USA > California > Los Angeles County > Pasadena > History of Pasadena, comprising an account of the native Indian, the early Spanish, the Mexican, the American, the colony, and the incorporated city, occupancies of the Rancho San Pasqual, and its adjacent mountains, canyons, waterfalls and other objects of interest: being a complete and comprehensive histo-cyclopedia of all matters pertaining to this region > Part 54
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first street car ride in Pasadena. The cars, which are handsomely lettered " Pasadena and Raymond," were decorated with flags, and as they were drawn out of the stable made a fine appearance. All who could be com- fortably seated took the cars, which run down to the South Pasadena end of the line, and then up to the present terminus, opposite the Grand Hotel. On arriving here the party and cars were photographed by E. S. Frost & Son, after which all were served a dinner at the Grand Hotel. Following this, remarks were made by H. J. Holmes, S. Townsend, P. M. Green, H. J. Vail, G. E. Meharry, Williel Thomson, M. M. Parker, J. E. Clarke, E. C. Webster, Dr. G. Roscoe Thomas, Mr. Muchmore, and A. O. Porter. The cars commenced regular trips on the day of the opening, and the rumbling of the wheels and sound of the bell adds to our already metropoli- tan airs. The officers of the line are Stephen Townsend, president ; R. Williams, vice-president ; P. G. Wooster, secretary ; P. M. Green, treas- urer ; and Williel Thomson, superintendent."
The company's business during the first year amounted to $2,470; but its last year, 1893, the amount was only about $1,600. In 1894 the property and franchises of the company were sold to the Pasadena and Los Angeles Electric Railway Company, for about $14,000, and was incorporated with that system of electric lines as now in operation-1895.
THE COLORADO STREET R. R. LINE.
On October 15, 1885-five days after the date of S. Townsend's original street railroad franchise-the county board gave a grant to H. W. Magee and Geo. E. Meharry for their projected line; and the Union of October 23d said : "Messrs. Magee and Meharry of the Colorado street railway line inform us that the road will be commenced within the three months pro- vided in the franchise." And it was ; for they bought a few rails and ties somewhere, and put down about 200 feet of track, then covered it up to hatch. And the first chicken that openly peeped from this particular street railroad incubator appeared in the Union of March 26, 1886, which said:
" The stock-holders of the Colorado street Railroad company met at the office of T. P. Lukens, Monday, and elected a board of seven directors, as follows : Geo. E. Meharry, H. F. Goodwin, T. P. Lukens, C. C. Brown, S. O. McGrew, Samuel Stratton, and S. P. McLean. These organized Tuesday, by the election of Meharry, president ; Lukens, secretary ; and Stratton, treasurer."
The county records give March 20 [ ?- 26] as the date when this com- pany was incorporated. And the next mention I find is in the Union of June 25, from which I quote this paragraph :
" Civil engineer, J. M. Willard, has completed today his survey and pro- file of the grade line of the Colorado street railroad from Fair Oaks Avenue to Hill Avenue, east, a distance of 8,700 feet. The engineer has carefully ascertained the difference in street altitudes along the line, above sea level. [See page 363].
Track-laying proper was commenced July 28. And then in its issue of November 13, 1886, I find the following :
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HISTORY OF PASADENA.
"On Tuesday the second street car line opening occurred. At one o'clock about 150 guests of the company assembled at the stables of Vore & Hoag, where the cars were at once filled, and a very smooth and pleasant run was made to Olivewood. There two long tables were spread with a bountiful repast. C. T. Hopkins, the genial host of the occasion acted as president of the day. After the dinner was served, he opened the literary exercises with remarks that were sound and sensible, and then in pleasant language introduced Col. O. S. Picher, who made one of his characteristic speeches, pointed, vigorous, and hopeful. He was followed by H. W. Magee, Esq., who spoke on behalf of the railway directors and officers. H. J. Holmes, president of the city trustees, closed the speaking."
The officers of the company at that time were Geo. E. Meharry, presi- dent ; T. P. Lukens, secretary ; Samuel Stratton, treasurer ; C. C. Brown, supt. This line was ultimately extended to Hill Avenue, thence south to San Pasqual street. And another branch was built down Los Robles Avenue to California street, thence to Wilson Avenue ; and a branch up Lake Avenue to Illinois street. But in 1894 this railroad and all its belongings was sold to the Electric company and merged into its system of consolidated lines.
CITY RAILWAY COMPANY OF PASADENA.
