History of roller coasters stretches way back all the way to the 15th century. It is said that LaMarcus Adna Thompson constructed the first actual amusement park rollercoaster in Russia on January 20th, 1885. Today, at Luna Park located in Melbourne, Australia, the "Scenic Railway" is currently the oldest continuos operating rollercoaster, built in 1912. Many people are mistaken for believing that the Cyclone at Coney Island is the oldest running rollercoaster today. The Cyclone opened on June 26th, 1927. Today, it is worth 175,000 dollars. Amazingly, there are approximately 1440 riders per hour! The origin of roller coasters came from what is called Russian Ice Slides. These slides started first appearing throughout most of Russia. These slides were built out of lumber with an ice sheet that was several inches thick covering the whole surface on the slide. The riders of the slide went up the stairs attached to the back of them and slid down a 50 degree drop to the bottom. It is said that Catherine The Great was a huge fan of the slides because of the thrill provided with them. They started to build them higher up to about seventy and eighty feet high. The first ever looping coaster was located in Frascati Gardens in Paris, France. It had a loop that was 13 feet wide and the hill was exactly 43 feet high. It was tested before any humans were allowed on. The rider would go down a gentle slope on a cart that was pretty small and they would then go through a small metal circle. This ride was operating for about twenty seasons, but then went out of fashion. These original rides inspired and changed the rollercoaster industry forever.