The herald. [microfilm reel] (Los Angeles [Calif.]) 1893-1900, 1894-05-13
YANKED UP A MOUNTAIN SIDE
Hogaboom bangles at the End
of a Rope.
How Echo Mountain Echoes Are
Made to Order.
The Echoists Strike and Cause tho Horn
ist No End OF Troubie-Ths Man
Who Was Happy and the
Man Who Was Net.

On Thursday morning last was
yanked straight up the side of mount
ain nearly four thousand feet above sea
level, by means Of long, stout rope. l
WAS never treated in that way in all my
life before. Many better man than l
am has been hauled up with rope, in
some instances not over eight or ten
feet, and never recovered from the
shock, whereas I-well, really. be-
lieve | feel better than L did before. |
rather enjoyed the experience, truth to
tell, and would have felt real bad if the
rope had parted or come united, or any
thing else happened to cause hitch in
the proceedings or mar the pleasure Of
those who had the affair in charge.
1t seems that in Pasadena. where all
this took place, they have what you
might almost term a perfect mania for
hauling people, which is not confined
entirely to the officers OF the law, as it
is in San Bernardino county, where
every man who voted for the sheriff has
been honored with an appointment as o
deputy sheriff. No, here they haul
man up by means Of rope run by cleo
tricity and not by deputy sheriff run
by politicians. How much better this
is, when you come to think OF i'll They
have gone to great deal of expense to
rig up this contrivancs for elevating
mankind, as it were, and it's just the
cutest thing ever went up, in all my
born days. And the delight of
it is, it let's you down easy
after you have been hauled up.
Many q justice OF the peace, SO
called from a time-honored custom,
rather than from any relevancy the term
may have. ween, might learn valuable
lesson from this. But enough OF such
verbiage (if that's the right word) and
let me tell you about my trip up the
Mt. Lowe railway, when LETT the wear
isome things of life behind me, the
troubles and trials, the lila and fills, the
SORROWS and frets and frilis and worries
and bothsrsome people, and was borne
up to where the earth and sky meet;
where | could almost feel the whirl of
wings and hear the rumble of wheels on
the golden pavements OF the New Jeru-
salem. Ii the person | at first mistook
for Gabriel hadn't afterwards turned
out to be merely man hired by the
week to blow horn for echo effects l
might have thought that | had gone to
my reward, but let that pass other pens
than mine must speak OF such things.
From Pasadena we take delightful
carriage ride through beautiful coun-
try "a full description of which you may
find in the last ILLUSTRATED HERALD,
and then we cone.to Altadens, so called
on account of it's being perceptibly high
or than other places around, which are
not so high. | might say here that we
do not come to the Lowe road until after
we get up quite high, as my friend Tom
Hood would surely have said, had he
been along, but refrain; such things
tend to destroy the effect of serious
thoughts. From Altadena, ii you have a
habit OF creasing your trousers and reef
them at the bottom, you enter tramcar,
D'jove, for Rubio canon; or, If you still
think that George Washington was the
father OF his country, it is an electric
street car you get aboard OF, and in 20
minutes you are at the foot OF the great
incline. Here you recognize at once the
Significance of that name. No mere. pic
ture can give 1T; you must stand there in
person; and If you are not greatly in
clined to sneak behind tree until the
Car has gone'up and back, and then 60
home and tell the folks that you enjoyed
the great incline hugely, why Pm not q
good sample of humanity, that's all.
Here at Rubio hotel you are asked to
register your name, not as a guarantee
OF good faith, but merely for publication.
And you are asked to put down your
address, too-simply matter OF form,
of course-though it really cheers you
up to think that there will be no trouble
about forwarding your valuables and
your friends can be tound without need
less delay. The more you think of it
the more you recognize the desirability
OF going through this little Formally be-
fore you start on the great incline.
Our Car is crowded. Chains are
across che entrance OF each
compartmenG to prevent small boys
from jumping on and off the cars
while in motion, perhaps, and we start.
The conductor talks to uS as we proceed
tells US where Mcpherson trestle begins
and ends, and how far it is, in feet, down
to the jagged rocks beneath us calls at
tention to the fact that we are approach
ing q grade OF 220 feet TO the 100, or
some such figure, and cheerfully mem
uoAc bAo idCty III paicAtnoblH, bAhb tlllb
is the steepest railroad in the world
and we sit there, gazing away off at
few hundred miles of land and land
scape stretching out below us, feeling
like man about to be hung or married
for the first time in his life.
Once when l was boy climbed up
into neighbours pear tree to get bet
ter view of the beautiful stretch of
country around there. Some noise, not
unlike the distant barking of large
dog. startled me and | attempted to 20
away without attracting any undue at
tention. In my haste to get out of the
tree without annoying the dog lost my
hold on high limb and went crashing
through space at desperate rate,
when the widest portion of my panta-
lettes, with remarkable presence of
mind, caught on the projecting knob OF
q limb lower down, and | hung there
with my head, feet and hands in q clus-
ter, and holding my heart back with my
eye teeth. Somehow, perhaps through
a similarity OF sensations, the scenery
along the Mount Lowe railway, especial
ly along the great incline, reminds me
Of the scenery directly under that pear
tree.
The cable incline is the safest railway
in the world. The conductor very kindly
gives you to understand as much alter
the car has stopped at the summit OF
Echo mountain, and if you are a timid
person your gratitude for the informa-
item is too great for words to express,
even though you may even then be won
iering ii there isn't some way you can
walk down the mountain and get some