Buckskin Joe
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- This article is about the theme park. For the former mining town and current ghost town of same name, see Buckskin Joe, Colorado
Buckskin Joe is a Western-style theme park and railway 8 miles (13 km) west of Cañon City, Colorado, USA. It is located 1 mile (1.6 km) south of U.S. Route 50 along the road to the Royal Gorge Bridge. Features of the park include gun fights, 30 authentic buildings from the Colorado 1800's frontier, themed entertainment, full service saloon and restaurant. There is also the Mystery House and a horse-drawn trolley ride.
Buckskin Joe was built as a movie set in 1957 by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer director Malcolm F. Brown, by bringing together old buildings from around central Colorado, and assembling them into an old western-style town.[1] The name was taken from the former mining town, now ghost town, of Buckskin Joe, west of Fairplay, Colorado. The only building in the theme park from the original Buckskin Joe is the general store originally owned by Colorado pioneer Horace Tabor. In 1958 the owners soon began admitting tourists between filmings, and developed the location into a western theme park.
The Town of Terror, a recent addition, was voted the best Halloween haunted attraction in Colorado two years in a row.[citation needed] Every October the staff of Buckskin Joe transforms the mild mannered attraction into a haunted attraction, capitalizing on the town's real haunted history. The town has also been featured on the History Channel's "Haunted Rockies Series" for its unexplained happenings.[citation needed]
On September 2, 2010, owner Greg Tabuteau announced the sale of Buckskin Joe and its associated attraction the "Royal Gorge Scenic Railway", to an anonymous purchaser. [2] The new owner plans to dismantle the town and move it to a location to be disclosed later. The final day of operation for the town is scheduled to be September 12, 2010.
Film location
The town is a western movie filming location with more than 21 films to its credit, including Cat Ballou, The Cowboys and The Sacketts. The 1991 television feature Conagher starring Sam Elliott, Katharine Ross, Ken Curtis and Barry Corbin was filmed at Buckskin Joe. Conagher was the last film in which Curtis appeared. The final movie to be filmed at Buckskin Joe was "Cactus Creek"; filming concluded just before the sale of the town was announced.[3]
Partial list of films[4]
- Cat Ballou (1965) Jane Fonda, Lee Marvin
- True Grit (1969) John Wayne, Glen Campbell, Kim Darby
- Barquero (1970) Lee Van Cleef, Warren Oates, Forrest Tucker
- The Cowboys (1972) John Wayne, Roscoe Lee Browne, Bruce Dern, Slim Pickins
- The Brothers O'Toole (1973) John Astin
- Mr. Majestyk (1974) Charles Bronson
- The Dutchess and the Dirtwater Fox (1976) George Segal, Goldie Hawn
- The White Buffalo (1977) Charles Bronson, Jack Warden
- How the West Was Won (1977 TV mini-series) James Arness, Eva Marie Saint
- Comes a Horseman (1978) James Caan, Jane Fonda, Jason Robards
- True Grit (1978 TV movie)
- The Sacketts (1991) two-part television movie, Sam Elliott, Tom Selleck
- Conagher (1991) Sam Elliott, Katharine Ross, Ken Curtis, Barry Corbin.
- Cannibal! The Musical (1993)
- Lightning Jack (1994) Paul Hogan, Cuba Gooding Jr.
- Cactus Creek (2010)[5]
References
- ^ Associated Press, "Happy trails for Buckskin Joe," Denver Post, 3 September 2010.
- ^ http://www.canoncitydailyrecord.com/Top-Story.asp?ID=14541
- ^ http://www.canoncitydailyrecord.com/Top-Story.asp?ID=14420
- ^ IMB, Buckskin Joe frontier town.
- ^ On the set of Cactus Creek, YouTube
External links