History, a Media Preview and a Lot of Crap

History has not been cherished in other amusement parks as much as in Silver Dollar City.  The park returns to its original roots with the announcement of its latest ride, Powder Keg.  But first, try to be patient through a short history lesson.

Marble Cave was first named because the original discoverers of the cave thought the roof was made of marble.  Other early explorers hoped to find valuable minerals or even gems.  The true treasure of Marble Cave turned out to be guano, or bat droppings.

That’s right; Silver Dollar City was started over a humongous pile of dried bat crap.  Tons and tons of crap; all that was needed was a way to remove it from the cave.  Guano was worth $700.00 dollars a ton back in 1884.  The Marble Cave Mining and Manufacturing Company was established and excavation began.

A town was built around the entrance to the cave.  It was originally called Marble City, but that was later changed to Marmaros, which is the Greek word for marble.  But the guano could not be removed easily; some ingenuity was required to get it outside the cave.

The entrance in Marble Cave is the Cathedral Room, 200 feet-tall with a massive pile of debris, basically everything that could fall into the hole over hundreds of years since the creation of the cave.  The miners, being highly motivated by the price of the guano, devised a pulley system to lower donkeys down into the cave where they were used to haul the full carts up the top of the debris pile where the full carts would be lifted out of the cave.

This brings two questions to mind; how much donkey manure was mixed in with the bat guano, and how many miners had the unfortunate experience of having a full cart of crap dumped on them while the bugs were worked out of the system?

The supply of guano was mined out by 1988 and the town’s economy, and shortly thereafter even its buildings, collapsed.  Soon, there wasn’t even a visible trace of the town left at all.

As we entered the park, all the media was ushered to be greeted by a real miner, complete with a live donkey packed with mining gear.  The theming continued throughout the lunch with “miners” stew and cornbread that was served on tin plates and all the drinks came in a tin cup.  A bucket of actual guano was set on the podium, and a moment of levity occurred when Lisa Grau, the PR Manager mentioned that whoever had set their tape recorder in the bucket might want to wash it off after the announcement.

The story of Fannabelle Nickel was told; she was one of the original cave guides in the renamed Marvel Caves.  Her career started in 1918 until she retired sometime in the 1960s.  Her daughter, Sherrie, became Mrs. Jack Herschend in a ceremony inside Marvel Cave.

But why was the guano worth so much?  It was vital ingredient for production of both fertilizer and gunpowder.  Well, fertilizer doesn’t make for a very good storyline for a roller coaster but gunpowder sure is an exciting option!

Remember during the heyday of Marmaros, the Wild West was being developed.   The demand for gunpowder was going through the roof, so to speak.   Now, this is a bit of history that fits in well with a launch roller coaster.  So Silver Dollar City took out 70% of the old Buzz Saw Falls and painted the remaining parts to incorporate them in the new ride.

After everyone finished eating, we all walked to the train station where we boarded the “media only” train to the construction site.  Ladders were used to disembark and we climbed the hill to observe the highest piece of track being bolted into place.  From our spot under the "over-banked" turn, we could see how the two different types of track were joined together.  The new track looks like standard Arrow steel track, the circular spine with the rails welded on the inside surface above the spine.  After the piece that was bolted into place, we climbed the hill some more to the launch station where pictures of the ride, including a layout, were tacked onto a wall.

Dennis Clevenger, Director of Maintenance and Construction, explained the sequence of events for the nearly three minute-long ride.

The trains will be loaded in lower level of the station.  The train then is raised along an inclined transfer track to the launch area.  As the train is moved, a themed nitroglycerin cart spills, and an explosion ensues.  Compressed air technology supplied by S & S Power, the 160 foot-long 26.5-inch diameter launch cylinder then launches the train to 53 MPH in 2.3 seconds.  Just in case the train doesn't clear the first hill, there is a "scorpion tail" section of track to control the train during the rollback.  The train is then reset and launched again if the system declares itself ready.

After launch, the train goes uphill and the first drop is 110 feet down at 54-degree down angle.  Riders experience a negative .2 g's for three seconds as they accelerate to 51 MPH then negotiate a 50-degree banked turn.  The next drop leads to the top speed - 64 MPH - and goes into a 120-degree banked turn, another negative .2 g hill, and then a 270-degree spiral turn banked at 85 degrees.

The course then goes under the 72-foot tall “over-banked” turn and back to the old "Buzz Saw Falls" lift.  After the train is chain-lifted up the hill, it goes to the 110-degree over-banked "dragonfly" turn, which looks suspiciously like a helix.  Exiting the turn takes the now-breathless-again riders back to the station.

A unique ride that due to the terrain and the combination of different manufacturers, will never be duplicated.  We hope to be able to bring you another report next spring when we blast into the 2005 season at Silver Dollar City.  We know we will see you in line for this ride!

- Scott and Carol