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1 S •'» o .
GUIDE BOOK
or T II u
ATLANTIC AND ST. LAWRENCE,
AND
ST. LAWRENCE AND ATLANTIC
RAIL ROADS,
INCLUDING A
FULL DESCRIPTION OF ALL THE INTERESTING FEATURES
OP THR
WHITE MOUNTAINS,
BY S. B. BECKETT;
WITH ILLUSTR.\T10NS FROM 0RIGIN.4L SKETCHES
BY C. E. BECKETT,
ENGR.WED ON WOOD BY
BAKER, SMITH & ANDREW.
-♦ -^•^ > -
PORTLAND:
SANBORN & CARTER, AND H. J. LIT TLE & CO.
I 8 5 .3 .
Entered, nccordini; to Act of Congress, in the yenr one thomaniil
eight iiundred and fifty-three, by
S. li. Beckett,
in tlie Clerk's Office of the District Court of Main©.
i/
\\Oi\AtiY
JUl 2-M966
^^«/JY OF '^<^)^^
^ ?j 7 fi 9 C
^^f p
iji. Mm
i
CONTENTS.
Atlnnticc and St. Lawrence Ilall
Iloiul, 8
An(lrnt<coggtn and Kennebec Rail
Itoiul, 3.')
Androscogffin Valley, 47,48, 56, C9, (j8
.72, 131, 141
Androscoggin Uail Road, 37
Aider Stream, 47 |
Albany Itasinii, 61 I
Alpine House, fi3, 130 I
Autumnal Scenery of the Moun- i
tains, 113'
Acton, IGl
Bear Mountain, 29
Buckfleld Urnnch Ilail Uoad, 39
Bryant's Pond, 45
Bethel, 47
Bear Kiver, 51
Boundary Line bctwen Maine and
New Hampshire, 56
Berlin Falls 71, 132
Bemis Pond, 116
Big Brompton Falls, 157
Black Itivor, 160
Beloeil Mountain, 164
Boucherville Mountain, 165
City of Portland, 10
Casro Bay, 19
Cape Elizabeth, 2,')
Cape Cottage, 25
Cumberland, 31
Cobb's Bridge, ,%
Cambridge Kiver. 51
Carter Mountain,! 67, 110
Crystal Cascade, 97
Crystal Stream, 102
Crawford House, 124
Connecticut Kiver, 138
Coaticooke Village and River, 151
Canada Line, 151
Compton Center, 153
Charons, 166
Diamond Cove, 20
DanTile Junction, 35
Day Break on Mount Washington, ..91
Devil's Den, 123
Devil's Slide, 133
Dixville Notch, 139
Durham IGO
Evergreen Cemetery, 27
Empire Head 38
Eebo Lake, 128, 147
Eastern Townships, 148
Facilities for Travel between Boston,
Portland and the White Moun-
tains 9 10
First K i Itoad to Tortland, 19
Forts Prebln and Scannnel, 27
Farm School, 27
Falmouth, 81
First Visitors to the White Moun-
tains, 93
Fall of a Thousand Streams, 104
Full Scenery of the Mountains,. . . ,11.3
Franconia Notch and Scenery, 128
Forests of Canada, 160
Falls of Montmorenci, 176
Oilead, 68
Granny Starbird's Ledge, 69
Glen House, 81
Glen Ellis Fall, 98
Guildhall, 134
Green .Mountain Hldge, 141
Grand Trunk Itallway, 143
Georgeville, 149
Hotel Road, 88
Hermit Lake, 107
Ilight Mountain, 110
Heights of the principal Mountains, 112
Imp Mountain, 67, 111
Israel's lUver, 137
Island Pond, 143
Jackson Village, 116
Jefferson, 127
Kennebec and Portland Rail Road,. .3-3
Kilkenney, 128
Lake Sebago, 28
Lewiston Falls, 86
Little Androscoggin River, 40
Locke's Mills, 47
Lake of the Clouds 107
Lower AmmonoOi?uc Falls, 126
Lancaster, 187
Lake Willoughby, 147
Lake Memphremagog, 148
Lake Masgawlppi, 149
Lcnnoxville, 164
I^es Soixante, 168
Longueil, 166
Longue Point, 178
Lacbine, 178
VI
CONTKMS.
Mount Clirli>t<H>h<r. •• • •_• ; • .fij
" Morliih, 64,69.64,74,70,112
•' A<l.ini^ 4ti,C4,50. 71, 81,112
" Jullernon, 4»i, 64, W, 71, (H.
« HI, 11-
•' Wiiiihii'igion, ...6i», <17, 81, 85, 11*2
<. ..,. ...lit!, lJ7,i;i*2
«' CiirtiT t>7, 7H, 110, U'l
" Imp 07.111
" MiuliKon, tl
" \Vfl)8t<!r, l-'<*
" Williml, 1-"
Mount Dfscrt IMond, 2U
Moo.xt'lu'nil Ijiikc "^^
Muchimii- KallH, 39
Mountain ColiciMini, H'o
Mount ("iiiwforJ 11ou«p, 110
Alount WiisliinKton IIoiiso,.. . .124
Jloofu River, 131
Mlinn, 132
Maidstone Lake,. . , 13<
Memphrenvino^ Lake, 148
Massuwippi Lake, 149
MnifOK River, 160
Mcriiournc, 168
Metcalfe 101
MonUirviUe,, 106
Montreal, 100
North Yarmouth, 34
New OlouceHter, 34
Norway, 41
North Paris 42
Nineteen Mile Brook 110
Notch, 120
Notch IIouso, 124
Northumberland, 134
North Stratford, 138
Nulhegnn Woodsand lUver, 140
Norton Pond, 161
Niagara, 180
Observatory, 10
Ocean House, 20
Oxford, 40
Ottowa River, 70
Old Man of the MountainH, Ill
Portland, 10
Pleasant Cove, 24
Trout's Neck, 20
Pleasant Mountain, 28
Presumpscot Itiver, 30
Pownal, 34
Poland, 88
Paris Hill, 40
Pike's Hill 41
Pinnisiwassi Lake, 42
Plelsant River Bridge, f.4
Peabrook Basins, 68
Peabody River, 77
Pinkham Valley or Pass, 116
Province Line, 151
Phering River, 161
Plains of Abraham, 176
(jui'beonnd Rlcliinonit Rail Roiid..ir)!»
