GENERAL VIEW OF THE MOUNT LOWE RAILWAY.
From a painting by Gardner Symons.
In the second instance the bridges were built on the same incline as the balance of the grade, in one instance the upper end being one hundred feet higher than the lower in a length of 200 feet. It was, however, in the construction of the circular bridge that the most radical departure from the usual rules of bridge construction was taken. At that point it was necessary for the track to swing around a spur of the mountain, making a circle about 400 feet, with a diameter of 150 feet across and on one side a deep canyon had to be bridged. This was accomplished by the construction of a circular bridge built on a grade of 4-1/2 per cent. Many engineers would have declared that a car could not be run over such a structure, but it was so carefully and scientifically built that cars are run over it with as much ease and safety as over any other portion of the road. Stoppages are often made upon it and the start is again made without any strain upon either the bridge or car.
On other portions of the Alpine divisions loops are made around the heads of great canyons, and the track turns upon itself in such a maze that in one place nine different tracks can be counted on the mountain side, each successively reaching a higher altitude, all the bridges along the line conforming to the curvings and twistings of the track.
Near Mount Lowe Springs and Alpine Tavern. March, 1896. Three Quarters of an Hour from Orange Blossoms and Roses.
[Alpine Club House. "Hanging of the Crane."]
Harrison Gray Otis, the able veteran editor of the Los Angeles Daily Times, describes the opening of the mountain club house, called "Ye Alpine Tavern," on December 14, 1895, in the following manner:
"As was reported in yesterday's Times, the recently completed extension of the Mount Lowe Railway to the new 'Alpine Tavern'—five miles beyond the Echo Mountain House, and 5,000 feet above sea level—was made the occasion of an interesting celebration last Saturday. A hundred visitors or more from Los Angeles, Pasadena and abroad accepted the hospitality of the indomitable builder, and made the trip over the new line. It was a happy journey, a fortuitous occasion. The day was all that is implied in the term, 'a December day in Southern California.' A glorious southern sun shone straight down, flooding the scene with warmth and light. The air was limpid, thin, bright and bracing, and the spirits of the party rose as the electric chariot bore them on toward the summit, under the inspiration of a ride, the unique character of which can be found nowhere else on the foot-stool.