Three Bears Born at Rock Springs Park

In his third year as manager of Rock Springs Park C. C. Macdonald kicked off the 1928 season with lots of advertising and articles which appeared in local papers. The ads led with the headline “Grand Opening – 1928” and included the motto “Ohio Valley’s Most Picturesque Playground – where the – Famous Rock Spring Flows.” The ad (left) also lists the many features and attractions at Rock Springs. “Many Rides and Amusements, Remodeled Crystal Pool and Boating, and Monkey Island and Goat Mountain.” That last bit refers to two features of a zoo which was located on the hillside above the upper park. (See Images of America: Rock Springs Park, p. 59) Roy Cashdollar spoke fondly of the “little zoo at the end of Lover’s Lane” and Richard (R.Z.) Macdonald told of the many animals he remembered in the zoo from his time growing up in the park. But it was not until I received the article below, from alert reader Jeff Schneidmiller of East Liverpool, OH, that I learned of black bears born in Rock Springs Park.

Source and Date Unknown

BLACK BEARS BORN AT ROCK SPRINGS PARK DURING WINTER

There being at this time only five breeding pairs of black bears in the United States, it is very doubtful if the public realizes the value of such a pair. However, their value seems to be a minor part in comparison with the life of their cubs.

The writer will attempt to give you a short history of Amos, Andy and Ruby, the three cubs, born at Rock Springs Park on the night of January 14th. In the past few years Queen, the mother bear, has been unsuccessful in raising her offsprings [sic]. So this past January, we took it upon ourselves to be mother and father to the little ones, taking them away from their mother when they were about a day old. After a few days, we found ourselves no easy task. We had to feed them with a bottle, and their diet was one of the most studious ones. It consisted of the following: --Skim Milk, Dextras Maltose No. 1, Lime Water, Castor Oil and Honey. At first, they refused the nipple, but as time wore on they took it readily every two hours, night and day. This necessitates two shifts on our part until now we have meal time down pat.

It was surprising how fast they grew. Weighing at the time of birth six ounces, they gained in weight and statue [sic] until now, fifty-eight days after birth, they are eight pounds in weight and as large as a good size poodle dog. At forty days, their eyes began to open, yet they were unable to see. Nature perhaps provides for this, as they are still rather weak in the knees to be walking around. When they will be able to walk and care of [sic] themselves remains to be seen. The night feeder hopes it won't be too long until that night comes when he doesn't have to get up in the cold and administer the bottle.

During the raising of the cubs, Lula, the other female, surprised us with one more cub, however, we decided to let her have the job of raising her own, she seems to be having as much success if not more than we are.

The writer just received word from the nursery, which will sadden the hearts of all concerned. Ruby, the largest, and seemingly the healthiest of all the litter has past into the great beyond, having contracted pneumonia. She died at 11:30 a.m. today. A fitting burial will take place tomorrow and little ruby will be laid to rest with all the pomp and ceremony due her kind.

Loowing [sic] in upon her two brothers, one seems to catch a quiet whine, which may be their crying for their dead sister, or they might be saying: "Come up and see me sometime next summer at Rock Springs Park.”

Jeff sent the above article along with the message, “Here is a another mystery to unravel.”

The mysteries seem to be "Who is the writer?" and "When did this event take place?".

A small zoo was added by C.C. Macdonald when he upgraded the park in 1926. In addition, his other park, Idlewild Park in Ligonier, PA, had a bear den that is still there today next to the roller coaster (see photographs below). Prior to that, C.A. Smith had a Hippodrome or circus-style theater somewhere in the park where elephants and other beasts performed, so the bears could have been born during his tenure as owner . On June 2, 1910, The Daily Times of Beaver, PA reported, “There is a fine bill at the Hippodrome, Rock Springs Park, this week, any of the acts being well worth the price of admission, including Carl Daman Family, Sensational Acrobats; the Orloff Troupe of Famous Russian Gymnasts and Roberti’s Bears, Dogs and Monkeys.”



The key to our latest Rock Springs Park mystery seems to be the names given our three bears: Amos, Andy and Ruby. The names are based on characters from the “Amos ‘n’ Andy Show," a situation comedy set in the African-American community which began on radio in 1925 and continued on television into the 1950s. Although the lead characters were black they were originally created and performed by Freeman Gosden and Charles Correll, white actors in black face familiar with minstrels, a theatrical tradition that would be considered beyond politically incorrect today. Naming black bears after stereotypical African American characters would be completely unacceptable and racist, but for our mystery, they do provide a time line for Jeff’s article.