tiuel.ec, 174
Ricliniond Ixinnd, 26
Ri.Nal's lilv.T, .••33
Route to Moiwc Head Lake, 30, <j7
Ranilolph Hill, 08,128
Rich-.iinnd, 168
liiclii'lieu River, 106
Itlver .St Lawrence, 1(0
RideauCauul, "9
Sebajro Luke : 28
.Shaker Villane, 86
.Sabbat li-dav I'ond, So
iStnge IntemclionB,.37, 42, 40, 116, 166
.South Paris, 40
Snow's Kails,. 42
Swift Canibridgo Jllvor 61
.Songn Pond, 61
Shelburne, 66
.Station or Alpine House 03, 130
■Sunrise on Mount Washington, 91
,Snci) Hlver Valley, 117
Silver Cascade, I'^S
Stark 133
Stratford Peaks, 134, 137
Stratloril Hollow, 138
Spectacle Pond, 142
Seymour Lake, 147
Shcrbrooko 155
.St, Francis River, 157,158
'■ Soixante 168
St. Charles, 163
.St. Rosalie, 168
St. Hyacinth, 163
St. H'ilaire, 164
St. Ann, 173
St . I-aw rence River, 174
Saguenay River, 176
i Tip Top House, 91
' Telegraphic Station, 130
Unibagog liakes, 46
Upper Fulls of Lower Ammonoosuc,.126
Upper Animonoosuo Kiver, 132
Upper Canada, 177
Watcrin;^ Places, 25
AVcstbrook, 27
West Bethel, 54
I Wild River, 65
I Winter Scenery "♦"'he Mountains, ...114
I Willey House 118
White Mountain Notch, 120
White Mountain House, 126
West Milan 138
Willoughby Lake, 147
Watervillo, 16S
Windsor 158
11
Yarmouth,
' Yarmouth .Tunctiou,.
i Yainaska Kiver,
..81
..33
.160
..174
..2U
.113
|. '10,37
"i, 128
■ 158
..1«6
..179
...79
...28
■ 35
.35
,166
..40
..42
...61
...51
...50
i, 130
.01
117
k'3
.133
,1.37
.138
.142
.147
. 155
,158
.163
.163
.163
1(J3
.U>4
.173
.174
170
FHr:i Aci:.
The ohjcct of this work is to fHrni.<li the traveler with rcliahlo
of
iiitnl veil'
the
h
jfore
iuformntion
little known, rci^ion trnvert;((l by the grent iiitcnmtional rail way
between I'ortlund and Montrcil.
The thief portion of this region i.s rieli In capabilities for sustain-
ing a large population, and much of it is well settled and teeming
with the evidences of indu.stry and thrift, but owing to its ditlieulty
of access, its inhabitants have heretofore lived, iu a great measure,
within themselves.
The road passes tiirough the very midst of the White Mountains,
following the remarkable depression sought out by the wild and
winding Androscoggin llivcr, and in no other iseetion of the moun-
tains, in no part of our country, is the scenery on such a scale of
mblimity, wildncss and beauty, as here, while being remote from the.
old routes of travel, to tourists it pos.se&scs the additional attrac-
tions of novelty.
The illustrations were all engraved from sketches taken expressly
for this work, and have never before appeared in piint; and the de-
scriptions aio the result of the writer's own personal observation of
the scenes and objects depicted.
II.IAJSTRATIONH.
Vignette, paqk.
Portland, from Cape Elizabeth Hill, 2
Rail Road Bridge, from North Street 13
Diamond Cove, 21
Bryant's Pond, 43
Bethel, 49
Mounts Moriah, Adams and Jefferson, from Gilead, 64
Wild River Bridge, 57
Mounts Washington, Jefferson and Adams, from Shtlburne 59
The Whit« Mountain Station or Alpine Ilouse, Gorham, 61
The Imp and Carter Mountains, from the Alpine Ilouse, Co
...69
...71
Mounts Madison, Adams and Jefferson, from Randolph Hill,.
Berlin Falls, ,
The White Mountains, from Berlin Falls, 73
Mount Moriah, from Lary'B, 76
Mounts Jefferson and Adams, from Thompson's Mill, 79
The Glen House, 83
Mount Washington, from the Peabody Valley, 89
The Cryntal Cascade, 95
Glen Ellis Fall, 99
The Imp of the Mountains, 1 1
The Willey House, 118
The White Mountain Notch, 121
The Stratford Peaks 135
Dixville Notch, 139
liland Pond, 145
City of Montraal, 167
C
I
<
ILLUSTRATED GUIDE BOOK
OF THE
ATLANTIC AND ST. LAWRENCE
RAIL ROAD.
In pleasure travel, as in many other phases of tho
economy of so3iety, our rail roails have province:! a
com[)lete revolution. Instead of beiuf;^ jammed as for-
merly into a contracted vehicle capable of accommo-
dating but a half of the people forced, into it, and
slowly toiling up hill, and down dale, over rough
roads, with ja.lod and panting horses — sweltering
with heat or almost smothered with dust, the traveler
on any of the great routes, can now jump into a spa-
cious and well ventilated rail road car, elegant in
its appointments as a parlor, and presto he is at the
end of his journey — almost with the rapidity of
thought he changes the atmosphere of the counting-
room for the bracing breezes and refreshing scenes
of the country, the din of the city's thoroughfares for
the tranquil beauty of the inland lake, or the secluded
retreat of the mountains.
8
PORTLAND, WHITE MOUNTAINS AND
We have somewhere read an oriental tale (perhaps
in the Arabian Nights) of a prince who, unwilling to
decide on which of three suitors to confer a lovely
daughter's hand, sent thein abroad with the promise
that he who should return before the expiration of a
year with the most valuable present, should receive
the prize. As the story ran, one of them on his return,
threw at the. feet of the prince an ordinary looking
leather cushion, which he had purchased in some far
away region. He had paid a mine of wealth for it ;
it was not to be judged by its plain exterior. Sit upon
that cushion, and only ivish to be transferred to any
place, however remote, and instantaneously the occu-
pant was there. What is the rail car seat but the
magical cushion which those cunning old Arabs, who,
it sometimes seems could really foretell future events,
fancied or predicted. Place yourself upon it, and by
the time you have fairly got adjusted to its bearnig,
you are at the end of your journey.
We have spoken of these facilities as applicable to
all the great routes of pleasure travel. Until nuite
recently, all that was wanting to make them so, was
a road from the border of the ocean to those objects
of universal attraction, the White Mountains of
New Hampshire, Tiiousands upon thousands of
people flock thither every year, from all parts of our
country, to enjoy the invigorating atmosphere and
sublime scenery of that primeval section.
The Atlantic and St, Lawi-ence Rail Road, one of
the noblest works of our countr^^ has provided a
means to meet the wants of these crowds. This road
commences at Portland, Me., and passing thr^ ugh
some of the finest scenery of the North, on its way
MONTREAL RAIL ROAD GUIDE.
9
to Montreal, sets down the mountain excursionist at
Gorham, N. H., in the midst of the loftiest crags and
wildest steeps of those heaven piercing summits, in
from three to four hours, the distance being about
ninety miles.
This road is built on the broad or five and a half
feet a:au2:e and is as substantial a work as the whole
country can boast and although penetrating one of
the most rugged districts in America, such are the
facilities afforded by the streams which have furrowed
their way through the mountain passes, that it has no
grades of greater rise to the mile than any other rail
road of the same length on the continent.
