Athol news: Silverwood celebrates 20 years
Your reporter was fortunate enough recently to meet Rich Anderson, one of the earliest general managers of Silverwood Theme Park. He had great stories to tell about the early days of the amusement park.
When Silverwood opened in 1987, it included the train, Main Street and Lindy’s Restaurant.
Starting more as a hobby than a business for Gary Norton, the theme park soon got “out of control.” After the Country Carnival was built, then the Log Flume and Thunder Canyon, it became a different place altogether.
In the beginning, the sole entertainment was the train, with the Monarch Mountain Boys and Jack the conductor.
Later, the High Moon Saloon featured stage acts. With the Main Street Theater holding stage shows, puppeteers, jugglers and other great family acts were featured. The great talent came, performed, then moved on to other things.
Today, Silverwood is nothing like it was in the beginning. Only the 1915 train, built by the H.K. Porter Co., remains the same.
“Ol’ No. 7,” as it is referred to, has been a staple for many years, with up to 230 passengers on each run during the height of the season. The engine pulls five passenger cars around a course more than three miles long.
No. 7 originally was a coal-burning engine operated by the Eureka & Palisades Railroad, hauling miners between town and mines in northern Nevada.
After several years in storage, it was sold to Bill Harrah, of Harrah’s Club Reno fame. Harrah collected seemingly everything he could get his hands on if it was old – cars, boats, aircraft and trains. Finally, Harrah got old himself and died. His family sold off the collection in 1986.
A curious fellow, Norton recently had purchased the old Henley Aerodrome at Athol. An ardent flier and owner of several antique aircraft, he went to Reno to see what was going on. Falling in love with a “lady” that was 71 years old, he outbid Disneyland for the train.
But Norton had a problem: He didn’t have any tracks, maintenance facility or train station. So he went home and built them all.
After converting the old engine to burn fuel oil, Norton opened Silverwood in 1987 to give train rides and sell snacks and cold drinks. After all, building a theme park in the middle of nowhere would be folly, right?
Today, however, tens of thousands of visitors flock to a modern theme park with more than 65 rides, including two wooden roller coasters, and a huge water park, with two wave pools and numerous slides.
This year, the water park has almost doubled in size with new attractions such as Avalanche Mountain, a second wave pool and lazy river and toddler springs where the, ah, “toddlers” splash and play in safety.
Of course, this is all just an illusion. After all, who in their right mind would build this huge amusement park out in the middle of nowhere?