The first public mention of this line as a coming project occurs in the Pasadena Union of August 27, 1886, which said of it :
" The main line is to go up into the Arroyo Seco canyon, where it will connect with three different pack trails to the top of the mountains-the Switzer trail, which follows the same grand canyon; the Giddings trail, which is to go up through the Millard canyon and return on the outer face of the mountain ; and the Owen Brown trail, which goes up west of Millard canyon." [See pages 403, 404 for account of these trails.]
The Union of November 13 mentions that A. J. Painter had obtained the franchise for this road; the iron was bought and would be on the ground in a few days; and it was expected that cars would be running from the corner of Raymond Avenue and Colorado street to the Painter Hotel at North Pasadena in thirty days. The route described at this date was the same as where the line was afterward built, via Raymond Avenue, Chestnut street and Fair Oaks Avenue clear up to Mount View cemetery. The com- pany was incorporated November 17, 1886, with the following board of directors : A. J. Painter, C. W. Buchanan, Geo. D. Patten, John H. Painter, Delos Arnold, W. S. Holland. Capital stock, $50,000 ; amount subscribed, $4,500. A. J. Painter was chosen treasurer and general man- ager. A prelude to the building of this road was the opening, straightening and grading of Fair Oaks Avenue from Chestnut to Illinois street, which was done by a syndicate with M. D. and A. J. Painter at its head, in May and June, 1886. [See page 356.] The road was completed as far northi as Washington street and opened for public travel the second week in Febru- ary, 1887. It was subsequently extended eastward on Washington street to Los Robles Avenue ; northward on Fair Oaks Avenue to Mountain View
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cemetery ; and westward to Devil's Gate-this latter branch being operated by a steam dummy motor for some months, at a loss to the company, and was finally abandoned. The cemetery branch also never paid running expenses, although car service once a day, and twice on Sunday, was kept up until 1894, when the whole business was sold to the Pasadena and Los Angeles Electric Railway Co., and merged into their general combination.
THE HIGHLAND RAILROAD.
The Pasadena Union "Supplement " of date April 23, 1886, refers to an article in their paper about eight months previously in regard to reach- ing the top of the mountains by way of Las Flores canyon, and says :
"We showed that the water coming down the canyon could be utilized to drive the machinery for a cable road. * A vertical fall can be ob- tained of any amount from one hundred to three hundred feet ; and it is not impossible that with this power a cable road or elevator may be carried to the top of the mountains* as well as for the down slope line. Our article was the first public suggestion that such a thing was within bounds of practical possi- bility, and most people laughed at it as a purely visionary scheme ; but now measures are in progress to make it a reality."
Then nothing more appears in regard to this road until June 11, when the Union says :
" On Wednesday George A. Swartwout secured the franchise for the cable railroad up Prospect Avenue (Lake Avenue) to Las Flores canyon. At Colorado street it will connect with the street railway, and at Olivewood with the San Gabriel Valley Railroad, and at Las Flores with a mountain pack train, or eventually with some kind of mechanical up-you-go to the top of the mountain."
The next mention occurs December 18, 1886, when the same paper says :
" The right-of-way has been secured for a street car line from Colorado street along Euclid Avenue to Walnut street, thence along Los Robles Ave- nue to Villa street, along Villa to Lake Avenue, and up Lake Avenue to the Highlands."
The chief promoter of this enterprise was George A. Swartwout, who was then cashier and manager of the Pasadena National Bank. He owned and resided on a small fruit farm on the east side of North Lake Avenue ; through this he opened New York Avenue, running eastward from Lake Avenue, and built the railroad up to this point. The Highland Railroad Company was incorporated March 2, 1888. Its line was extended down Broadway to Glenarm street near Raymond station ; and later it crossed from Broadway to the Grand Opera House on Palmetto street, thence up Ray- mond Avenue to Colorado street. But it was never a paying enterprise ; Mr. Swartwout lost all his property in the " boom," the road was taken by his creditors and kept running just enough to hold the franchise. It was
*As "coming events cast their shadows before," so the Mount Lowe "Great Incline " was here dimly previsioned six or seven years before its advent. Both this article and the one referred to were written by Dr. H. A. Reid, who served as a sort of incognito assistant editor of the Union for a year or two about that time.
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HISTORY OF PASADENA.
finally sold to the Pasadena and Los Angeles Electric Railway Company in 1894,*
WEST PASADENA RAILWAY COMPANY.
