esetfipth/e Illustrated 12 Usmtetffi Slid WILLIAM H. RAU PHILADELPHIA CopyritjhtN - , ?. '- COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT DESCRIPTIVE READING ON the WHITE MOUNTAINS r^ ILLUSTRATED BY TWELVE LANTERN SLIDES W V, I c WILLIAM H. RAU PHILADELPHIA 1890 Copyright, 1890, by William h. Rau. ILLUSTRATIONS. i. The Stage Leaving. 2. Panorama from Thorn Mountain. 3. Jackson Falls. 4. A Mountain Road. 5. Wild-Cat and Glen Ellis. 6. Tip-top House, Mt. Washington. 7. View from Mt. Washington. 8. Crawford Notch. 9. Willey House. 10. The Flume. 11. The Profile. 12. Profile Lake. 806 THE WHITE MOUNTAINS. Ammonoosac, one stream flowing south and the other north, divide the mountains into two principal groups — the White Mountain and Franconia. Let us visit the former first. 1. The Stage Leaving-. — One of the most interest- ing approaches to the mountains is from the south- east, for at the Glen Station one can either follow the Saco through the Crawford Notch, or traverse the Pink- ham Notch and the Glen directly to Mount Washing- ton and the Presidential Range. Let us take the latter route. Not many years ago, all tourists through this region had to travel in just such vehicles as these, and, next to walking, no more delightful method of viewing the mountains could be imagined. Con- genial company, comfortable places high up from the. dusty roads, and above all, the glorious aspects of nature, new phases being presented at every turn of the road, made the old Concord Stages the ideal way to do the mountains. The coaches still remain, but are mainly used for excursion parties, and one keenly regrets the facility with which the railroad now hur- ries the visitor from point to point. The tourist now- a-days must lose many of the beauties enjoyed by the old-fashioned, slow folks, who were content to go by coach. It is needless to say that there was no de- mand for inside seats, either in those days or now. 2. Panorama from Thorn Mountain. — About mid-way between the Glen Station and the town of Jackson, to the eastward, Thorn Mountain rises to a height of 1700 feet above the surrounding plain. From it superb views are had of the black gorges THE WHITE MOUNTAINS. 807 which open miles away towards Mount Washington, there being but few mountains in the whole region where the labor of ascent is so slight, and the view obtained so beautiful. From this point we can not only see the southwest peaks of the Presidential Range, but the crest of Mount Washington towering over Tuckerman's ravine ; the lower peaks and the green pastures in the intervales, combining to make a 'scene of the utmost grandeur. In the foreground nestles the Alpine village of Jackson, at the con- fluence of the Wild-Cat Brook and Glen Ellis River. The town was settled as early as 1778, and was first called New Madbury ; but it received its present name because of the fact that in 1829, during the sharp political contest between Mr. Adams and Mr. Jackson, all the voters in the town (except one) voted for " Old Hickory." One of the north crests of Thorn Mountain is Tin Mountain, notable from the fact that the first dis- covery of that scarce and hence valuable metal in the United States was made there. 3. Jackson Falls, Wild-Cat River.— The village of Jackson is not merely worthy of our notice because it is the centre of several interesting excursion routes, but has attractions of its own. It is situated in a pleasant valley, and there are fine views of Thorn and Iron Mountains. Directly in the village, and seen from the highway bridge which crosses the Wild- Cat River, or brook, for it is only a small mountain stream, are the Jackson Falls. As you see, the stream flows in white, silvery bands over the dark ledges into the quiet pools below. At times of high water they So8 THE WHITE MOUNTAINS. are very attractive, and have the advantage of being readily accessible from either side. The vista shows the rounded form of one of the neighboring hills. Its sloping sides calls to mind the remark of a farmer in one of these glens, who, when asked if he did not enjoy the majestic views about and above him, re- plied : " Wal, yes ; but if I'd had the sortin' of those hills, I'd made 'em a little peakeder." Perhaps one does weary of "the flowing lines and heavy masses of the mountains," but there is something impressive in the thought of the deluges which have swept over the surfaces of these great hills, rounding their out- lines, and smoothing and polishing the rocks. 4 A Mountain Road. — As our stage slowly makes its way up the Pinkham Notch, with the moun- tains before us growing higher and higher, and the country more wild as we approach, the traveler is reminded and can appreciate to some extent the awe in which the aboriginal inhabitants of this region held these hills. The vicinity of the main range was care- fully avoided by the Indians, who called it Agiochook, or, "the Place of the Great Spirit of the Forest." The highest peak was a sacred and stainless shrine, and no hunter was bold enough to approach it, much less scale its precipitious sides. Though the moun- tains teemed with game, and the streams with trout, the warriors who had lived all their lives within sight of the rocky peaks were restrained from visiting them by reverential awe. Those who dared to invade the shrine of the Great Spirit were reported never to have returned, but to have been condemned to wander forever among the gloomy ravines, "whence their THE WHITE MOUNTAINS. 