Exhibit shares history of Manitou Incline

It’s a curious fact that thousands of people who climb the Manitou Incline each year never summited the easy way — when a train car cruised to the top.

The volunteers at the Manitou Springs Heritage Center have gotten used to exclamations of delight and amazement when showing a video of the ride on the Mt. Manitou Incline Railway since an exhibit on the attraction opened last week.

About 60 people attended the opening of “The Manitou Incline — From Utility to Attraction,” created by local history enthusiast Eric Swab. Many others stopped by the center over the following weekend.

The exhibit shares in words, photos and video how a track built to assist construction of a water pipeline became a tourist attraction and, eventually, an extreme hiking trail.

The railway up the mountain on the west side of Manitou Springs closed in 1990, leaving a “scar” that can be seen for miles. People started climbing the 2,000 ties to the summit almost immediately, even though they must trespass to do so.

An organized effort to legalize the Incline has been gathering support for about three years (a few steps in the process remain). It mirrors the enthusiasm locals showed to keep the railway open nearly 23 years ago.

When owners announced in January 1990 that the train cars would not run that year, locals expressed outrage. They wrote letters and organized a petition drive to keep the tourist ride open, gathering more than 13,000 signatures. Regardless, the train cars didn’t roll again — a springtime storm triggered a rock slide that wiped out a section of track, seen in a photo at the exhibit.

General manager Martin Frick said in 1990: “For me there is sadness when you run a business this long and you put up with all of problems, headaches, whatever comes along ... it’s sad to see it go.”

The exhibit shares the Incline’s history through postcards, photos of the railway cars from 1903 through the 1980s, memories of those who rode and worked on the railway, and tourist brochures touting the ride’s safety and wonders. There are photos of a gritty Fred Barr and his mules, ready to lead people to the summit of Pikes Peak, and sketches submitted by General Motors for a Jetson-esque redesign of the rail cars.

If you’ve wandered the forest above the Incline’s terminus and tried to picture the buildings that stood on the foundations that remain, or sat in the picnic area and wondered what sort of food once was served there, head to the Heritage Center and find out.

You’ll wish you’d been able to take the ride to the top.