This was a horse car line which extended from Fair Oaks Avenue west on Colorado street to Vernon Avenue, thence north to Kensington Place, thence west to Millard Avenue, thence north to Walnut street, thence west to North Orange Grove Avenue, thence on Reservoir Terrace Drive around to head of Park Avenue, thence down the Park Avenue grade to the Linda Vista suspension bridge, thence across the Arroyo and following the same avenue to Linda Vista. The road was built by the Yocums themselves, in 1887 ; but as other interests became involved with it the company was in- corporated January 14, 1888. This railroad was one of the great "boom " enterprises, and was so intimately connected with the Linda Vista and Park Place land schemes of that time, that it is necessary to give some brief account of them, in order to explain how and why such a completely wiped- out railroad was ever built at all.
In October, 1886, J. D. Yocum subdivided his Linda Vista tract and sold the south half of it, about 600 acres, to a syndicate for $40,000. They went on improving and subdividing their land, but soon found almost im- perative necessity for some better way of reaching it than by the old hilly and stony wagon road across the Arroyo wash. Next, in November a syndicate composed of H. W. Ogden, I. N. Mundell, Thomas F. Flynn, and N. G. Yocum bought fifty-two acres of land on the reservoir terrace, named it "Park Place," and went on laying out streets and drives, with sightly residence lots for sale. And of this deal the Union of November 27, 1886, said :
"It means improvements that will add greatly to the attractions of that part of the city. * The street car line projected by the Messrs. Yocum and others to run to Linda Vista will pass through this tract, crossing the Arroyo near where the barn now stands."
This company, with Mundell as president and Flynn as secretary, opened business for sale of their lots January Ist, 1887, and advertised that this street car line was then being built. To make the Park Avenue grade down the bluff was a protracted and costly job for private enterprise ; and the combined wood and iron suspension bridge at its foot cost $8,000 .; But it was all done and the railroad built in connection with the speculative "booming" of the Park Place lands and the Linda Vista lands. The
*After the above article was written, I received the following additional data from J. B. Young : " The old Highland Railroad Company was organized March 6, 1888, with a capital stock of $100,000. In- corporators : George A. Swartwout, J. B. Young, C. C. Thompson, F. T. Swartwout and N. L. Young, George A. Swartwout, president ; J. B. Young, secretary ; Thompson, vice-president and general super- intendent ; Pasadena National Bank, treasurer. This old company was abandoned ; and a new High- land Railroad Company organized October 21, 1889. On March 18, 1890, all property and franchises of the company were sold to the Pasadena National Bank in settlement of all outstanding obligations of the company."
+ This is a Pratt truss bridge of two spans, 120 feet each, and one span 140 feet - total, 380 feet; roadway 18 feet wide, and 80 feet above the water bed.
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income of the road never paid running expenses, yet it was heroically kept in operation three or four years, but had to be given up at last ; and in 1892 its iron rails were sold to Prof. Lowe and used by him on the lower trolly section of the Mount Lowe Electric Railway.
ALHAMBRA AND PASADENA STREET RAILWAY.
This line was built in January, February, 1887, by an Alhambra com- pany, of which A. C. Weeks was president; F. O. Story, treasurer; C. T. Adams, secretary. The road extended from the Southern Pacific depot at Alhambra to the Raymond depot (Santa Fe route) in Pasadena, and was thus operated for some months; then trackage was secured on the Fair Oaks avenue line up to Colorado street, and the Alhambra cars stopped at and started from this central point for a period. But it was a losing enter- prise from the first ; and in 1893 the company's own track was torn up and sold, leaving no sign of its Pasadena history.
PASADENA AND LOS ANGELES ELECTRIC RAILROAD.
Incorporated in April, 1894. Its first members or directors were : P. M. Green, L. P. Hansen, E. C. Webster, A. W. Roche, of Pasadena, and E. P. Clark and Wm. Lacey of Los Angeles. Its capital stock is $500,000.
During 1894 this electric company bought up the four remaining horse car lines in Pasadena, and proceeded to reorganize their trackage, and run- ning time, etc., into a consolidated system. They built an electric line in 1894-95 which gave street car service direct, every twenty minutes, from the Pasadena business center to the Los Angeles business center as far south as Fourth street. Also from Pasadena to Altadena for a direct connection with the Mount Lowe Electric Railway. The company's officers in 1894-95 were : Webster, president ; Hansen, vice president ; M. E. Hammond, sec- retary and treasurer ; E. P. Clark, general manager.
