Shoot-the-Chutes
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Shoot-the-Chutes is an amusement ride consisting of a flat-bottomed boat that slides down a flume into a lagoon. The bottom of the flume curves upwards, causing the boat to skip across the water until it comes to a stop. Paul Boyton and Thomas Polk invented the earliest example in 1895 for Sea Lion Park at Coney Island. Crescent Park in Riverside, R.I. was the site of a famous Shoot-the-Chutes in the early 1900's.
While the ride is largely obsolete, an operating modern reproduction, The Pittsburg [sic] Plunge is currently in operation at Kennywood. Modern log flumes work on similar principles.
External links
- Film of Shoot-the-Chutes from the Library of Congress (http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.mbrsmi/awal.1863)
- Another film of Shoot-the-Chutes from the Library of Congress (http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.mbrsmi/edmp.4040)