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Historical Notes

At the turn of the century, a famous Pacific Electric excursion was the Mt. Lowe trip. From Los Angeles, sightseers took a Pasadena car to Altadena and Rubio Canyon. They then transferred to a cable car on the Incline Railway that went up a 62% grade to Echo Mountain. From there they would take a narrow-gauge trolley car winding its way up the rugged San Gabriel Mtns. and finally would arrive at Alpine Tavern on Mt. Lowe, a nearly 7 mile railway ride from the base of the mountain. The views were spectacular and on most days Catalina Island, over 60 miles away, could be clearly be seen.

In 1892, Thaddeus Sobieski Coulincourt Lowe, also known as Professor T. S. C. Lowe, founded the Mount Lowe project and Mount Lowe Railway. Oak Mountain, a 6,100 foot peak behind Echo Mountain, was renamed Mount Lowe in his honor. The rail system was engineered by David J. Macpherson and completed in 1893.

Historical Notes

The Great Incline cable mechanism was engineered by Andrew Smith Hallidie of San Francisco cable car fame. It climbed 2,200 feet with approximately 6,000 feet of cable spliced into a complete loop which raised and lowered the cars of the Incline.

Historical Notes

Early Pasadenans always had a dream of a scenic mountain railroad to the crest of the San Gabriel Mountains. It was one David J. Macpherson, a civil engineer graduate of Cornell University, who had the general plans for just such a railroad. He was introduced to Prof. Lowe with the idea of joining Macpherson’s plans and Lowe’s money together in one venture.

Historical Notes

In 1891, Lowe and Macpherson incorporated the Pasadena & Mount Wilson Railroad (later the Mount Lowe Railway). Unable to obtain all the rights of way to Mt. Wilson, the two men redirected their railway toward Oak Mountain via the Echo promontory. The difference between this and any other scenic mountain railway of its kind was that it was an all-electric traction trolley (streetcar), the only one of its kind to ever exist. Oak Mountain was later renamed Mount Lowe, and to make it official, Andrew McNally, the co-founder of the map printing company Rand McNally who had moved to Altadena, had the name Mt. Lowe printed on all his maps.

Historical Notes

Over its 45 years of existence, it is estimated that some 3 million people had ridden the railway, many coming from all parts of the country and the world. In its own inimitable way, it was a Disneyland of the day. A publication which emanated from the Tavern daily was the Echo which included the names and home states of the daily arrivals. The four page tabloid had three pages of biographical information on the railroad and other announcements of daily events.

Historical Notes

Construction of the Great Incline of the Mt. Lowe Railway began in December 1891 under the direction of Thaddeus Lowe and chief engineer David J. Macpherson. The project faced significant challenges, including the need for extensive blasting through the rocky terrain of Rubio Canyon, which delayed progress for months. By September 1892, the first leg of the railway reached the mouth of Rubio Canyon, but the final mile to the incline platform proved to be the most difficult, requiring nine bridges and substantial excavation work.

Historical Notes

Building the Incline proved to be one of the most difficult tasks of the railway's construction. Just above the bottom a ridge of the mountain intersected the right-of-way, and on its upper side lay a deep canyon. Both of these obstacles had to be surmounted before a single tie could be laid. It required eight long months to cut a grade through the ridge, which was called Granite Gorge.

Historical Notes

When work began on the Great Incline the grades were so steep that no mule could be flogged enough into negotiating it. Materials were carried up the hill on the back of laborers. Grading became a particular problem. It was impossible to dispose of the rubble removed from the gorge downhill as it would have quickly filled up the canyon and inundated the spot where the loading platform was to be located. Gangs of laborers were set to work hand carrying the debris upward 50 yards, where it was dumped down a side canyon.

Historical Notes

Prior to the opening of the incline on July 4, 1893, quite a bit of grading and preparation had to be done to Echo Mountain. The pack burros in the foreground hauled everything up the hill including barrels of water, nails, and lumber until a windlass could be installed to drag things up the rough cut of where the incline would be installed.

Historical Notes

The Mount Lowe Railway opened officially on July 4, 1893. Up to this point there was only one means of public transportation from the valleys below to the hillside community of Altadena. It was the Los Angeles Terminal Railway which by this time was running from Terminal Island in San Pedro to Mountain Junction. Initially the trains ran only twice a day but that would increase to several times a day once Henry Huntington of the Pacific Electric Railway acquired the Mt. Lowe Railway in 1902.

Historical Notes

At the Rubio division terminus, a broad platform was built to span the Canyon which included the Rubio Pavilion, a 12-room hotel, with dining facilities and other amenities. The pavilion also consisted of power generating facilities utilizing Pelton waterwheels. Water was made available from reservoirs built in the canyon’s streams, though water was not always plentiful year round.

