Since its earliest days, Golden has been popular with visitors. In the early 1900s, people rode out from Denver on the streetcars to spend the day in the mountains. From the depot at 13th and Washington, they headed to Castle Rock or Lookout Mountain.
In 1912, Rees Vidler built a funicular railway to the top of Lookout Mountain. Its base was about where the water storage tank now is, and the summit was approximately where the antennas are.
Left - Lookout Mountain Funicular, circa 1912. Right - the scar from the tracks, still visible today.
Not to be outdone, in 1913, Charles Quaintance built a funicular to the summit of Castle Rock. At the top, he built a dance hall and lookout tower.
Left - Castle Rock Funicular with the dance hall visible at the summit, circa 1913. Right - the scar left by the tracks, still visible today.
Neither railway was a commercial success, and both were gone by the 1920s, but they still capture our imagination a century later.
