SDCFans - The Unofficial Fan Site For Silver Dollar City
Silver Dollar City & Celebration City Discussion => SDC Memories/ Park History => Topic started by: Junior on January 15, 2010, 02:04:53 PM
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In the White River Region around Branson in the 40's and 50's, Jim Owens was a legend. He started a float trip service catering to visitors who wanted to float along the James and White Rivers for a day, a weekend, even up to a week or two. As a customer, you could fish, snap photos, or lay back and enjoy the scenery. The majority of people taking a trip with Owens' service did it to fish, and the river guides would cook breakfast and supper, with camps being set up on gravel bars on the river. Later on, Jim Owens had several other businesses around Branson. Real estate, a motion picture theater, and so on. Owens became the mayor of Branson. A guy named Paul Henning befriended Owens after taking several float trips. Henning went on to write and produce "The Beverly Hillbillies," "Pettycoat Junction," and "Green Acres." If you catch some of the "Beverly Hillbillies" episodes on TV, you'll notice Paul Henning included references to Jim Owens, Chick Allen, and other Branson area residents. Silver Dollar City honored Owens' when they opened the float trip ride about '68 or '69, and named it for him. The ride allowed families to get in a Jon Boat, and float an Ozark river. I was a "river rat" at the float trip in 1979. I helped load people in and out of boats, and worked the dispatch stand. The float trip is one of the oldest rides at SDC. It was replaced with the American Plunge in 1981. In the line waiting to get on the plunge you can still see some of the old "rock" channels used by the float trip. Currently, the channels are just used to cycle water through the plunge.Some of the old float trip channels were implemented into the American Plunge. Some of the scenes you would view on the float trip included "Echo Rock," (A microphone was hidden and when you hollered out, amplified sound would "echo" back at you.) There was an outhouse on the edge of a low bluff, and when your boat approached the outhouse appeared as if it was going to fall on your boat. There were some hogs slurping out of a moonshine still, and there was a "river gang clubhouse" where the members were fishing and swimming. You passed a river camp, where a river rat had been treed by a bear, an animal haven that had live prairie dogs, goats, or other animals, a swirling whirlpool, and then a dark cave where "ghosts" danced in a hidden underground saloon, and a barrell dump poured a waterall of water along your boat. On the way back around to the dock, a couple of water geysers almost squirted your boat. It was a gentle, family friendly ride. The theme changed a little bit over the years...at first Jim Owens' "ghost" talked to you about the river, later a woman looked for her hustband and no good friend, and the last few years, the cave had gnomes in it. I've got several pictures of the float trip I hope to scan in the next few days and post on the flickr account, and I'll update this thread when I do so. Tell me your memories of this old favorite ride at SDC.
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I have added 13 photos of the Jim Owens' Float Trip Ride to my Flickr account. Also you will see diving bell photos and pictures from my days at Hee Haw Theater in Branson. Hope you enjoy the new shots!
View the photos here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/juniordugan
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Thanks for the photos! I never got to go on the Float Trip. I've only heard stories and seen a short video of it on YouTube. I didn't go to SDC for the first time until around 1986 or 1987.
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I always liked the float trip. Even for an adventure-loving kid, it was fun to have a nice relaxing ride.
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The outhouse appearing to fall is the one thing I always remembered the most. But now that you've mentioned the pigs drinking moonshine and some of the other things I am able to picture them again.
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Glad you enjoyed the photos. All these years later, I wish I would have taken 10,000 more pictures of those places and people that no longer exist as they did in that period of time. Back in the "old days" you had to take your film to a pharmacy...three days later it came back to the pharmacy and you picked them up. We thought things had really gotten modern in the early 80s when you went to a one hour photo place. Now, just load those shots from the camera to computer...or phone...and you're done!
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If recall (and I was young in the early-mid 80's) didn't some of the characters and things remain for a while after it turned into the plunge? Seems I remember some of the things are are talking about while floating through waiting to go down the hill...
