Rube Dugan’s Diving Bell
If you visited Silver Dollar City between 1978 and 1984, then you may remember a ride called “Rube Dugan’s Diving Bell”. Located where the “Lost River of the Ozarks” is now, the Diving Bell was a simulation ride, that took passengers on an journey to the bottom of Lake Silver and back.
Far ahead of its time, the Diving Bell was first proposed to Disney World for construction. They told SDC it would be impossible to do… but IF it WAS done… couldn’t be done for under 6 million dollars. Silver Dollar City decided to go against the advice of the large amusement park and succeeded… finishing the Diving Bell for a mere 1.2 million!
The ride was comprised of a 20 minute “show” aboard a hydraulically controlled “submarine”. Guests watched as Junior Dugan (an actor), interact with Rube (a voice from above) as they were led on a race to find Grand-Pappy Dugan’s silver. The view screen allowed patrons to see what was believed to be the murky water in front of them… when in fact the boat never left the dock. This technology is now used on a much larger scale by Disney World, as well as other amusement parks around the country.
The Diving Bell was removed in 1984 to make room for The Lost River of the Ozarks… a ride that can move more guests through per hour. However, the Diving Bell was never forgotten by those who rode and loved it, but when I played Rube Dugan I learned many people would like to see the ride brought back!
If you would like to encourage Silver Dollar City to bring back the Diving Bell, then please contact to Silver Dollar City by clicking this link and would like to see the Diving Bell return.
While Slim Pikens did the voice for Rube Dugan on the ride, I was the only person to ever play Rube Dugan in the flesh on park.
Below are some photos of me as Rube Dugan. The costume — which I developed and produced — was inspired by Jules Verne as well as the original sketches SDC provided me of the Diving Bell concepts. While the SDC management wouldn’t let me carry a gun (my original wish) they loved the idea of me carrying “dynamite”; dowel rods covered with red construction paper and dipped in wax with real fuses. I had some good times with that! I was also about 150lbs (or more) heavier then, had the 1880′s haircut and wore (BIG) false teeth all the time. It was a great gig.
If you have any questions about this article, things I’ve said here, or the ride, email me or leave a comment and I’ll do my best to answer.
NOTE: I am not affiliated with SDC nor do I claim to be an expert on the ride.
I’ve been going to silver dollar city since before I was born. I can say this because I found a picture dated 1972; of cave goers and my family was standing in the picture, my mother hadn’t had me yet, but she was still enjoying the weekend at silver dollar city even though she was pregnant. So I guess I’ve seen the park grow like I have.
I remember riding Rube Dugan’s Diving Bell when I was younger; it was my favorite ride! I think Silver Dollar City can bring back the Diving Bell but at a larger scale so more visitors can ride it per hour. If you used the other side of where it was originally located, then the park can be expanded out and link up where fire in the hole and powder keg is located. This would give more room for other rides rather than removing them for different attractions. I can name a few rides like that should be brought back like Jim Owens float trip rapids, the butter field stagecoach, Huck fin’s hideaway (the way it was) with the billions lights cave, the hat fields and McCoy’s conflicts, and the flooded mine boats used to stop for an finally with falling rocks above the heads of the riders.
If silver dollar city keeps replacing all the nostalgic rides with rides you could visit at six flags or any other amusement park. Then what sets silver dollar city apart from the rest for the countless theme parks only set to make a quick buck?
The crafts have also been declining and have been replaced with items not crafted at the site. I can remember the steam engine that powdered the larger woodworking was where heartland home furnishings are now. The steam engine that entertained and educated countless visitors sits unused next to the restrooms with silly little birdhouses next to it. Plus heartland home furnishings don’t even use most of the equipment that was originally installed.
These are just suggestions. I don’t want to make anyone mad, but the park seams to be going in the wrong direction and not focusing on what it was originally set up to be. An inspiring landmark of Ozark frontier history.
It takes a lot of imagination to think up some of the past attractions, but it only takes money to copy what someone else already has.
Eric
I was happy to see you as Rube Dugan and would love the Diving Bell to come back as well, I have many fond memories as a teen on that ride and was very sad to see it go, i would love for my children to experience it just as they have the other old rides.
BRING IT BACK!!!!
It was one of my favorite attractions at SDC! I’d love to see it brought back!!
The Diving Bell was one of the most remembered attractions of my younger days on visits to Silver Dollar City. It was fun and exciting back then, years ahead of it’s time.
Bring Back The Bell!
I really enjoyed the diving bell and it would be nice if it was brought back!
please please bring it back… two showings.
1. the original
2. updated video with similar storyline
best wishes,
Kent Mendenhall
that’s amazing. . . i didn’t visit the city until 1988 when i first came here to visit my grandparents. i now am a cave tour guide year 2!
i’d love to see the diving bell back i have never even heard of it before?!
