A final view from the viewmaster photographer is this image of the fishing dock and Old Mill on Tom Sawyer's Island. I am trying to figure out the reason for the large crane behind Fowler's Harbor. Was it for the Columbia which can be seen in dock? Or was it for the Haunted Mansion building?
Great series! If these were all shot at about the same time--and thus include Bekins and the Viewliner--that would be too early for the Haunted Mansion building, right?
ReplyDeleteI was thinking that it might be too early for the Mansion building as well, although it did go in early.
ReplyDeleteBut I *think* I can see some framing just above the berm (not sure, maybe it's just branches), what the heck could it be?
Neat photo! That sure is a large crane, I'm puzzled as to what it's for? Super the way the photographer framed the bottom of the photo with the fence.
ReplyDeleteThis whole series has a great pro-am feel to it, are you going to post the whole set? I hope so... I’d love to make a combined .pdf file of the whole set :-)
THANKS!
If I could offer an opinion about the crane (and after all, what is the internet without cheap speculation?), it was used to hoist the elevator machinery over the berm for the stretch rooms.
ReplyDeleteTall cranes are used either to hoist far up *or* far out... since the crane is the tallest thing for miles, it's been hired for its reach. The stretch room elevators are operated by hydraulic plungers, which means a solid piston and cylinder at least 25 feet tall and a foot in diameter... and that says heavy. There would have been enormous problems trucking them into the park horizontally, and once they arrived at the mansion foundation, you have the problem of getting them vertical. Much easier to just lift them off the delivery flatbed, rotate them vertical, reach over the berm, and drop them in the ground. If they were thinking ahead, the pillars would have gone over too, for the same reasons.
Katella Gate.