Mount Lowe railway construction

PROFESSOR THADDEUS LOWE

MOUNT LOWE RAILWAY

Railway Construction

Tracklaying had progressed from Mountain Junction to the mouth of the canyon by late September of 1892. All the ties, stringers and rails required for the final mile of the Rubio Canyon section had been hauled up to the site of the first bridge, and deposited in huge piles. Once the grading was accomplished and the foundation installed for a bridge, the laying of timber was a simple matter and required only a few days by a crew of four men. As each trestle was built, it was planked over so that a team of horses could pull the construction gondola to the site of the next one. In all, nine bridges plus the Incline loading platform were required in the final 5,000 feet. The first of these, a small structure spanning a deep ravine, was named "Las Flores Bridge." Difficult construction work and the large outlay required for material such as trestle timber placed a heavy drain on the Professor's personal fortune. While the right-of-way was being pushed into Rubio Canyon, grading for the cableway had already begun. Incline construction was underway by April 12, 1892, with D.J. Macpherson taking personal charge. Since the line into the canyon was nowhere near completion, all supplies had to be packed in by burro. Mount Lowe, The Railway in the Clouds, page 37.

View of Great Incline Under Construction from Altadena

National Air and Space Museum of the Smithsonian Institute - Donated by Lance S. Ferm in 2011

Building the Incline proved to be one of the most difficult tasks of the railway's construction. Just above the bottom a ridge of the mountain intersected the right-of-way, and on its upper side lay a deep canyon. Both of these obstacles had to be surmounted before a single tie could be laid. It required eight long months to cut a grade through the ridge, which was called Granite Gorge. During that time every available man was kept busy. It was impossible to dispose of the rubble removed from the gorge downhill as it would have quickly filled up the canyon and inundated the spot where the loading platform was to be located. Gangs of laborers were set to work hand carrying the debris upward 50 yards, where it was dumped down a side canyon. Once the cut was completed the problem remained of crossing the 40-foot deep canyon to its upper side. The problem was finally resolved with a bridge that was one of the engineering marvels of its time. It was over 200 feet long, and stood 114 feet higher on its upper end. All of the cement required for its foundations had to be taken up on the backs of the workmen, as no amount of flogging could induce even a single burro to negotiate the 62 percent grade of the roadbed. Mount Lowe, The Railway in the Clouds, pages 39, 41.