The broad gauge, while it is contended that it is
less liable to accident than the narrow, gives an easier
motion to the cars, and the cars being broad in pro-
portion, are much more comfortable than those on the
more contracted gauges.
Its Atlantic terminus, Portland, is connected with
Boston by two hnes of rail road, and by two or
three lines of steam packets, the principal of the
latter being that of the Portland and Boston Steam
Navigation Company, which runs a line of new,
staunch, and elegant boats, daily each way.
These flicilities for travel and business create a
competition which keeps the fare between the two
places very low, the regular price for tickets by
steamer being only one dollar, and that by rail road
two dollars, the distance by cither route being not far
from one hundred and five miles. Again, Boston
being attainable from New York, Philadelphia, Balti-
more, and the great Atlantic cities South, and from
Albany, Buffalo, etc., on the West, by splendid lines
10
PORTLAND, WHITE MOUNTAINS AND
H
i
I
h
of rail way and other means of rapid conveyance,
and those great marts in their turn being the centres
of hnes of travel radiating to every quarter of the
Union, it may be said that means the most expeditious
and commodious, of reaching the highest mountains
of our country this side of the Rocky Mountains are
thus available for travelers from all parts.
By this route, tourists can leave Boston in the
morning train of cars j'or Portland, and have an hour
and a half to take dinner and look round in tliat city,
and taking the afternoon train, reach the While Moun-
tain Station or Alpine House, in season to ascend to
the top of Mt. Washington the same evening; there
tliey will find good accommodations at the " Tip Top
House," and after spending a night in that exalted
cyry, separated as it were from the world, with the
stars and clouds for companions, can witness the dawn
of day, so resplendent and soul-stirring Avhen the sun
rises from the distant ocean unclouded, and then
descend, and be in Eostnn the same day betimes to
lake supjier — all this without very extraordinary exer-
tion, and with not much more fatigue than generally
attends half a day's coach riding. With such facts
before the world, who will say but that in the rail car
seat exists substantially the magical cushion of the
Arabian !Nights Entertainments I But suppose the
tourist arrived at
PORTT.AND,
His first object is to find a home suited to his wants
and tastes. This he may do in the United States
Hotel, at the Ehi" House, and other similar estabhsh-
ments ; or if he have a mind to remain a while in the
4
.:§
MONTREAL RAIL ROAD GUIDE.
11
city and enjoy its fine scenery, invigorating sea air,
and its facilities for yacht soiling, sea bathing, fishing,
or its pleasure drives, and does not wish to go to one
of the hotels, he can find quarters at some one of the
elegant private boarding houses, — or at the romantic
watering places on Cape Ehzabcth, known as the
Ocean House and Cape Cottage, the first eight, the
latter three miles from the city.
Portland, there can be no deubt, is destined to figure
as one of the large cities of the Union. Within a few
years, it has taken a new start, as the homely phrase
is ; its business having increased tlu'ee fold, and its
population run up from fifteen or sixteen thousand, to
about twenty-five thousand, with a constantly accel-
erating increase.
The streets are broad and have a neat and cleanly
appearance ; most of them are lined with noble elm,
maple and other shade trees, comminghng the rural
with the business like, hence the significant title
which has so widely obtained, as applied to the place,
of Forest City.
Among the buildings worthy of notice, are the Ex-
change, (now Custom House) situated at the junction
of Middle and Exchange Streets, built of granite in
the Doric ordei of architecture, the old Custom House,
at the corner of Fore Street and Custom House
Wharf, also of granite, with massive Ionic columns,
the immense pile of brick and granite, known as
Brown's Sugar House, on York Street at the foot of
Maple Street, the first Unitarian Church on Congress
opposite head of Temple Street, the Congregational
Churches on High and State Streets — the Congress
Street, Park Street and Chesnut Street School
2*
12
PORTLAND, WHITE MOUNTAINS AND
Houses, Lancaster Hall, on Market Square, &c.
Many of the stores and dwelling houses are likewise
noticeable for the .richness and taste developed in
their construction.
The healthiness of the city may be inferred from
the fact that the average number of deaths annually
for the last twenty years, has been but 1 in G5, while
in most of the Atlantic cities, it is 1 in 40, and in
some as low as 1 in 30. This remarkable state of
health is owing as well to the general cleanliness of
the streets and elevation of the land on which it is
built, as to its being washed on every side l>y tide
water.
Portland has its historic fame. In the early occu-
pancy of this section it was often the scene of desper-
ate strife between the settlers and the Indians and
French, during which the place was twice destroyed,
and on October 18th, 1775, it was bombarded by an
Enghsh fleet, under the command of Capt. Mowatt,
and almost entirely laid in ashes.
On the 5th of September, 1813, the sanguinary
battle between the British man-of-war brig Boxer
and the American brig Enterprise, was fought off the
harbor, which resulted in the capture of the former,
not however without fearful carnage, Capt. Blythe of
the Boxer, and the American Captain Burroughs,
being both killed during the action. Their remains
lie side by side in the cemetery at the eastern section
of the city, surmounted by substantial monuments,
that of Blythe erected by his surviving officers, and
the other by " a passing stranger."
In the same burial place rest the remains of Com-
modore Edward Preble, who commanded the Ameri-
1
t
ewise
^Gd in
Amy.'.... :^.M:J^r:l'%::h..m
"V,
MONTREAL RAIL ROAD GUIDE.
u
can squadron during? the gallant operations which
resulted in the reduction of Tripoli in 1804, and whose
acts on other occasions, contr uted largely in elevat-
ing the character of the American Navy. A costly
monument of white marble marks the spot of his
interment.
The scenery of Portland and vicinity is remarkable
for its diversified j)icturesque attractions. The cele-
brated English traveller Latrobe, seems to have been
particularly struck with it ; in his published work on
America, he says, " Imagine my sur})rise, when I
found in the unsung and neglected Portland, scenery
that for beauty and variety, far surpassed any that I
had j)reviously met with in the States;" and this
statement is in keei)ing with the testimony of scores
of other well known writers, who have expressed
themselves on the subject.
The land on which the city is built rises gradually
from the water side, so that the roofs show one above
another, the largo dome of the new Custom House
towering over all ; and the view on entering the
harbour by the ship channel is imposing and beautiful
in the extreme, suggesting the idea of a city of thrice
its actual extent. From Cai)e Elizabeth and from
the Westbrook shore of Back Cove, the city also
shows to fine o fleet.
