A Metz on the Mountain Top

Eighty one years ago on June 22, 1915 guests from the surrounding area and from around the country were treated to an unusual visitation at the Alpine Tavern. The locals from Altadena, Pasadena, and Eagle Rock mingled with seasoned travelers from Kalamazoo, Rochester, and Dayton. Some rode the rails up to the tavern as an escape from the day to day routines in the growing cities below, while for others it was the highlight of a vacation that perhaps took years of toiling and saving.

The guests were savey to the ways of gaining access to the mountain. The route most known to tourists was the incline railroad from Rubio Platform up to Echo Mountain and then a trip on the Pacific Electric's Alpine Division to the rustic Alpine Tavern. Other then that you had to hike it on one of the trails that zig-zagged up the mountain.

So, you can just imagine the surprise of the guests that day as they stepped down off the porch of the Alpine Tavern to see an automobile parked in front under a canopy of huge oaks. The site attracted quite a number of onlookers as the car, driver and owner posed for photos in the picturesque setting.

The car, a Metz roadster, was being delivered to Mr. H. B. Brown the manager of the tavern by the local Metz agent Mr. F. L. Wing. This sporty roadster manufactured in Waltham, Massachusetts had a conventional four cylinder motor and a novel new engineering feature, a continuous speed transmission with a friction drive. The car put to the test a number of questions the Metz manufacturers had about the unusual transmission, passing all with flying colors. Also put to the test that day were the Goodrich tires which prior to the accent of the mountain had accumulated 6000 miles on them. The Goodrich, a company magazine dated October 1915 did a nice write up about the stamina of the rubber tires stating that they stood the punishment like men and there were no problems as they were built for service.

How did the Metz get to the Alpine Tavern? Well, Mr. F. L. wing the Metz auto agent in Los Angeles was a bit like our Professor Lowe in that he loved a promotion and a challenge. It's been said that he would try anything once. So, after a challenging trip to the depths of the Grand Canyon a friend said to Wing as he eyed Mt. Lowe, "F. L. just because the gods were with you on your canyon trip don't monkey around with the machinery. Let well enough alone, anyway you couldn't get a car up that mountain unless you shot it up! there's no road just railroad ties."

That was enough for Wing to get the venture underway. He rode the rails to Rubio Platform where they loaded the Metz onto an incline flatcar and pulled it up to Echo Mountain. At echo F. L. picked up two ride along guests Mr. A. G. Waddell of the Los Angeles Times and Mr. C. S. Lawrence of Echo Mountain. (Mr. Lawrence took many of the great photos depicting life on Mt. Lowe seen in todays books on the subject.) With his guests holding on for dear life Wing took off on a five mile journey across giant crevices and grand gorges hundreds of feet deep. The little Metz roadster bounced steadfastly from tie to tie giving the trio a true "white knuckler" of the day. the ties were 12 to 14 inches apart and as The Goodrich is quoted as saying, "only two feet and a perfect set of Goodrich tires stood between the riders and eternity as they rode over the spans."

Along the way to the tavern C. S. Lawrence took a number of photos which have survived to this day depicting the event. Perhaps the most thrilling part of the ride was Circular Bridge. Lawrence took quite a few shots of this event as well as the car passing through Granite Gate, reaching the top at Mt. Lowe, and a great shot at the Alpine Tavern.

This writer would like to thank men like C. S. Lawrence whose photos preserve the large and small segments of history that depict our early pioneers challenging their environments.

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Last modified: February 12, 1999

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Jake Brouwer
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