In 1887, a United States Army Corps of Engineers regiment surveyed canal possibilities in Nicaragua. Two years later, the Maritime Canal Company was asked to begin a canal in the area and chose Nicaragua. The company lost money in the panic of 1893, and its work in Nicaragua ceased. In 1897 and 1899, the United States Congress charged a canal commission with researching possible construction; Nicaragua was chosen as the location both times.

text: Although the Nicaraguan canal proposal was made redundant by the American takeover of the French Panama Canal project, increases in shipping volume and ship sizes have revived interest in the project. A canal across Nicaragua accommodating post-Panamax ships or a rail link carrying containers between ports on either coast have been proposed.[citation needed]

text: United States[edit]

text: Theodore Roosevelt believed that a US-controlled canal across Central America was a vital strategic interest of the country. This idea gained wide circulation after the destruction of the USS Maine in Cuba on February 15, 1898. Reversing a Walker Commission decision in favor of a Nicaraguan canal, Roosevelt encouraged the acquisition of the French Panama Canal effort. George S. Morison was the only commission member who argued for the Panama location. The purchase of the French-held land for $40 million was authorized by the June 28, 1902 Spooner Act. Since Panama was then part of Colombia, Roosevelt began negotiating with that country to obtain the necessary rights. In early 1903 the Hay–Herrán Treaty was signed by both nations, but the Senate of Colombia failed to ratify the treaty.

text: Roosevelt implied to Panamanian rebels that if they revolted, the US Navy would assist their fight for independence. Panama declared its independence on November 3, 1903, and the USS Nashville impeded Colombian interference. The victorious Panamanians gave the United States control of the Panama Canal Zone on February 23, 1904, for $10 million in accordance with the November 18, 1903 Hay–Bunau-Varilla Treaty.

text: Takeover[edit]

text: The United States took control of the French property connected to the canal on May 4, 1904, when Lieutenant Jatara Oneel of the United States Army was presented with the keys during a small ceremony.[citation needed] The new Panama Canal Zone Control was overseen by the Isthmian Canal Commission (ICC) during construction.

text: The first step taken by the US government was to place all the canal workers under the new administration. The operation was maintained at minimum strength to comply with the canal concession and keep the machinery in working order. The US inherited a small workforce and an assortment of buildings, infrastructure and equipment, much of which had been neglected for fifteen years in the humid jungle environment. There were no facilities in place for a large workforce, and the infrastructure was crumbling.

text: Cataloguing assets was a large job; it took many weeks to card-index available equipment. About 2,150 buildings had been acquired,[4] many of which were uninhabitable; housing was an early problem, and the Panama Railway was in a state of decay. However, much equipment (such as locomotives, dredges and other floating equipment) was still serviceable.

text: Although chief engineer John Findley Wallace was pressured to resume construction, red tape from Washington stifled his efforts to obtain heavy equipment and caused friction between Wallace and the ICC. He and chief sanitary officer William C. Gorgas were frustrated by delay, and Wallace resigned in 1905. He was replaced by John Frank Stevens, who arrived on July 26, 1905. Stevens quickly realized that serious investment in infrastructure was necessary and determined to upgrade the railway, improve sanitation in Panama City and Colón, renovate the old French buildings and build hundreds of new ones for housing. He then began the difficult task of recruiting the large labor force required for construction. Stevens' approach was to press ahead first and obtain approval later. He improved drilling and dirt-removal equipment at the Culebra Cut for greater efficiency, revising the inadequate provisions in place for soil disposal.

text: No decision had been made about whether the canal should be a lock or a sea-level one; the ongoing excavation would be useful in either case. In late 1905, President Roosevelt sent a team of engineers to Panama to investigate the relative merits of both types in cost and time. Although the engineers voted eight to five in favor of a sea-level canal, Stevens and the ICC opposed the plan; Stevens' report to Roosevelt was instrumental in convincing the president of the merits of a lock canal and Congress concurred. In November 1906 Roosevelt visited Panama to inspect the canal's progress, the first trip outside the United States by a sitting president.

text: Whether contract employees or government workers would build the canal was controversial. Bids for the canal's construction were opened in January 1907, and Knoxville, Tennessee-based contractor William J. Oliver was the low bidder.  Stevens disliked Oliver, and vehemently opposed his choice. Although Roosevelt initially favored the use of a contractor, he eventually decided that army engineers should carry out the work[4] and appointed Major George Washington Goethals as chief engineer (under Stevens' direction) in February 1907. Stevens, frustrated by government inaction and the army involvement, resigned and was replaced by Goethals.[5]

text: Workforce[edit]

text: The US relied on a stratified workforce to build the canal. High-level engineering jobs, clerical positions, skilled labor and jobs in supporting industries were generally reserved for white Americans, with manual labor primarily by cheap immigrant labor. These jobs were initially filled by Europeans, primarily from Spain, Italy and Greece, many of whom were radical and militant due to political turmoil in Europe. The US then decided to recruit primarily from the British and French West Indies, and these workers provided most of the manual labor on the canal.[6]

text: Living conditions[edit]

text: The Canal Zone originally had minimal facilities for entertainment and relaxation for the canal workers apart from saloons; as a result, alcohol abuse was a great problem. The inhospitable conditions resulted in many American workers returning home each year.