The extensive views from the summit of the hill,
on North Street, deserve the attention of the traveler,
as may readily be inferred from the truthtul sketch on
the foregoing page, of the Rail Road Bridge, and
the adjacent shore and inlets of the Bay, taken from
that point. But the most commanding view of the
whole region round about, may be obtained from the
t*
-ORTLAND, w„,r, MOUNT.ms .„„
tall tower known ns thn ni
object imorvenes ,„ obsiru f H ""^' ""^ "°
•nay wander ,m .ve^iTo'''; ""'' "'"' '"« eye
»n -e but ,0 admire. Nortl; 7^'"^ "'" """^
lengthen .he ,„„« ,„, ™'^'; ^"''"'y. &•• and ftee,
■"■onnd scores of emerl I ™ ""y- """ding
-'-hare s.i„ Cad "I ' .rC;':,'?""^' ™-^ "^
'~'. and senary as o'r Zther"" " "''"•
"°,"'^ 'ho Indian', l,i,„, ,„„„„
While others siiow the neat e„H
,">g3 of the fisherman ^dT.e f ' '''"''""■'"=" <='««-
ocean in aii weathers, lyinri" f """^^'^ "^ the
near by, '^'"^ '" ^ome secluded cove
•he^fe:Ltrerfor:;7;eb?e':nd !J" ""^^' "="•"-•
command the ship channe ,he^^'""""^'' (-"-h
■hree lighthouses ind „,;;'''"! ff^ tillage, the
Cape Eiizabeth, with a b^r " '^'■^^' ^^ency of
.'-hose restless billow „^ '7;' '-ch "' "'e ocean.
'« foam along the sunken reef! „ 7^^ '""^ '''-king
from the iron ramparts o^ he c! Z"'"'' ^"o-"'-
the eye sweeps over tl e ro f '"■ ^""' ^^'^'e^y.
green shade trees of the citv nf ' "''""'"'' 'P'"'' and
'nner harbor and .shippi„:' ^J'^-- ""d takes i„ the
a port,on of the pretty viil! llfT"' Scarborough,
-h'nmg iniet, the noWe b Jld," ^'™"''-»«- and its
School, lifting their turret, 1 *^' "' ""^ ""w Farm
-;^"ated relie of « fST' '"^ *^' '*<^ --"
^"<'^- and .ts White tidl^'lXtSTh:^^^'^"-''
' "^ t"e grove of
im
VD
tiiated on a
Here no
'"(I the eye
f'»at none
'• «ncl free,
^ winding
many of
h as wiJd,
MONTREAL RAIL ROAD GUIDE.
17
cn clear-
staunch
s of the
ed cove
harbor,
(which
S^. the
nery of
ocean,
eakinsr
owJiice
'stcrly,
s and
in the
OLlgh,
^d its
P'arm
some
ing's
e of
y,
oaks beyond, and far away the spires and white dwell-
ing houses of Gorham ; with the mountains in Bald-
win and Hiram still more distant, and following the
horizon llicucc a little farther to the South, may be
seen Mount Agamcnticus in "old York," blue and
lone, a well known land mark for vessels bound
towards the coast.
The North Westerly view includes the waters of
Back Cove with Tukcy's Bridge, the fine old woods,
grassy lawns and neat residences of some of the
retired citizens of Portland, on the farther side of he
Cove, the shores of Falmouth and Cumberland, with
" Fore Side Village" and a vast extent of hills, forests
and waters, terminated by the cloud like summits of
the White Mountains, seventy miles distant on an
air line. The detour thus takes in every variety of
scenery, and if the spectator wishes to extend his
vision, and redeem scenes and objects from the purple
veil of the remote atmosphere, he has the facility for
so doing in an excellent telescope which is mounted
in the glass dome of the building.
At either extremity of the city is a promenade one
hundred and fifty feet in width, lined with young and
thrifty shade trees. These promenades are graded
into three sections, two for walking, and the other for
riding, and the succession of views developed in
passing around them is scarcely less beautiful than
those from the Observatory. They are favorite re-
sorts of the Portlanders ; and the tourist can hardly
appreciate the local scenery, unless he takes a drive
around them, or ascends to the dome of the Observ-
atory.
The position of Portland is peculiarly favorable for
ta
POnTLANT), WHITE MOUNTAINS ANT>
commerce and nmmifnctnres. Its hnrhnr may be
entered at all times without risk, is safe and commo-
dious for vessels of the largest clais, and is rarely
frozen over — never wholly so — even during the most
severe winters ; and while it is sufliL-icntly capacious
to accommodate an immense commerce, is so shaped
that the broad ocean is scarcely two and a half miles
from any of its docks.
la 1850, the (quantity of shipping owned in the
district was 8G,-'302 tons, and at present it is not far
from 100,000 tons. The value of imports, which
in ISr was $120,000, had increased in 1851, to
$952,347.
Portland has probably a larger commerce with the
"West Indies than any other port in the Union. In
1851, of the article of molasses, there was imported
thence over six and a half millions of gallons, and
of sugar over two millions of ])ounds.
In regard to manufacturing, the excellent water
privileges in the neighborhood of the city on the Pre-
sumi)scot Riv^er, aflbrd almost unequalled facilities,
which will, without doubt, at no distant day be im-
proved to a much greater extent than at present.
Portlauvl con.stituted a part of Falmouth until 1776,
and went uy the name of Falmouth Neck. In that
year it was incori)oraled as a separate town, and
received its present name. In 1832, it was incorpo-
rated as a city. The city proper is divided into seven
wards, and the government consists of a mayor,
chosen at large — and one alderman and three common
councilmen, chosen in each of the wards.
There are twenty-four organized churches in the
city: twenty-three schools supported by the- public, at
4
f
I
MONTIIEVL RAIL ROAD OUIDE.
19
'Or may be
n<l coinmo-
"' is rarely
"i,^ the most
' ca])acious
' so .slmj)e(.l
li!»li miles
^cd in the
is not far
ts, which
1851, to
■ with the
11 ion. Jn
iiiij)ortecl
oils, and
It water
the Pre-
licilities,
'■ be im-
nt.
il 1776,
In that
'11, and
icorpo-
' seven
mayor,
•nimon
in the
»Jic, at
an annual expense of about S-0,000, exclusive of the
cost of crectinj]; school houses.
The first Rail Road which had its terminus in Port-
land, was the Portsmouth, Saco and Portland Rail
Road, completed in 1812. It is little over hfty miles
in lenjjjlh, and in connection with the Eastern Rail
Road, forms one of the lines to Roston. The popula-
tion of the city, is at present, (spring of 1853,) about
twenty-five thousand.
CASCO BAY.
Few sheets of water compare for romantic and
beautiful scenery with Casco Bay, an arm of which
mukes the harbor of Portland. Its surface is broken
np with more than three hundred islands, scattered
irregularly, so as to present to the tourist who may
be drifting over its summer wave, an ever varying
series of enchanting views. !Now his boat glides
safely along under some rocky shore, so near that he
may seize the down stooping forest branches, and
swing himself upon the jutting points — anon some
tranquil inlet opens, revealing the fisherman's snug
cottage, with its grassy slope, fruit trees and sheltering
wood in the rear, and his trimly painted skiff curtsy-
ing to the waves in some protecting nook. Again the
scene assumes more wild and primitive features,
craggy ledges, grown gray in opposing the gale and
billow, bold promontories surmounted by trees of
gigantic pro])ortions, above which high in the blue
empyrean, perchance sails the bald eagle ; long reach-
es of glimmering sand beach, upon which the weary
waves journeying in from the broad sea throw them-
selves as if glad to find a resting place ; and then there
20
PORTLAND, WHITE MOUNTAINS AND
are forest embowered coves, and grassy openings,
that have known no changes save snch as Nature has
wroughi, for ages, inviting him to their cool retreats.
