

Burning Settler’s Cabin on Tom Sawyer Island

You boarded the Freight Train of the Santa Fe & Disneyland Railroad at the Frontierland Station. As your train follows the water’s edge, you gaze between the slats of the cattle car in which you’re seated. Across the water of the Rivers of America, there’s a rustic log cabin.

Photo by Charles R. Lympany, 1956, courtesy of Chris Taylor Cattle car





Photo by Charles R. Lympany, courtesy of Chris Taylor Fire!

That cabin is on fire! Oh no! There’s a man sprawled on the ground, with an arrow in his body, sticking straight up. He’s not moving. He must be dead. The train’s narrator explains: “Now, we’re heading into the true backwoods. Watch for Indians and wild animals near the water’s edge. This is the American West as it was a century ago. Our forefathers who tamed this great wilderness faced constant danger. And there, across the river, is proof—a settler’s cabin afire! The old pioneer lies nearby—the victim of an Indian arrow.” So that’s what happened. The settler was killed by an unfriendly Indian, who then torched the cabin. Your souvenir map shows that the Burning Settler’s Cabin is located right by the Unfriendly Indian Village. Do you want a closer look? You can’t get to the cabin by foot. According to the Tom Sawyer Island map, the cabin is in “Indian Territory,” where “terms of treaty prohibit entry.” You wouldn’t want to walk there anyway, because you could wind up like the unfortunate settler.

© 1962 Walt Disney Productions Detail from 1962 Disneyland souvenir wall map

Charles R. Lympany, courtesy of Chris Taylor Friendly Indians, just as the map shows

Taking another look at your park map, you might conclude that the settler would have been better off if he’d built his cabin across the river. That’s where the friendly Indians live. Another way to see the flaming cabin is to go on the Indian War Canoes, which leave from the Indian Village. Don’t worry. The Indians who guide the canoes are friendly Indians.

The Burning Settler’s Cabin wasn’t an attraction in the traditional sense. It was a dramatic show scene visible from the watercraft of the Rivers of America and from the railroad. Added to the north end of Disneyland’s Tom Sawyer Island in 1956, it burned for more than four decades. The story of who lived in the cabin and why it was ablaze changed several times. The original story, as described earlier in this article, involved an Indian attack. In Walt Disney’s Davy Crockett programs, some Indians were friends and some were foes. This theme carried over to early Disneyland. In the 1970s, the entertainment industry became increasingly aware that their often simplistic portrayal of American Indians could be offensive. At Disneyland, the settler lost the arrow and became the victim of evil river pirates.

Photo by Chris Bales, 1989 Cabin set ablaze by a moonshiner

In the mid-1980s, the settler became a moonshiner whose still had exploded, igniting the cabin. The moonshiner was sprawled out in front of the cabin, but we were assured he wasn’t dead; he had just consumed too much of his product. In the early 1990s, an eagle nest appeared atop a dead tree trunk right next to the cabin. The new story was that the careless settler had accidentally set his own cabin on fire, endangering the nearby nest. The settler wasn’t very smart if he burned down his own home. The eagles were even less smart if they built their nest so close to a settler’s cabin.

Photo by Werner Weiss, 2004 Abandoned cabin, no longer burning

A half century after the opening of Disneyland, the sturdy, fireproof Settler’s Cabin was still there, but it was no longer engulfed in flames. It was engulfed in trees. The Settler’s Cabin looked sad—a neglected remnant of the past. Instead of being the most memorable sight along the edge of the Rivers of America, it was easily overlooked. There was no official explanation for why the flames were extinguished. One story was that the gas line needed replacement, but it would be too costly. Another story was that the flames are a victim of California’s strict emissions standards. This wasn’t the first time that the flames went out. During the period when the settler was a victim of river pirates, the flames were a victim of the energy crisis. The cabin burned with the same artificial fire effect as used in Pirates of the Caribbean. It’s a great effect in the indoor Pirates ride, but was not convincing outdoors. The real fire returned in the mid-1980s.

Photo by Werner Weiss, 2007 Fixed-Up Settler’s Cabin at Disneyland, as it looked in 2007

As part of the Pirate’s Lair makeover of Tom Sawyer Island in 2007, the former Burning Settler’s Cabin became a well-tended Settler’s Cabin. The settler even gained a motionless horse. There were no longer holes in the roof or empty windows for flames. The Settler’s Cabin would never burn again. So what happens when a house gets flipped? Someone moves in, of course.

Photo by Werner Weiss, 2013 Mike Fink moves in

Photo by Werner Weiss, 2015 Convenient dock for Mike Fink’s keelboat

Photo by Werner Weiss, 2015 Mike Fink’s cabin

During the 2010 refurbishment of Disneyland’s Rivers of America, the fixed-up cabin became Mike Fink’s Cabin, with his keelboat, the Gullywhumper, docked in front. Apparently, it was also Fink’s place of business. A sign in front read, “Mike Fink, King of the River” and “Traps - Tradin’.” The refurbished cabin was a nice place, but Mike Fink had to move because of Star Wars. Rivers of America closed January 2016 for the north end of Tom Sawyer to be chopped off and the river loop shortened. Good-bye cabin.

Photo by Allen Huffman, 2017 Mike Fink’s new cabin

Photo by Allen Huffman, yyyy On a cliff

When the work was done and the Rivers of America were refilled in July 2017, Disneyland guests discovered that Mike Fink had an even better cabin. There was also a Burning Settler’s Cabin at Walt Disney World. Like its California cousin, the cabin in Florida stopped burning long ago. Unlike its California cousin, the cabin in Florida still looks sad and neglected.

Photo by Werner Weiss, 2004 Burning Settler’s Cabin at Magic Kingdom Park, Walt Disney World, 2004

Photo by Werner Weiss, 2006 Extinguished Cabin at Magic Kingdom Park, Walt Disney World, 2006

Photo by Werner Weiss, 2015 Cabin with smoke from the chimney at Magic Kingdom Park, Walt Disney World, 2015