{Roller Coaster Research - 1 of 3}

A Slippery Start
When you think of roller coasters, do you think of ice? Well, you should because the roots of roller coasters lie in Russia in the 1400s. They were huge blocks of ice that slid down long, large ice tracks with straw in the seat to give some padding for the riders. At the bottom was sand to slow the sled down and eventually stop it. In order to get to the top, people had to climb a long set of stairs. Although this form of entertainment is very different than the roller coasters we know today, these giant slides were the beginning of a very popular trend all over the world.

Russians create small sculpture ice slides,
which are popular with small children.

From Runners to Wheels
Because of their popularity in Russia, other countries began to build slides, but they could not use ice because it would melt in the warmth. First runners were used, and then wheels were developed on the sleds in 1784 in St. Petersburg, Russia. Unfortunately, the wheels didn't always stay on and the cars sometimes kept going when they should have stopped. In France, these huge sleds and wheeled carts where called Les Montagnes Russe. The translation for this name is the Russian Mountains.

The more adventuresome Russian teens
experiment with slides on hills of ice 20 feet
long or more. Many do not even use a sled.

Technology Coasts Along
So how'd they get the name roller coaster, anyway? In Paris, where they used hundreds of little wheels and the riders sat in sleds, passengers actually rolled and coasted, giving a fitting name for the popular ride. Popularity for the roller coasters was too much for the technology, and soon the rides became more dangerous as the rides were designed to thrill. In 1846 the first loop was attempted in Paris. It was tested with everything from monkeys to eggs to glasses of water to make sure it was safe. Still, the force needed to get through the loop could never quite be achieved, and the loop wasn't very popular, so it disappeared for a while, waiting to resurface again when technology could support it.

America Follows the Fad
Although Americans didn't get too excited about the giant slides called Russian Mountains, they did develop a very calm coaster out of an old gravity-powered mine train in Pennsylvania. This mine train, called the Mauch Chunk Railway, was soon useless when a tunnel nearby was created, and the owners charged riders one dollar to go the 18 miles of the railway. This calm coaster proved that Americans liked to coast down hills as well, and soon bigger and better coasters were being developed.

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