In shoit, the adventurer may thus sail on for days,
amidst ever varying, hut always interesting scenes.
If he wishes to lisli, let him " round to," in any of
the passages where the water is of suilicient deptii,
and throw his lines over, and he will soon have on
board a mesf^ of noble haddock — and then, if he be
so minded, he can steer for some one of these beau-
tiful retreats, and any boat skipper belonging to Port-
land, can make him a chowder, worthy of the sago of
Marshfield. Or, if he wishes a fish fry, let him run
in near the shore at any point where it is bold and
rocky, and a half hour will suffice to procure a mess
of sea perch, (here called cunners) by many consid-
ered the finest pan fish taken from the water.
One of the inlets most resorted to, is
DIAMOND COVE,
A pretty good idea of which may be had from the
truthful sketch which occupies the following page —
so called, from the quantity of quartz crystals, which
were formerly found about its shores. It makes in
at the North Eastern extremity of Diamond Island,
some five oi six miles from the city.
Its shores are bold and rocky, and rise on either
side to the height of forty or fifty feet, crowned with
immense beeches, maples, oaks and pines, manv of
which throw their branches far over the water, afford-
ing shelter alike from the sun and sudden shower.
The inlet is further secluded from the ocean, by a
gem of an islet sea-ward, whose steep slopes are
JD
openings,
jVoture has
ol retreats,
■ Tor days,
: scenes,
in any of
pnt depth,
1 have on
1, if he be
esc beau-
g to Tort-
e sage of
t him run
bold and
e a mess
y consid-
from the
■ page —
s, which
lakes in
Island,
n either
ed with
lany of
afford-
iliower.
1. by a
es are
■ <f
MONTREAL RAIL ROAD GUIDE.
23
covered with a thrifty growth of silver firs and other
evergreens. At its inner extremity is a pebbly beach
furnishing an excellent landing place, and above th'3
bank beyond, spreads a grassy level of half .in acre
in extent, overshadowed by two or three great oaks
and lindens, affording ample accommodations for pic
nic parties. Some of the maples and pines contiguous
to the cove are of immense size and height — meas-
uring not unfrequcntly from tv/elve to fifteen feet in
circumference. Above the thickets of these immense
forest giants, during the summer months, sailing slowly
in graceful circles, or at rest on some of the upper-
most boughs, the ospray, may be always seen, inti-
mating with his shrill cry, his disapproval of the
intrusion of the stranger upon his primeval domain.
The forests far extending round,
Ne'er to the spoiler's axe resound ;
Nor is man's toil or traces there ;
But resteth all as lone and fair,
The sunny slopes, the rocks and trees,
As desert isles in Indian seas,
That sometimes rise upon the view
Of some far-wandering, wind-bound crew,
Sleeping alone mid ocean's blue.
And through tiie long, bright, summer day,
When ocean, calm as mountain lake.
Bears not a breath its hush to break,
The snowy sea-gull tilts away
Upon the long, smooth swell, that sweeps,
In curving, wide, unbroken reach,
Around the clitf from outer deeps,
Unwinding up the pebbly beach.
And lovely there is sunset-hour !
When twilight fiills with soothing power
Along the forest-windings dim.
And from the thicket, sweet and low,
3*
24
PORTLAND. WHITE MOUNTAINS AND
\
The wood-thrush pours a farewell hymn
To daylif^ht's hvtcst, lingerin{r ylow —
When slope, anil rock, and wood around,
In all their dreamy, hushed repose,
Are glassed adown tlic bright profound —
O, ])assing fair is evening's c'osc,
When from the bright, cerulean dome,
The sea-fowl, that iiave all the day
Wheeled o'er the for, lone billows' spray,
Came thronging to their eyrii-s liome ;
When over rock and wave remote.
From yon dim fort, the bugle's note
Along the listening air doth creep,
Seeming to steal down from the sky,
Or with o:tt-bnrsting, martial sweep,
Rings through the foret:!, clangmg high,
Wiiile echo, waked, bears on the strain,
Till faint, beyond the trackless .iiain.
In realms of space it seems to die.
But lovelier still is night's calm noon 1
When like a scanymph's fairy bnik,
The mirrored cre.-cent of the moon
Swings on the waters weltering dark ;
And in her solitary beam, .
Upon each bald, storm-beaten height.
The quartz and mica wildly gleam.
Spangling the rocks witli »nagic light.
A pleasant clay in summer, will always see gay
parties of ladies and gentlemen scattered around the
shores, some engaged in cooking the savory chowder,
some wandering among the trees, some dancing on
the green sward, some fishing for perch, — giving a
lively aspect to the frowning rocks, and shadowy
aisles of the wood.
Pleasant Cove, is another delightful resort at
Diamond Island ; and as much might be said, with
truth, of Elm Cove, Barge Cove, and many other
secluded inlets of the Islands.
MONTREAL HAIL ROAD GUIDE.
25
Persons who wish to take excursions on the Bay,
can always procure pleasure boats kept specially for
the purpose ; but those who arc not acustomed to
manage sail boats should obtain the services of expe-
rienced hands, which they can readily do for a tri-
fling sum.
CAPE ELIZABETH,
On the Southeasterly side of Portland harbor, and
stretching away ocean-ward some three leagues, pos-
sesses a diversity of scenery, and majiy objects of
attraction to the tourist. Its bold cliffs, wild and rag-
ged, and in many places shattered by the onslaughts
of tempests, or upheaved by the levers of the winter
frosts, are incessantly lashed by breakers.
The watering places on the Cape are worthy of all
celebrity, and are gradually becoming places of fash-
ionable resort. Of these the nearest to Portland,
being only three miles distant, is Cape Cottage, a
fine, large commodious structure, built of stone in the
Gothic style of architectare. It would be difficult
to imagine anything more pictiu'esque than its loca-
tion. In front, outposts of the grassy knolls and hol-
lows which surround the house, is an array of ragged
cliffs and sunken ledges, about which the breakers
are forever toiling ; and beyond is the ocean stretch-
ing without a break to the honzon. On the left is the
main entrance to Portland harbor, so that every
vessel which enters or leaves the port passes in full
sight, and in the distance are the outer islands of
Casco Bay. On the right are the receding shores of
the Cape, the light house with its encircling cliffs and
downs ; and in the rear are fine views of campaign
and farming country.
26
PORTLAND, WHITE MOUNTAINS AND
Sea perch or cimners, abound about the rocks, and
scarcely a stone's throw from the house a sechided
cove makes in, at the head of which is a hard sand
beach, pecuharly elegible for bothing.