809 despairing shrieks were borne from time to time to the valleys on the wings of the stormy winds." The Indians, too, had some strange legends about old Agiochook, one of which was that it was the Ararat of the New World — a tradition of the Noahian deluge, - whose memory is scattered among all the nations of the world. 5. Wild-Cat and Glen Ellis.— One of the most striking of the mountains as we approach the base of Washington is Wild-Cat. It is 4350 feet high, thickly wooded to its summit, and at its foot flows the beautiful Ellis River. A clearing, however, has been made high up on the west side of Wild-Cat, from which is obtained perhaps the best view obtainable of Mount Washington, and the great ravines on its eastern face. The view also includes Mounts Jeffer- son and Adams, and the other peaks of the Presi- dential Range ; and in addition different stages of the carriage road which ascends from the Glen House to the Summit, 6293 feet above the sea ; its windings making it eight and a half miles long, although the actual distance is much less. We now come to what in some respects is the most interesting and impressive incident of our trip — the ascent of Mount Washington. Thanks to a company organized many years ago, a comfortable road has been constructed on this side of the mountain, and one can enjoy without reserve the views, which are of surpassing interest. Besides these the student of natural history will be filled with ^wonder to note the gradual disappearance of trees as he begins to ap- proach the limit of vegetation, the flora at and near 8lO THE WHITE MOUNTAINS. the summit being identical with that of the arctic regions of our continent. It is in fact an arctic island in the temperate zone. 6. Tip-Top House. — The first ascent to the sum- mit of Mount Washington was made in 1642 by an adventurous Irishman, who had been warned by the Indians that he would die if he made the attempt. He succeeded, however, and his account of the view to be obtained is exceedingly quaint and entertaining. The Indian wars prevented much exploration, and it was not until 1784 that the first scientific expedition was made. It is believed that the party which made a visit to the summit at that date, named the moun- tain in honor of "the Father of his Country." The first house built upon the top, which is a level space less than an acre in area, was a stone cabin, erected in 1821, and here rested the first ladies who reached the top. This cabin was swept away by a terrific storm in August, 1826. The Tip-Top House, of which this is a view, was built in 1853, and is 28 by 84 feet. The heavy construction and braces are very necessary, for days on which there is no wind are very rare here. It is not uncommon for the wind to maintain the charac- teristics of a hurricane for days at a time. As may be imagined the winters on the summit are most severe, but since its feasibility was demonstrated in 1871 by a party of volunteers, the U. S. Signal Ser- vice has occupied this important post of observation continuously. 7. View from Mount Washington.— It would be foolish to attempt by any word description, or by a THE WHITE MOUNTAINS. Si I single photographic view, to give an idea of the magnificent view from the summit of Mount Wash- ington. The view-line sweeps around a circumference of nearly iooo miles, embracing parts of five States and of the Province of Quebec. One might almost say, with Ralph Waldo Emerson, that he could " Gaze o'er New England underspread, South from St. Lawrence to the Sound, From Catskill east to the sea-bound." Unless the visitor is well provided with warm cloth- ing and wraps, his view is very likely to be confined to the stove in the hotel office, for the wind is often very keen, and even in the month of August tempera- tures far below the freezing-point are not uncommon. We will suppose, however, that we have been more provident, and are well-provided with ulsters and shawls. Our first impression will be one of amaze- ment and wonder at the vastness of the prospect spread out before us. Yet there is much uncertainty about the matter, for cloudy days on the summit are more frequent than clear ones, and the visitor will often see more of cloud than of landscape. At the same time the cloud-effects, as Dr. Starr King has said, "Are the most surprising and fascinating pageants which the ascent of the mountain can dis- close." 8. Crawford Notch.