Visitors
The Mount Lowe Railway opened officially on July 4, 1893. Folks amassed themselves at the remote Mountain Junction. 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. The trains ran twice a day and, at that, very irregularly, so the only sure means of getting to Altadena on time was by your own horse and buggy. This lack of transportation coupled with Prof. Lowe’s inability to establish any at all would be in part the downfall of the railway.
Nevertheless, 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, a preprinted newspaper with a blank page that had the names and home states of the daily arrivals surprinted. The four page tabloid had three pages of biographical information on the railroad and other announcements of daily events.
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.
On Mount Echo were installed megaphones, called “echophones” which visitors could use to bellow into the back canyons and receive a number of echoes. The “sweet spot” where the most repeaters could be heard had at least nine reverberations of anything that was shouted loud enough. The study of the sweet spot has even been used as boy scout projects.
Along the way in Millard Canyon, a special station stop was made at Dawn Station above the Dawn Mines, an old gold mining operation. The mines were deep in the canyon and visitors stopping off to see the digs spent an exorbitant amount of time getting back to the train. A false adit was dug just a hundred feet below the track to trick people into thinking they had visited the mine and were shortly ready to return to the train.
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.
In 1922 Henry Ford visited the Mount Lowe Railway and returned with a Hollywood filming crew who made a silent film documentary of the trip with the camera mounted on the various cars, including the Great Incline. 618 feet (188 m) of this historic film is available at the Library of Congress.
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Famous quotes containing the word visitors:
“For most visitors to Manhattan, both foreign and domestic, New York is the Shrine of the Good Time. “I don’t see how you stand it,” they often say to the native New Yorker who has been sitting up past his bedtime for a week in an attempt to tire his guest out. “It’s all right for a week or so, but give me the little old home town when it comes to living.” And, under his breath, the New Yorker endorses the transfer and wonders himself how he stands it.”
—Robert Benchley (1889–1945)
“A nap, my friend, is a brief period of sleep which overtakes superannuated persons when they endeavour to entertain unwelcome visitors or to listen to scientific lectures.”
—George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950)
“While the focus in the landscape of Old World cities was commonly government structures, churches, or the residences of rulers, the landscape and the skyline of American cities have boasted their hotels, department stores, office buildings, apartments, and skyscrapers. In this grandeur, Americans have expressed their Booster Pride, their hopes for visitors and new settlers, and customers, for thriving commerce and industry.”
—Daniel J. Boorstin (b. 1914)