A drive along the coast five miles further, brings
the excursionist to the Ocean House, a very large
and commodious establishment, situated near the
pitch of the Cape, where the benefit of sea air and
sea sports may be enjoyed in perfection, while its
cupola commands a diversity of interesting prospects,
from the ragged reefs, bold headlands, far reaching
sand beaches, and surging waters of the ocean to the
calmer pictures of cultivated fields and woodlands.
The direct road hence to Portland, is perhaps the
finest in the vicinity of the city.
Richmond Island, half a mile off the shore, in the
early settlement of the country, was much resorted to
for fishing, and not a few varieties of the finny tribe
still continue abundant about its ledges, as those who
are fond of fishing can readily satisfy themselves, by
experiment.
The two light houses at the ])itch of the Cape, and
the fog bell tower, situated in a most roinar tic locality,
about three quarters of a mile's walk from the Ocean
House, should not be overlooked by the tourist.
From the Ocean House a pleasant drive along the
coast Southerly of eight miles, brings you to Prout's
Neck, a lone promontory jutting far into the ocean,
much resorted to in summer from Portland, and all
the surrounding country, by pic nic parties. There is
no hotel here, but the excellent family who own and
occupy the Neck, provide house room for visiters,
take care of their horses, furnish fishing lines and bait,
i
MONTREAL RAIL ROAD GUIDE.
27
»', brings
'i'y large
lear the
air and
^hile its
■ospects,
caching
n to the
xllands.
aps the
, in the
5rted to
ly tribe
se who
ves, by
e, and
•cahty,
Ocean
ig- the
out's
cean,
id all
Jre is
and
iters,
bait,
(to catch the cunncrs wliich abound about the shores,
for the fry which is considered an indispensible fea-
ture in the dinners there) furnish tal)lc ware, and
cheerfully do every thin^ in their })ower to render the
visit of strangers agreeable. Not unfrequently a hun-
dred vehicles, embracing all descri])tions in us2, may
be seen at this place at once; and the clifis, the fields,
and far sweeping, white sand beaches, scattered over
ivith groups of gay loiterers, present a most enliven-
ing appearance.
Another place of interest on the Cape, is Fort
Preble, wliich, with Fort Scammel, commands the
entrance of Portland harbor. The parade ground,
batteries, and every thing about the fort, are kept
remarkably neat, and the gentlemanly officers in com-
mand of the post are always ready to extend to visi-
tors every courtesy in their power.
The new Farm School and grounds, at the extreme
Western part of Cape Elizabeth, are also well worthy
the notice of tourists.
WKSTBROOK.
This town, connected with Portland on the "West
by a narrow neck of land, is a place of considerable
importance. Its territory is large, and comprises eight
distinct villages, viz : Stroudwater, Westbrook Point,
Woodford's Corner, Stevens's P'ains, Shaw's Corner,
Congin, Saccarappa, and Tukey's Bridge Village.
The inlial)itants chiefly devote their attention to man-
ufacturing and farming.
The new burial place of Portland, at Stevens's
Plains, called Evergreen Cemetery, purchased in
1851, is a secluded and beautiful area of undulating
ma
Mam
28
PORTLAND, WHITE MOUNTAINS AND
woodland, about fifty-five acres in extent, wliicli must
become attractive to those who love the quietude of
woodland walks and the gentle admonitions of the
grave. The York and Cumberland Hail Road passes
within a quarter of a mile of the place, so that it may
be easily reached from the city.
Portions of the scenery of Wostbrook are highly
attractive, particularly those bordering on the ]}ay.
The views from Rocky Hill are likewise very fine,
and the road from the city around Back Cove, from
one bridge to the other, furnishes a delightful diive.
Portland is a commodious centre for pleasure travel.
LAKE SEBAGO,
So celebrated for its noble trout and pickerel, and
for its enchanting scenery, is only seventeen miles
distant, and is easily accessible by the York and Cum-
berland Rail Road. The lake is spread over a space
of nearly one hundred and fifty square miles, and is
beautifully diversified with wooded islands, rocky
bluffs, and jutting promontories, while its ])crspectiv6
views have the charm of distant lofty mountains.
Songo River, a wild and winding stream, connects
it with Long Lake, nnother romantic sheet of water;
and a pretty steamer called the Fawn plies daily
between the landing at the foot of Sebago, and the
pleasant villages of North Bridgton and Harrison, at
the head of Long Lake.
The Summit Hotel on Pleasant Mountain, a favor-
ite resort of excursionists who delight in sublime and
beautiful scenery, which may there be enjoyed to the
fullest extent, is only seven miles from the landing
place on the lake at Centre Bridgton, and teams run
MONTREAL RAIL ROAD GUIDE.
29
ic-li must
etude of
IS of the
d passes
it it may
e highly
he IJay.
cry fine,
:c, from
111 drive,
e travel.
rel, and
n miles
d Cura-
a space
, and is
I, rocky
ipective
ins.
onnects
water ;
s daily
md the
ison, at
I favor-
ne and
. to the
anding
ms run
the
daily meeting the boat, between
rying the traveler, if he be so disposed, to the very
top of the mountain. The house is under the propri-
etorship of Mr. J. S. Sargent, for many years favorably
known as the landlord of the New England House, in
Portland, and not only is he an adejit in jiroviding for
the wants of the inner man, but he can point out every
object of interest in the vast range of country which
the mountain overlooks.
Bear Mountain, another eminence, exceedingly
grand and romantic in its features, is but five miles
from Harrison ; and the delightful village of Water-
ford Centre, which boasts of one of the most excel-
lent hotels of the whole region, the Lake House,
occupies a level plain near its base. From this house,
passing under a precipice of the mountain six or
seven hundred feet in height, and so near to the pic-
turesque sheet of water called Bear Lake, as scarcely
to leave room for the carriage road, the Eastern slope
of the mountain is easily attained ; thence a road has
been cut to the summit of such easy grades as to
admit of the passage of carriages up and down with
perfect safety. An observatory eighty feet in h'^ight,
is about being constructed near the edge of the preci-
pice, which, by elevating the tourist above the forest
tops, will give him a more full view of the array of
lakes, rivers, forests and mountains in the vicinity,
than has heretofore been obtained from any eminence.
Turning on the other hand from Portland Easterly,
for localities abounding in fine scenery or sporting
facilities, we find Mount Desert Island, distant
about seventy miles down the coast, easily accessible
by the steamers running to Eastport and St. John.
30
PORTLAND, WHITE MOUNTAINS AND
The mnfinificcnt scenery of this looality is destined,
at no distant day, to l)cconic fu.i.oiis over the whole
country, and is now Ircciuontly resorted to.
Then apain to reach Moosehead Lake, the liead
waters of the Ke mebec River, so fainons for its wild
game tind noble tr'^'ut fishing, the easiest route is
from Portland by way of the Athnitic and Andros-
coggin and Kennebec Rail Roads to Waterville. thence
by the regular stages through Norridgewock, k.c.
