The Railway opened on July 4, 1893, and consisted of nearly seven miles (11 km) of track starting in Altadena, California, at a station called Mountain Junction.

Other buildings on Echo Mountain included an astronomical observatory, car barns, dormitories, repair facilities, a casino and dance hall, and a menagerie of local fauna.

The railway terminal, called Mountain Junction, was located at the corner of Lake Avenue and Calaveras Street in the unincorporated community of Altadena.

Since this part of the line ran through the upper end of the residential community, it had station stops at Newkirk (Las Flores), Poppyfields, Hygeia (recovery hospital), and Roca before entering the Rubio Canyon.

[7] From this platform[8] passengers could transfer to a 3 ft 6 in (1,067 mm) narrow-gauge, three-railed inclined-plane railway,[9] the "Great Incline," and ascend Echo Mountain (elevation 3,250 feet [990 m]).

There was also a trolley repair building and pit, observation decks at various spots, trails that could be hiked up and down the mountain and into the Alpine regions, tennis courts, stables and a zoo.

4,995 ft or 1,522 m) for a stream of water that poured from the hillside, and it was here that the last of the hotels, the 12-room Swiss-style chalet, "Ye Alpine Tavern," was built.

1854, Ontario, Canada), a civil engineer from Cornell University and a newcomer to Pasadena (1885), proposed a steam driven cog wheel train to reach the crest via Mount Wilson.

Blasting into the Rubio Canyon began in September 1892,[13] three months before the establishment of the San Gabriel Timberland Reserve (now Angeles National Forest).

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.

[citation needed] A great feat of engineering was realized with a trestle that was built to negotiate a 150-foot-deep (46 m) granite chasm across 250 feet (76 m) of track on a 62% grade.

At the Echo summit an incline powerhouse was erected to house the winding motor and gear works which powered the 9-foot-diameter (2.7 m) grip wheel.

"[18] By November 1894 the 80-room Victorian "Echo Mountain House" was completed as a luxury facility to rival the Hotel Del Coronado in San Diego.

[20] ("It could be noted that in an earlier 1892 plan, Charles William Eliot President of Harvard University sought to have a 40-inch (1,000 mm) telescope put on Mt.

However, the project benefactor died without leaving a trust, and the whole plan failed, and of course Lowe's train didn't end up going to Mt.

Echo Mountain also sported a menagerie (zoo) which housed several species of local fauna: lynxes, raccoons, snakes, squirrels,[23] and even a black bear.

"[29] From there the rails led deep into Millard Canyon before making a complete turnabout at Horseshoe Curve and heading back to the face of the mountain.

The wooden structure resembled a section of roller coaster offering an awesome sight over the side of the car looking almost 100 feet (30 m) straight down.

At the transition point of Millard and Grand Canyons, construction was met by a large granite crag that required eight months of dynamiting and mucking to allow just enough passage for the narrow-gauge cars.

There in a location called Crystal Springs, Lowe built a 12-room, Swiss chalet styled hotel named "Ye Alpine Tavern."

The Tavern boasted several amenities, such as a wading pool, tennis courts, mule rides, gift shop, restaurant, and a silver fox farm.

George Wharton James, Lowe's publicist, had his own publication which touted the railway in its conception, construction, and operation.

[34] 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 pit 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.

The blaze began when a forceful wind blew the roof from the casino onto the power generating station across the track, setting a fire that razed everything on Echo except the observatory and the astronomer's cabin.

[N 4] In 1909, an unseasonable electrical storm and flash flood destroyed the Rubio Pavilion and buried one of the caretakers’ children in the mud.

Though there was a slight consideration to rebuild, lack of water, poor area for relocation, and the financial burden of construction and insurance left the PE all but giving up on the Mount Lowe Railway.

On January 6, 1993, the Mount Lowe Railway was listed on the National Register of Historic Places, and the Forestry Service dedicated a block of land for the monument that would encompass all the artifacts from the railroad.

Today care of the artifacts and other restorative projects are being carried out by the Scenic Mount Lowe Railway Historical Committee under the leadership of Brian Marcroft and John Harrigan.

The dig is part of Camp's Doctoral thesis and has come about by a grant from Stanford University and is also being coordinated with the Forestry Service.