The Diving Bell was by FAR my fave when a kid. We RUSHED to the front to be responsible for pumping out the water before sinking! lol
BRING IT BACK SDC!!! AND THE FLOAT TRIP TOO – AND RESTORE THE FLOODED MINE TO IT’S ORIGINAL GLORY (the whole gun thing is stupid!!)
Wow…I also have very fond memories of the Diving Bell. I remember my little sister and I riding it back-to-back one great summer day during the late ’70s. I remember being struck by the uncanny resemblance our “Jr. Dugan” bore to David Naughton (very popular at the time in the “Be a Pepper” commercials, among other things), and I even tried to convince myself later that it might have been Naughton himself; alas, I’m sure it wasn’t.
That ride absolutely rocked, that’s all there is to it. From the setting on Lake Silver and getting to watch the other submersible take off, to Slim Pickens’ voice acting, to the motion simulation enhanced by the incredible movie footage you saw live through the “windows” — the experience was simply a super-fun class act. Terrific shame indeed that it lives now only in our memories.
At one time I had cassette tapes of a few trips to SDC in the ’70s, and they included full recordings of the sounds & songs played during the Float Trip as well as the Flooded Mine. Sadly, the tapes are long lost, although I listened to them so much I still have large snippets of them that I can call up and play on a loop in my obsessed brain!
Also, I still have a few of the original SDC pathfinder pamphlets that I need to scan and share if it wouldn’t run afoul of copyright. I think I have 1977 & ’78 city maps; I’m glad I held onto them.
I remember riding the bell when I was young. I went to SDC a few years ago and wanted to ride it again when I got older. I found out that they did away with the diving bell. I hated it as a 7 year old, but I’m sure that I would love it now. Please bring back the bell. I would also like to see some of the original city maps because I was there in 77 or 78 with my parents.
That’s funny that they proposed the Diving Bell to Disney World first … I thought about the Diving Bell the first time I rode on Star Tours and thought about how SDC did this years ago.
I would love to find the lyrics to the Flooded Mines ride. Anyone know them and could post them. This is what I remember
Welcome to the Mine King, welcome to the toils, welcome to the trouble beneath the earth and soil. You sweat a little water, you sweat a little blood and you might get out if the mines don’t flood. We’re in a lot of trouble, the water’s rising fast, if a flood ever started here the pumps would never last. You sweat a little water, you sweat a little blood and you might get out if the mines don’t flood
That’s a pretty good recollection of the song.
I will find the lyrics and post them on here for you… I can’t believe I don’t just know them anymore. :)
OMG. I’ve wanted to know the lyrics, and see the music, of that song for decades now. Was it an original? Or is there a recording of it somewhere? I visited SDC several times every summer when I was a kid throughout the seventies; they were some of the greatest childhood experiences ever. My family journeyed from Louisiana and central Arkansas to the park. I now live in NYC, oh how I miss the wonderful world of SDC.
I honestly don’t remember the song… though I’m sure there was one. I do have a copy of the script. I’ve meant to type it / scan it into the computer and put it online sometime, just haven’t done it yet.
Yes, the whole ride was an original though. :)
SDC isn’t what it used to be… though for us with strong 70′s childhood memories you can still see and find the things that make those memories reanimate, but it’s just so much more “commercial” (as Linus balked about Christmas) and therefore missing a lot of the “charm” that it used to have.
Thanks for the comment!
Noel, I sure appreciate your assistance in helping Latayne, Celeste, and Ryan keep in touch with those of us who love them and Danny. I happened upon your pictures from SDC and had to make a comment. My children and I moved to Tulsa from the Alb area in 1990 and began going to SDC then. We missed you and the fantastic ride but many of my friends will remember it. I’m assuming/hoping that your children will get to visit your former playground. It is a pretty awesome place. I am looking forward to taking my grandchildren and maybe, by then, your ride will return! I was blessed with babysitting Celeste and Ryan when Latayne completed her BA at UNM. I helped potty train Celeste so ‘you’re welcome’! :) Your girls are beautiful! I hope to meet them someday. Molly Jackson
I remember riding when I was a kid with my brother, I would say around 1984 I was about 12 years old, we were the captains helper and had to turn the crank when the sub started to flood… At first when I seen the wooden looking sub I was like this thing really cant go underwater, but when the water started to flood I was pretty nervous. Went back to SDC when I was about 19 with my wife hoping to see the ride again, but it was gone. I also really miss the hat fields and McCoy’s… wasn’t that the bar fight thing with the strobe lights?? That to was gone when I went back. Probably my favorite thing ever at SDC was the flooded mine, me and my family went to SDC about every year until i was 15 and it was my favorite, when they added the stupid shooting guns I was beyond disappointed… I really wish they would put it back the way it once was. And don’t turn SDC into a six flags… I miss the place back in the early 80′s when it kinda felt like a hidden getaway untouched by all the technology like six flags and Las Vegas. I’m about to take a trip down there next month, haven’t been since I was 19.. I’m not 39 I’m worried that it’s going to be more like Vegas then the Branson I remember and loved as a young kid.