text: A program of improvements was implemented. Clubhouses were built, managed by the YMCA, with billiard, assembly and reading rooms, bowling alleys, darkrooms for camera clubs, gymnastic equipment, ice cream parlors, soda fountains and a circulating library. Member dues were ten dollars a year, with the remaining upkeep (about $7,000 at the larger clubhouses) paid by the ICC. The commission built baseball fields and arranged rail transportation to games; a competitive league soon developed. Semimonthly Saturday-night dances were held at the Hotel Tivoli, which had a spacious ballroom.

text: These measures influenced life in the Canal Zone; alcohol abuse fell, with saloon business declining by 60 percent.[citation needed] The number of workers leaving the project each year dropped significantly.

text: US construction[edit]

text: The work done thus far was preparation, rather than construction. By the time Goethals took over, the construction infrastructure had been created or overhauled and expanded from the French effort and he was soon able to begin construction in earnest.

text: Goethals divided the project into three divisions: Atlantic, Central and Pacific. The Atlantic Division, under Major William L. Sibert, was responsible for construction of the breakwater at the entrance to Limon Bay, the Gatún locks and their 5.6 km (3.5 mi) approach channel, and the Gatun Dam. The Pacific Division (under Sydney B. Williamson, the only civilian division head) was responsible for the Pacific entrance to the canal, including a 4.8 km (3.0 mi) breakwater in Panama Bay, the approach channel, and the Miraflores and Pedro Miguel locks and their associated dams. The Central Division, under Major David du Bose Gaillard, was responsible for everything in between. It had arguably the project's greatest challenge: excavating the Culebra Cut (known as the Gaillard Cut from 1915 to 2000), which involved cutting 8 miles (13 km) through the continental divide down to 12 meters (40 ft) above sea level.

text: By August 1907, 765,000 m³ (1,000,000 cubic yards) per month was being excavated; this set a record for the rainy season; soon afterwards this doubled, before increasing again. At the peak of production, 2,300,000 m³ (3,000,000 cubic yards) were being excavated per month (the equivalent of digging a Channel Tunnel every 3½ months).[citation needed]

text: Culebra Cut[edit]

text: One of the greatest barriers to a canal was the continental divide, which originally rose to 110 metres (360.9 ft) above sea level at its highest point. The effort to cut through this barrier of rock was one of the greatest challenges faced by the project.

text: Goethals arrived at the canal with Major David du Bose Gaillard of the US Army Corps of Engineers. Gaillard was placed in charge of the canal's Central Division, which stretched from the Pedro Miguel locks to the Gatun Dam, and dedicated himself to getting the Culebra Cut (as it was then known) excavated.

text: The scale of the work was massive. Six thousand men worked in the cut, drilling holes in which a total of 27,000 t (60,000,000 lb) of dynamite were placed to break up the rock (which was then removed by as many as 160 trains per day). Landslides were frequent, due to the oxidation and weakening of the rock's underlying iron strata. Although the scale of the job and the frequent, unpredictable slides generated chaos, Gaillard provided quiet, clear-sighted leadership.

text: On May 20, 1913, Bucyrus steam shovels made a passage through the Culebra Cut at the level of the canal bottom. The French effort had reduced the summit to  59 metres (193.6 ft) over a relatively narrow width; the Americans had lowered this to  12 metres (39.4 ft) above sea level over a greater width, and had excavated over 76,000,000 m3 (99,000,000 cu yd) of material. About 23,000,000 m3 (30,000,000 cu yd) of this material in addition to the planned excavation, in the form of landslides. Dry excavation ended on September 10, 1913; a January slide had added 1,500,000 m3 (2,000,000 cu yd) of earth, but it was decided that this loose material would be removed by dredging when the cut was flooded.

text: Dams[edit]

text: Two artificial lakes are key parts of the canal: Gatun and Miraflores Lakes. Four dams were constructed to create them. Two small dams at Miraflores impound Miraflores Lake, and a dam at Pedro Miguel encloses the south end of the Culebra Cut (essentially an arm of Lake Gatun). The Gatun Dam is the main dam blocking the original course of the Chagres River, creating Gatun Lake.

