Visual Materials

Photographs of South Pasadena, Mount Wilson, and Mount Lowe Railroad

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Description: Consists of ten photographs. Subjects include Major H. N. Rust, W. L. Hardison's home, Mount Wilson, and Mount Lowe. Areas of focus on Mount Wilson are Strain's Camp and Mount Wilson Observatory. Areas of focus on Mount Lowe include the railroad, Rubio Canon, Rubio Pavilion, the Mount Lowe Searchlight, and the Great Incline.
Type: Visual Materials(Opens in new tab)
Production date: approximately 1880s-1912.
Call number: photPF 220-229
Provenance: Acquired from various sources, a majority from Prinz, 1943.
Restrictions: Open for use by qualified researchers and by appointment. Please contact Reader Services at the Huntington Library for more information.
Rights

Photographs of Mount Lowe and Mount Wilson cabins and camps, San Gabriel Mountains

Visual Materials

Cabinet card photographs of: Alpine Tavern, Echo Mountain House and white hotel on Mt. Lowe; Mount Wilson vacation camps, tourists, the first observatory, Martin's Camp, Peter Steil (of Steil's Camp) and his baby in front of cabin; Eaton Canyon and Millard's Canyon waterfalls. One unrelated photograph of a Yucca plant in the desert.

photPF 655-669

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Mount Lowe Railway Construction Photographs

Visual Materials

A set of 52 card photographs by photographer William Henry Hill documenting the construction, opening, and early years of the Mount Lowe Railroad in the San Gabriel Mountains above Pasadena, California, in the 1890s. Views include mountain scenery and waterfalls; the building of the incline and other portions of the railway, with images of construction workers; people at building sites on Echo Mountain and Mount Lowe prior to and during construction; groups of people at camps or on trails in the mountains, sometimes on horses or mules and on snow-covered ground; winding machinery and cable; decorated electric cars filled with passengers at the opening ceremony, July 4, 1893; the first passenger cars leaving Mountain Junction in Altadena for Rubio Canyon and ascending the great incline; Rubio Canyon and Rubio Glen, Castle Rock, Castle Canyon, Eaton Canyon, and Grand Canyon; a hotel annex on Echo Mountain; the original mule corral on Echo Mountain; a reception of the California Press and Editorial Association at the residence of Professor Thaddeus Lowe; and the Pasadena Board of Trade Directors arriving at the top of a snowy Mount Lowe in January, 1897. Also included are photographic reproductions of a drawing of the Echo Mountain Hotel, of a mechanical drawing showing the arrangement of winding gear on an incline, and of a map of the site and environs. People of regional and national significance who appear in various pictures include Professor Thaddeus Lowe; chief engineer David J. Macpherson; Theodore Parker Lukens; Judge Benjamin Eaton; George Wharton James; Clarence S. Martin; and Harvard College president Charles William Eliot and party, on occasion of Eliot's visit to Pasadena and Mount Wilson, April 7-8, 1892. Notably, there are at least two photographs that include images of Jason Brown, a son of abolitionist John Brown (Items 19 and 19A). Many photographs have photograph numbers and typed or handwritten captions on the image from the original negative.

photCL 194

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Views of Mount Lowe in the San Gabriel Mountains

Visual Materials

An album with 26 photographs of Mount Lowe, the observatory and other structures, Echo Mountain, and scenic views of the area in the San Gabriel Mountains near Pasadena, California. Views of the observatory include the dark room, the 10-inch telescope, and astronomer Lewis Swift standing in the observatory doorway. Photographs of other structures show Rubio Pavilion, Echo Mountain House, Mount Lowe Railway, and Professor Thaddeus Lowe on the balcony of the "New Hotel". Views around Mount Lowe show several waterfalls, including the Leontine Falls, a number of small canyons, and a view of the San Gabriel Valley and Pasadena. Some of the images have numbers printed on them; item 7 can be positively identified as the work of C.C. Pierce. Visible photographer numbers consist of 180, 559, 605, 623, 637, 641, 651, 695, 721x, 733, 735, 749, 797, 821, 847, 851, 853, 857, 863, 865, 869, and 871.

photCL 146

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Wilson's Peak, Mount Lowe, and other California photographs

Visual Materials

A group of miscellaneous photographs including views of the Mount Lowe railway, cabins, and a cabin and donkey at Wilson's Peak in the San Gabriel Mountains. Also: Ladies concert band in Crescent City (1910); Hotel Palomares, Pomona (1890s); First Methodist Church, Pomona (1888?); and a copy photograph of a prospecting party with miner's tools in an unidentified town.

photPF 2700-2709

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"On Pasadena and Mount Wilson Toll Road." [View of mountains]

Visual Materials

This small collection contains 17 commercial card photographs taken by Stiffler & Gill around 1896 promoting outdoor recreational activities and the natural scenery around Mount Wilson in the San Gabriel Mountains of Southern California. Many of the scenes include historic camp sites including Strain's and Martin's camps, often depicting people amid tents and engaged in recreational activities. Each of the photographs has the title "On Pasadena and Mount Wilson Toll Road" stamped on the mount.

photCL 193

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"On Pasadena and Mount Wilson Toll Road." [View of mountains]

Visual Materials

photCL 193

Photographs of South Pasadena, Mount Wilson, and Mount Lowe Railroad

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Photographs of Mount Lowe and Mount Wilson cabins and camps, San Gabriel Mountains

Mount Lowe Railway Construction Photographs

Views of Mount Lowe in the San Gabriel Mountains

Wilson's Peak, Mount Lowe, and other California photographs

"On Pasadena and Mount Wilson Toll Road." [View of mountains]

"On Pasadena and Mount Wilson Toll Road." [View of mountains]