Charles Correll ('Andy'-left) and Freeman Gosden ('Amos'-right) at a Chicago book signing, 1929.

Even though C.A. Smith had animal acts, including bears, at Rock Springs, his ownership does not fall within our timeline. It is only C.C. Macdonald and later his daughter Virginia and her Husband Bob Hand who could have been managers when the cubs were born. I’ve seen no evidence of animals in the park during the hand years, but do know, as I stated in my introduction, that Macdonald added a zoo when he upgraded the park in 1926. Further, I know him, or someone writing for him in this period, to be a writer who used details about the park to paint pictures in the reader's mind and always ended with an invitation; something that the writer of Jeff’s article clearly does.

Ruby Dandridge (March 3, 1899 – October 17, 1987) was an American actress from the early 1900s to the 1950s. She is best known for her radio work in her early days of acting, including her namesake character “Ruby” on the “Amos ‘n’ Andy” show. She is the mother of Dorothy Dandridge. (Ruby Dandridge Pictured at Right)

One other potential clue is the writer’s invitation to “Come up and see me sometime,” which may allude to Mae West’s famous line from She Done Him Wrong (1933). But when put in context and read completely, "Come up and see me sometime next summer at Rock Springs Park,” the invitation clearly does not fit with the suggestive nature intended by West’s character - Lady Lou.

So, does anyone know anything about these bears? From what I can gather, it may be from The Macdonald Years (1926 - 1934). If you have further details or thoughts, please leave a comment below.

Author (left) hanging with The Three Bears in Storyland, Stahlstown, PA, on Route 30 the Lincoln Highway in 1967.

Trolley Merger

The first electric trolleys used in the upper Ohio Valley were built in 1889. The power came directly from the East Liverpool Electric Light and Power Company owned by C.A. Smith. He also created a new streetcar company, the East Liverpool Electric Street Railway Company. One line ran from Wellsville to Liverpool and by 1897 a second branch, the East Liverpool and Rock Springs street railway, ran from East Liverpool to Chester, W. Va. At first, the park, the trolley, and the electric company were separate entities, but in 1905 they merged and became one, The East Liverpool Traction and Light Company.

The Richland Shield and Banner reported on September 7, 1905, “A merger of local street railway and electric lighting interests of this portion of the Ohio valley is in process of formation. The properties to be taken over are the East Liverpool railway, now operating in this city (Wellsville) and East Liverpool, and its two branches, the East Liverpool and Rock Springs street railway, running from East Liverpool to Chester, W. Va.; the electric lighting plants and power houses of the United Power company in East Liverpool and Chester and Rock Springs park, a large and valuable pleasure resort at Chester. Several million dollars are involved.”

Originally the trolley line to Rock Springs Park ended on Carolina Avenue in Chester at the spot where Route 30 and the Jennings Randolph Bridge cross today. Passengers would disembark and climb five flights of stairs to the Pavilion and Restaurant (as shown above). After the merger, this line was extended and a trolley loop and lower park main entrance where added.

Because there was a lot of competition, the trolley companies throughout the United States built amusement parks at the end of their lines to bring more business. For many area residents, the only way to get to the park was to use the company’s trolleys. A round-trip was 50 cents for adults and 35 cents for children, or less on certain “Bargain Days.”

During the warm weather months, many trolley companies operated open trolleys, which were very popular with the riding public. The open cars became known as "Breezers" to the people who rode them. They were open on all four sides, to provide a cooling breeze on a warm summer day. It was the trolley company’s way of providing "air conditioned" service.

The Mystery of the Red Sticks

(Courtesy of Jeff Schneidmiller)

Weird coincidences and mysteries are part of what makes continued study of Rock Springs Park so fascinating to me, even after all these years. This week, one question I posted to a Facebook fan led to both.

I was thinking about doing a blog post about owner C.C. Macdonald’s upgrades to Rock Springs Park prior to the 1927 season, an effort which left him penniless after the Stock Market Crash of 1929. I particularly wanted to talk about the Cyclone Roller Coaster and focus on how Macdonald, even though he was in severe financial straits himself, promised all those who helped him that “he would repay them everything he owed or they could have the park.”

It was at about this time that I remembered seeing a message from a Jeff Schneidmiller of East Liverpool on Kassy Hand’s Rock Springs Park Facebook page.

