When built in 1910, the Crystal Park Auto Road had many twists, turns, switchbacks and steep grades, as does the road today. However, there is a major difference from the early Auto Road days (beside the fact that the road was paved in 2002). That difference is the absence of the turntable. As the building of the road progressed, it became apparent that there was a major issue.....this was the Pikes Peak region, and Pikes Peak was visible from almost everywhere, but there was no view of the Peak from anywhere on the Auto Road Trip. In order to rectify this, the road was extended around the shoulder of Eagle Mountain at the upper switchback so that tourists would have a very excellent view of the Peak. However, because of the steepness of the slope in that location, there was no easy way to build a turnaround for the large touring cars to continue uphill to the Park itself. The solution was the installation of a turntable. The vehicle was driven onto this device, the passengers and driver would get out, view Pikes Peak, and then push to rotate the car 180 degrees. They would then continue their tour. The turntable was abandoned at some point in time and the road reconfigured so that vehicles could make a turn before the Pikes Peak viewing point and continue uphill. In 2003, it was rebuilt and installed at a different location as a historical exhibit. Evidence remains of the original site, but because of tree growth, there is no real view of the Peak from there.
Below is the "information board" located at the restored turntable.
Over the years there has been lots of speculation about whether or not there were additional turntables on the Auto Road. Diligent research has failed to find any evidence or even a single contemporary reference to more than one.
The following is from "The Military Surgeon" from
the Journal of Association of the Military Surgeons of the U.S. - 1913:
Leaving
Denver in the morning by train, the party was met at Colorado
Springs by the committee of Colorado physicians
and taken to the Antlers Hotel, where were in waiting the autos which took the
party through Colorado Springs, through Colorado City, over the road to Manitou, and then along
the private auto road of the Crystal Park Company.
The Crystal Park Road is a wonderful scenic
mountain roadway, having a succession of loops and switchbacks, and at one
point a turntable. In this thirty-mile ride there is an ascent of more than
2,500 feet, the elevation at the highest point being more than 8,500 feet above
sea level.
