Mount Lowe Railway - the guided tour

This is a complete trail of Mount Lowe. To the Echo Mountain House hotel, the Alpine Tavern and Inspiration Point.

For more information, please visit the sites below ↓

The Scenic Mt. Lowe Railway Historical Committee
www.mtlowe.co
[to volunteer and gain exclusive access to Mount Lowe]

Mount Lowe Preservation Society, Inc.
www.mountlowe.org
www.mountlowe.org/bookstore
www.facebook.com/mountlowe
[exclusive pictures, postcards and memorabilia by Michael Patris]

Land ~ Sea Discovery Group
www.e-adventure.net
www.aaaim.com/Echo
[wonderful tales published in the "Echo Mountain Echoes" by Jake Brouwer]

Lance S. Ferm's website (great-great grandson of Professor Lowe)
www.thaddeuslowe.name
[excellent source of material of the History of Mount Lowe]

Pacific Electric Railway Historical Society
www.pacificelectric.org
[source of pictures from Mount Lowe]

www.e-humanity.org
[source of pictures from Mount Lowe]

Timeline of the Scenic Mount Lowe Railway:
1832 -- August 20th, Thaddeus Sobieski Constantine Lowe is born
1887 -- Professor Lowe and wife move to Los Angeles
1890 -- Professor Lowe and wife move to Pasadena
1892 -- Sept. 24th, Oak Mountain was renamed Mount Lowe
1893 -- July 4th, Grand Opening, the Echo Mountain House was later renamed the Chalet when the new Echo Mountain House was built
1894 -- Sept, the Lowe Observatory was opened
1894 -- Nov. 24th, the Echo Mountain House hotel was constructed
1895 -- Dec. 14th, the Alpine Tavern is opened
1899 -- Professor Lowe was broke, railway went to receivership
1902 -- Henry E. Huntington bought the railway
1905 -- Dec. 9th, winds blew power lines together and ignited a fire which burned the two powerhouses, the Chalet and all other buildings except the Observatory, winds blew off roof of casino
1906 -- The Incline Powerhouse was rebuilt with reinforced concrete. The searchlight from the 1893 World's fair is mounted on top
1909 -- Electrical storm, landslide, rock crushes Pavilion
1916 -- April 23rd, first service held at Easter Rock at sunrise
1925 -- Inspiration Point shelter and picnic shelter were built
1928 -- Gale force winds blew down the Observatory
1936 -- Sept 15th, the Alpine Tavern burned down
1937 -- Dec 5th, the railway made its last official run, actually continued til March
1938 -- March, record rains and floods destroyed much of the lines and trestles
1941 -- land was sold to the Angeles National Forest
1949 -- Mar. 10th, the Sierra Club erected monument and bronze plaque in honor of Sam Merrill
1950 -- Late 1950's the two shelters at Inspiration Point were gone...
1959 -- Alpine Tavern ruins were destroyed to allow for construction of Mt. Lowe trail camp
1960 -- Part of the rock at Granite Gate was removed to widen the trail
1962 -- Forest Service removed the remaining buildings on Echo Mountain
1996 -- During summer, volunteers reconstructed the shelters at Inspiration Point

brotherBvideos wishes to thank:
Jake Brouwer • Brian Marcroft • Michael Patris • George & Rachel Rios