Jeff wrote, “Rock Springs Park ran out of money to pay for the (Cyclone) Coaster. My Great-Grandfather had the Finley Lumber Company, so Rock Springs gave him stock in the coaster.”

This photograph of a blank Rock Springs Coaster Company stock certificate may be similar to the one Jeff’s Great-Grandfather would have received. (Photo by Joseph Comm; Certificate from the Collection of Bill Gray)

After relocating and rereading Jeff’s message I left a message of my own stating that his story matched the one I had heard from C.C. Macdonald’s son, R. Z. Macdonald, in the course of writing my book. R.Z. explained that his father did everything he could to earn money to pay off the workers and suppliers, including working at Motor Square Garden (a convention center in Pittsburgh) in the off-season, and diversifying his business interests by working in partnership with Richard Mellon on Idlewild Park in Ligonier, PA, while still managing Rock Springs in WV. Macdonald continued paying contractors, like the Finley Brothers, until the debt was paid in full by 1950.

In his original post Jeff went on to say that “The Finley Lumber Company also got 1/3 cent for every rider, till the Park Closed.”

Historical Notes: (Jeff's Story Follows)

The Finley Brothers played a huge part in Chester’s early history. One need only review the histories of many of the former and present structures in Chester, and you will see their names attached to them.

One of the earliest institutions built by the Finleys was a wood frame church, erected on the site where the present First United Presbyterian Church sits on Carolina Avenue. Joseph N. Finley was a ruling Elder in the church and built the original wood frame church for a nominal fee in 1898. A good portion of the fee was paid at the “bequest of the estate of A. B. Marks,” according to the Riverstyle Sunday Review, November 5, 2000. It was the Marks’ estate that had been purchased by J.E. McDonald and converted into Rock Springs Park; a park that the Finley Brothers had no small hand in constructing.

The Chester High School was erected by The Finley Brothers Contractors on January 4, 1906.

The Chester city building was built in 1927 by the Finley Brothers Lumber and Construction Co. They completed construction in 1928 and a plaque, which now hangs in the current city building, was created to commemorate the occasion.

Roy C. Cashdollar, in his History of Chester: The Gateway to the West (Part 2), gives the following account of The Finley Brothers Lumber Company :

Owned and operated by the four brothers: Joseph, Frank, Robert, and James along with their brother-in-law Joseph McCoy. Mr. McCoy was the husband of Pearl Finley a sister to the four brothers. Upon the death of Mr. McCoy, George Hasson of Virginia Avenue joined the firm. Joseph served in the state legislature in 1909 and was one of the original incorporators of the First National Bank. Mr. J. P. Finley, a son of Joseph, shortly after graduating from the University of Pittsburgh became the secretary-treasurer of the Newell Lumber Company, a branch of the Chester company. Virginia and Robert Finley, were also active in the company for many years prior to its closing.

The Finley’s were kept very busy in Chester’s early history and their beautiful workmanship gave the new town many of its landmark buildings, including Rock Springs Park's unique octagonal Carousel Pavilion and the ornate Casino Dance Hall (pictured below) in 1906.

The first floor of the Casino contained a Japanese Tea House, six bowling alleys, a billiard hall, shooting gallery, barber shop, toilets and park office. The 18,000 square foot hard white maple dance floor occupied the second floor.

Twenty years later The Finley Brothers’ Company built the Cyclone Roller Coaster for C.C. Macdonld starting in 1926.

Having thought about Jeff Schneidmiller’s comment on Facebook, and wanting to find out more, I messaged him to get further details about his family history.

“Jeff you shared that your Great-Grandfather had the Finley Lumber Company and stock in Rock Springs Park. Could you tell me his name?"

This is where the coincidence comes in: Just as my message popped up on Jeff’s screen, he was at that very moment taking photographs of a few of his family’s Rock Springs Park memorabilia and uploading them to share with Facebook fans of the park.

Jeff wrote back about what a coincidence it was and said that he needed to gather some more information from his mother and her sisters. He said his great-grandfather’s name was “James,” and ended with a question for me.

“I have found some old things from Rock springs Park. I would like you to tell me about the red sticks with the yellow ball on top .They say ‘Rock Spring Park’ on them. Thank you. Jeff.”

Jeff also shared a couple of vintage photographs of his ancestors at the park, including one which illustrates that not only were formal portraits taken at the park but also some very humorous caricatures.

