The idea is centuries old; power a wheel and you own the world. And for a guy named Ferris, it worked. What evolved from a water wheel powered by a bovine stands today as one of the staples of amusement parks worldwide.
Lagoon, Utah's Dramamine Depot, sports a mammoth machine of its own, known to locals as the Skyscraper. But the story begins far from Farmington.While on a jaunt through 17th-century Turkey, Englishman Peter Mundy sighted the first known child-toting wheel and recorded the scene in his journal. A sketch and the words, "Children sitt on little seats hung round about in several parts thereof, and though it turne right upp and downe, and that the children are sometymes on the upper part of the wheele, and sometymes on the lower, yett they always sitt upright" flared the fascination for rotation and spawned a series of appearances around the globe.
England adopted Mundy's term, christening their contraption the "ups-and-downs" during the Saint Bartholomew Fair of 1728.
Antonio Maguino brought his pleasure wheel to Walton Spring, Ga., in 1848. Not known for comfort, its passengers circled in wooden crates.
Aptly named entrepreneur Charles W.P. Dare saw the pleasure wheel as money in the bank. He manufactured the Dare Aerial Swing as early as 1870, charging $400 for his hand-powered 20-foot model. For an additional $200, he threw in a 30-foot wheel with a steam-powered option. But all these were minutiae compared to the orb George Washington Gale Ferris envisioned.
It was 100 years ago this summer that Chicago was hosting the Columbian Exposition, marking the 400th anniversary of Columbus' discovery, and pressure was mounting to produce America's answer to France's Eiffel Tower of four years ago. Exposition officials
wanted the attraction of attractions, and George Washington Gale Ferris believed he held the answer . . . in 2,100 tons of steel. Originally touted as an observation wheel, Ferris' plans called for 36 cars, each accommodating 40 passengers attached to a wheel 250 feet across and supported by twin towers 140 feet high. The rod itself, linking the two towers, would be the single largest piece of steel ever manufactured.
When word got out what Ferris was building, people said he had wheels in his head. Surely a wheel of those proportions would sag out of shape, they said. But like Noah and his ark, the visionary labored on and raised $300,000.
Work began in January 1893 and ended a record six months later when Mr. and Mrs. Ferris, the mayor of Chicago, a 40-piece band squeezed into a car and other invited guests took the first ride on Ferris' wheel.
Thousands flocked to ride on the attraction, advertised as supplying the "finest air in the universe. Doctors should recommend it!" Thrill-seekers forked over 50 cents for a 20-minute turn. One farm boy from North Dakota wrote home, "Do whatever you have to do - even sell the kitchen stove - come to Chicago and ride the Ferris wheel!" Ferris' vision proved noteworthy, then a nuisance - for when the novelty faded, nobody wanted it.
The once-fruitful wheel of fortune with cars built to hold 40 started turning empty. Owners dismantled it twice and placed it on flatcars before its last appearance at the 1904 St. Louis Exposition. Failing dismally as a moneymaker, it was left to rust when the expo ended. Once an awe, now an eyesore, the wheel met its end on May 11, 1906, crumpled by dynamite.
Ferris did not live to see his life's work tumble into scrap metal; typhoid-stricken and deep in debt, he died five years following the wheel's debut at the age of 37.
But his legend lived on in a young man named William E. Sullivan whose passion for riding lasted as long as his pocketbook would allow. Sullivan differed from Ferris; he got more of a thrill out of commercial possibilities than diameter. Consumed with visions of portable Ferris wheels, he began manufacturing his own brand in 1906, using an efficient two-person seating system. Today the Eli Bridge Co. Sullivan founded ships wheels across the globe, including to amusement parks like Lagoon, where the Ferris wheel continues to turn triumphant.
First introduced to Utah in 1953, the wheel has remained a staple on Lagoon's ride repertoire. "We've had one here forever," said Dick Andrew, director of marketing at Lagoon. And for a park specializing in rides that are appealing, feature high capacity, affordability, and a good maintenance record, the Ferris wheel tops the list.
The park is on its second wheel. The former 35-footer arrived during the early `50's and left 37 years later to be replaced by the current Skyscraper standing 144 feet, 60 feet higher than the Colossal Fire Dragon. It has 36 gondolas, the same number as Ferris' original wheel, seating 4-6 persons. Andrew called it a "visual spectacle" and bedecked in excess of 180,000 lights, it is clearly visible to those travelling on I-15.
Though it's definitely not the first ride the kids run to once past the hand-stamping lines, it contains a universal appeal absent in a thrill ride; grandparents and grandchildren can ride it together.
But make no mistake, this ain't no granny ride. "There are people who will ride the roller coaster, but are afraid to get on the ferris wheel," said Andrew.
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ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
Big wheel trivia
- The first Ferris wheel, built for the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago in 1893, was 250 feet high. Its 36 cars could carry 2,160 people. One ride was two revolutions of 10 minutes each and cost 50 cents.
- The average Ferris wheel stands 40 to 45 feet high, and has 12 to 16 two-person seats.
- The Skyscraper at Lagoon is 144 feet high, with 36 gondolas that seat 4 to six people.
- The world's largest Ferris wheel is in Osaka, Japan. The 280-foot-high wheel was built for the 1985 International Science Exposition.
- In 1900, William E. Sullivan began making Ferris wheels at his Eli Bridge Company, which still makes them today.
- The world's record for being on a Ferris Wheel is 37 days, set in 1978 by a man who works for Fullerton College. As of last week, he was halfway through another stint aimed at breaking his old record.