The genesis of the Mount Lowe Railway is not far away. In 1889 some preliminary surveys that had been made for the purpose of scaling the Sierra Madre were submitted to Professor T. S. C. Lowe. He became interested in the matter and decided to make a personal examination of the ground, and shortly afterwards placed his corps of engineers in the field for the purpose of making a thorough survey in order to determine whether the work was practicable. After the engineers had been at work upon another route for many months Professor Lowe cut the Gordian knot by suggesting the now world-renowned Great Cable Incline. It was like a revelation to the engineers, and from this on the engineering problems were of easy solution.

The route starts from Altadena, a beautiful residence section about four miles north of Pasadena, from which point an electric railway runs over the high mesa and up Rubio canyon, a distance of 2-1/2 miles. The lower portion of this distance gives some very beautiful views of valley and ocean, and as the route enters the canyon it winds in and out following the devious course of the sparkling little stream which leaps over the rocks, now crossing smaller canyons on substantial bridges, and then cutting through solid rock, making a picturesque road which, were it not overshadowed by the greater glories of the upper portion, would of itself be famous. At Rubio canyon the foot of the Great Cable Incline is reached at an altitude of 2,200 feet above the sea.