Angela
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management decided to use the old float trip channels for the plunge. The water pumps were reversed. the plunge waters flow in the opposite direction that the float trip went. I think the geysers from the float trip that almost sprayed your boat at the stagecoach bridge were used, the barrel dump in the cave was used, and the whirlpool on the other side of the cave. The float trip mill was left alone...but closed so no one could walk through it. The mill was used for a few years as the break room for the plunge work crew. the old, untouched float trip channels are apparently still there, just used today to help cycle water through the ride. the old float trip loading dock is there, used as an overflow area for passengers waiting for the plunge. The atmosphering around the ride was changed when the plunge went in. ghostlike faces were placed in the cave rocks, but I don't think they are still used today. From what I've heard, the cave is just a dark hole. No effects or anything special inside there..correct me if I'm wrong. By the way, the crew from the diving bell gathered to rehearse in 1981 prior to park opening, and one day we were called over to be human guinea pigs...some of the first people to ride the plunge...while Jack Hershend and other management watched. We rode the thing through many, many times in a row before they would let us off. It was fun, though.
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The cave is now a square, concrete tunnel with no special effects.
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I miss the waterfalls in the cave, a few years ago they had to replace the collapsing cave and decided to go the cheap rout and not fix it to its original glory, what an amazing disappointment. What I don't understand is when they put the lift for the American Plunge why they couldn't have utilized more of the Float Trip channels. I also miss the outhouse, a man would scream "Oh No!" and the door would swing open and water would shoot up from the path ahead and splash you a little as you passed by.
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I never asked anybody, but my guess was that the old float trip cave finally wore out. You confirmed that. The concrete tunnel does not have the same feel to it, does it? Just like the old waterfall in front of Grandfather's Mansion...it's gone, too. WE NEED ANOTHER ANDY MILLER at the park. Maybe we will have to do a nationwide talent search...Oh, wait...Andy was one of a kind...you can't find a replacement for him. Or Miss Mary, either.
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I rode Jim Owen's Float Trip when I first visited in 1969. Back then the goal was to find Old Joe Clark, who ended up at the end of the ride in Frozen Cave. It was a fun but slow ride. I miss it but I do like the American Plunge- which in my opinion gets you the overall wettest of any ride on the park. I've ridden LROTO and came away almost dry.
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I alway liked the whirlpool with the guys head spinning around. One day I came through and the head was gone. For some reason there was a lot of little colored ball loose in the park that day and a couple were floating in the whirlpool. All I could think to say to my family was "Oh no, he's lost his balls."
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Ha! :)
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Can I apply for the Andy Miller position??? I would love too, maybe when I graduate school!
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I've already graduated. I have dibs on the Creative Consultant position.
Do you think they would listen to Andy today?
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howabout a co-Andy job between us? I can be a might creative!
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I think back to being a boy of 8-9 and waiting to get on the float trip till I had my own boat ( slow day)
It was fascinating to a young guy like me and at that age very disorienting because I couldn't tell how far back in the woods I was really going.
Some time my Mom had a meeting in the offices after the park closed so they told me to go play in the tom sawyer play ground. When I went back into the park there was nobody there but some guys opn a john deer witha trailer picking up the bags from those trashcans all over.
Well, I knew something else besides the playground I wanted to play in. I went to where the bridge crossed the trip and explored back in the woods, that was the first time I realised the rocks were nothing but heavy mesh and concrete. ( Fascinating). It seems like the cave was really just a network of shabby buildings that I don't think I was brave enough to go into.
The big waterfall was back there as well, man what a neat looking prop, I thought that I had the biggest secret back then.
I would love to see a drawing of the track path. Now that I am much much older I see how close it came to the powderkeg Fire in the hole area. It didn't seem close to anything back then.
That was really a magical trip back to the woods for a 9 year old. I remember the cheesy elf's in the cave, that was a little off topic but.
I would love to go check out the track again, its a shame they let it go unused and didn't incorporate the entire thing into the plunge.
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Having been an employee at the float trip, I seem to remember the original cave was made out of plywood and the rocks were just put at the entrance and exit to make it look like a cave. But you're right, from above, it almost did look like it was made from shabby little buildings. I remember that heavy black plastic was used at points, probably for waterproofing and to prevent light leaks, but it was there and did a good job from 1969 through the mid or late 80's or so whenever it was deemed too old to use anymore and was replaced. It's just too bad the cave there now is not "decorated" better. I think they cut too many corners to build it, and it is rather bland. The pumps for the ride were hidden behind the fake rocks, too. It was funny to go out in the fall and scrape leaves off the filters in front of the pumps, and to suddenly "pop up" from behind a rock as a boat passed by. I scared many a person doing that. After a big scream, everybody laughed til their sides split.
