As we head fer the wilderness, a couple of suggestions: Please stay seated at all times and keep yer hands and arms inside the train - the animals get mighty hungry. And uh, no smokin' please, 'cause we don't want to start a forest fire.

Now, beyond these hills lies Nature's Wonderland. Yer apt to see a whole lotta wildlife, so keep a real sharp hunter's eye.

As we come outta this first tunnel, we'll be enterin' Beaver Valley. Looks like the beavers are buildin' another dam. Yes sir, they're really busy as a... well, busy as a beaver.

Them little marmots over the tunnel* must be a-whistlin' to all you pretty gals.

We're comin' into Bear Country now, folks, and while we're crossin' the old trestle yuh gotta sit real still. No tellin' how long she's gonna last. Yuh know, bears are one of the most playful animals there is. Lazy, too. All they wanta do is lay around 'n scratch 'n fish 'n swim... heh, heh, that is, when they ain't sleepin'.

Yuh know, Nature's Wonderland is awful purty, but sometimes she can be a mighty rugged place to live. Out here in the wilderness the struggle fer survival leaves only the strong 'n sometimes the lucky. Say... look on that bank 'cross Bear Creek, there. Now there's a real struggle fer survival - two stags 'r battlin' fer them cow elk. Maybe you folks can tell me, though: Does gittin' two women-folk mean yer the winner or the loser? Never could figure that un out.

As we pass through ol' Natural Arch Bridge yuh kin see the great Livin' Desert down below. Yuh know, the desert's a dry place 'n full of some purty mean varmints. Yuh gotta be careful of sidewinders, wild pigs 'n even mountain lions. But the desert's got her beauty, too. The yellow streaks a-runnin' through them sandstone cliffs are called coconino... the red, we call them supai.

Now, ahead of us, folks, is a giant saguaro cactus forest. The desert heat sometimes gets to yuh, an' makes these here cactus take on strange shapes... like animals... 'n sometimes even people!

Watch that wildcat, lady! Oh... heh, heh, glad he stayed up there. We've known these critters to take on a full-growed deer more'n ten times their size and weight.

Yuh know, last trip a mountain lion showed up right over that tunnel... Oh... there's one now, so yuh better all be real quiet.

Well... I see we're comin' back to Rainbow Ridge again. I hope you all enjoyed yer trip into Nature's Wonderland. Uh, please stay in yer seats 'till I get the train stopped, will yuh? And then just lift up the jump seat in the middle and the door'll come right open.
Now to find the exit, folks, just head right fer the front of the train. And if yuh got a mountain lion sittin' next to yuh, don't feed him... just tell 'em to hop out, 'n hightail it back to his own stompin' ground! Heh, heh.

Well, thanks fer ridin' along... 'n come on back again when yer out in these here frontier parts, will yuh?
So long!

*- In the interest of full disclosure, this photo of the marmots was not taken of them in their original Mine Train Through Nature's Wonderland habitat, although they would seem to be same marmots, they have been relocated. This photograph appears through the courtesy of Scott Leonard's supurb Disneyland website, Once Upon a Time in Anaheim..., and he informs us that it "...is actually a zoom photo of the reused marmots popping their heads out of the wrecked train over by Cascade Knoll. Same early animatronics... but not an actual photo from the Mine Train."

Bonus Track:
An excerpt from Jiminy Cricket's narration of a 1958 audio tour of Disneyland.
From our 1958 Frontierland page

...But it sure is exciting because there's plenty going on out here in this Painted Desert.  There's stagecoaches, and pack trains, and bubbling mud pots, and teetering rocks, and crazy cactuses and coyotes and even Indians...Yeee-aaah-hoo! (:16sec) 348kb.wav

Bonus Track:
This version of the Santa Fe & Disneyland Railroad spiel was recorded in February 1976, prior to the debut of the wacky Bicentennial version, and refers to the upcoming Big Thunder Railroad.
(Voice of Jack Wagner)

Walt Disney once said, "Disneyland will never be completed as long as there is imagination left in the world", and here in Frontierland, imagination may soon go to work again. Disney designers are planning to replace the old Mine Train attraction one day, with an exciting new adventure...Big Thunder Railroad. (:22sec) 1,928kb.wav
(Compare this text with other versions from throughout Disneyland's history on the Settler's Cabin Page. Coming soon!)

Bonus Track: Mine Train Breakdown/Delay Safety Spiel
(Voice of Dallas Mckennon)

Em, sorry for the holdup, folks. There seems to be a slow-movin' train up ahead, so we gotta set here fer a spell. You just remain seated, and we'll be right with ya.
(:11sec) 276kb.mp3

Bonus Track: Big Thunder Railroad Safety Spiel
(Voice of Dallas Mckennon)

Howdy, Folks. Please keep yer hands and arms inside the train and remain seated at all times. Now then, hang on to them hats and glasses, 'cause this here's the wildest ride in the wilderness! (:14sec) 330kb.mp3

Bonus Track: Walt Disney talks about improvements made on Mine Train
(Voice of Walt Disney

When we needed a cast of lifelike figures for our most ambitious project, Disneyland, we found ourselves in this new field of animation in a big way. When Disneyland opened, our new, three-dimensional stars were on hand to greet the public. As Adventureland grew, new inhabitants were added to the jungles, like our elephant pool here. And Frontierland increased in population, also, with bears and fighting elk. (:47sec) 996kb.wav

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