visited the mine and were shortly ready to return to the train. The mountain itself offered a grand display of nature and hiking trails, plus a mule ride, the "Mount Lowe Eight," that transported guests around a trail. This trail made a large figure eight traverse of Mt. Lowe and Mount Echo, starting and ending at the Alpine Tavert without ever traversing the same terrain twice. In 1922 Henry Ford visited the Mount Lowe Railway and returned with a Hollywood filming crew who made a silent film documentary of the trip with the camera mounted on the various cars, including the Great Incline. A reel containing of this historic film is available at the Library of Congress. Troubled times In all, there were four hotels along the line, but the extent of the construction and the poor patronage had stretched Lowe to his limit. By 1898 the railroad fell into receivership under Jared Sidney Torrance, founder of Torrance, California. Both men applied to the government for rights of way to the top of Mt. Lowe. The government realized that the whole railroad was on Federal property (vis-à-vis the San Gabriel Timberland Reserve) and demanded that a proper lease be taken out on the properties. Having reviewed Lowe's standing with the railway, Congress awarded the receivership to Torrance in 1899, and Lowe was left with only the title to the observatory. It was at this time that the railway was reorganized and incorporated as the Mount Lowe Railway. The railway was sold at auction to a Mr. Valentine Peyton of Danville, Illinois, who personally came to California to run the operation. Disasters strike In 1900, the Echo Mountain House burned down. It was grossly under-insured and was never rebuilt. Later, the astronomer Dr. Swift went blind and was forced to leave his post at the observatory. A second astronomer, Prof. Edgar Lucien Larkin (1847–1925), was hired to oversee the observatory. Though he was not as prominent as Prof. Swift, he did stay with the Mount Lowe Observatory until his sudden death in 1925. Disenchanted, Peyton sold the railway to Henry E. Huntington, after which it became part of the Pacific Electric Railway (PE), of the famed Los Angeles Red Car system. Part of the P&E improvements included a "casino" on Echo Mountain. The building appears in a few rare photos and was described as a dance hall, not a gambling facility.