Big Thunder Mountain
Railroad dates back to the wild and woolly boom
town days when every prospector west of the Rockies
was looking for gold. The following is the tall
tale heard tell by one of those prospectors who
got it second hand from old Sam, the last of the
Big Thunder Miners:
Yes sir, it is 1840, and around these parts, things
got prit' near quiet as the hangin' tree on Sunday
after the Big Thunder Mine tapped out. One day there
ain't none richer, the next, even a ghost wouldn't
have much innerst in her.
Things got mighty busted up and rusted down inside
Big Thunder, so Sam told me while sluggin' from
a dusty bottle of Old Imagineer. He was the last
prospector inside that min. Fact is, poor old Sam
took a spill and done landed belly up in one of
them ore cars. Next thing he knows, the car takes
off like a skinny coyote after a plump hen!
Off he went, a headin' fer the mine, Seems like
that old ghost mine came to life for Sam. He swears
the rusted winch engine was a pumpin' and a wheezin'
and just when he was thinkin' he must have bats
in his belfry, there was bats! Then he sat up to
see what he could see in the dark, and there was
pools of rainbow water and waterfalls, and plenty
of them rocks the schoolmarm calls "stalactites
and stalagmites."
The walls of the canyon kept comin' in closer and
closer at old Sam and he yelled until he couldn't
yes no more. All of a sudden, the car thunders into
a pitch dark tunnel, with Sam holdin' on for dear
life. Comin' back out the other side, he spots a
couple a danged skunks foolin' with blastin' powder,
like to blow the top off a whole darned mountain!
Little ways away, danged if'n there ain't Billy
goat chawin' on a stick of the stuff! But Sam didn't
have time to worry about that, 'cuz next thing he
knows he's whippin' down Spiral Butte and headin'
right back down into Big Thunder Mine. Sam figured
he was goin' in and never comin' out this time,
with all that rumblin' and shakin' and rocks comin'
down all around him. he closed his eyes tight but
the next thing ya know he was outside and high-ballin'
down on the track again, right over the Bear River
Trestle Bridge.
That ore car finally squealed to a stop right smack
dab in the middle of Big Thunder Town. Sam just
sat up, brushed off the dust and said, "I ain't
had this much of a whoop and a holler since the
Grub Grang hit town. I just barely got out with
my hide!"
Sam's amazing ghost story was told and retold over
the years, and because of it, no one was ever brave
enough to even set foot near the mine-until the
day a bold young Imagineer heard the tale and though
it might be fun to take a ride on old Big Thunder
himself. Sure enough, he did, and the train ride
turned out to be so much fun he decided to officially
reopen the mine. Folks soon heard the news about
Big Thunder and began to arrive there to take their
own wild ride on the legendary runaway train.