A folding brochure-style map from the 20’s, like this one, is also part of Jeff's collection. It includes a mileage chart showing, Cambridge, Ohio, at a distance of 97 miles, as the furthest town from which travelers came to picnic at Rock Springs.

Jeff left his number and we picked up our conversation over the phone. I could tell he was very proud of his family’s legacy in Chester and the surrounding area and interested in sharing their story. That’s when I asked him about using our conversation and some of his images in this blog post.

Having seen souvenir bamboo canes in park photos I asked Jeff if possibly his two and a half foot sticks might be souvenir canes. “The average length of a cane is 3 feet. That's pretty close,” I reasoned.

But Jeff noted looking at them, “They are very thin .You can't put any pressure on them .I was thinking maybe a flag was on them or banner.”

That started the gears turning in my head, “Yeah, maybe a pennant!”

I went to bed and all the photographs I had scanned while working on the book started racing across my brain. By morning, I had a pretty god idea of the picture I needed to solve the mystery of the red sticks. I fired up the laptop and took only five minutes to find the picture I wanted.

I messaged Jeff. “BINGO! Here's your red stick with the yellow ball on top. This is Bev Springer with her Rock Springs Park pennant tied to one.”

Bev, herself, had been a Rock Springs Park mystery, until I discovered her name and wrote about it, in blog post “Mystery Woman Identified,” on August 20, 2010.

A Sandwich, a Stein and a Stogy

This early postcard image of the famous spring in Rock Springs Park shows two young gentlemen raising a toast with their tin cups to the camera. It was originally submitted as an image for the book, but was rejected as not clear enough. (Courtesy of Richard L. Bowker)

Hey, this is my 100th Rock Springs Park blog post! Let’s celebrate at the park with a sandwich, a stein and a stogy (stogie?). Or, if you prefer, we can meet for an after-dinner snifter. Say, brandies and sodas, around seven?

In 1901, the Youngstown Vindicator and the East Liverpool Crisis planned a meeting over sandwiches, beers, and cigars at Rock Springs Park to resolve a long-standing feud between the rival newspapers and their respective cities that had been brewing for nearly four years.

It came to a head the previous summer when the Vindicator compared the population of East Liverpool to that of Youngstown’s police force.

Here is their brief public conversation:

Youngstown Vindicator - The police force of Youngstown is close to the size of the population of East Liverpool.

East Liverpool Daily Crisis - And Youngstown needs 'em all.

Youngstown Vindicator - That is unfortunately true. Living so near East Liverpool, it is necessary to be well policed to protect the people and property here from the E.L. savages and Boxers.

Wow, that is harsh! Wouldn’t you say?

Newspapers of this era, even papers in the same city like the Crisis and the Review in Liverpool, often attacked each other, as competition between the papers was bitter. They were vying for readership, advertising, and the latest and most modern equipment, but most often the fires of animosity were sparked by politics, with one paper strongly democratic and the other strongly republican. Not unlike the obviously conservative bent of Fox News as opposed to the liberal leanings of MSNBC, today.

Under its nameplate of The Crisis was the declaration "Democratic In All Things -- Neutral In Nothing." (Image from the East Liverpool Historical Society website)

Sometimes the fate of the paper hinged on a seedy scandal or sensational murder trial like that of Annie Van Fossan, 19, of Second Street, in East Liverpool who, according to the East Liverpool Historical Society's website, “was charged with first degree murder in the January 8, 1885, (poisoning) death of a 6-year-old girl in Seldom Seen, a neighborhood in the city's West End.” The murder trial prompted both the Crisis and the Review to switch from weeklies to dalies that year.

An account of the murder trial and East Liverpool newspaper histories can be found here.

By April 1904, the Crisis suspended operations and merged with the Review under the new name The News-Review & Crisis and within a month the paper's name changed to The Evening Review, today simply the East Liverpool Review.

Both The Review and The Youngstown Vindicator or “Vindy” are still in publication today.

On April 26, 1892, The Review was purchased by East Liverpool attorney, J. E. McDonald, who would go on to build the Chester Bridge, develop the town of Chester, then known as "The South Side", and create Rock Springs Park at the end of the new streetcar lines of rising entrepreneur C. A. Smith.

Here is a clipping taken from the Youngstown Vindicator from August 13, 1901. Although the Vindy appears to accept the Crisis manager's invitation of sandwiches, beer, and cigars at Rock Springs Park, it does not do so graciously. Note the final jab at the Crisis at the end suggesting the East Liverpool attendees would have a difficult time avoiding getting drunk in the morning before the Vindy folks arrived at the park to meet them.

