Prof. Lowe on the Web, Echo Mtn. Echoes Winter 1996

Prof. Lowe on the Web

The treasure hunter, explorer, historian, and collector will sometimes search around the globe for those treasures he seeks. Little did I know I would find the years best treasure in my own office.

Last Thursday night, just before the Labor Day weekend this member of the Land-Sea Discovery Group experienced the internet for the first time. What a thrill it was browsing through the various pages seeing what others have to offer. For a researcher it is sheer paradise. For a collector it is a world wide playground. I spent nearly thirty hours that long weekend on the net. I highly recommend to those that can swing the fee (mine is $19.95 a month) and that have the computer and software.

So, needless to say after a while I typed in Thaddeus Lowe. I also tried variation of the name and initials to see what would come up. I searched through Civil War pages, balloon sites, and railroad sites.

I'm sure I didn't cover all the aspects but I'm working on the combinations every chance I get.

So in my first tour, what did I find? I found a site on Altadena. The site has an events page, history, and a bit about Altadena. What they did not have was Mt. Lowe. I used my e-mail (jakelsdg@earthlink.net) for the first time and contacted the webmaster. I eventually offered up some pictures and my newsletter to the site's webmaster and Mt. Lowe is now on the internet with AAAIM's help. Thanks Triple A Internet Masters! I am considering doing a site for Mt. Lowe myself as soon as I have a full grasp of the concept and what it entails.

Sadly I did not find anything else on Mt. Lowe (yet). I did however find various tidbits on Thaddeus himself, who as many of you know he had quite a previous history in ballooning and the Civil War. He was also a great inventor.

One of the pages I found offered a first day cover for the Thaddeus Lowe 1915 being printed by the U.S. Postal Service. Unfortunately it was for Sept. 23, 1995. I thought well.... maybe the post office still had some of the areogrammes. They did! I managed to get some and you probably can to. Just go in and ask at the post office. It is full color and depicts three Civil War scenes. They cost 50 cents.

I found one site in an aviation area that discussed someone's experience meeting the daughter of Prof. Lowe, a Florence ("Pancho") Lowe Barnes. They describe her casual dress, salty conversation, and predilection for foul smelling cigars, which she light by striking matches on the seat of her pants. She definitely did not project the image of her wealthy birthright. What a hoot!

Following highway US-2 just west of Jefferson there is a roadside marker that commemorates the birth of Thaddeus Lowe. This note was posted by the Lancaster Historical Society.

Looking around in the observatory category I found a snippet about the Ricard Memorial Observatory on Santa Clara University. This is the final resting place of Lewis Swift's telescope that he manned for so many years on Echo Mountain. The University bought the telescope in 1941 for $2000.

Listen to this. Heritage, New Hampshire says you can have your picture taken in a lighter than air reconnaissance balloon designed by New Hampshire's own Thaddeus Lowe. Love to get a snap of that.

And then there was NASA. In their Observatorium Page they show the history of the remote sensing industry and guess who was right near the top of their list? Right! Thaddeus Lowe.

There is much more I haven't spoke of and I'm sure much more I have yet to find. Why not give it a while yourself? Let's hear what you find. Send E-Mail to jakelsdg@earthlink.net

Send email to Echowebmaster@aaaim.com to report any problems.
Last modified: February 12, 1999