450 



HISTORY OF PASADENA. 



' ' Half a dozen years ago Prof. lyowe came to this city to seek rest and 

 recuperation which its climate and inspiring surroundings promised. Feel- 

 ing rejuvenated after some months residence, he began to explore the 

 neighboring mountains, for he was born and spent his boyhood days on the 

 flanks of the White mountains of New Hamphire and acquired an absorbing 

 and legitimate passion for mountain scenery. * * At last he formed the 

 determination to give his friends and neighbors an opportunity to share with 

 him the magnificent new scenes visible from the summits of the Sierra Madre 

 mountains. * * He placed surveyors in the field to locate a feasible 

 route to the summit of a range higher than Mt. Wilson. They reported it 

 insurmountable for railway purposes. Prof. lyOwe had been accustomed to 

 overcome what to others seemed insuperable obstacles. Nothing daunted by 

 adverse reports, he studied the topography of the mountain range himself, 

 and ascertained that if he could scale the steep promontory now so well 

 known as Echo Mountain, a practicable grade could be projected thence to 

 the highest summit. By a bold stroke of genius he made the very impedi- 

 ment placed in his path by nature contribute to a brilliant success. He 

 devised the electric cable incline, the only one in the world, by means of 

 which five miles of grading was saved to the company and an hour's time to 

 the traveler. Special machinery had to be planned for the enterprise ; and 

 numerous drawings were made, and altered, and revised, until at last the 

 company secured just what was wanted." 



Two days after this Pasadena celebration, the lyos Angeles Chamber of 

 Commerce testified its appreciation of the Mount I^owe Railway, as a mag- 

 nificent project of lasting benefit to t^os Angeles and all Southern Cali- 

 fornia, by giving a grand banquet in Prof. lyowe's honor at Redondo. 



HONORS AND WEALTH ALL 

 FAIRLY WON. 



■ In an article on Prof. Lowe's 

 career the Sa?i Diego News con- 

 densed into good form, the four 

 great inventions upon which his 

 well-earned fame securely rests, 

 and I quote it here as a proper 

 part of this historic narrative : 



1. He originated and organ- 

 ized the balloon corps of the U. 

 S. army, which did such efficient 

 service during the war of the 



( rebellion. By his method tele- 

 graphic communication between 

 the balloon and the earth was 

 established, so that the move- 

 ments of the enemy were imme- 

 diately known at headquarters, 

 even during the progress of battle. 



2. He is the inventor of the 

 Compression System of artificially 



PROF. T. S. C. LOWE — 1i 