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Among my collection of books about the Ozarks I found a great little book titled "Fish Tales and Scales" by Jean Elizabeth Ford. Her dad was Mitch Ford, one of the river guides for Jim Owens' Boat Line in Branson. Of course, the float trip ride that existed at SDC from 1969-1980 was named in honor of Owens. If you look under my Flickr site, you will see a photo of the grand opening of the float trip ride in 1969 taken from the book, with a big group shot of many former Jim Owens employees. They are standing in front of the float trip mill that is now part of the American Plunge atmosphering. I think you will enjoy the photo. The Flickr account is listed in one of my entries toward the beginning of this thread.
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HB I think there is room for two!
Do you think they would listen to Andy today?
I think that the "corporate" minded people would have trouble listening and trusting Andy. The place is unique because of unique people, they just don't understand that.
It was fascinating to a young guy like me and at that age very disorienting because I couldn't tell how far back in the woods I was really going.
Great story. Before Wildfire was built I always wanted to go back there and look around, one Christmas Season my sister and I worked up the courage and did it. It was pretty creepy and fun!
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Great thread. I always swore to people that the plunge used to be a different ride (without the actual plunge at the end). The outhouse was a part of the plunge early on, as was the cave, and drowning guy. Thanks for making me feel a little more sane regarding my early childhood memories.
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Sorry, the outhouse was not part of the original American Plunge. That part of the channel was not utilized for the boats. Outhouse was part of the float trip only.
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I'm muddled on this one, but I'm pretty sure there is a feature on the current ride that used to be the outhouse. I can't even tell you what the current thing is though: it's overhead on the left side of the boat, and I think it's just before the whirlpool.
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There might be an outhouse along the route now, but it is not original to the plunge circa 1981. I hope they have put a "falling outhouse" along the route like the one that was at the float trip...it was a classic...a highlight of the float trip the entire run, 1969-1980.
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I'm muddled on this one, but I'm pretty sure there is a feature on the current ride that used to be the outhouse. I can't even tell you what the current thing is though: it's overhead on the left side of the boat, and I think it's just before the whirlpool.
There was a falling outhouse on the ride when I was in middle school (late 1980s), complete with a man's voice that said "Oh no!" as the door fell open. I know this because my friends and I always said the "oh no" with the voice. I believe the outhouse was replaced by the guy in the "flying machine" effect that follows a little track. I haven't ridden this ride in a couple of years (pregnant last summer and haven't been in the summertime yet this year), so I'm not sure what currently happens at that location.
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I'm muddled on this one, but I'm pretty sure there is a feature on the current ride that used to be the outhouse. I can't even tell you what the current thing is though: it's overhead on the left side of the boat, and I think it's just before the whirlpool.
There was a falling outhouse on the ride when I was in middle school (late 1980s), complete with a man's voice that said "Oh no!" as the door fell open. I know this because my friends and I always said the "oh no" with the voice. I believe the outhouse was replaced by the guy in the "flying machine" effect that follows a little track. I haven't ridden this ride in a couple of years (pregnant last summer and haven't been in the summertime yet this year), so I'm not sure what currently happens at that location.
Exactly what I am talking about. The flying machine contraption just doesn't have the same ambiance as the outhouse did.
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Yes, before the Plunge was re-themed Ozarkian Daredevils the ride had an outhouse. We used to say the “Oh No!” line along with the guy. Also there was a water jet that would shoot up to give the elusion of the man falling into the water and you would get splashed. This was so funny; it’s ashamed they took it out. BOO!
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I think the "Oh no" guy was there past the late-80s. Does anyone know when the ride was re-themed?
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I thought the point of the ride was always that "We can do things together." Have the daredevils not been a part of that from the beginning? Mayhaps the queue was themed this way before the ride elements?
