Mount Wilson Toll Road - The Mt. Wilson Observatories

The Mt. Wilson Observatories

Gradually the Mt. Wilson Toll Road Company acquired control of most of the popular lands on the mountain. In 1896 they acquired both Strain's and Martin's camps, and in 1901 paid the United States Land Office $800 for title to 640 acres (2.6 km2) on the mountain top. In 1904, The Mount Wilson Toll Road Company enlarged its holdings to 1,050 acres (4 km2). The company entered into a 99 year lease with the Carnegie Institution in 1905, providing 40 acres (160,000 m2) of the mountain top for the location of a new observatory, today known as the Mount Wilson Observatory. Those involved with the new observatory were given free use of the toll road and half the water rights on the mountain. In return, the Carnegie Institution agreed that the public would always have access to the observatory.

The Carnegie Observatory renewed interest in Mt. Wilson and attracted sightseers to the mountain top. In 1905, to accommodate the many new visitors, the toll road company constructed a one story hotel with cottages situated around the main building for guests staying overnight. Destroyed by a fire in 1913, the original hotel was replaced by a larger one on the same site which included a large swimming pool.

As new, larger telescopes were designed for the Carnegie Observatory, an automobile roadway became necessary to accommodate the trucks hauling parts up the mountain. In 1907 the trail was widened to ten feet with most of the work being done by hand with the use of Japanese laborers and mule-drawn scrapers. The road was widened to a full 12-foot (4 m) roadway in 1917 to facilitate the transportation of parts for the 100-inch (2,500 mm) Hooker Telescope.

Despite the advertised access for automobiles, the driving public was discouraged from using the toll road. First there was the fear of encountering large freight trucks servicing the observatories, unless drivers phoned ahead up the mountain. Then there were the sharp turns that required most cars to negotiate dangerously precipitous road edges. Mr. L. L. Whitman of Pasadena who made the ascent in his 1907 Franklin said, "Not for five hundred dollar would I make the trip again." For those preferring not to drive, there was the popular Mt. Wilson Stage Line.