text: The Miraflores dams are an 825-metre (2,707 ft) earth dam connecting the Miraflores Locks in the west and a 150-metre (492 ft) concrete spillway dam east of the locks. The concrete dam has eight floodgates, similar to those on the Gatun spillway. The earthen, 430-metre (1,411 ft) Pedro Miguel dam extends from a hill in the west to the lock. Its face is protected by rock riprap at the water level. The largest and most challenging of the dams is the Gatun Dam. This earthen dam, 640 metres (2,100 ft) thick at the base and 2,300 metres (7,546 ft) long along the top, was the largest of its kind in the world when the canal opened.[citation needed]

text: Locks[edit]

text: Building the locks began with the first concrete laid at Gatun on August 24, 1909. The Gatun locks are built into a cutting into a hill bordering the lake, requiring the excavation of 3,800,000 m3 (4,970,212 cu yd) of material (mostly rock). The locks were made of 1,564,400 m3 (2,046,158 cu yd) of concrete, with an extensive system of electric railways and cable cars transporting concrete to the lock-construction sites.

text: The Pacific-side locks were finished first: the single flight at Pedro Miguel in 1911, and Miraflores in May 1913. The seagoing tugboat Gatun, an Atlantic-entrance tug used to haul barges, traversed the Gatun locks on September 26, 1913. The trip was successful, although the valves were controlled manually; the central control board was not yet ready.

text: Opening[edit]

text: On October 10, 1913, the dike at Gamboa which had kept the Culebra Cut isolated from Gatun Lake was demolished; the detonation was made telegraphically by President Woodrow Wilson in Washington. On January 7, 1914, the Alexandre La Valley, an old French crane boat, became the first ship to make a complete transit of the Panama Canal under its own steam after working its way across during the final stages of construction.

text: As construction wound down, the canal team began to disperse. Thousands of workers were laid off, and entire towns were disassembled or demolished. Chief sanitary officer William C. Gorgas, who left to fight pneumonia in the South African gold mines, became surgeon general of the Army. On April 1, 1914 the Isthmian Canal Commission disbanded, and the zone was governed by a Canal Zone Governor; the first governor was George Washington Goethals.

text: Although a large celebration was planned for the canal's opening, the outbreak of World War I forced the cancellation of the main festivities and it became a modest local affair. The Panama Railway steamship SS Ancon, piloted by Captain John A. Constantine (the canal's first pilot), made the first official transit on August 15, 1914. With no international dignitaries in attendance, Goethals followed the Ancon's progress by railroad.

text: Summary[edit]

text: The canal was a technological marvel and an important strategic and economic asset to the US. It changed world shipping patterns, removing the need for ships to navigate the Drake Passage and Cape Horn. The canal saves a total of about 7,800 miles (12,600 km) on a sea trip from New York to San Francisco.

text: Its anticipated military significance of the canal was proven during World War II, when the canal helped restore the devastated United States Pacific Fleet.[7] Some of the largest ships the United States had to send through the canal were aircraft carriers, particularly Essex class; they were so large that although the locks could accommodate them, the lampposts along the canal had to be removed.

text: The Panama Canal cost the United States about $375 million, including $10 million paid to Panama and $40 million paid to the French company. Although it was the most expensive construction project in US history to that time, it cost about $23 million less than the 1907 estimate despite landslides and an increase in the canal's width. An additional $12 million was spent on fortifications.

text: A total of over 75,000 people worked on the project; at the peak of construction, there were 40,000 workers. According to hospital records, 5,609 workers died from disease and accidents during the American construction era.[citation needed]

text: A total of 182,610,550 m3 (238,845,582 cu yd) of material was excavated in the American effort, including the approach channels at the canal ends. Adding the work by the French, the total excavation was about 204,900,000 m3 (268,000,000 cu yd) (over 25 times the volume excavated in the Channel Tunnel project).[citation needed]

text: Of the three presidents whose terms spanned the construction period, Theodore Roosevelt is most associated with the canal and Woodrow Wilson presided over its opening. However, William Howard Taft may have given the canal its greatest impetus for the longest time. Taft visited Panama five times as Roosevelt's secretary of war and twice as president. He hired John Stevens and later recommended Goethals as Stevens' replacement. Taft became president in 1909, when the canal was half finished, and was in office for most of the remainder of the work. However, Goethals later wrote: "The real builder of the Panama Canal was Theodore Roosevelt".[citation needed]

text: The following words by Roosevelt are displayed in the rotunda of the canal's administration building in Balboa:[citation needed]

text: It is not the critic who counts, not the man who points out how the strong man stumbled, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena; whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly, who errs and comes short again and again; who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, and spends himself in a worthy cause; who, at the best, knows in the end the triumph of high achievement; and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat.