— On the western side of Mt. Washington a railway, having an average grade of 1300 feet to the mile, and after which the road up the Rigi in Switzerland was modelled, has been con- structed, and by its means we are enabled to reach 8i2 THE WHITE MOUNTAINS. the head of the great White Mountain Notch and Crawford Notch, in much less time than it took us to ascend the mountain from the Glen side. The Notch is the deep pass which divides the mountains near the centre into the two groups already referred to, and presents some of the most wild and solemn scenery in the White Mountains, The Notch proper is only about three miles long, but the valley through its entire length is very narrow, the ridges rising boldly on each side. The highest point in the Notch is 1 9 14 feet above the sea, and the massive walls tower 2000 feet above the Saco River, which occupies the bottom of the defile. While the Notch was probably known to the Indians it was rarely used, owing to their superstition concerning the mountains, and it was not known to the white settlers until its accidental discovery in 1771 by a border hunter. Soon after- wards a road was built which was a remarkable specimen of engineering, crossing the Saco no less than thirty-two times during the ascent of the valley. 9. The Willey House. — At a point near the lower end of the Notch, between Mount Willey and Mount Webster, where the view is most sublime, stands the Willey House — the scene of a remarkable tragedy in 1826. The old house, the middle one in the view be- fore us, was an ancient public house, but in 1825 it was occupied by Samuel Willey, Jr., and his family. In June of the following year two slides fell from the mountain behind the house, premonitory of the im- pending disaster. On the night of August 28, 1826, a terrible rain storm swept over the mountains. An avalanche swept down the mountains, carrying every- thing before it. A traveler who sometime afterwards THE WHITE MOUNTAINS. 813 forced his way through the ruin found that a great rock behind the Willey House had parted the avalanche,, and that the house was preserved intact. The house was deserted, however, and the bodies of Mr. and Mrs. Willey, two children and two hired men were found some distance away, buried in the slide. It is supposed that becoming alarmed at the rapid rise of the waters of Saco they sought a place of safety higher up the mountain, and were overwhelmed. Had they remained in their house they would have escaped. The place has a certain morbid interest, but the surrounding mountains will be found much more worthy of attention than this melancholy relic of the past. 10. The Flume. — Thus far we have devoted our attention exclusively to the eastern group, but the Franconia Mountains are as beautiful in their way as the others, and no visit to the White Mountains would be complete without seeing one or two of the natural wonders in that region. The narrow pass before us is well known to all tourists as the Flume. It is a marvelous fissure in the side of a mountain, to which it has given its name. It is about 700 feet long, and rocky, perpendicular precipices, from ten to twenty feet apart, and from sixty to seventy feet high, form its sides. Through the Flume a brilliant little stream dashes. For centuries a giant boulder hung sus- pended between the cliffs in the upper part of the Flume, and was the wonder of every visitor ; but in the early summer of 1883 a tremendous avalanche, caused by heavy rains on the peaks above, swept the boulder away, and scoured out and deepened the 8 14 THE WHITE MOUNTAINS. gorge. It left, however, in compensation for the loss of the suspended boulder, two pretty waterfalls. 11. The Profile. — One of the most remarkable natural formations is the Profile, a wonderful resemb- lance to the human face formed by a series of ledges on the upper cliffs of Mount Cannon. Tradition says that the "Old Man of the Mountain" was wor- shiped by the Indians at one time, and whether this is true or not, we can readily understand with what feelings of awe they must have contemplated these majestic features — a veritable Sphynx, sculptured out of the everlasting hills ages before the oldest Egyptian monuments were formed, or before, indeed, the crea- tion of man. The face is formed by three discon- nected ledges of granite, in different vertical lines, their aggregate height being from thirty-six to forty feet by actual measurement. The rocks are rapidly crumbling, and it may not be many years before the great stone face will have disappeared and will live only in pictures and in the many romances which it has suggested. 12. Profile Lake. — From this exquisite sheet of water one of the best views of the Profile is to be had, but it has an interest of its own entirely apart from the mysterious presence which has so long brooded over its waters. From this point we obtain a vision of the sublime and beautiful, which it would be very difficult to duplicate. Before us the rugged crags of Eagle Cliff stand out in bold relief, while on every side the forest trees come down to the water's edge. THE WHITE MOUNTAINS. 815 " In the mirror of its tide, Tangled thickets on each side Hang inverted, and between Floating cloud or sky serene." In the memory of such a gem of mountain and lake scenery we can be content to bring our too short trip to the White Mountains to an end. X *#K LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 013 983 851 8 » It V:; $mi