446 



HISTORY OF PASADENA. 



In building the Rubio 

 trolly section, there were 

 some points so precipitous 

 that workmen had to be 

 let down and supported by 

 ropes from above for 

 several days, before they 

 could excavate a standing 

 place on the cliff or cut a 

 path along its rocky face ; 

 and it required eight 

 months of steady work, by 

 all the men that could be 

 put on it to advantage, to 

 prepare the Great Incline 

 grade ready for the ties. 

 The first time the Great 

 Incline cable was moved 

 by electricity, being also 

 the first event of its kind 

 in the world, was on June 

 21, 1893. The first regu- 

 lar passenger cars from 

 Altadena to Rubio Pavil- 

 ion were run on June 29 — 

 opening day ; and the first 

 passenger trips made on 

 the Great Incline occurred 

 July 4, 1893.* From this time forward the line was regularly open to 

 Echo Mountain ; and passage from there to summit of Mount lyowe was 

 made by saddle animals. 



November 10, 1893, the Echo Mountain postoffice was authorized, with 

 daily mail service. f Also a public telephone station, an express office and a 

 Notary Public were added to the conveniences. And on Monday, March 

 12th, the Daily Mount Lozve Echo commenced its regular daily issue; a 

 weekly edition was issued on Saturdays, the first one being dated March 17, 



*The Pasadena Daily Star said : " When the first passenger car ascended the great cable incline 

 of the Mount Lowe railway on Saturday the band rendered the music of " Nearer Mv God to Thee ;" 

 and Mrs. Jeanne C Carr, being asked for a sentiment appropriate to the occasion, broke out into poetry 

 as follows : ., p^^jj^g q^^ f^^^ whom all bles'^ings flow, 



And also praise Professor Lowe." 



The Mount Lowe Echo credits Comrade John H. Stuntz with buying the fir.st ticket ever sold to go 

 up the Great Incline. He had been a soldier musician in the loth Pennsylvania Reserves and in the 

 191 Pennsylvania Veterans ; and on this occasion he plaved some war-time tunes on the identical old fife 

 which he was using in the army at the same time that Prof. Lowe was serving as chief aeronaut to the 

 U. S. Army. 



t Postmaster George F. Kernaghan of Pasadena yesterday acted as official representative of the 

 United States government in estal)lishing a postoffice on Echo mountain, with Prof T. S. C. Lowe as 

 postmaster.— Z,oi Angeles Herald, Feb. lo, 18^4. 



THE GREAT INCLINE. 



