White Canyon () was a

wooden Wood is a structural tissue/material found as xylem in the stems and roots of trees and other woody plants. It is an organic materiala natural composite of cellulosic fibers that are strong in tension and embedded in a matrix of lignin t ...

roller coaster A roller coaster is a type of list of amusement rides, amusement ride employing a form of elevated Railway track, railroad track that carries passengers on a roller coaster train, train through tight turns, steep slopes, and other elements, usua ...

located at Yomiuriland near

Inagi, Tokyo file:Inagi City Hall.jpg, 270px, Inagi City Hall is a Cities of Japan, city located in the western Tokyo, western portion of the Tokyo Metropolis, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 92,585 in 41,592 households, and a population densi ...

, Japan. It was one of the first wooden roller coasters in Japan, and one of the largest

Cyclone In meteorology, a cyclone () is a large air mass that rotates around a strong center of low atmospheric pressure, counterclockwise in the Northern Hemisphere and clockwise in the Southern Hemisphere as viewed from above (opposite to an ant ...

-style roller coasters in the world.

History and construction

Before White Canyon's construction in 1994, there was only one wooden roller coaster,

Jupiter Jupiter is the fifth planet from the Sun and the List of Solar System objects by size, largest in the Solar System. It is a gas giant with a Jupiter mass, mass more than 2.5 times that of all the other planets in the Solar System combined a ...

(built in 1992), which had ever been built in Japan. This was largely due to strict, earthquake-related building codes which restricted the height of wooden structures in Japan. White Canyon was built as a collaboration of

Roller Coaster Corporation of America Roller Coaster Corporation of America (RCCA) was an amusement ride manufacturer based in the United States. The company's first major project was the Iron Rattler, Rattler at Six Flags Fiesta Texas in 1992, while their most famous coaster was the ...

TOGO Togo, officially the Togolese Republic, is a country in West Africa. It is bordered by Ghana to Ghana–Togo border, the west, Benin to Benin–Togo border, the east and Burkina Faso to Burkina Faso–Togo border, the north. It is one of the le ...

, D. H. Morgan Manufacturing, and John Pierce Associates. The coaster was built with 2,360 cubic meters (one million

board feet The board foot or board-foot is a unit of measurement for the volume of lumber in the United States and Canada. It equals the volume of a board that is in length, one foot in width, and in thickness, or exactly liters. Board foot can be abbrev ...

) of

southern yellow pine In ecology and forestry, yellow pine refers to a number of conifer species that tend to grow in similar plant communities and yield similar strong wood. In the Western United States, yellow pine refers to Jeffrey pine or ponderosa pine. In the S ...

and the construction involved extensive prefabrication in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

before the components were shipped for final assembly at Yomiuriland.

Track layout and ride experience

The layout of the White Canyon was quite similar to the famous

Coney Island Cyclone The Cyclone, also called the Coney Island Cyclone, is a wooden roller coaster at Luna Park (Coney Island, 2010), Luna Park in the Coney Island neighborhood of Brooklyn in New York City. Designed by Vernon Keenan (coaster designer), Vernon Kee ...

. Before White Canyon was closed in 2013, it was the longest——and tallest——Cyclone-layout roller coaster in the world. The ride produced fairly high lateral G-forces of up to 1.5 lateral Gs. Before it closed in early 2013, a single ride on the White Cyclone cost ¥900. The ride was restricted to individuals who were above in height. It was also restricted to riders under 60 years of age and at least in

junior high school Middle school, also known as intermediate school, junior high school, junior secondary school, or lower secondary school, is an educational stage between primary school and secondary school. Afghanistan In Afghanistan, middle school includes ...

Closure

White Canyon was closed on January 14, 2013. A total of 5.35 million people rode on White Canyon during its 19 years of operation. In its last year of operation, Yomiuriland organized a "White Canyon Thank You" campaign that involved the planting of thousands of trees. The campaign received funding from several environmental and government organizations.

References

{{reflist Roller coasters in Japan Roller coasters manufactured by TOGO Amusement rides that closed in 2013