Back when SDC first charged admission in the late 60's, they had two tickets...one for just walking through the park and visiting shops and craftsmen, and a higher "passport" ticket that included admission to the treehouse, mansion, flooded mine, float trip, and steam train. All the passport attractions had a little booth where you got your ticket punched. The booth at the mansion was torn down when I worked there, around '79 or '80. The base of the tree with the staircase to the treehouse had a window where an employee was sitting to punch your ticket. The "window" at the base of the tree is likely covered with something now...probably some kind of sign, or something. The ticket punch area at the float trip was in the mill that now decorates the American Plunge. You just don't go through the mill anymore. Last time I was on park, I think the ticket punch area for the flooded mine was still there. It was the little hut right before you crossed the little bridge over the water to the main building. The ticket punch area for the train is now used as a gift shop. On the front of the building, the window farthest to the right was used by a "station master" to punch your ticket. Even when SDC began charging one price for everything in the mid-70's, they still kept employees at some of these locations to greet you as you came into the attraction. The last float trip "river rat" to work the line was a guy named Percy, and he held the job 'til the end of the 1978 season. In 1979 when I worked at the float trip, there was nobody in that position. The train had a station master on in to the 1990's, I think. In the early 80's, the guys from the diving bell had the responsibility of cleaning the mansion and treehouse prior to park opening. I was one of those guys. Sometimes we would be stationed to go back and forth between the two places during the day to keep trash picked up, and to visit with guests. My pal Tony did that quite a lot around '82 and '83. As time has passed, SDC has phased these employees out from those jobs...it's too bad...those folks, including myself, helped add a bit more of that ole SDC flavor to those attractions. However, time has marched on, and SDC does not staff those old posts anymore. It's part of the streamlining that goes on in big companies, I guess.