Historical Notes

The Mt. Lowe Rwy. installed the stairs to allow visitors to visit the canyon's many waterfalls. The sign seen at lower right instructs visitors not to climb on the canyon walls.

Historical Notes

As part of the entertainment experience, Lowe had a series of stairways and bridges built over the streams and waterfalls that emanated from the canyon. The eleven waterfalls were individually named and today exist as local historical landmarks.

Historical Notes

Visitors were lifted up the incline railway in the elegant opera-box cars known as the White Chariots.

Note that the tracks consist of three rails instead of the customary four. One car going up uses a side rail and middle rail. Another car coming down uses the middle rail and the other side rail. Farther up toward the center of the tracks the two cars passed each other on a widened section.

While funiculars were usually considered to require four rails, two for the ascending car, and two for the descending car, there was not enough room to widen the grade to accommodate four rails. Overnight the inventive Thaddeus Lowe came up with a plan to only use four rails where the cars pass each other and three rails on the upper and lower ends of the run, whereby the cars shared the center rail. The ingenious three-railed funicular not only fit, but it also reduced the amount of required materials. This three-railed design has been applied in other places as well (e.g. Angels Flight).

Historical Notes

Atop Echo Mountain there was the 40-room Echo Chalet which was ready for opening day in 1893 (not seen in this view). The famous Victorian-style 80 room Echo Mountain House would be built one year later in 1894.

Historical Notes

The incline grade changed three times from a steep 62% grade at the base to a gentler 48% grade at the top, but the cars were designed to comfortably adjust to the differences in grade. The incline was also equipped with a safety cable which ran through an emergency braking mechanism under each car and provided an emergency stopping of the cars within 15 feet should a failure of the main cable occur.

Historical Notes

By November 1894 the stately, 70-room, Victorian-style Echo Mountain House had opened at the top of the Incline. The hotel featured two two-story wings adjoined by a grand lobby, and a dining room wing which reached to the rear overlooking Castle Canyon. The rest of Echo Mountain consisted of a working astronomical observatory, which housed a 16-inch telescope, dormitories, power generating stations and the "Incline Powerhouse" which powered the cables for the Great Incline funicular. The entire group of buildings was painted white and thus was referred to as "White City." Even the “opera box” cable cars were white and could be seen from afar ferrying up and down the hill.

Historical Notes

The great Cable Incline was 3,000 feet in length over a maximum grade of 62 percent and a direct ascent of 1,325 feet to Echo Mountain, an altiitude of 3,500 feet. 

Historical Notes

The 70-room Echo Mountain Hotel was incomplete when the railway was first opened in 1893, but was finished a year later (1894).

Historical Notes

In addition to the 70-room Echo Mountain House (Hotel) seen above, there was the 40-room Echo Chalet, an observatory, car barns, dormitories, repair facilities, and a casino/dance hall. A kitchen fire destroyed the Echo Mountain House in 1900.

Historical Notes

Each car, weighing around 11,900 lbs, could seat approximately 30 passengers and was built to be robust enough to handle challenging terrain. To ensure safe operation on the steep incline, the cars were equipped with special trucks, safety clutch brakes, and were attached to an endless steel cable capable of handling up to 100 tons, although the cars themselves were never loaded to exceed 5 tons.

Historical Notes

At the top of the incline was perched Charles Lawrence, the official photographer, on a special scaffold from which he would take pictures of the arriving visitors. For 25 cents visitors could purchase a souvenir photo of their arrival on the incline car, with everyone else aboard, of course. George Wharton James, Lowe’s publicist, had his own publication which touted the railway in its conception, construction and operation.

Historical Notes

The backside of the Mt. Lowe Historical and Descriptive Souvenir Photo reads: 

