Big Thunder Mining Company

The Big Thunder Mining Company is the fictitious company that owns the mines in Big Thunder Mountain. It was owned by Henry Ravenswood and Barnabas T. Bullion at different points in history.

Ravenswood Years (1840s - 1860)
The Big Thunder Mining Company was founded in the late 1840s or early 1850s in the town of Thunder Mesa. The mines were personally overseen by Henry Ravenswood. Though the town prospered, the local indigenous people warned that it would not last. The Thunderbird would strike the town and punish the greedy fortune finders. The warnings were ignored and the mining persisted, even as natural disaster began to plague the town and the mines. It all came to a heel in 1860, when a massive earthquake rocked the town, killing much of Thunder Mesa, including Ravenswood. The mines were shut down, and Thunder Mesa dropped the mining business, focusing on their steamboats.

Bullion Years (1879 - 1890s)
In 1879, Barnabas T. Bullion resurrected the Big Thunder Mining Company in the mining town of Rainbow Ridge. After its success, he expanded to a new settlement called Tumbleweed. All was well, at first, but soon the towns were plagued by the same problems that Thunder Mesa had faced, from floods to droughts to earthquakes. The populations of both towns shrunk to only a couple dozen people. Nevertheless, the mining persisted, and the mine trains were opened to the public to help increase tourism.