19 for ’99: Tremors at Silverwood Theme Park

Coming off a tremendous year in 1998 with 4 world renowned coasters, Custom Coasters International was not stopping in 1999 with the creation of Tremors at Silverwood Theme park in Athol, Idaho.

Pictures from Silverwood

The design itself was started in house by founder and owner of Silverwood, Gary Norton, and then finalized by CCI designer, Larry Bill. At a height of 100ft with a drop of 103ft reaching speeds of 63mph at a length of 3,158ft, the ride doesn’t let up during the entire course. Construction of Tremors was entirely done by the park, which is unusual for a lot of parks as most of the time, the manufacturer is the one that builds the coaster for the park.

Tremors from its early days (courtesy Silverwood)

Pic from Silverwood

For those that might of not noticed, the park is located in the northern part of Idaho, which is not exactly where you’d expect a rather good sized amusement park to be located. Do you know who else is located in Idaho? Rocky Mountain Construction. A certain man by the name of Fred Grubb, who would later found Rocky Mountain Construction, used to be the construction manager at Silverwood. Tremors was one of the projects he worked on. Tremors was also one of the first coasters to ever receive Toppler Track from RMC to help smooth out a few problematic areas on the ride.

(Courtesy Silverwood)

What makes Tremors unusual than your standard CCI coaster is that there are 4 tunnels, which it held the record for the most tunnels on a wooden roller coaster from 1999 to 2006 until Voyage at Holiday World opened. The first tunnel dives underneath the gift shop for the ride, which fits in well with the earthquake theme as the rumble from the train causes the shop to shake when it goes past. The second tunnel happens just after a quick hop. The 3rd and 4th tunnels happen almost near the end of the coaster after traveling through a few more turns and twists.

To go with the earthquake theme of the ride, its newer neighbor was given the name of Aftershock, the relocated Vekoma Giant Boomerang from Six Flags Great America. Who would’ve thought that a park not far from the Canadian border in Idaho would’ve bought one of the “failed” designs for a coaster and make it work for them, parking it next to the classic wooden roller coaster.

You can watch a POV of Tremors below! And for more on Silverwood and Tremors, check out their official site. Also, if you’ve missed any of the other coasters in our 19 for ’99 series, you can find them all here!

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