the otis elevator company and mohawk construction opened the railway on memorial day, 1902. sixty thousand fares were sold in its first year; two decades later that had almost doubled. riders were often day visitors from new york who came up the hudson river by steamboat to newburgh and then took a ferry to beacon. after a trolley trip to the base station on wolcott avenue (today ny 9d), the railway would take them up to the northern summit via an average gradient of 65% and a maximum gradient of 74%, the steepest in existence while the railroad operated.