The view that made the Mountain House famous came at a cost— getting up the 1,600-foot (487.6 m) climb from the valley required a five-hour stagecoach ride. As more competing hotels that were easier to reach began to be developed, the Mountain House built the cable-operated Otis Elevating Railway to bring its guests directly from the Hudson to the hotel [http://hamiltonauctiongalleries.com/USGS1903-Kaaterskill.jpg]. But the railway proved to be expensive to operate, and was finally sold for scrap in 1918 during World War I.