The Mt. Lowe Division of the Pacific Electric Railway, for safety, speed and comfort, is foremost amongst the scenic mountain railways of the world, offering to the pleasure seeker an ideal trip for sight-seeing and recreation surpassed by none.  Originated and built by Prof. T. S. C. Lowe and opened to the public July 4th, 1893, on which date the first White Chariot ascended the great Cable Incline, 3,000 feet in length over a maximum grade of 62 percent and a direct ascent of 1,325 feet to Echo Mountain, an altiitude of 3,500 feet.  Here the incline machinery is located and open to the inspection of the public.  Here also is located the 3,000,000 candle power searchlight and the Great Lowe Observatory.  The safety appliances, among which may be mentioned the great tensile strength of the pulling cable, tested to a strain of 100 tons, whereas the actual load never exceeds five tons.  The secondary, or safety cable with its automatic devices, the speed indicator and automatic brakes, combined with extreme operative care, provide that security of travel attested by the fact that no accident has ever marred the history of its operation.  From Echo Mountain extending five miles through the Sierra Madre mountains the trolley winds its way up Mt. Lowe to Alpine Tavern.  The line, a marvel of engineering and creative skill, entailing the construction of 20 bridges and 127 curves, winding its way to Alpine Tavern 1,100 feet below the summit of Mt. Lowe.  The Tavern is open every day of the year and first-class meals are furnished at reasonable rates, also good comfortable accomodations by the day or week.  Here one can rest in the quietness of the surroundings or find enjoyment in feeding the friendly birds and squirrels of the forest or ascend the summit on horse-back and from an altitude of 6,100 feet view mountains, valley and sea, an inspiring sight indeed.

Pacific Electric Ry Co. owned and operated the Mt. Lowe railroad system from 1902 until it closed in 1938. Click HERE to read more.

Historical Notes

Atop Echo Mt. stood the magnificent 70-room Victorian hotel, the Echo Mountain House. Only a few hundred feet away stood the 40-room Echo Chalet which was ready for opening day. The complement of buildings on Echo included an astronomical observatory, car barns, dormitories and repair facilities, a casino and dance hall, and a menagerie of local fauna. Passengers could then transfer to another trolley line, the Alpine Division, which would take them to the upper terminus at Crystal Springs and Ye Alpine Tavern, a 22-room Swiss Chalet hospice with a complement of amenities from tennis courts, to wading pools, to mule rides.

Historical Notes

Completed in the fall of 1894, the Echo Mountain House was a marvel. The four-story Victorian building was marked by a tall, cylindrical tower and capped by a metal dome and a huge American flag. The bright white exterior was marked by a long row of windows on each floor. At the building’s entrance, two sweeping verandas looked off across the canyons and the valley.

Historical Notes

The interior of the hotel was extravagant, with detailed wood inlay, the finest floral-patterned carpet and handmade furniture throughout. There were seventy guest rooms, large areas for office space, a massive social hall and dining room, a souvenir shop, a Western Union office, a bowling alley, a billiard room, a barbershop and a shoeshine stand.

Historical Notes

Echo Mountain House was built in 1894 and burned down in a fire in 1900.

Historical Notes

The zoo structure consisted of cages where squirrels, bobcats, hawks, owls, foxes, and even a bear could be found.

Historical Notes

The Echo Phone was used by visitors to project their voice from behind the Echo Mountain House on the Mount Lowe Railway. It still exists today.

Historical Notes

Buildings at Echo Mountain, reached by the Mount Lowe Railway, included the Echo Mountain House, a 70-room hotel at an elevation of approximately 3500 ft., the 40-room Echo Chalet, the observatory, car barns, dormitories, repair facilities, and a casino/dance hall. A kitchen fire destroyed the Echo Mountain House in 1900. The observatory was commissioned by Thaddeus Lowe in 1893 and continued in operation until 1928 when a storm damaged the dome.*

Historical Notes

All of the buildings on the mountain, including the Chateau, were painted the same brilliant white. “The White City,” as it was called, included the Echo Mountain House, a dance hall, a petting zoo, a post office, tennis courts and, to Lowe’s scientific delight, an observatory.

Historical Notes

Prof. Lowe’s success was greatly drawn from his nationally renowned process of generating large amounts of hydrogen gas. He had built a gas plant in Pasadena and had piped the gas some eight miles to the top of Echo Mt. where there was a storage container seen in the above photo. The technology, mainly used for heating and lighting, was soon replaced by electricity.

Click HERE to see Prof. Lowe's Biography.

Historical Notes

Prof. Lowe installed a 16-inch telescope and observatory on Echo, as he was a patron of the astronomical arts. He even sought to have the Mount Lowe Railway considered the astronomical center of the San Gabriels. He was even able to enlist astronomer Dr. Lewis Swift, whose reputation preceded him.

Historical Notes

Lewis A. Swift was a world-renown famous astronomer who discovered a number of comets over his lifetime.  Lowe invited Swift and his astronomical equipment to be the head of the new Mount Lowe Observatory. Lowe wanted the best of everything – and having Swift on top of Echo Mountain was considered by Southern Californians as quite a coup. Swift would give evening lectures open to the ticket buying visitors and he would bring and use his 16 inch refractor telescope was used in many of his past discoveries.

Given the heavens not yet being disturbed by city lights, Swift was able to discover some 95 new nebulae from the Echo vantage point.

