Description

Picture of the cyclorama, a 20 x 50 foot curved mural in the Gold Trails Hotel at Knott's Berry Farm in Buena Park, California, of a wagon train crossing a desert.

Walter Knott commissioned the cyclorama to pay homage to his mother's family as they traveled to California by wagon train in the days before the arrival of the railroads.

The mural was the original western showcase in the Knott's theme park western "Ghost Town" exhibit. It featured three-dimensional objects in the foreground to add depth to the project. The cyclorama was animated with special lighting and effects that would transform the original daytime scene into nighttime, along with a sunset and emerging moon and stars. The attraction also included three minutes of recorded narration. The original cyclorama was begun by a staff artist at Knott's, Fritz Seelig, but after he was unable to make reasonable progress after a year's time, Walter Knott hired German-born and naturalized-citizen, Paul von Kleeben, to finish the mural. Von Kleeben was a successful commercial and portrait artist. He did portraits of many notables, celebrities and Hollywood actors during his career. Mr. Von Klieben finished the mural, and then the rest of tasks, within just a few weeks. Accordingly, his Old West paintings and murals adorned the walls of many structures in the park. His art also appeared extensively on the theme park's menus, brochures, catalogs and other Knott’s documents.