But it is time that we should be on our way over
the Atlantic and St. Lawrence Rail Road, towards the
White Mountains — a description of that route of
Pleasure Travel being our chief object in these pages.
Jumi)ing on board one of the Company's si)lendid
cars at the station house foot of India Street, we
rattle over the bridge, and immediately find ourselves
passing through the deep rock cutting at Fish Poin .
Then Casco Bay opens in full view, and for a mile
or so while passing around the Neck and over the
pile bridge that crosses to Westbrook, the broad bay
is seen with its islands, receding to the dim shores of
Brunswick and Harpswell.a distance of twenty miles.
The train sweeps raj)idly through the Easterly por-
tion of Westbrook, about two miles, revealing some
pleasant features of rural and water scenery, when it
reaches the bank of the
PRESUMPSCOT.
From Portland, distant 3 miles ; from the Whito Mountains 88 miles ; from
Montreal 289 mile.'t.
This stream takes its rise at Sebago Lake, distant
about twenty miles, and being but slighly affected by
drought or freshets, and liaving many '• water privi-
I
MONTREAL RAIL ROAD GUIDE.
31
cle.stinc'l,
1
he whole
'I
the head
<A
)r its wild
; route is
I Andros-
lle.tlieiice
. ^c.
way over
wards the
:
; route of
?se pages.
splendid
itreet, we
ourselves
sh Poin .
for a mile
. over the
broad bay
shores of
■_■«
nty miles.
sterly por-
ing some
Y, when it
8 miles ; from
ce, distant
ffectedby
ater privi'
leges" in its descent to the Bay, some of which arc
improved to considerable extent for manufacturing
purposes, it has an important bearing on the prosperity
of Portland and the surrounding country.
The track crosses the Presumpscot by a bridge
three hundred feet in length and lifty feet high, and a
mile and a half further on, reaches the station house at
FALMOUTH,
From Portland 5 miles, from the White Mountains 86 miles, from Montreal
287 miles.
The inhabitants of this town mostly devote their
attention to farming, although some ship building is
carried on in its Eastern section. A considerable por-
tion of its soil is of superior quality for tillage.
On we go through an undulating country, with cul-
tivated fields and pasture lands on either hand, and
here and there a wooded hill presenting a pleasing
contrast, and reach
CUMBERLAND,
From Portland 9 miles, from the White Mountains 82 miles, from Montreal
283 miles.
Tliis place in its main characteristics is much the
same as Falmouth, and like Falmouth, it furnishes
not a few of its hardy sons to man our mercantile
marine.
The cars sweep rapidly on, with occasional glimpses
of the land locked bay coming into sight ; and sud-
denly bursts upon the view the flourisliing sea port of
YARMOUTH,
From Portland 11 miles, from the White Mountains 80 miles, from Montreal
281 miles.
This town till witliin three or four years, constituted
4
3fi
roilTLAND, WIllTi: MOlf.NTAINS AND
a part of North Yannoiilh. It is one of the oUlcst
settlements in the State, nncl its early history ahoimds
with interestin|jf incidents, some of which have hecomc
" renowned in song and story." The early settlers
occupied the territory which is now known as the
Fore Side, but in time the superior advantages of tlic
present centers of business and population became
more appreciated, and this locality was in a measure
deserted. One of the most interesting rehcs of its
early history was a massive church erected more than
a century ago, which often attracted the attention of
the lovers of the pictures(iue. It stood on a grassy
level at the foot of a high ridge of granite, and its
tower looked out upon extensive views of
I
" Forest and meadow and sic -^c of hill
Around it lonely, lovely, ouu still."
For many successive sunmicrs the dandelion dis-
played its golden crowns in the paths leading to its
portals, and the grasshopper chirped to the quietude
on the broad stone step before its principal entrance;
undisturbed by the foot of the worshipper. But its
oaken timbers might subserve some i)urposc of prac-
tical utility — its destruction was decided upon, and
all that now remains to indicate that it ^ver existed
is the iron spire and weather vane, which aia firmly
fixed on the granite ledge near which it stood.
It would well repay the tourist to spend half a day
in a ride through this locality, and along the pleasant
road that skirts the Bay, through the rows of stately
elms that in some places are planted beside it — cros-
sing about three miles from the tow" and returning
by the old post road.
MONTREAL RAIL ROAD GUIDE.
88
lie oldest
' ahoiiuds
become
/■ settlers
n as the
es of the
became
measure
ics of its
lore than
cntion of
a grassy
3, and its
Quite a largo amount of wealth is concentered in
Yarmouth, not a few of its citizens being ship owners
on an extensive scale, and ship building is ajsource
of pros])erity to the place.
Royal's Rivt>r, which flows from Sabbath-day Pond,
in New Gloucester, some twenty miles distant, having
tributaries in Pownal and Gray, here furnishes valua-
ble water power which is improved by the erection of
a large brick cotton mill, and is the incentive to sev-
eral other kinds of manufactures.
Besides its manufacturing and ship})ing interests,
Yarmouth can boast its two excellent and well pat-
ronized academics. The population at the present
time numbers about 2500.
elion dis-
ing to its
quietude
entrance;
But its
of prac-
ipon, and
existed
le firmly
d.
ilf a day
pleasant
•f stately
it — cros-
retuming
YARMOUTH JUNCTION,
One mile above the village, is the point where the
Kennebec and Portland Rail Road intersects the
Montreal Road, and passengers bound for the towns
on the lower Kennebec, can here take the cars.
This road extends from Portland ti Augusta,
through some of the most flourishmg districts of the
State. From Brunswick a branch diverges to Bath,
a distance of nine miles. The i)laces through which
the trunk line passes from the intersection of the two
roads at Yarmouth, are Freeport, from Portland 19
miles, Brunswick 27 miles, Topsham 28 miles, Bow-
doinham 35 miles, Richmond 43 miles. South Gardi-
ner 48 miles, Gardiner 53 miles, Hallowell 58 miles,
Augusta GO miles.
Returning to the Montreal Road, the country on-
ward, through North Yarmouth is level, fair arable
soil, varied here and there with tracts of pasture and
v^
34
PORTLAND, WHITE MOUNTAINS AND
second growth woodland — presenting nothing in its
features very attractive. The inhabitants, numbering
some fifteen hundred, devote their attention, however,
ahnost exchisively to agriculture, and there are some
superior farms off the road. The town has no village,
properly so speaking ; and standing by itself alone, is
the station house of
NORTH YARMOUTH,
From Portland 15 miles, from the ^VTiite Mountains 76 miles, from Montreal
277 miles.
Passengers for the lower part of Po\vnal and Dur-
ham, as well as those for North Yarmouth, here leave
the cars.
The country onward becomes more undulating, and
is possessed of not a few features of rurrd thrift and
beauty.