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The we can do it together predates the figures that are currently in the ride. I can't place a specific year, early 90s???
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Waaaaaaaaaaay before the early 90's. More like mid 80's believe it or not.
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Does anyone have any links or articles that I could look at involving Jim Owen's Float Trip? That ride came and went before I was even alive.
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Check out my Flickr site for stuff about the float trip...it's buried back on the last few pages...but if you cruise through all 8 or 10 pages, you'll find all sorts of things about SDC park history from the 70s and 80s, too.
http://wwwflickr.com/photos/juniordugan
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Don't know what the problem is, but the Flickr link above was not working for me. Try going back to page one of the thread and clicking on my Flickr site there...it's still working.
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Waaaaaaaaaaay before the early 90's. More like mid 80's believe it or not.
So the "oh no" guy has been gone since the mid-80s? I don't think I would have remembered that as well if it was that long ago.
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I really think the theme has always been Ozarkian Daredevils "doing things together". The whole concept is doing something gutsy with a pal. Now, if the outhouse was part of the Float Trip, it wasn't changed for years after the ride was converted. As much as I preferred the outhouse to the current whatever-it-is, I have to admit the current thing fits the theme better. It is, however, very plastic looking. More scenes along the trough would be wonderful - or maybe some silly things to read. I remember the whole route being longer back in the day, but I am apparently remembering the Float Trip and not the log flume.
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Waaaaaaaaaaay before the early 90's. More like mid 80's believe it or not.
So the "oh no" guy has been gone since the mid-80s? I don't think I would have remembered that as well if it was that long ago.
Actually, I was referring to the "We Can Do It together" song that's used at the American Plunge. Sorry!
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The "We Can Do It Together" predates the Ozarkian Daredevil theme. The Ozarkian Daredevil people were added to the float trip after the guns were added to the Flooded Mine. When the fake people were added to the AP that is when they did away with the outhouse.
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This is harder than calculus!
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The "We Can Do It Together" predates the Ozarkian Daredevil theme. The Ozarkian Daredevil people were added to the float trip after the guns were added to the Flooded Mine. When the fake people were added to the AP that is when they did away with the outhouse.
With all due respect, I still disagree. There have been changes made, but the daredevils have always "done it together" - I can't cite specific examples, but it seems that one is a guy with his pet raccoon (They have parody names.) who went over Niagra Falls in a barrel. I remember all of this from my childhood (a long time ago), and really, nothing has changed but the cave, the scenes along the trough, and maybe the removal of the great theme song. The queue signs and theming is all the same.
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The "We Can Do It Together" predates the Ozarkian Daredevil theme. The Ozarkian Daredevil people were added to the float trip after the guns were added to the Flooded Mine. When the fake people were added to the AP that is when they did away with the outhouse.
This makes sense to me because along with reciting "oh no," we sang bits of the song as we went up the flume. I believe the song was still used for awhile with the Ozark Daredevils. The last few years the ride up the flume has been silent. In related news, when we rode Powder Keg this week, the song wasn't playing on the lift hill. I've noticed that a handful of times before. I like the music for the rides.
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I found an old profile from the SDC company newsletter from 1978 that spotlighted Hazel and Pearcy Jones, two SDC employees. Pearcy was the last person to serve at the Jim Owens' Float Trip Ride as a "river rat" greeter in front of the old water mill that is now used as atmosphering at the American Plunge water flume ride currently in place at SDC. You can see the article on my Flickr site. The address is on page one at the top of this thread. Hope you like it. Pearcy was a nice guy, admired by all who worked with him.
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With all due respect, I still disagree.
That is fine and all, but the "We Can Do It Together" DOES predate the characters floating around in the AP. The signs/paintings represent American feats of heroism, nothing to do with Ozarkian Daredevils. Before the change over the man caught in the whirlpool was a head with a hand outstretched holding a hat. There wasn't a dog trying to save him, that was changed when they added the characters.
I should ask about the music to the AP, wonder if anyone around remembers it. Also I know that we have the FITH song and can play it in the q-line.
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Thanks, Copper. I realize how it sounds when someone starts a message with "With all due respect..." It probably sounds sarcastic and like there really is no respect implied, but that is absolutely not what I intended.
