The attraction that properly transformed Knott’s Berry Farm into a theme park, the Calico Mine Ride opened in 1960 and was its first major ride. The slow-moving attraction is alternately about realism and wonder, aiming to capture a working mine but with glorious, mysterious caverns.

To talk about the Calico Mine Ride, one must discuss Wendell “Bud” Hurlbut, who helped turn Knott’s Berry Farm into a modern amusement park by designing and building two of its signature attractions, the Calico Mine Ride and the Timber Mountain Log Ride. Hurlbut, who long operated out of Buena Park, had dreamed of building his own amusement park and started working with Knott’s in the 1950s, first with a merry-go-round at the farm and then on other small-scale kiddie rides.

Los Angeles Times amusement park aficionado Todd Martens brings you a new series, breaking down his favorite amusement park rides in Southern California and pulling the curtain back on how they were made, what they mean to the park and why you cannot miss them.

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