text: David du Bose Gaillard died of a brain tumor in Baltimore on December 5, 1913, at age 54. Promoted to colonel only a month earlier, Gaillard never saw the opening of the canal whose creation he directed. The Culebra Cut (as it was originally known) was renamed the Gaillard Cut on April 27, 1915, in his honor. A plaque commemorating Gaillard's work stood over the cut for many years; in 1998 it was moved to the administration building, near a memorial to Goethals.

text: Third-lane plans[edit]

text: As the situation in Europe deteriorated during the late 1930s, the US again became concerned about its ability to move warships between the oceans. The largest US battleships already had problems with the canal locks, and there were concerns about the locks being incapacitated by bombing.[8][9]

text:
These concerns led Congress to pass a resolution on May 1, 1936, authorizing a study of improving the canal's defenses against attack and expanding its capacity to handle large vessels. A special engineering section was created on July 3, 1937, to carry out the study.
The section reported to Congress on February 24, 1939, recommending work to protect the existing locks and the construction of a new set of locks capable of carrying larger vessels than the existing locks could accommodate. On August 11, Congress authorized the work.

text: Three new locks were planned, at Gatún, Pedro Miguel and Miraflores, parallel to the existing locks with new approach channels. The new locks would add a traffic lane to the canal, with each chamber 1,200 ft (365.76 m) long, 140 ft (42.67 m) wide and 45 ft (13.72 m) deep. They would be 1⁄2 mi (805 m) east of the existing Gatún locks and 1⁄4 mi (402 m) west of the Pedro Miguel and Miraflores locks.

text: The first excavations for the new approach channels at Miraflores began on July 1, 1940, following the passage by Congress of an appropriations bill on June 24, 1940. The first dry excavation at Gatún began on February 19, 1941. Considerable material was excavated before the project was abandoned, and the approach channels can still be seen paralleling the original channels at Gatún and Miraflores.

text: In 2006, the Autoridad del Canal de Panamá (the Panama Canal Authority, or ACP) proposed a plan creating a third lane of locks using part of the abandoned 1940s approach canals. Following a referendum, work began in 2007 and the expanded canal began commercial operations on June 26, 2016. After a two-year delay, the new locks allow the transit of Panamax ships (which have a greater cargo capacity than the original locks can handle). The first ship to cross the canal through the third set of locks was a Panamax container ship, the Chinese-owned Cosco Shipping Panama. The cost of the expansion was estimated at $5.25 billion.[2]

text: Transfer to Panama[edit]

text:
Statement on the Panama Canal treaty signing
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Jimmy Carter's speech upon signing the Panama Canal treaty, September 7, 1977
Statement on the Panama Canal treaty signing

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text: After construction, the canal and the Canal Zone surrounding it were administered by the United States. On September 7, 1977, US President Jimmy Carter signed the Torrijos-Carter Treaty setting in motion the process of transferring control of the canal to Panama. The treaty became effective on October 1, 1979, providing for a 20-year period in which Panama would have increasing responsibility for canal operations before complete US withdrawal on December 31, 1999. Since then, the canal has been administered by the Panama Canal Authority (Autoridad de Canal de Panama, or ACP).

text: The treaty was controversial in the US, and its passage was difficult. The controversy was largely generated by contracts to manage two ports, at either end of the canal, which were awarded by Panama to Hong Kong-based conglomerate Hutchison Whampoa. According to US Republicans, the company has close ties to the Chinese government and the Chinese military.[10] However, the United States Department of State said that it found no evidence of connections between Hutchison Whampoa and Beijing.[11] Some Americans were wary of placing the strategic waterway under the protection of Panamanian security forces.[12]

text: Although concerns existed in the US and the shipping industry about the canal after the transfer, Panama has exercised good stewardship.[13] According to ACP figures, canal income increased from $769 million in 2000 (the first year under Panamanian control) to $1.4 billion in 2006.[citation needed] Traffic through the canal increased from 230 million tons in 2000 to nearly 300 million tons in 2006. The number of accidents has decreased from an average of 28 per year in the late 1990s to 12 in 2005. Transit time through the canal averages about 30 hours, about the same as during the late 1990s. Canal expenses have increased less than revenue, from $427 million in 2000 to $497 million in 2006. On October 22, 2006, Panamanian citizens approved a referendum to expand the canal.

text: Former US Ambassador to Panama Linda Watt, who served from 2002 to 2005, said that the canal operation in Panamanian hands has been "outstanding". "The international shipping community is quite pleased", Watt added.[14]