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 610 o Ffeet Altitude 
 
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WAY back 
 OL in the Sierra 
 
 most lost in the great 
 shadowy chasms, are ^ 
 
 two little threads of steel. 
 Their width is something 
 like two inches and they 
 are always just so far apart 
 as they go writhing snake- 
 like along the craggy 
 mountain side. Very pretty 
 they seem as they lie 
 
 close to the rock-ribbed 
 
surface, now lost in the 
 depths of a gorge, now 
 shooting into space, yet 
 mounting higher and 
 higher until lost in the 
 distant haze. 
 
 Those two little ribbons 
 of steel, constitute the 
 Mt. Lowe Railway, known 
 throughout the world as the 
 most wonderful engineer- 
 ing feat ever accomplished. 
 
 They link together a 
 tropical and a northern 
 
^■,/^^. 
 
 zone, a la 
 famous f 
 its luxuriant 
 wealth 
 
 flowers and sunshine, an 
 a land of silence, whose 
 only inhabitants are great 
 lone pines and clouds and 
 snow. In an hundred and 
 eighty -five minutes they 
 carry you from the valley, 
 close by the sea, to a 
 gaunt rugged mountain 
 peak, where the whole 
 
country lies like a 
 gorgeously colored 
 panorama at your 
 feet — a country be- 
 loved of the gods, 
 the home of the Spaniard, 
 of romance and of flowers. 
 The start is made at 
 Los Angeles, the road 
 passing through the San 
 Gabriel Valley via the 
 Ostrich Farm and Pasadena 
 — that Mecca for Eastern 
 wealth and culture. Pass- 
 
iiig Altadena thence 
 through the poppy field 
 we reach Rubio Can- 
 yon, a picturesque gorge 
 of great depth. From there 
 the Cable Incline draws 
 you up to Echo Mountain 
 on a grade of forty per cent, 
 where you ascend thirteen 
 hundred feet in a distance of 
 three thousand 
 feet. On Echo 
 Mountain is 
 situated the 
 
Chalet, also the noted Mt. 
 Lowe Observatory which 
 contains one of the largest 
 and most powerful telescopes 
 in the world and bears the 
 enviable astronomical record 
 of discovering seven comets 
 and one thousand nebulae ; 
 the World's Fair Search- 
 light, and the Casino, a 
 building on the Swiss style 
 of architecture which boasts 
 the finest dancing floor in 
 Southern California. 
 
From Echo Mountain to 
 Alpine Tavern the journey 
 is continued in an observa- 
 tion car, 
 as the 
 road from 
 here on is 
 the grand- 
 est part 
 of the 
 trip. At 
 times the car fairly hangs 
 in mid-air, and miles and 
 miles below, you can see 
 
tinned on foot, or if de- 
 sired, burros, may be 
 secured. At the summit a 
 scene of unparalleled grand- 
 eur is brought into view. 
 To the right and left the 
 mountains spread away in 
 ceaseless rotation, growing 
 dimmer and dimmer, until 
 they melt into one long 
 gray line. In front nestling 
 at your feet, lies the San 
 Gabriel Valley, quiet and 
 peaceful. Perhaps you can 
 
hear the 
 Mission 
 
 bells toii^'- '''w^yf^m-mi:^ 
 ing fkith- >^4i|p!'i'^;:*'-' 
 
 fully the call to prayers; 
 perhaps more faintly, the 
 chant of the ''Ave Maria" 
 on the evening air. You 
 picture the gray coated 
 friars kneeling in silent de- 
 votion, for the charm of the 
 mountain solitude is upon 
 you and your thoughts are 
 of things holy. 
 
