From the Ledge the road continues its zigzag way up the steep and around dangerously narrow terraces, over which a party of excursionists in a six-horse wagon tumbled to their death on the 3d of July, 1880, the only accident that has ever occurred in making the remarkable descent here, however perilous appears the passage; and this tragedy was due to a drunken driver. In describing the ascent above Midway House, Mr. Drake thus writes: “A sharp turn around a ledge, and the southeast wall of Tuckerman’s Ravine rose up like a wraith out of the forest. Nearer at hand was the Head of Huntington’s, while to the right the cone of Washington loomed up gradually, more than a thousand feet higher. A little to left you look down into the gloomy depths of Pinkham defile, the valley of Ellis River and the Saco Valley to North Conway. The blue course of the Ellis, which is nothing but a long cascade, the rich green of the Conway intervales, the blanched peak of Chocurua, the sapphire summits of Ossipee Mountains were presented in conjunction with the black and humid walls of the ravine, and the iron-gray moss of the great dome. The crag on which I stood leans out over the mountain like a bastion, from which the spectator sees the deep-entrenched valleys, the rivers which wash the feet of the monarch, and the long line of summits which partake of his grandeur while making it all the more impressive. From here the striking spectacle of four great northern peaks, their naked summits, their sides seamed with old and new slides, and flecked with snow, constantly enlarged. There were some terrible rents in the side of Clay, red as half-closed wounds, and in one place the mountain seemed riven to its center. It was this gulf that the first climber said it was such a precipice he could scarce discern the bottom. The rifts in the walls of the ravine, the blasted fir-trees leaning over the abyss, and clutching the rocks with a death-grip, the rocks themselves, tormented, formidable, impending, astounded by their vivid portrayal of the formless, their suggestions of the agony in which these mountains were brought forth.”
UPPER JACKSON FALLS, WILD-CAT RIVER, NEW HAMPSHIRE.
But if there be grandeur in the chaotic landscape which spreads out before the startled vision of the spectator on the mountain breast, what must be the sensation inspired by the tremendous view that is afforded from the summit? It is the feeling of complete separation from the earth, of suspension in the sky and looking down upon the world below. The exhilaration that comes from conquering a mighty thing; the solemnity of being face to face with infinity. But gradually an orderly array of magnificence and comprehensible grandeur appears, as peak upon peak is resolved into definable chains, clusters, or detached masses. Hills draw apart, valleys open, streams and cascades sparkle in their tortuous beds, while the skirts of the mountains are dotted with rich colors and the meadow-lands become a fringe of emerald encompassing their irregular bases. Almost independent of the will, the eye wanders from summit to summit, making a slow circuit of the crenated horizon, until it is arrested by a vast spread of gleaming white that at first sight may be mistaken for a luminous cloud in the southeast. More careful observation reveals that it is the ocean, one hundred miles away, and by the help of telescope vessels may be distinguished, and even the number of sails which each craft carries.
LIGHT-HOUSE IN THE HARBOR OF PORTLAND, MAINE.
Amazing, splendid, and even thrilling as the view unquestionably is from the top of White Mountain, yet it cannot compare, for either extent or grandeur, with that obtained from the summit of Pike’s Peak. Not so great in altitude as its nobler rival of the Rockies, it is wanting in other conditions to make it equal, chief of which is the usually heavy and hazy atmosphere that is due to proximity to the sea, thus interfering with the range of vision, and more frequently interposing clouds to shut off the view entirely.
On the highest point of Mount Washington the Government has built an observatory and signal station, and a very excellent hotel has also been added, for the accommodation of those who desire to spend a night at this great height, and to experience the sensation of a snow-storm in mid-summer. A curiosity recently added to the other attractions of the summit is an electric search-light of 100,000 candle-power, at a cost of $7,000, which is controlled from the foot of the tower by electric motors. Telegraphic signals flashed by this monster light have been interpreted at Portland, Maine, which is eighty-five miles distant.
