Shoot the Chutes: Hidden Mysteries
(1921 - 1950)
This photo gives us a legend for features of the Chutes
A brief history of the Chutes ride.
The first First Chutes ride was introduced in London, it was called a "Toboggan Slide," chutes franchises appeared all over Europe in the late 19th century.
Paul Boyton introduce the Chutes to the Chicago World Fair in 1893. It was an instant success and he capitalized on the Chutes by selling “building plans” with exclusive rights in his name.
San Francisco had a string of Chutes Parks starting in 1895 on Haight Street which moved to Fulton and finally to Fillmore. A fire in 1911 closed the parks for good. More history on these parks can be found in the “Early San Francisco Chutes parks' section.
After a 10 year "CHUTES" drought, Chutes at the Beach reintroduced a new Chutes ride to San Francisco in 1921. This Chutes was claimed to taller and faster than any other Chutes in the country. This Chutes ride became known as our very own “Shoot the Chutes.”
Arthur Looff and John Freidle commissioned the building of Shoot the Chutes. Looff claimed to have designed it and constructed with his own people. He also claimed to have designed and built the Big Dipper, which is only partially true. He did build the Dipper, but it was designed by Church and Prior Coaster designers. So, whether Looff actually designed Shoot the Chutes is still a mystery. There were similar designs, but Looff and Freidle's 'Chutes' did have some unique features.
One of our hidden mysteries is a unique Shoot the Chutes feature, the extensive underground tunnel. The soil at Ocean Beach isn't really soil at all, it's SAND. How did they manage to tunnel through and then support all that surrounding sand? How did they keep water from seeping in? Where was the tunnel and what did passengers see while in this underground tunnel? All good questions, but we have very few answers!
Here's what little we know. The Chutes boats went subterranean beneath the sands of Ocean Beach around the South Eastern Corner of the Chutes Lot, close to the corner of La Playa and Cabrillo. It traveled West towards the ocean under the midway. The tunnel turned North under the midway until it the boat was linked up to the lift hill which was underground too. The boats traveled up the lift and finally came above ground around the level of the Pie Shop.
1922 Chutes at the Beach. Corner of Carbillo @ la Playa. - James R Smith Collection
What was in this tunnel? According to eye witnesses who remember riding the Chutes, the tunnel contained one thing.... DARKNESS! The boats freely floated in complete darkness until it made it's way above ground. It was shocking to here the singular description of DARKNESS. Even though this was EARLY 1920'S, the Old Mill type (Tunnel of Love) boat rides had been floating around since the turn of the century. Although dark, even the Old Mill rides had some lighted visual attractions or lighting. PURE DARKNESS would have been a rather foreboding experience considering the length of the tunnel. This could have been intentional. Looff and Feidle were both seasoned and experienced when it came to amusement park attractions. The Darkness of the Tunnel of Love rides was wildly popular in the 20's, where the young populous of the time was known to be rather wild and even promiscuous. What would be better to instill fear and closeness that a pitch black tunnel?
Once leaving the abyss of the dark tunnel, Shoot the Chutes was fairly typical of the rides of that time. Climb to the top of the Chutes Structure, a quick U-turn and a thunderous decent down the chutes ramp. Ending with a giant splash and impact with the lagoon below. Unlike today's log rides, there was NO WATER FLUME at the top of the Chutes structure, not does it appear there was any water coming down the chutes ramp. It must have had some kind of rollers? Unlike the Log and other flume type rides of today, the water entry was far from smooth!
Today's rides quickly glide smoothly down a narrow ramp and into a shallow pool. It's s smooth transition in a well balanced log or boat. Back in the days of the Chutes, these were big heavy wood boats with only guides on the down ramp to keep the boat centered. I'm sure it kind of bumped and banged on the side and ramp track as it flew down the ramp. Once these large heavy boats hit the water, it was quite jolting! People were know to be thrown from the boats in the early days and boats were known to flip over! Unlike today, where passengers would have their lawyers waiting at the rides exit with a pre-written subpoena in hand.... Back in those days, it was all part of the thrill and fun.
Our Second mystery consists of the Chutes functional mechanics. What were the mechanics that made up the rides functionality? Well... without getting into major details, mechanics pretty much involved water flumes, cable lift hill mechanics and loading station lifts. Compared to modern day, most of it wouldn't look to much different! Lift Hill pulley cables and Conveyor lifts to move the boats.
The true Hidden Mystery of Shoot the Chutes seems to have been lost in time for us. The Loading Station for the Chutes! How where the Chute Boats loaded and what kind of mechanics were involved?
Just finding the loading station seemed to be quite a chore! We've all seen many photos of Shoot the Chutes, but they never show us the Loading Area! We can see photos of the Super Structure, boats flying down the chutes hill and endless photos of the lagoon, but no loading station. Thinking it couldn't be that hard to find, I starting looking at aerial photos.... nothing really stood out as a loading dock or station.
Here's a the photographic journey I took to find the Loading Station and even the mechanics of loading area.....
This early 30's photo of Noah's Ark gives us a look at the South end of Chutes canal, past the lagoon. The Lagoon funnels the boats into a narrow canal or flume if you wish. Ignore the Ark and focus on the Chutes Boat. It appears be floating up hill.
The Chutes used different style Boats. The photo above shows the Gondola style boat. The Ark TIcket Booth can be seen on the lower Left. Again we find teh Chutes Boat drifting up hill? To the Left of the gentleman at the top of the photo, we find a Paddle Wheel! We have to assume this paddle wheel was used to PULL lagoon waters and the boats towards the canal?
The 1930's photo above shows us a early version of the Loop-o-plane ride perched on top of a raised plateform. Looks like it was built on top of Noah Ark! Looking North through the Chutes Canal area, we find the answer to the up hill floating Boats. (Right Photo) A Conveyor type lift system which raised the Chutes Boats up above the Midway. But why do they need to lift the boats off the ground?
Another 1930's aerial photo shows us the South East Corner of the CHutes Lot. (A) Shows us a CHutes Boat in basically the same location as the previous photos. (B) Shows the CHutes Dry Dock and repair area and we see the canalmake it's right turn, entering the underground tunnel. (C) Loading Area and Tickets
Continue to PART 2