[2] Knott tried farming again in 1917 near Shandon, California—growing produce to feed the employees of a cattle ranch and selling the excess supply for his own profit.

This enterprise proved to be more successful, as Knott and Cordelia made enough money to pay off all his debts and had become a major supplier of produce for the area.

[2] In 1920, Knott went into a partnership with one of his cousins, berry grower Jim Preston, to farm 20 acres of land in Buena Park, California.

[2] At the end of their original lease in 1927, Parsons decided to go off on his own and Knott purchased the Buena Park farm from his landlord, William H.

[3] The previous year, Knott had secured cuttings from Boysen's dilapidated berry plant—which was a cross between a blackberry, red raspberry and loganberry—and planted and cultivated it at his own farm.

[4] To entertain the waiting chicken restaurant crowds, Knott built several roadside attractions, exhibits and shops, culminating in the building of a western ghost town on the property in 1940.

[8][9] On December 3, 1981, just eight days shy of his 92nd birthday, Walter Knott died from complications of Parkinson's disease at his home in Buena Park, California.

Smucker Co. owns the "Knott's Berry Farm" brand of jams, jellies, and snack foods—which Sumcker purchased from ConAgra Foods in 2008.

Knott was active in a variety of conservative causes, including founding the California Free Enterprise Assistance and endowing various private schools and colleges.

[18] Through his time as a struggling farmer and businessman during the Great Depression, Knott became a firm believer in rugged individualism—that anyone could be successful through hard work, and any form of government intervention was wrong.

[19] Because of his interest in American pioneer history, Knott purchased and restored the real silver mining ghost town of Calico, California in 1951.