![]() ![]() Their waypoint? San Francisco, the “Golden Gateway” to the West. Tens of thousands of migrants from New York, Boston, Latin America, Europe, Australia, and China made their way toward the promise of wealth, prosperity, and wonder in California. ![]() Half arrived via the wagon routes and California Trail emblazoned across the country. It’s believed that 300,000 people descended on the boundless Californian territory (won from the Spanish just two years earlier) in the years following the 1848 discovery. This Golden Dream … became a prominent part of the American psyche only after Sutter’s Mill. The new dream was the dream of instant wealth, won in a twinkling by audacity and good luck. The old American Dream was the dream of the Puritans, of Benjamin Franklin’s “Poor Richard,” of men and women content to accumulate their modest fortunes a little at a time, year by year by year. On January 24, 1848, gold was found in Sutter’s Mill, Coloma, California and seemingly overnight, American culture changed forever. Life was hard for the farmers, miners, ranchers, and business owners and their families who chose to follow expanding wagon routes into the wilderness… but the call of opportunity and the offer of homestead was too much to ignore.Īnd for much of the 1800s, that call was only amplified by the possibility and the promise of gold. By the mid-1800s, the concept of “manifest destiny” had laid out a path for the country: that Americans were called – no, destined – to expand West, claiming the continent from coast-to-coast and taming any threats – natural or cultural – that dare stand in their way. American Progress (1872) by John GastĮxpansionism had been set. Initially accessible only by foot or by horse, it’s estimated that over 400,000 people took the 2,000 mile Oregon Trail in search of the wonders of the West, gradually growing the route with bridges, roads, and ferries to make the perilous journey faster and safer, accessible at last to covered wagons. That year, President Thomas Jefferson dispatched the Corps of Discovery Expedition (lead by Meriwether Lewis and William Clark) to map America’s new land and to find “the most direct and practicable water communication across this continent” while declaring sovereignty over any Indigenous peoples encountered along the way.īy the 1830s, fur traders and trappers had successfully laid the beginnings of the Oregon Trail, the 2,000 mile emigrant route connecting the Missouri River through modern day Kansas, Nebraska, Wyoming, and Idaho to the verdant valleys of the Oregon Country on the West Coast. In 1803, the United States – barely three decades old – purchased 828,000 square miles of land claimed by the French as part of the Louisiana Purchase for $15 million. Of course, to understand the story of Disneyland’s unbuilt mechanical Mecca and steampunk San Francisco, we have to start with the real story and a cross-continental journey to coast…Īnd before we head off, remember that you can unlock rare concept art and audio streams in this story, access over 100 Extra Features, and recieve an annual Membership card and postcard art set in the mail by supporting this clickbait-free, in-depth, ad-free theme park storytelling site for as little as $2 / month! Become a Park Lore Member to join the story! Until then, let’s start at the beginning… Westward story So even if Discovery Bay never saw the light of day, today we’ll trace the true history of the concept straight from page one and explore the could-be classic attractions this land might’ve contained… Then, we’ll see not only why this city by the bay was scrapped, but where its DNA lives on… Luckily for us, anything’s possible in Possibilityland, our ever-expanding alternate reality walkthroughs of never-built attractions from around the globe. Once envisioned as a continuation of the story of the Rivers of America, this retro-futuristic steampunk land of time machines, submarines, lighthouses, greenhouses, inventors, and adventurers was set to become an icon of Imagineering… but it was never built. Long ago and a world away, great adventures await… In the pantheon of beloved cancelled concepts at Disney Parks, there’s perhaps no project as legendary as that of Discovery Bay. – “I Need You To Imagine” Podcast Extras (B|S|G|P).Dry Disney: Walt’s Anti-Booze “Tradition”.S.E.A.: Society of Explorers & Adventurers.The Enchanted Tiki Room: Under New Management.The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror (Orlando).The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror (California).20,000 Leagues Under the Sea – Submarine Voyage. ![]()
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