The Ponderosa Ranch

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The Ponderosa Ranch

The Ponderosa Ranch was a theme park based on the popular 1960s television western Bonanza. The amusement park operated in Incline Village, near Lake Tahoe, Nevada, from 1967 until 2004. Portions of the last five seasons of the TV series and three TV movies were also filmed at that location.

Origins of the TV Ponderosa Ranch

The Ponderosa was the fictional setting for Bonanza. According to the storyline, it was a 600,000 acre (2,400 km²) ranch on the shores of Lake Tahoe, nestled high in the Sierra Nevada, with a large ranch house in the center of it. Ben Cartwright was said to have built the original, smaller homestead after moving from New Orleans with his pregnant third wife Marie and his two sons, Adam and Hoss. The grown Adam, an architect/engineer, designed the later sprawling ranch house as depicted on TV. The fictional ranch was roughly a two hour horse ride from Virginia City, Nevada. (Note: There are slight variations to the origin of the Ponderosa Ranch, and one may take one's pick from either the original "Bonanza" series, Lorne Greene's 1963 song "Saga of the Ponderosa", the 1988-95 TV movies, or the 2001 PAX prequel series, "Ponderosa"). The ranch house was really a single level structure that had a facade second story. Inside there was a staircase that seemingly lead to the second floor corridor- but it was a dead end. The bedroom scenes were filmed at Burbank studios. Whether the inspiration for that name was the presence in the area of a great number of Ponderosa pines or whether it was taken from the original Latin meaning of large (root of the English word ponderous) is debated. The exteriors for the TV show were occasionally shot here, usually out of sequence. Crews sometimes were able to complete an entire season's work in just a few days.

Origins of the Theme Park

The idea for the theme park came about in 1965. Bill and Debbie Anderson owned a small horse ranch, which happened to be located at about the same area as the Ponderosa on the fictional burning map. According to the Andersons, tourists would regularly show up at their gates, asking where the Ponderosa was. Smelling opportunity, the Andersons contacted NBC and Bonanza producer David Dortort. They proposed turning their small ranch into a theme park. NBC saw the idea as a great promotional tool for the series, as did Michael Landon and Lorne Greene. All parties agreed to share the cost and the profits (at least at first).

The park opened to the public in 1967, complete with a scale replica of the Cartwright ranch house and barn, similar to the ones seen on TV each week. A replica of Virginia City was later added to the property. The original plan was to open the set to tourists, once filming had wrapped. However, shuttling cast and crew up to Incline Village on a weekly basis became cost prohibitive. Thus, very few episodes of Bonanza were actually shot there. A majority of ranch-specific scenes were shot on a sound stage at Paramount studios in Hollywood. Outdoor scenes were filmed on location at nearby Big Bear Lake, Red Rock Canyon, Mojave or eastern Kern County, California. However, Michael Landon, Lorne Greene, Dan Blocker and David Canary (who, dressed in character, made his last visit there in 2002 for a PAX-TV special) often made appearances at the ranch in costume to mingle with fans and sign autographs. Blocker died in 1972. NBC canceled the series the following year. Copies of the "Bonanza Map", autographed by three of the Cartwrights (Pernell Roberts left before construction began) were handed out as souvenirs at the ranch for decades afterward, along with tin cups bearing their likenesses.

Episodes that were filmed entirely or in part at the ranch, bear a title plate at the end of the credits, indicating such. These episodes are from the 10th season on (1968-73).

The Ponderosa Experience

Parking for visitors was at the highway level; only official vehicles, such as the park's Conestoga wagons, were allowed up to the top of the ridge where it was located. Depending on the time of day, a park visit could include breakfast; lunch, including a "Hoss Burger", if one was desired, could also be purchased; estimates are that over 3,000,000 of these were sold during the park's existence.

