What are these so called similarities between these two places. In 1966 after fully restoring Calico Ghost Town, Walter deeded the whole town to the County of San Bernardino and it became the county regional park that it still is today. It was at this time there was much going on simultaneously at Calico and Knott’s, thus there were many similarities between the two places. There are still five original buildings still standing at Calico.

Walter then moved some original buildings to Knott’s Berry Farm to add to his already existing ghost town and restored and re-built other buildings at the Calico site. It was at this point that Walter Purchased the entire ghost town of Calico in 1951. This concept was a total success for the Knott’s and by 1950 they had a replica of a typical ghost town in Buena Park. Our thought is to collect a town but as that is impossible we try to do the next best thing – build or reconstruct a ghost town that will be authentic and show life as it was lived in the early days”. We are not collecting museum pieces nor is it the intention to build a museum.

By securing a building here, part of another there, an old bar in one place or something else somewhere else we add to the picture we are attempting to portray – a composite picture of the ghost towns of the west as they appeared in ‘49 and the early ‘50’s. In Walter’s own words, from 1942: “Every time I have the opportunity to get away for a couple of days I like to visit the ghost towns of the west for we are continually seeking materials with which to reconstruct the ghost town here at Knott’s Berry Place. These memories must have stuck with young Walter because in the 1920’s after he began his Berry Farm and later the Chicken Dinner Restaurant with his wife Cordelia in the City of Buena Park, California, he built a mock ghost town to entertain the guests that came to their Farm and Restaurant. When Walter was young he worked for a short time as a carpenter at Calico and his uncle John King was one of the founding partners in the mine that had his name and spurned the birth of Calico. Both the Town and Walter were born in California in San Bernardino County. Calico Ghost Town came to life in 1881 when the Silver King Mine was claimed, just eight short years later Walter Knott was born in 1889. What in the world could a ghost town in the middle of the Mojave Desert and an amusement park in the middle of Orange County have in common? Surprisingly, Calico Ghost Town and Knott’s Berry Farm have many things in common, Walter Knott is the common thread of both of these Southern California attractions.

Calico mine ride