Ponderosa Ranch closes at Lake Tahoe
Monday, September 27, 2004
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(09-27) 07:17 PDT INCLINE VILLAGE, Nev. (AP) --
Nevada's Ponderosa Ranch has faded into the sunset.
The 570-acre Western theme park overlooking Lake Tahoe and made famous by the 1960s television series "Bonanza" shut its gates Sunday after nearly four decades.
Thousands of people visited the park over the weekend for one last snapshot of the Ponderosa and the Bonanza television show that featured the Cartwright family -- Ben, Little Joe, Hoss and Adam.
"It's the final day and look at the crowds," Royce Anderson, whose father Bill opened the Ponderosa in 1967, said Sunday.
"On Saturday we had 2,200. It was the biggest September day we've ever had. People are coming out of the woodwork."
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