THE CRISIS' BEGAN daily publication on March 28, 1887, two years after The Review, and cost a penny a copy.

A Few Additional Notes:

On his website Stogie’d, cigar aficionado, Bob Woods, under the title, “Battle Royale: Stogy vs. Stogie”, asks readers to vote on which spelling of the word is correct. This illustration shows the latest results (left).


Want to try a glass of brandy and soda. It’s easy. Just pour brandy into a Collins glass holding 2 or 3 ice cubes and top up with soda. That's all there is to it. Have a few and then break into the old pub tune “My Tarpaulin Jacket.”

A tall stalwart lancer lay dying,
And as on his deathbed he lay,
To his friends who around him were sighing,
These last dying words he did say:

Chorus: Wrap me up in my tarpaulin jacket
And say a poor buffer lies low;
And six stalwart lancers shall carry me
With steps solemn, mournful and slow.

Had I the wings of a little dove,
Far far away would I fly; I'd fly
Straight for the arms of my true love
And there I would lay me and die.
Then get you two little white tombstones
Put them one at my head and my toe, my toe,
And get you a penknife and scratch there:
"Here lies a poor buffer below."

And get you six brandies and sodas,
And set them all out in a row, a row,
And get you six jolly good fellows
To drink to this buffer below.

And then in the calm of the twilight
When the soft winds are whispering low, so low,
And the darkening shadows are falling,
Sometimes think of this buffer below.

Couple Elope from Rock Springs

At the dawn of the 20th Century, many couples were wed in Rock Springs Park. Ceremonies were conducted atop the Shoot-the-Chutes Bridge.

I have read several newspaper articles featuring weddings held in the outdoors at Rock Springs Park. Two such stories and photographs appear in my book, Images of America: Rock Springs Park. The first, at the top of page 12, is of a wedding party posing casually in the park in 1889 and the second, on the book’s dedication page, a couple being married under a white canopy on the arched bridge which spanned the Shoot-the-Chutes Ride in 1908. Below, however, is an article from the Youngstown Vindicator from August 10, 1902, that tells of a couple eloping from Rock Springs Park and being married “over the wire” in Lisbon, Ohio.

All that remains of the Shoots Ride Bridge are the cement supports that were partially buried under landfill and used to line the drive of the log house when it was moved to its present location in 1974.Fact: The first telephone call was made by Alexander Graham Bell, inventor of the telephone, when he called to his assistant, Thomas Watson: "Mr. Watson--come here--I want to see you." on March 10, 1876.

A Road by Any Other Name

Improvements along Chester’s main street in the past several years have included brick-lined sidewalks and new lampposts sporting red and blue banners noting places of historical significance; including the old Chester High School, the World’s Largest Teapot, and my favorite – Rock Springs Park (pictured).

Growing up in Chester, West Virginia, I often incorrectly identified the main street through town as “Main Street.” Mostly this was because I lived on a dead end and many lost drivers would interrupt a street wiffle ball game or a game of catch to ask us for directions to the bridge. It was easier to refer to the main drag though town as “Main Street” rather than its given name “Carolina Avenue.”

There have been two Chester Bridges – the old one and the new one. The old one at First Street closed in 1969 and the new one opened in 1977. During the intervening years, drivers used Newell's toll bridge.

Carolina Avenue in Chester is clearly "Main Street" as it is the address for the post office, fire department, several banks, and most other businesses. You enter Chester at one end of Carolina Avenue and exit at the other. Plus, It’s the only street in town with traffic lights – four at present – two when I was a kid . Not to mention, geographically speaking, Carolina Avenue neatly divides Chester right down the middle with the mountains to the south and the Ohio River to the north. Historically speaking, it was the very first road in town.

Our family business, Herche's Pharmacy, was located on Carolina Avenue and Third Street in Chester.

The reason many vehicles stopped and asked for directions in my old neighborhood was because at one time Carolina and Virginia Avenues were along a trolley route that led from East Liverpool, Ohio, across the old Chester Bridge and on to Rock Springs Park. Approaches to bridges in those days were not sprawling clover leaf exchanges like today, but could be found anywhere; including at the end of a winding neighborhood street like ours or at an abrupt 90 degree turn like the one off Route 2 to enter the Newell Bridge. Before the interstates, drivers had to go through the small towns and in many instances the main drag was not a straight shot.