You are correct about the current characters being added years after. Actually, I don't get anything of the Ozarkian Daredevil theme on AP. That is to say, I can't tell that's the theme (I wouldn't know that was the theme unless you told me.); to me it looks like the same theme (doing it together) in the queue, with some newer characters supporting the theme during the ride.
I do hope you ask about the music. It was some of the best music in the City, and it would be great to bring it back.
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The "We Can Do It Together" music was commissioned by SDC, written and recorded especially for the American Plunge, by whom I couldn't say, but it was part of the AP from the beginning. As we were finishing up on it's construction during the last month before it's opening, it played incessantly on a loop, and those of us on the construction crew got really tired of it. I haven't been on the ride since they rebuilt the "cave" part, didn't even know that music had been scrubbed, and I can't say anything about the "new" characters.
The "daredevil" theme, if you want to call it that, in the cue line was original also, although I'm not sure it was limited to Ozarkian daredevils. I seem to recall one "billboard" that described a fellow that went over Niagara Falls in a barrel. I don't know if the original intention was to promote "daredevilry"...I always thought it had more to do with pointing out the American spirit of adventure.
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Crazy how memory works! I worked at the American Plunge extensively in the debut season, 1981, and to a large extent in the '82 season, and occasionally in '83. I was part of a large group of attractions workers that floated from location to location, cross trained to work where there was a need. (Although I was based at the diving bell.) I really don't remember any theme music! I do remember the daredevil theme...the sign that Zephon mentioned with the guy going over Niagra Falls, and a few other signs at the ride that discussed unusual feats. I guess I was too wrapped up in loading and unloading people to think about theme music...but really, I don't remember it. Weird. All this discussion about an outhouse scene...man, I don't remember it at all...unless they put it in for a few years after I stopped working there.
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History Buff, I didn't take it bad. I just wanted to state that the characters floating around in the AP are not original to the opening of the ride, but were added in the early 90s. The signs, yes have been up as long as I can remember, but the Ozarkian Daredevil theme came after the Heroic American signs.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/53826242@N00/4755805464/ (http://www.flickr.com/photos/53826242@N00/4755805464/)
Where was this located on the Float Trip? I'm sure this is where they got the idea for the one on the AP.
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That is the outhouse from the float trip! It was located near that archway over the channel, in the area that is just used to cycle water through the AP channels. The old location of the outhouse is probably viewable from the AP or Wildfire pathways.
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I have 2 questions on the float trip.
I loved this as a kid and seem to remember slow almost " Picking" music along the route of the ride, Is that correct?
The second question, I was looking at BetaMikes pictures of the float trip canal taken in 05. I was noticing the water level in some of the old canals seemed to be a little deeper, I remember there being more area next to the boat that was dry, it seemed like in these pics when they did the plunge they may have made the water level higher.
Am I crazy?
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I worked at the float trip in 79. They did have some kind of music at various points...sometimes it was turned on and other times not. Just like sometimes there were animals in the little animal haven they had...usually goats, prairie dogs, or some other small critters...sometimes not. There was a bluegrass or acoustic traditional music pumped through speakers on park at that time, so visitors could hear music throughout the park. About the water levels...could be they are lower than in the past. Conservation. Green. Also part of those old float trip channels have been redone in the last few years as they got old and needed replaced, and to fit the current needs of the Plunge. SO it may appear those water levels are lower.
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Junior is the expert on this, but I know two things that I have stashed away in my noggin that may shed some light.
There was at one time (not sure if it lasted until the float trip's final days) an audio track of a woman that would narrate....or just at certain spots. At one point, water jets would bubble behind the boat to make it look like something was following you. It gave this float trip that was supposed to be really nice and serene a very eerie feeling to a kid of about 4 years old.
The last part might help with your question mhguy77. Most flat bottom boats like the ones used at the float trip, flooded mine, small world, etc...all have a simple bogey system underneath that keeps them from damaging the boat when they turn corners, no matter how gentle the ride or how slow they are going.
The depth of the channel could be the same as it was during the float trip days, but you wouldn't notice it back then because there was a concrete barrier that held the bogey wheels in place and kept it higher than what you could see below. After they closed the attraction, I would assume they tore out the bogey infrastructure. Just my guess.