THE FIRST ELECTRIC CAR
Ever run in Pasadena was a trial trip made in the night of February 19, 1895; and the Los Angeles Times correspondence of February 20, said : "At 7:30 o'clock this morning the car, propelled by electricity from the Los Angeles power house, began making regular trips on Fair Oaks Avenue be- tween Columbia street and the Throop Institute." But it was over two months before the line was completed through between the two cities, and meanwhile the " Pasadena loop" car connected with a 'bus running between Columbia street and Garvanza, which met at the latter place the electric car from Los Angeles. Then in the night of April 20 the first electric car that passed over the whole line from Los Angeles to Pasadena was run through ; and of this event the Star said :
"Among citizens who had the privilege of making this first trip from Los Angeles were E. C. Webster, Hon. Jas. Mclachlan, E. E. Jones and
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HISTORY OF PASADENA.
Frank J. Polley. Chief Engineer Larrabee and the bridge contractor were also passengers. Mr. Clark, the general manager, came up as far as Gar- vanza.''
But the South Pasadena viaduct and trolley posts were not yet safe for passenger service ; and the Pasadena power-house was not ready to steam up, even for trial, until April 26. On May I it was ready to pump light- ning from Garvanza up around the "Pasadena loop"; and the line was on that day opened for complete electric rides between the two cities. This power house has two engines-one of 450 and one of 250 horse power, with dynamos to match.
The same company, or an allied one, is building an electric road from Los Angeles to Santa Monica -so that in 1896 there will be a continuous line of electric railroad from the mountain tops to the sea shore, directly through Pasadena.
MOUNT LOWE ELECTRIC RAILWAY.
See Chapter 23.
RAMONA AND PASADENA RAILROAD [Southern Pacific].
In 1888-89 a narrow-gauge rapid transit railroad was built from Los Angeles to Monrovia, passing through Ramona, and a branch of it was ex- tended from Ramona up to the south city line of Pasadena near Raymond station. The track was laid, and an empty train run on it daily for a few months to hold the franchise, although no terminal station was ever reached or built. But it was "paying too dear for the whistle," and had to be given up at last. The track lay idle, rotting and rusting until 1894, when the line was bought by the Southern Pacific company ; and the old rails being too light for their use, they were sold to the Pasadena and Los Angeles Electric Railway Co., and used by them on their track in Pasadena. The S. P. Co. built into Pasadena over this line, and up Broadway to Colorado street ; and the Daily Star of June 15, 1895, contained this item :
"The Southern Pacific line to Pasadena was dedicated to travel this morning by the departure of the Throop excursion to Santa Monica. About 200 passengers, largely students, went down. Six handsome cars were sent up for their accommodation."
CHAPTER XXIII.
THE MOUNT LOWE RAILWAY .- Early Plans and Projects for Reaching the Mountain Tops .- Sundry Railroad Schemes .- Macpherson's the first bona fide Survey .- Prof. Lowe takes hold .- The Naming of Mount Lowe .- The Railroad's Corporate Name. -Pasadena's Mount Lowe Celebration .- Honors and Wealth Fairly Won .- Rubio Farm .- The McPherson Trestle .- Gov. Markham's Bear Story .- Electric Power Generators .- Altitudes .- The Observatory.
THE MOUNT LOWE RAILROAD.
I find no evidence that the Spanish occupants of this country ever made any attempt to reach the tops of the mountains for any æsthetic, scientific,
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or health-restoring objects-never for the glorious outlook or the exhilarat- ing ozone. And even their hunting seems to have been limited to the mesas and canyons-never pushed to the mountain summits, for they were a race of horse-riders, "born in the saddle" as it were, and not sturdy, rugged climbers afoot, like the Yankees who supplanted them. The first attempt ever made to construct any sort of a roadway to the mountain top was by Hon. B. D. Wilson, early in 1864. [See page 395.] This was for business, not sentiment ; and the first recorded trip of " sentiment " up there was made by Wm. McKee (private tutor of Mr. Wilson's children) in April in that year. He says-" I was anxious to go to the top of the mountain." The trail was only finished to the half-way house ; but by clambering along and leading their horses they managed to reach the top, and here he ex- claims, "Oh, how beautiful !" And thus the era of mountain-climbing sentiment dawned in Pasadenaland. Theirs were the first horses ever known to have made the ascent. They stayed there over night at the Mount Wil- son spring, of which he wrote 23 years afterward: "I thought then and do still that that water was the best I ever tasted in my life." More senti-
ment, again. That same spring is still there, at the place known as " Strain's camp." This trail was the only means of reaching the mountain summit by horse or mule-back until the Toll Road was built, in 1887-88.