There was no gentle cloverleaf-style off-ramp at the northern portal of the Chester Bridge. Drivers were forced to make a sharp left into downtown East Liverpool.

In Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, Juliet delivers the famous line, “What's in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet,” meaning “What matters is what something is, not what it is called.” This is apropos when talking about Carolina Avenue in Chester. A quick Google Map search shows it to be Route 2 today. Before the new Chester Bridge (which by the way is actually called “The Jennings Randolph Bridge”) was built, the old trolley route through town was designated as part of the three mile section of the Lincoln Highway through West Virginia, making Carolina Avenue also the Lincoln, and then Route 30.

Call it "Route 2", "Route 30", "The Lincoln", or any other name you want, but Carolina Avenue in Chester is still Main Street to me. If you happen to be in town over the 4th of July, as I was last week, and see it festooned in red, white, and blue bunting and rows and rows of American flags, you just might call it "Main Street USA."

Although he did not stop and ask for directions, Jack Nicklaus got lost in my neighborhood looking for the old Chester Bridge in the early 80s. He was heading to Ohio with his father for a tournament, we learned on the evening news. We weren’t sure if it was Jack until he did a three-point turn at the end of our dead end street and we saw his vanity plate which read, “PGA.”

The Figure Eight Roller Coaster

Not only was the Figure Eight Roller Coaster the first coaster constructed in Rock Springs Park, it was the first one built in the Tri-State Region and possibly the United States. (Courtesy of Dick Bowker)

One of the main attractions when Rock Springs Park opened on Memorial Day, 1897, was the area’s first roller coaster – The Figure Eight, located on the main path from the original entrance to the park. (See photograph in Images of America: Rock Spring Park, p. 18)

Kennywood, described by author Charles J. Jacques, Jr. as "The Roller Coaster Capital of the World," debuted its first coaster, a Figure Eight, in 1902.

The L.F. Ingersoll Attraction Company, mentioned on the postcard image above refers to the company which built not only all the figure eight toboggan slides in the area, but also a total of 44 amusement parks known collectively as Luna Parks. Ingersoll fueled the popularity of trolley parks in the first third of the Twentieth Century. His eulogy included the lines, "We owe all the success of the amusement park to Fred Ingersoll." and "Ingersoll was the tree from which the amusement limbs branched forth.”

An article featured in The Daily Tribune, Beaver, PA, on July 21, 1904 entitled, “Coaster Started,” tells of a figure eight exactly like the one in Rock Springs. From it, we learn about the construction and specifications of these earliest of thrill rides.

Trial Trips On Roller Coaster at Junction Park Made Last Evening

The new three-turn figure eight roller coaster was opened last evening at 7:30 o'clock. The first car to make the circuit was unoccupied; the second was occupied by Messrs. T.M. Harton of Pittsburg [sic], the owner; James Dool, park superintendent, and Arthur Beer of Stratford, Conn., the builder. After the formal opening the pavilion from which cars start was crowded with people desirous of making the trip.

The coaster is built on the same plan as those at Avon Park, Youngstown, and Rock Springs Park, and is equipped with ten cars, all finely upholstered. A series of thirty safety brakes are provided, together with three stoppage brakes, one of which is always held in reserve. The cars are propelled up the incline by power furnished by a dynamo located under the structure, which is brilliantly lighted by electricity from the same source.

It had been hoped that Junction Park’s figure eight would be ready for a July 4th debut in an earlier article which projected, “The lumber for the slide has been shipped from Buffalo and immediately upon its arrival a large force of men will be put to work and the structure rushed to completion. The slide is expected to be ready for use on the Fourth of July.” This article also included some insights to how these early coasters operated. “The contract has been let for the erection of a three-turn figure eight toboggan slide at the Junction. The slide will be one of the largest ever erected and will cost when completed $15,000. It will be located between the merry-go-round and dancing pavilion and to the west of the cinder path. Electric motors will take the cars to the top of the incline and the descent will be controlled by gravity. Cars can be sent out every minute with no danger to passengers.”


The Figure eight in Junction Park opened a little later than hoped for, but I’m sure all was forgiven and forgotten by the people of Beaver when they took thier first of many thrilling rides on their very on Figure Eight Coaster.

The figure eight in Rock Springs was altered in 1906 and renamed “Leap the Dips.”