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If you check my Flickr site, listed at the top of the thread, you will see a few new photos posted August 15, 2010 of the old float trip mill and a shot from the Wildfire line of the old float trip channel. It was fun to get to go to park again a few days ago and look at some of the places I worked so many years ago.
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I waved to you (in spirit) when I drove through Pea Ridge this week.
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Next time, you can stop by for a few moments...I have a home library decorated with some things you have not seen pictured on Flickr that would be of interest to you. Hope you enjoyed your visit home to NW Arkansas. :)
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has anyone ever sang ( particularly the National Anthem) while going up the AP life?
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My memories of this ride are very faint, as I was 6 or 7 when AP opened. I remember the whirlpool. but that's about it
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I've posted on other threads that I plan to purge my Flickr account to make room for new stuff. Most of what I posted in the 2010 season will vanish in about two weeks. However, due to ongoing interest in the diving bell and float trip attractions that I worked at all those years ago, I will be leaving most of that material on the site. Thanks, and I hope you have enjoyed the old stuff from the 1970s and 1980s that I have posted over the last year. God bless, and thanks, ya'll!
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Sunday I was at the park I looked down from the Wildfire lift and could really see the old canals from the float trip, its a shame they dont put them to use.
Junior I have to tell you that when I was a little kid I loved the float trip. I used to go around and around as long as they would let me. I also used to like to get a boat to myself. Maybe I felt like I was exploring a little by riding alone.
Being a young boy of 9-10 I liked to get into a little trouble from time to time as well.
I can distinctly remember floating alone in the boat one afternoon and after leaving the cave I decided to rock the boat ( I mean really rock it) Of coarse the reason was to see if I could get it stuck in the canal.
Well, it can be done, and when I did that the boats came up behind me and piled up. I am laughing thinking I sat in that boat stuck and shrugged when the next boat came up to me with people in it as if I didnt know what had happened...LOL. It took a couple of minutes and then this guy kinda came down the side out of nowhere, he looked at me and again I shrugged. He asked em if I rocked it I said 'no', but you know he knew better. I think they made me get off the ride when I got back to the station or maybe I just got off and left hoping a new attendant would take the guys place.
Honestly I think I wanted to have to get out of the boat and walk back thinking it would be fun.
Hope that wasn't you Junior that got those boats unstuck, but it sure could have been.
But I bet I wasn't the only one to get those stuck.
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The only "pile up" that caused me any headaches was in fall of 1979 when the "stop" arm that stopped the boats for a few seconds at Echo Rock (so folks could be in proper position to holler out and hear the echo caused by a hidden microphone at that point) kept getting stuck. Usually there was a guy dispatching the boats and at least one or two other guys loading people in boats. This particular day everyone else was on a break. So when the boats piled up at the stop arm, I had to climb off the dispatch stand, try to run over and get the boats loose. When that failed, it was back to dispatch and a call to maintenance. I told the people in the boats...about a half dozen fully loaded boats...to stay put, it would take a few minutes and we'd get 'em going again. Well, these folks could not wait. They started climbing out of the boats and right up the rock walls surrounding the channel...about nine to 12 feet up. Then they walked through the woods right back to the dock and toward the exit. Let me tell you, I was freakin' out. I was a 17 year old kid in charge of the ride, no other employees were available, and I had about 50 people breaking all sorts of park rules and safety regulations by climbing out of boats and up a high incline...then wandering through the woods until they found their way back to the dock and the exit! By the time maitenance arrived, the ride was empty. The guests took off from the dock, too. Nobody wanted to wait five or ten minutes for the employees to get things restored. I thought I was gonna be fired. However, since nobody was around (fellow employees, that is) nobody saw anything...it was as if it never happened. The maintance guys fixed the stop arm, the boats made their progression around the channel, all was well when my coworkers got back from break. One guy made the comment about how slow it was at that time at the ride! If only he knew what had just happened. All's well that ends well. ;)
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thats a great story junior... imagine if they tried that today! NO WAY!
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question?
when i was down there last week a saw/noticed sign down by the waterrfront, just east of the new "dugan" sign. sign was on a trailer/ old wagon or something and said "owens" on it.. Is that new? or has it been redone?