 
Then the sun drops like 
 a molten ball into the arms 
 of the ocean that rolls 
 away into the great un- 
 known. And as darkness 
 steals over the land, the 
 gorges become mere rifts 
 of blackness across the 
 mountain side, and as the 
 sky merges from gold to 
 gra}^, there suddenly glim- 
 mers into view far down 
 the depths below a jnulti- 
 tude of twinkling stars. 
 
messengers from 
 the cities of the 
 plains. And then, 
 a great beam of 
 light —the Search- 
 light — flashes 
 across the horizon, 
 darting along the 
 mountain side 
 and into the 
 depths of the 
 gorges, disappear- 
 ing for a moment 
 only to reappear 
 
miles away down on the 
 sea coast, and on the 
 "Ships that pass in the 
 night," where the waves 
 thunder ceaselessly across 
 the shifting sands and the 
 scream of the sea bird 
 comes shrilly through the 
 air. 
 
 But here on the mount- 
 ain top, all is silence — 
 deep, holy silence, unbroken 
 save for the occasional chirp 
 
of a cricket or the 
 rustle of leaves 
 in the night air. 
 It is the silence 
 of Nature, of the 
 great lone mount- 
 ain and of the 
 pines. And as 
 the stars one by 
 one light up the 
 heavens, you 
 quietly go down to 
 your room at the 
 Tavern, a better 
 
being for having felt the 
 touch of nature — nature, 
 pure and holy, direct from 
 the hand of God. 
 
 A short refreshing sleep, 
 and it is sunrise on the 
 mountain top! A burst of 
 glory on a sea 
 of clouds, 
 dotted here 
 and there 
 with 
 islands — 
 friendly 
 
peaks as noble as "^^ 
 your own, who thrust their 
 proud heads through 
 into this upper world, / 
 this realm of blue and 
 silver and gold, above the 
 shadow land below. 
 
 You board the electric car 
 and sink through the mist 
 of clouds. A light flurry of 
 snow (white fluttering spirits 
 of sweet blossoms from the 
 orange groves below) greets 
 you half way down. 
 
 ^-\ 
 
Emerging from this man- 
 tle of whiteness, you de- 
 scend again by the incline 
 railway and land at the base 
 of the mountains^ where you 
 may step from the cars and 
 walk for miles through 
 c^ fields of golden poppies, the 
 California flower, which 
 spread as 
 a carpet 
 before you, 
 inviting you to 
 linger and to pla3^ 
 
 
From here to San Gabriel 
 Mission is but a short trip 
 by the cars of the Pacific 
 Electric Railway through 
 tropical gardens, laden with 
 the perfume of sweet flowers 
 and fragrant orange groves, 
 out into the broad expanse 
 of the valley, where the sun 
 shines as brightly as it did 
 a century and a quarter ago, 
 when an exploring party 
 consisting of the Reverend 
 Fathers Angel Somera and 
 
Pedro Cambon and a guard 
 of ten soldiers located "a 
 fertile spot about five hun- 
 dred yards from a little 
 rivulet " as the site of the 
 mission. 
 
 On account of its accessi- 
 bility, San Gabriel, the most 
 imposing of all the old mis- 
 sions of California, is visited 
 by thousands of tourists 
 annually, and is photo- 
 graphed and sketched times 
 without number. The spirit 
 
of California dwells 
 in the old missions; 
 here yon live in _ 
 the soft delicious 
 atmosphere of the land of 
 the Padres and of Ramona. 
 Accompanied by the benign 
 father you can make an 
 inspection of the interior of 
 the mission with its famous 
 life-size paintings in oil, of 
 the apostles and other 
 saints, done by the hands 
 of the old mission Indians. 
 
Besides several 
 old statues, 
 there are cen- 
 sers and other 
 holy vessels. 
 The old baptis- 
 mal font of 
 hammered copper is unique. 
 It was probably brought 
 from Spain long before the 
 founding of the California 
 mission, and has been in 
 its present place ever since 
 the church was built. 
 
Of the six historic bells 
 that used to chime the Ave 
 Maria, but four have been in 
 the belfry these past thirty 
 years. Inscribed on the first 
 bell is the invocation, "Hail! 
 Most Holy Mary!" Next 
 is the name of the saint for 
 whom it was named, St. 
 Francis, while the third line 
 tells that it was made by De 
 Paul Ruelas. There is no 
 date, but it was evidently 
 cast in the i8th century. 
 
