Sightseers have traveled the road up Pikes Peak since 1889, when early visitors rode the Colorado Midland train to Cascade and then boarded horse-drawn carriages, with demand so intense that some people sat in carriages overnight to hold their seats. Three miles below the summit, horses were replaced by hardy mules. After the Cog Railway opened in 1891, the road fell into disuse, but in 1915 Spencer Penrose backed C.E. Noble’s plan to build a Pikes Peak Automobile Highway. Above the ninth mile, high altitude forced workmen to rest half the time, and construction costs rose to more than $250,000. The Pikes Peak Auto Highway Company operated the road until 1935, when it reverted to the U.S. Forest Service. The road remained open as a free state highway until 1948, and from then to the present the City of Colorado Springs has operated it under a special use permit from the United States Forest Service. Today more than 300,000 people each year enjoy the scenic road up America’s famous mountain.