Sorry no pictures. But i wondered if it was new, or if i had just overlooked it before.
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The Jim Owens name originally used at the float trip, was retired for many years at the park. Later, possibly in homage to the old float trip, the name was brought back for the Jim Owens' Fish Camp restaurant on the Riverfront. You'll probably notice the Jim Owens' waterwagon, too, where you can get a nice cool drink of water. That's located in the Riverfront just a few steps away from the restaurant. The Dugan name, as in Rube Dugan's Diving Bell, has been brought back in the Riverfront area, too. The Dugan Trading Company is the new sign there, and that merchandise shop which is lakeside, will open in a few weeks. By the way, for a rundown on who Jim Owens was, check out the top entry I made in this thread. You can see float trip photos by clicking on my Flickr site and going all the way back...you will have to wade through some old diving bell photos, too. The Dugan name was something somebody made up. Owens was a real person who was important in Branson history.
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thanks junior, yes i saw the waterwagon. looked good! I thought the whole waterfront area looked excellent! (except of course the closed shops)!
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I've added a float trip gallery on sdcfans.com! Currently, only one photo posted so give me a bit of time and I will add more photos soon.
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This is the first time that I have gotten to read your story from March Junior.
Wow, what an adventure you had, and you weren’t even on the ride itself! I suppose the guest decided that climbing a tall wall was much more practical than sitting safely in the boat. I can just imagine you scrambling, and trying to juggle a multiple person situation all by yourself. Slapstick comedy at its best I am sure. :D
As you mentioned, the other ride attendants were none the wiser so it worked out so perfectly. Keep up the great work Junior! :)
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The float trip photo gallery on the home page now is loaded with photos and is ready for you to enjoy.
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I meant to mention this after our last trip a couple of weeks ago but never got around to it. This post jogged my memory. It's amazing what you can see if you know what to look for. I've probably seen this a couple of dozen times but never paid it a second thought until I joined this forum:
(http://i164.photobucket.com/albums/u36/larson_6/BransonJune2011086.jpg)
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In the White River Region around Branson in the 40's and 50's, Jim Owens was a legend. He started a float trip service catering to visitors who wanted to float along the James and White Rivers for a day, a weekend, even up to a week or two. As a customer, you could fish, snap photos, or lay back and enjoy the scenery. The majority of people taking a trip with Owens' service did it to fish, and the river guides would cook breakfast and supper, with camps being set up on gravel bars on the river. Later on, Jim Owens had several other businesses around Branson. Real estate, a motion picture theater, and so on. Owens became the mayor of Branson. A guy named Paul Henning befriended Owens after taking several float trips. Henning went on to write and produce "The Beverly Hillbillies," "Pettycoat Junction," and "Green Acres." If you catch some of the "Beverly Hillbillies" episodes on TV, you'll notice Paul Henning included references to Jim Owens, Chick Allen, and other Branson area residents. Silver Dollar City honored Owens' when they opened the float trip ride about '68 or '69, and named it for him. The ride allowed families to get in a Jon Boat, and float an Ozark river. I was a "river rat" at the float trip in 1979. I helped load people in and out of boats, and worked the dispatch stand. The float trip is one of the oldest rides at SDC. It was replaced with the American Plunge in 1981. In the line waiting to get on the plunge you can still see some of the old "rock" channels used by the float trip. Currently, the channels are just used to cycle water through the plunge.Some of the old float trip channels were implemented into the American Plunge. Some of the scenes you would view on the float trip included "Echo Rock," (A microphone was hidden and when you hollered out, amplified sound would "echo" back at you.) There was an outhouse on the edge of a low bluff, and when your boat approached the outhouse appeared as if it was going to fall on your boat. There were some hogs slurping out of a moonshine still, and there was a "river gang clubhouse" where the members were fishing and swimming. You passed a river camp, where a river rat had been treed by a bear, an animal haven that had live prairie dogs, goats, or other animals, a swirling whirlpool, and then a dark cave where "ghosts" danced in a hidden underground saloon, and a barrell dump poured a waterall of water along your boat. On the way back around to the dock, a couple of water geysers almost squirted your boat. It was a gentle, family friendly ride. The theme changed a little bit over the years...at first Jim Owens' "ghost" talked to you about the river, later a woman looked for her hustband and no good friend, and the last few years, the cave had gnomes in it. I've got several pictures of the float trip I hope to scan in the next few days and post on the flickr account, and I'll update this thread when I do so. Tell me your memories of this old favorite ride at SDC.
