The remains on Pikes Peak are those of the mountain's first summit house. Built in 1882, the building was first used as a weather station, where signalmen lived year-round while tracking the summit's tumultuous conditions. After the signal station closed in 1888, it became the peak's first summit house and served the many climbers who reached the top. In the early years, all climbers ascended Pikes Peak either on foot or by hoof, but the Broadmoor Manitou & Pikes Peak Cog Railway, completed in 1891, made the trip faster and easier by using a gear wheel connected to a center rack rail so it could climb steeper grades than standard trains. Ten thousand tourists reached the summit by train in its first season. Around the same time, the first crude road to the summit opened to wagons and carriages, and construction on the improved Pikes Peak Highway began in 1915. Today, the entire summit above 14,000 feet is a National Historic Landmark.