Historical Notes

After astronomer Dr. Swift’s eyesight began failing him, ca. 1900, a second astronomer was hired to oversee the observatory, Prof. Edgar Lucien Larkin (1847–1925). Though he was not as prominent as Prof. Swift, he did stay with the Mount Lowe Observatory until his sudden death in 1925.

Historical Notes

Lowe purchased a three million candlepower searchlight from the Columbian Exposition held in Chicago in 1893.The light was installed on Echo in 1894. So powerful was the light, that a claim by Lowe's publicist, George Wharton James, stated that he could read a newspaper by the beam of the light coming through his hotel window on Catalina Island. Exaggeration or not, the beam from the light did have a 35-mile projection. Residents announcing their birthdays could have the light shone on their homes in the evening. It was also known to stir up a corral of horses, invade lovers’ privacy, and interrupt an evening’s revival meeting. By the 1930s the light was considered a public nuisance and was shut off permanently.*^

Historical Notes

This is at the time of the old powerhouse, when the searchlight was mounted on its own pedestal nearby.  After the fire of 1905,  a new powerhouse was built and a new search light mounted on top of it.

Historical Notes

The Echo Mountain Powerhouse was erected to house the control room and the winding motor and gear works which powered the nine foot diameter grip wheel which in turn pulled the incline cable.

Historical Notes

The Incline is controlled by turning the crank in the operator's right hand which passes a connection over a series of contact points set in a granite base seen at the second level of the device [white arrow]; this action progressively increases the speed of the Incline machinery.

Historical Notes

Powered by the powerhouse (seen in previous photo), the nine foot diameter grip wheel consisted of 72 clamping “finger” mechanisms which bit down on the cable creating a smooth, non-slip actuation of the winding cable.*^

Historical Notes

A third division, the Alpine Division, was begun in 1894 and took a lengthy stretch of narrow gauge track across three canyons to the foot of Mount Lowe (formerly Oak Mountain). The line ran from alongside the incline landing where passengers could transfer directly to the next trolley. There were three trains available on this line, but the limited electrical power only allowed one at a time to travel.*^

Historical Notes

The Mt. Lowe Railway consisted of nearly seven miles of track starting in Altadena at a station called Mountain Junction. The railway climbed the steep Lake Avenue and crossed the Poppy fields into the Rubio Canyon. This part of the trip was called the Mountain Division. At this juncture stood the Rubio Pavilion, a small 12-room hotel. From there the passengers transferred to a cable car funicular which climbed the Great Incline to the top of the Echo Mountain promontory.

Atop Echo stood the magnificent 70-room Victorian hotel, the Echo Mountain House. Only a few hundred feet away stood the 40-room Echo Chalet. The complement of buildings on Echo included an astronomical observatory, car barns, dormitories and repair facilities, a casino and dance hall, and a menagerie of local fauna. Passengers could then transfer to another trolley line, the Alpine Division, which would take them to the upper terminus at Crystal Springs and Ye Alpine Tavern, a 22-room Swiss Chalet hospice with a complement of amenities from tennis courts, to wading pools, to mule rides. This phase of tracks cut through the broad Las Flores Canyon which gave a tremendous panorama of the Los Angeles area below. At one point a tall trestle was required to bridge a broad and deep chasm with a bridge so named High Bridge.*^

Historical Notes

From Echo Mountain extending five miles through the Sierra Madre mountains the trolley wound its way up Mt. Lowe to Alpine Tavern. The line entailed the construction of 20 bridges and 127 curves, winding its way to Alpine Tavern 1,100 feet below the summit of Mt. Lowe.

Historical Notes

The Mt. Lowe Circular Bridge, also known as the Alpine Trestle, was a remarkable engineering feat located in the San Gabriel Mountains. It was a key feature of the historic Mount Lowe Railway, an electric railway that operated from 1893 to 1938.

Mt. Lowe Railway Changes Ownership

For the seven years during which Thaddeus Lowe owned and operated the railway, it constantly ran into hard times. For one, its location was off the beaten path of the common traveler with little means of transportation up to the Altadena hillside. For another, fares did not cover the cost of continuous construction done on money borrowed at 10½% interest, and the opening day fare of $5.00 would not remain attractive to the greater public.

Lowe went into receivership one or two times before losing the railway to Jared S. Torrance (founder of the city of Torrance) in 1899. The tiny railway was purchased at auction by a Mr. Valentine Payton of Danville, Illinois who, after only 14 months, sold it to Henry Huntington of the Pacific Electric Railway in 1902. Huntington operated it as a fringe venture the rest of its days alongside his expansive Red Car system that covered the greater Los Angeles and Orange County areas.*^

Shortly after Henry Huntington of the Pacific Electric Railway acquired the Mt. Lowe Railway in 1902, he replaced the original open-aired trolleys with the ones as seen above.