A visit to the park consisted of the wagon taking visitors up being "robbed" by "outlaws", and then disembarking at the main house of the set. Adjacent to the house were the "graves" of Ben Cartwright's three wives, each of whom had borne one of the (half) brothers. Graves of the Cartwrights and cook Hop Sing were later added, following the deaths of Dan Blocker ('72), Victor Sen Yung ('80), Lorne Greene ('87), and Michael Landon ('91). The house was inhabited by a less than realistic carved figure of Lorne Greene as Ben Cartwright sitting at his desk, and of Hop Sing working in the kitchen. The only parts of the house that actually existed were the living room, dining room, kitchen, and office; the stairs led nowhere, as the "bedrooms" were actually located back on a sound stage in Hollywood. Thus, the tour of the house took very little time.

The main attraction was the ranch's version of Virginia City, which was miles from the real Virginia City but immediately adjacent to the rear of the house set. Here were activities such as a haunted house, panning for gold, amusements based on old-time Wild West shows, and the like, as well as concessions such as the aforementioned "Hoss Burger" (named after the character portrayed by Dan Blocker) and souvenirs. In 1999, a VHS tour was made available to patrons.

The first Virginia City set was used on the show until 1970, and was located on a backlot at Paramount and turned up in episodes of "Have Gun, Will Travel", "Mannix" and "The Brady Bunch". On a 1970 "Bonanza" episode entitled "The Night Virginia City Died", Deputy Clem Foster's pyromanic fiancee leveled the town in a series of fires. This allowed for a switch to the lesser expensive Warner studios from September 1970 through January 1973. None of the original Bonanza series was shot at the theme park's "Virginia City" site, although the town was prominently featured in three Bonanza TV movies, (the first being nationally syndicated in 1988 and the latter two airing on NBC in the 1990s). Because the TV movies showcased the next generation of Cartwrights, they began in circa 1905. The Ponderosa park had expanded beyond the buggy era to include an exhibit featuring historic cars. It was, alas, a fledging endeavor as tourists wanted to see horses flanked by Cartwright saddles.

Closure of the Theme Park

The ranch and park remained a popular seasonal attraction for decades after the network run of Bonanza ended, having outlived most of the series' original cast; business finally began to dwindle in the late 1990s. The land was purchased by billionaire software entrepreneur David Duffield in 2004. In September 2004, he closed the Ponderosa "indefinitely".

An article in the RENO GAZETTE-JOURNAL of September 26, 2004 (Ponderosa rides into the sunset) quoted "co-owner Anderson son of the original owner" as saying: "This is the biggest year we’ve ever had", and who estimated 250,000 people visited the Ponderosa during the last spring and summer season.

Anderson said he decided to sell the ranch because "land values are so high."

The Washoe County, Nevada web site reveals a Ponderosa Ranch land use concept diagram which alludes to a plan for a new theme park within the Ponderosa Ranch limits. No other information is available and David Duffield, owner, a principal of Workday, has not publicly announced a new theme park plan. They have not built anything new. As of the 12th of May 2008 everything is still standing.

Trivia

* Only the front of the ranch house was ever shown because a highway ran directly to the right of the house.
* In episodes shot in-studio, the home exterior has a backdrop of sky and trees.
* The ranch was actually about a two hour ride on horseback from Virginia City.
* The ranch house was a single story structure. However, from the outside it appeared to have a second story. Inside there was a staircase that leads to the ceiling and any upstairs shots were filmed in Hollywood.
* Visitors could see a wax figure of Ben Cartwright, sitting behind his desk in the study, as well as Little Joe's green, courdoroy jacket, and Hoss' brown suede vest, hanging on the rack.
* When the ranch opened in 1967, Pernell Roberts (Adam Cartwright) had long since departed the series. As such, he was not featured as part of Ponderosa's promotional campaign, until after the show's initial run. At that time a bulk of the shows seen in syndication featured the Adam Cartwright character. His picture was in the group painting on the sign promoting the park at the entrance. As of 2004, since Pernell Roberts is still alive, there was no Adam grave marker with the rest of the Cartwright family. The park was purchased by software entrepreneur David Duffield in 2004. There is a grave marker for Hop Sing (Victor Sen Yung) outside the kitchen of the ranch house.