The mountain-climbing sentiment did not develop to any great extent until after the settlement of Pasadena, and after the tourist business began to show inklings of the phenomenal growth and extent to which it has since attained. The old " Wilson trail," the foot or starting point of which was eight or nine miles from Pasadena, was the only route available for gratify- ing this sentiment ; and in the Valley Union of October 16, 1885, Dr. Reid strongly advocated a new route of ascent by way of Las Flores canyon, and said, " This would be the shortest and most direct route to the top of the mountains that can be made from Los Angeles," etc .; and the route he then suggested was within a few hundred yards, or in fact partly the same, where the Mount Lowe railroad was ultimately built. In the same article Dr. Reid said :
" Within the next six months there will be a thousand people in Los Angeles who would willingly pay five dollars for a trip to the top of the mountains. Nine out of ten of the winter visitors to this coast have just as strong a desire to go to the top of the mountains as they have to go to the sea-shore."
From this time onward the air was full of projects for some more di- rect and easy way to ascend the mountains ; and in his descriptive pam- phlet, with eighteen beautiful full-page lithographic illustrations for Pasa- dena, published in 1886, T. P. Lukens said :
" Several of our enterprising citizens, among whom is Mr. R. Williams, have secured 320 acres of land at Wilson's Peak, embracing some of the finest timber tracts in the mountains, and have made arrangements for build-
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ing thereto a four-foot wide horse trail. * * It is further proposed to put up a hotel in the park, and eventually to run a cog-wheel railroad to it from Pasadena."
Another mention of this scheme occurs in the Valley Union of May 16, which says :
"It is the plan of the company to make as soon as practicable a new trail by way of Eaton canyon, so as to start up directly from Pasadena, *
* and they intend ultimately to have a cable railroad from bottom to top, operated by the water on their own lands above the clouds."
The Union of June 18 contained another article on the subject by Dr. Reid, in which he said :
" There is a good deal of popular interest in Pasadena's mountain climb- ing railroad projects, and everybody wants to know how the thing can be done. There are at least five available plans for operating such roads. First, the cable road, the same as those on Second and Temple streets in Los Angeles. Second, a single cable to draw a car up by winding around a windlass at the mountain top. Third, a double track and double cable on windlass, so that one car or train will go down as the other goes up. All these imply stationary power of water or steam engine. Fourth, a central cog-rail in which a cog-wheel plays from the car-axle, driven by locomotive engine. This, of course, would require a lighter grade than any of the cable plans. Fifth, an ordinary railroad with zig-zag and tunnel-loop track to make the climb. This last could be operated without change of cars from Los Angeles to mountain top, but would be slow and tedious on the zig-zag part of the climb, and more costly to build. Either one of these five ways are practicable here .* It is only a question of money-or which plan will cost the least to build and operate it."
[See article on the " Mount Wilson Toll Road " for further particulars about this matter.] The original company never did any practical work to- wards either a bridle road, a wagon road, or a railroad. Its engineers were kept busy surveying the various claims taken by them (for it was unsurveyed government land) until the whole scheme failed for want of financial bottom. The field was, therefore, still open for a railroad to the mountain top, for no man had yet grasped the thing with the bull-dog grip of success. But now, in January, 1890, Mr. D. J. Macpherson of Pasadena went into the mount- ains with a few assistants and made the first bona fide survey that was ever made in California for a railroad to the mountain tops. However, he had been making previous preliminary observations and studying the problem alone during nearly a year before this, for the Pasadena Standard of March 2, 1889, said :
"D. J. Macpherson is prospecting a route by way of Las Flores and Rubio canyons. * * * The cog-wheel railroad is the most feasible scheme yet broached, and from the present terminus of the Altadena rail- road and the Highland horse-car line right up the face of the mountain where Sam Correll and his mule proposed to go, is the shortest, most direct, and best-for-Pasadena route for the cog-road."
*Electricity was not a proved success at this time, for ordinary street car service-and had not even been thought of for a mountain railroad.
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I must here explain about "Sam Correll. ' When in 1885 Dr. Reid ad- vocated by articles in the Valley Union the Las Flores canyon route for a road to the mountain top, as a better thing for Pasadena than a road to Wil- son's peak, the Las Flores ascent was objected to as being impracticable ; but Samuel E. Correll, who had been up that way several times, made a challenge that "he could take a loaded burro and start from Las Flores in the morning, with only a hand-axe to cut his way, and by night he and the burro would be at the top." His proposed route for this test was up to the spur where Echo Mountain House now stands, and thence to the pine crest of Echo ampitheater. But before .this, old Dr. B. A. Wright had ridden a horse up the west wall of Las Flores canyon to a point or ledge of rocks called " Jacob's ladder," which was just about as high as Echo Mountain. However, nothing ever came of these adventures.
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