"Chicago to the Sea." Eastern Excursionist / A complete guide to the principal eastern summer resorts, including: Niagara Falls, the White Mountains, Saint Lawrence and Saguenay Rivers, Montreal and Quebec, the New England sea beaches, etc., and how and when to enjoy them.

by William C. Gage

THE ASCENT OF MOUNT WASHINGTON.

From the Fabyan House, the railroad has been extended to the base of Mount Washington, there connecting with the wonderful elevated railway to the summit, thus forming a continuous all-rail line to the realm above the clouds. The six miles of road to the base of the mountain compasses some of the steepest grades known to railroad engineering. A powerful engine, of the six-drive-wheel construction, is required to propel a very moderate load of passengers, and as it laboriously puffs along the grades, the forests echo and re-echo with the sound, while the traveler feels thankful that the iron horse, instead of flesh and blood, is being employed in his service.

Mt. Pleasant Hotel is passed a short distance from Fabyan’s, and a short distance from here are the Wild Ammonoosuc Falls, a natural curiosity well worthy of a visit. The river descends “about fifty feet, in a broken, irregular way, and in some places has worn curious channels in the rocks, resembling a cauldron, in which the water seethes and boils in its downward course, and issues laughing, singing and leaping in its wild and merry race for the intervales below.”

FABYAN HOUSE, WHITE MOUNTAINS.

The Mount Washington Railway is one of the wonders of modern engineering skill. It was chartered by the Legislature of New Hampshire, in 1858, the passage of the bill being regarded as the huge joke of the session, one member offering to amend it by “extending it to the moon,” either terminal being regarded as equally liable to become a fact. In spite of obstacles, however, its construction was successfully accomplished, by the combined ingenuity of the projector and inventor, Sylvester Marsh, the mechanical skill of Walter Aiken, who built the engine and cars, and the financial aid and “push” of friendly
individuals and interested railway companies. It was completed in 1869, and has carried thousands up and down the mountain without the slightest injury to any, so complete is the system of safety appliances in use, each independent of the other, and any one sufficient in itself to insure complete safety. The writer was once an eye-witness to the severest test to which it has ever yet been subjected, caused by the breakage of one of the gear driving wheels of the locomotive. The resultant disarrangement of the machinery set in operation the automatic safeguards, producing the effect of instantly holding the train to the track as firmly as though it had been bolted to the solid rock. Indeed, it was with no little difficulty that it was liberated, and enabled to proceed.

MT. WASHINGTON RAILWAY.

The accompanying [illustration] gives a good idea of the operation of the road. In addition to the ordinary rails of the common railroad, there is a toothed rail midway between, in which there “meshes” the geared wheel attached to the axle of the locomotive, which thus steadily climbs up the mountain by the revolution of the machinery. All the axles, both of the engine and passenger coach, are provided with geared wheels, by means of which the train could be instantly anchored to the track, as in the case above cited. Each car has its own locomotive, and will carry about fifty passengers. The seats are inclined backward, so as to be in a good position on ascending the mountain. The car is always above the engine, both in the ascent and descent. The latter is accomplished by gravitation alone, the brakes being kept in requisition to hold the train in check.

The ride up the mountain constitutes an experience never to be forgotten. Leaving Ammonoosuc Station, as the starting point at the base is called, the train immediately surmounts a considerable elevation before emerging from the forest, which is soon left behind as we rise above the “tree-line,” and reach the region of stunted shrubs, which in turn give place to moss and lichens, and finally to rocks, bare of vegetation, and as cheerless as it is possible to imagine. Above the trees, the prospect broadens, as the landscape spreads out in a grand panorama, almost illimitable, and of wonderful grandeur and beauty. Several stops are made for water, which is taken from large tanks fed by mountain springs, far above, and conducted down in pipes. These stopping places have been appropriately named, according to their location, such as Waumbek Station, Gulf Station, etc., the latter being near the yawning chasm in the mountain-side, named the Gulf of Mexico. Banks of snow may frequently be seen in its recesses, even in midsummer, and a game of snowballing is not an uncommon August recreation.

“GULF OF MEXICO,” MT. WASHINGTON.

Jacob’s Ladder is a long section of trestle work, with a considerable elevation and steep inclination, after passing which the grade diminishes somewhat, as the road winds around the crown of the mountain.

Near the summit is a pile of rocks surmounted by a tablet, known as the “Lizzie Bourne Monument,” marking the spot where the young lady perished from exposure, in September, 1855; having undertaken the ascent of the mountain in company with two male relatives, without a guide, and becoming chilled and bewildered, she lost her way, and despairingly sank down to die almost in sight of the summit.

Nearing the summit, the view changes, as the scenery of the eastern side comes in view. The highlands of Maine are now the background of the picture, with intervening valleys, lakes and rivers, while far below, the white buildings of the Glen House dot the landscape as a mere speck in the lovely valley in which they nestle.

The trip from base to summit occupies about an hour and a quarter, the distance being three miles, with an average grade of 1,300 feet to the mile, the most abrupt ascent being in the proportion of one foot in three. An approximate idea of this grade may be had by placing a yard-stick upon a level surface, as a table, and raising one end of it a foot, with the other end upon the table. Then imagine a train of cars climbing such an ascent, and you have a fair conception of the grade; but the most vivid imagination would fail to take in the sensations actually experienced in the journey.

LIZZIE BOURNE MONUMENT.