City - Duluth, MN - Seventh Ave West Incline 1908 Jigsaw Puzzle

Colourized photo from 1908 Original title: Up the incline from Superior Street Photographer: Detroit Publishing Location: 701 West Superior street This was the Seventh Ave West Incline that ran in Duluth Minnesota. It was built in 1891, and ran from West Superior St, to Seventh Ave West. The fare was 15 cents, which is about $4.50 in 2022 money). The entire trip lasted 15 minutes from top to bottom and was a half mile long. However it didn't always look like this as shown in the picture. In 1893, the Beacon Hill Pavilion was built, which was just beside the top station. It was a big building, it was able to receive 5000 people at a time. Originally the cars were bigger and could accommodate both people and horses. The system ran on steam power. On May 28, 1901, the steam powerhouse at the top of the station caught fire. It spread to the pavilion which was totally destroyed. The car on the track, released when the cable eventually melted through. The station at the bottom was evacuated ahead of time because they had a feeling it would release, and it did, destroying the bottom station, but no one was hurt there. From 1902 to 1911 they rebuilt the entire system. This image is between those dates. As you can see there is only one car on one track, and they used a modified trolley car to replace the old one. The track on the right had a large counterweight and was used in place of another car. Along that track there were small foot bridges. So the car was able to make stops along certain streets, they had to exit on the inside part of the track, and got off at that stop. Because they used a trolley car, they were able to take advantage of the electricity it had, so it had lights inside and out. The bottom station was built in 1905 and built over the track they weren't using. They also closed off the gate and made it into a fence. Hung a small sign to warn people not to mess around on the tracks. In 1912, the finally finished construction, they added a second car, and the bridges across the other track. Then place a small station where the bridges used to be. The fences were removed and made into gates again. They made new cars, that actually looked a lot like the old cars. The lower station was removed but replaced with a toll booth sized station that sat between the two tracks. Then installed a long roof over the end. The new powerhouse was electric based now. As buses became popular, this incline became less popular. By the late 1930's, no one was riding this to get to the top. It then became a really lame roller coaster, slowly rolling to the top as a sort of sky ride. Then by 1939, they closed it, and tore the tracks out donating it to the war effort. Today the only thing left is a concrete sidewalk and rail, a small path between houses, and a hotel where this saloon is. You can walk this trail, it goes no where, but you get to see the local fauna and think about the incline that was there.