Mount Lowe Facts (1936)
The following was presented in a 1936 Pacific Electric fact sheet about Mount Lowe:
The road to Echo Mountain from Lake and Calaveras Streets built between 1892 and 1893
Original construction cost of railway (estimate): $700,000.00
Railway built by Thaddeus S. C. Lowe and engineer David Joseph Macpherson
The Alpine Division from Echo Mountain to Mount Lowe Tavern (Alpine Tavern) built between 1894 and 1895 (3.5 miles)
Mount Lowe Tavern (formerly named Alpine Tavern) opened December 1895
Distance from Los Angeles (Sixth and Main, Pacific Electric Railway station) to Mount Lowe Tavern: .25 miles
Distance from Echo Mountain to Mount Lowe Tavern: 3.5 miles
Length of incline: 3,000 feet
Height of Echo Mountain above Rubio Pavilion: 1,300 feet
Elevation above sea level – Los Angeles: 128 feet
Elevation above sea level – Rubio Pavilion: 1,950 feet
Elevation above sea level – Echo Mountain: 3,200 feet
Elevation above sea level – Mount Lowe Tavern: 4,420 feet
Elevation above sea level – Summit of Mount Lowe: 5,650 feet
Grade of railway incline: variable 48% to 62%
Strength of incline cable: tested to 100 tons
Greatest load ever imposed: 7 tons
Curves in railway from Echo Mountain to Mount Lowe Tavern…127
Bridges crossed: 18
Most number of tracks seen looking up and down mountain at one point: 7
Longest piece of straight track from Echo Mountain to Mount Lowe Tavern: 225 feet
Searchlight on Echo Mountain candle power: 3,000,000
Searchlight on Echo Mountain diameter of lens: 5 feet
Searchlight on Echo Mountain distance of visibility: 70 to 100 miles
Searchlight lens thickness: 3-1/4” at edge and 1/16th at center
Searchlight weight of lens, ring and cover: 1,600 pounds
Points of interest on the Alpine Division of the Mount Lowe Railway included Dawn Station (the trail to the Dawn Gold Mine), Devil’s Slide (remnants of a miniature avalanche), Horseshoe Curve (shaped like a horseshoe), Live Oak Grove, Circular Bridge (a circle of 400 feet with a diameter of 150 feet, built on a grade of 4-1/2%), Grand Canyon (3,000 feet deep and 1-1/4 mile across), Granite Gate (the toughest vein of granite known to man), Proposal Arbor and Inspiration Point (4,500 feet above the San Gabriel Valley).