Veering slightly OT, I've got a small piece of trivia to offer. Pettycoat Junction was based on the Burris Hotel here in Eldon, Missouri where I live. IIRC Henning's wife was a Burris or somehow related to them, and they used to stay in their hotel near the now defunct Rock Island railroad tracks.
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Paul Henning was heavily influenced by his boyhood time in the Ozarks. Just look at the Beverly Hillbillies, Pettycoat Junction, or Green Acres and listen for the references to the Ozarks and Ozarks people.
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I know this thread is old but I found a video on youtube from the 70s that I believe has footage of Jim Owens Float Trip, but I am not sure because the ride predates me. At first I thought it was the FM before the shoot guns were installed but then I realized that FM doesnt go outside in the open like that and there was alot of vegetation......
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s-dpto8afjk
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That video has been posted around these forums before. It’s still a great clip! If you are talking about the boats at 1:45, and 2:12 that is the Flooded Mine before they added the outside roof.
See reference picture here.
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_PBZi2jJab0Y/S9n-Gwz4-yI/AAAAAAAAIFA/Iyeqc19Y99A/s1600/SDC-PC-17b.jpg (http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_PBZi2jJab0Y/S9n-Gwz4-yI/AAAAAAAAIFA/Iyeqc19Y99A/s1600/SDC-PC-17b.jpg)
If you are talking about the ride beginning at 4:39, and picking up again at 6:19, I believe that is the Float Trip. :)
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The footage does show the float trip. (I worked at the float trip in '79)
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thanks guys! I am a little late to the cool video party....lol..
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I know it is off of the Jim Owen's topic, but this brings up a question that does not really warrant a new topic. Does anyone remember when the cover for the FM's outdoor portion was added? I seem to remember it being uncovered for a majority of my youth/ adolescence...but I cannot remember when SDC made the addition! Just think back to the last time you were sprayed by the cannon fire and put a date on it!
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And just to branch off of Rube’s question, did all of the other exterior facelifts to the Flooded Mine happen at the same time the exterior roof was put on?
The original Flooded Mine looks very different than the current one.
Original:
http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4059/4578523580_80144c967c.jpg (http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4059/4578523580_80144c967c.jpg)
Current:
http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/74/pictureorvideo1462sl9.jpg/sr=1 (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/74/pictureorvideo1462sl9.jpg/sr=1)
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Just a guess...I think the cover and exterior changes to FM occurred roughly in the period of 1995-2005.
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Yeah, I second that Junior; I was going to say very late 90's.
I prefered it without the roof addition.
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I was going to say that the guns were added after the 1990 transition to the Shootout seeing that the guns and electronics did not need to be wet from both the cannon blast, as well as the outside elements.
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I know this thread is old but I found a video on youtube from the 70s that I believe has footage of Jim Owens Float Trip, but I am not sure because the ride predates me. At first I thought it was the FM before the shoot guns were installed but then I realized that FM doesnt go outside in the open like that and there was alot of vegetation......
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s-dpto8afjk
Since we're all veering.....At the very beginning of the video, can anyone tell for sure what highway that is? The hill looks like 65, but I thought it would have been more improved than that by the mid 70's. I know it wasn't 4 lane until just a few years ago but I would have thought it would have been a bit wider and had shoulders.
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Thank, Shave, for quoting me on the Thursday Throwback article about the float trip. Fun times, indeed! I do miss that era in park history. If you are under 40 years of age, I am sorry you cannot get in a time machine and visit SDC for a day...say about 1978 or '79 to experience the float trip...treehouse...diving bell. Maybe the Rainmaker, Boxing Show, one mule swing...stagecoach....ahhhhhhhh!
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^You can if you can find a particular gentleman named Timothy Turnbuckle.