One of the largest projects in the initial construction of Great Adventure in 1974 was the Fort, which was designed to be the larger than life icon of the Rootin' Tootin Rip Roarin' area of the park as well as serve as the station for two of the park's major attractions, Runaway Mine Train and the Sky Ride. The creek where the Fort was constructed was used as part of the Girl Scout's camp before the park was built, and a dock had been built years before as part of Camp Wanda. The first stage of construction was pouring the foundation for the massive structure, and placing the pilings for the Runaway Mine Train's supports along the edge of the creek before the building took shape.
	Crews worked day and night to complete construction in time for the July opening day. Temporary light towers were brought onto the site for the long work days. The towers of the Fort took shape first, with the concrete walls being formed with plywood and rebar structures then filled with concrete. With the towers taking shape, the steel framework for the Sky Ride station began to rise. The station was designed to house the heavy counterweights below the floor. These weights keep tension of the cables as the weight of the cars varies.  With the steel in place, carpenters formed the roof and floor of the station which were also poured concrete.
Once the concrete walls were in place, the exterior of the building was sheathed in rough hewn logs to give it the look of a wooden structure. Massive scaffolds were needed to provide access for the carpenters covering the structure as well as for construction of the walkways around the towers.
	One of the last sections of the Fort to be constructed was the station for the Runaway Mine Train which unlike the rest of the Fort was built of wood rather that concrete and steel. The wood structure along with the smallest of the Fort's towers had to be built at the same time as the roller coaster's track. The station platform was built with a slope to match the track which relied on gravity to advance the trains out of the loading and unloading area. Despite the best efforts of the construction crews, the Fort and the surrounding Rootin' Tootin' Rip Roarin' area weren't quite ready for the park's July 1st opening day and opened three days later on July 4, 1974.