. x^ 
 
 An hour\s rest 
 under the historic 
 mission grapevine, 
 a visit to the old 
 Campo Santo, or 
 Spanish graveyard, 
 and the few adobe residences, 
 and a look at the cactus 
 hedge, complete the morn- 
 
ing's pleasurable sight see- 
 ing, and prepares one for the 
 ride via Los Angeles and 
 through the '* co-operative 
 gardens" to Long Beach. 
 You arrive in r/_ -, 
 
 time for a 
 noontide 
 
 and an idle hour ^ 
 
upon the sands, partaking 
 freely of the sea foods, salt, 
 sand and soliloquy; the tonic 
 of old ocean, the dash of it 
 in your face and the roar of 
 it in your ears make mem- 
 orable a pleasant outing and 
 vividly impress the beauty 
 of living in a land where it 
 is always summer afternoon, 
 and where there is only the 
 difference of a few hours 
 between the realm of snow 
 covered mountains, tropical 
 
gay seashore. \./^ 
 
 The return trip to Los 
 Angeles carries you| 
 through the Domiuguez 
 Rancho, which in the stately 
 days of the Mexican aris- 
 tocracy extended ten and a 
 half leagues along the 
 ocean, including the present 
 sites of San Pedro, Terminal 
 Island and Long Beach. 
 The house is noted for its 
 picturesque style of 
 Spanish architecture. 
 
Ramon a at one time 
 worshipped in the private 
 chapel, which still remains 
 as a famous land mark of 
 Southern California, and in 
 which every noted bishop of 
 Southern California has 
 conducted services. 
 
 In the days of bull fights 
 ^■^ i\a ^ ' "': ^ihisi.i*aCBjpll; was the scene of 
 
 (fi many a game 
 of toro. 
 
The surrounding mesa is 
 historic in being the last 
 battle ground between the 
 Mexican and U. S. troops. 
 
 Leaving these scenes in 
 the dusk of twilight, we 
 proceed to the metropolitan 
 city of Los Angeles, a gem 
 set in a ring of mountains 
 and adorned with a chaste 
 crown of snow — located as if 
 chosen especially for the 
 convenience of the tourist 
 and the sightseer. 
 
PRESENTED WITH COMPLIMENTS OE 
 THE PACiriC ELECTRIC RAILWAY 
 
Take The 
 "POPPY" 
 
 OBSERVATION 
 
 ... V^/Vll ... 
 
 Around the Orange 
 Grove Route — $I.OO 
 Round TripjStopping 
 at Ostrich Farm, San 
 Gabriel Mission and 
 Baldwin's Ranch 
 Day for a Dollar 
 Competent Guide 
 
 Private Car Ask 
 
 any agent about it 
 
 Pacific Electric Ry 
 
 Los Angreles, Cal. 
 
LIBRftRY OF CONGRESS 
 
 020 994 875 8 • 
 
 
 
 N.Pasadena 
 ilkSADENA 
 
 Boyt 
 
 r^^MONROVIA ^v 
 
 ^.'^ 
 
 •9^'o^ci Pork 
 
 LosAngeles 
 
 OOuorfe 
 
 SAN GABRIEL 
 'a~ MISSION 
 
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 Flemi 
 
 Gra\r\arrt 
 
 
 ^*^. 
 
 O Downey 
 
 
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 oTei 
 
 RANDOLPH 
 
 ^;,; 
 
 '^J 
 
 
 ^^ 
 
 ^ If/ 
 
 Dominguez 
 Del Amo 
 
 ■,^4v """"h. 
 
 Camp Stone ; ^ Garden Grove *^^^ «9e, 
 
 Long Beach ^"^^ 
 
 Devils Gate 
 
 SANTA ANA 
 
 PEDRO 
 
 ^, Pacif/c Ocean 
 
 MAP of PACIFIC ELECTRIC RAILWAY CO/S 
 LINES IN SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA 
 
 BAUMQAROT PRINT. HON. aROAOWAV