Historical Notes

The automobile must have been taken up on the back of an incline car, as there were no auto roads in the vicinity at the time. A fire road reaches this spot today.

Historical Notes

Ye Alpine Tavern was the end-of-the-line for the Mount Lowe Railway at the foot of Mount Lowe. It was renamed The Mount Lowe Tavern in 1925, and was burned down in September 1936.*^

Historical Notes

Some of the signage is quite clear due to the quality of the image, including a sign for “Pony Trip to the Summit of Mount Lowe, with guide, time about two hours, tickets, $1.00, apply at hotel office.” The next sign reads, “Saddle Horses for Hire, Inquire at Hotel Office.” Note the porcelain “Long Distance Telephone” flange sign attached to the left fork of the tree, and the Mount Lowe Post Office sign behind on the larger tree, where is also states, “Alpine 5,000 Feet.” The two uniformed railway employees look on and just past the stairway to the entrance is “Ye Alpine Shoppe” where tourists and guests could purchase Mount Lowe souvenirs. The big log, buried in the ground at the end of the tracks, along with the heavy chain, was the terminus of the Alpine Division and where the trolley cars would be chained up to prevent any unwanted movement of the equipment.**^

Historical Notes

One of the only images of Thaddeus Lowe Jr.’s son, William Emmert Lowe as he stands in front of Alpine Tavern alone. Although he died in 1913 at a young age, his sister Florence made quite a name for herself, both literally and figuratively, as Pancho Barnes, who broke Amelia Earhart’s air speed record in 1930.^#

Historical Notes

The quote on the beam above the fireplace has been attributed to Thaddeus Lowe, but as it turns out Lowe borrowed it from Ralph Waldo Emerson.^#

Historical Notes

Part of the charm around the Mt. Lowe sites was the grand display of nature and hiking trails, plus a mule ride that took guests around a trail referred to as the Mount Lowe Eight. The trail made a large figure eight traverse of Mt. Lowe and Mount Echo starting and ending at the Alpine Tavern without ever crossing the same terrain twice.*^

Historical Notes

The man seen in the above photo is Leroy McVey who founded McVey Hardware in Temple City.

Historical Notes

Beyond Alpine Tavern, there were a number of activities to participate in, on top of Mount Lowe.  Just a short walk from Alpine Tavern is Inspiration Point, which was completed in 1925.  From there one could get some spectacular panorama views of the valley below.

Historical Notes

Inspiration Point at an elevation of 5,080 feet, consists of a shade shelter with viewing tubes looking out to various Los Angeles landmarks and neighborhoods.

Historical Notes

In 1919, Ed Tobin built a cabin on the outskirts of Alpine Tavern, just past Inspiration Point. While hauling all those materials out to that point, Tobin realized that it would be easier to move the materials along a light rail line, and perhaps after the cabin materials had been moved he could haul passengers out to Morning Glory Point, overlooking Eaton Canyon.  He could also charge a nominal fee, and thus create an income for himself. ^#

Historical Notes

Ed Tobin had the OM&M line in limited operation by early 1920s and a mule was put into service to operate the car. Common belief was that “Herbert” the mule pushed the car out along the right of way to prevent dust from being kicked up on the passengers.^#

Historical Notes

Ed Tobin kept a cabin in this area, where he lived for several years. When his son, Joe, was born, they moved to Alhambra, a suburb of Los Angeles. At that time Tobin sold the enterprise to a Swede named Ed Zetterwall.  The OM&M Railway continued to operate until sometime in 1935, just before the demise of the Tavern and the Mount Lowe Incline Railway, in 1936.

Historical Notes

Pacific Electric Railway rebuilt the cars used on the Great Cable Incline to include a roof on the top deck. These cars, stripped to their floors, were last used to carry salvage in 1938, when the Mt. Lowe line was scrapped.*#

Historical Notes

A series of natural disasters ate away at the facilities, the first of which was a kitchen fire that destroyed the Echo Mountain House in 1900. A 1905 fire destroyed the rest of the Echo buildings except for the observatory and the astronomer's cabin. In 1909 a flash flood tore out the Rubio Pavilion. In 1928 a gale force wind toppled the observatory. And in 1936 an electrical fire wiped out the Tavern.*^

Historical Notes

The Mount Lowe Railway was officially abandoned in 1938 after a horrendous rain washed most everything off the mountain sides. Today, the ruins of Mount Lowe Railway remain as a monument to a once-ever experienced enterprise. It was placed on the National Register of Historical Places on January 6, 1993.*^

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