"It is like riding up to the moon to make this trip going
up backwards by cable in a car carrying 75 people." writes the sender
of this realphoto postcard in 1915.The Otis Elevating Railway was opened in 1892 and provided easier access to the Catskill Mountain House, which was feeling competition from the Hotel Kaaterskill.
According to The Otis company's website (http://www.otis.com):
"It was decided that an inclined railway would be built, on which cars would be hoisted directly up the side of the mountain by wire ropes, propelled by twin steam engines...
"The railroad track, far too steep for conventional locomotives to climb, extended 7,000 feet and rose nearly one-third of a mile at 1630 feet as it traveled up 'The Wall of the Manitou,' as that side of the mountain was called.
"It was driven by two massive winding drums, 12 feet in diameter, each handling nearly 10 tons of rope. Two cars counterbalanced each other: one ascended the mountain while the other descended. The cars shared the majority of the track, but diverged to separate tracks at the middle of their travel in order to pass one another. As a result, passengers could now reach the top of the mountain easily, comfortably, and in just ten minutes."
Today, the path of the Otis is kept open for power lines. The occasional person who attempts to climb it finds a relentless uphill trek in the full open sun. Just beyond the midway point, one large concrete tressel still stands, but cannot be safely crossed.