POWNAL,
The next stopping place, is 19 miles from Portland, 72 from the >VTiite Moun-
tains ; and from Montreal 273 miles.
Tarrying here but a moment, the fire horse starts
off, as if with aore eager impulse, on a descending
grade and soon halts for the accommodation of pas-
sengers at
NEW ai.OUCESTER,
From Portland 22 miles, from the VThite Mountains 69 miles, from Montreal 270
miles.
This is one of the best farming towns in the State,
and its territory comprises as small an extent of what
is termed waste land as any other. From the station
house, the picturesque village may be seen to the
Westward, about a mile distant, rambling along the
summit of a gently swelling hill ; and the extensive
orchards on adjacent portions of elevated land, and
Id
ling in its
umbering
however,
are some
lo village,
' alone, is
MONTREAL IIAIL llOAD GUIDE.
35
torn Montreal
and Dur-
lere leave
ating, and
thrift and
>Vliite Moun-
rse Starts
ascending
»n of pas-
1 Montreal 270
the State,
t of what
he station
en to the
along the
extensive
land, and
the mowing fields which sweep down the slopes and
spread out over the intervening level, give indications
of the fine fruit and grass for which the town is noted.
A pleasant region some six miles above New Glou-
cester Lower Corner, has long been occupied by a
community of Shakers. They are divided into two
" families," one located on the borders of the limpid
sheet of water called Sabbath-day Pond, the other
just over the line, in Poland. Their neat and sub-
' stantial buildings, and well enclosed and highly culti-
vated lands, and superior stock, can but be remarked
by strangers visiting them.
''^ The Shaker Village may also be reached from the
" Empire Road" Station, the distance being about the
same as from New Gloucester.
One other stopping place, in New Gloucester and
the next on the Kail Road, is called
COBB'S BRIDQE,
From Portland 24 miles, from the White Mountains 67 miles, from Montreal
268 miles.
There is little here to attract attention, so we will
hurry on to
DANVILLE JUNCTION,
From Portland 28 miles, from the White Mountains 63 miles, from Montreal
264 miles.
At this point branches off the Androscoggin and
Kennebec Rail Road, and penetrates the interior
of Maine to the important town of Waterville, on the
Kennebec River, a distance of fifty five miles. It is
a noble work, built on the five and a half feet gauge,
the same as the Atlantic Road, and passes through
some of the finest portions of the State, the route
4*
;i
36
PORTLAND, WHITE MOUNTAINS AND
thronghout almost its entire extent discovering the
evidences of energy, enterprise and thrift, and also
abounding with ^he finest pastoral, lake, river and
woodland, scenery.
The regular stations, and their distance from Port-
land, are — Auburn, 32 miles ; Lewiston, 33 miles ;
Greene, 41 miles; Leeds, 44 miles ; Monmouth, 47
miles ; Winthrop, 53 miles ; Readfield. 59 miles ; Bel-
grade, 67 miles ; West Waterville, 76 miles; Water-
ville, 82 miles.
The first mentioned of these places, Auburn, is a
rapidly increasing and busy place, on the West side
of the Androscoggin River, just below Lewiston
Falls. These falls afford motive power for man-
ufacturing unsurpassed by any in the State, but
as yet they are not improved to any very considera-
ble extent, excepting on the opposite side of the
river at Lewiston. Here enterprise has essayed to
erect a second Lowell, and the busy clatter of loom
and spindle, the din of the trip hammer, and keen
whiz of the circular saw drowning the roar of the
plunging and seething waters, in connection with the
immense factories now in progress of erection, show
that the movers in the enterprizc are in earnest in
their schemes.
Winthrop, twenty miles further up the road, is a large
and thrifty place, pleasantly situated between two
fine lakes, each of which is several mih^s in extent —
and the stream which connects them is improved for
various kinds of manufactures. Owing to its healthy
position, its delightful scenery, and the boating and
fishing of its picturesque lakes, Winthrop has become
a place of considerable resort in summer for invalids
MONTREAL RAIL ROAD GUIDE.
37
ring the
md also
iver and
m Port-
miles ;
Duth, 47
s ; Bel-
Water-
irn, is a
est side
ewiston
►r man-
ite, but
nsidera-
of the
ayed to
of loom
d keen
of the
i^ith the
I, show-
nest in
a large
en two
:tent —
ved for
lealthy
ng and
)ecome
iivalids
and pleasure hunters ; and is destined, it is thought, to
become still more distinguished.
Readfield is also an exceedingly pleasant village,
the center of a flourishing business, and is somewhat
distinguished for its classical academy, the Maine
Wesleyan Seminary.
At Waterville, stages connect daily for Bangor,
Belfast and Moose Head Lake. There are other
stage connections along the line of the road, \iz : at
Auburn thrice weekly, for North Auburn, Turner,
Livermore, Jay, Wilton, Canton, "^Peru and Dixfield.
At Keadfield for East Wilton and Chesterville thrice
weekly, and daily for Mt. Vernon, Vienna and Farm-
ington. At Winthrop, daily for Augusta, the capital
of the State. At Belgrade for New Sharon, daily,
and alternate days for Mercer, Starks and Industry.
The Androscoggin K.ail Road joins the Water-
ville Road at Leeds, eighteen miles above the junc-
tion of the latter with the Atlantic Road, and extends
on the East side of the Androscoggin River to Liver-
more Falls, distant twenty miles. The intervening
stations are Curtis's Corner, from Portland 48 miles ;
Leeds Center, 51 miles; North Leeds, 54 miles;
Stricklai d's Ferry, 56 miles ; and East Livermore, Gl
miles. The charter of this road contemplates its ex-
tension through Jay, and by the rich valley of the
Sandy River, through the imjiortant towns of Wilton
and Famiington to Philhps, the whole distance from
its junction with the Waterville Road being not far
from fifty miles.
But, patient fellow-traveler, it is time we should
return from this flying excursion, back to the White
Mountrjn train, which we left ready to start onward,
at Danville Junction.
38
rORTLAND, WTIITE MOUNTAINS AND
I
We are ofl' again, and flying through scenery which
gives evidence of naving been won but recently from
a state of nature, until we arrive at
HOTEL ROAD,
From Portland, 29 miles ; from the Whi'e Mountains, 62 miles ; from Montreal
263 miles.
This is but a small station, in the town of Danville ;
and the adjacent prospects give no indication of the
natural advantages, farming or manufacturing, of the
town. In fact, here as in many other instances where
rail roads are concerned, the engineers have avoided
the more cultivated districts, in order, perhaps, to re-
duce the amount of land damages.
EMPIRE ROAD,
From Portland, 32 miles , from the White Mountains, 59 miles ; from Montreal
260 miles";
In the town of Poland comes next ; its name is prob-
ably in some way or other connected with the fact
that a portion of the town was formerly, and for ought
we know to the contrary, is at the present time, known
as the Empire. It had its Emperor, too, in the person
of one of its landholders, at least in designation. But
its glory, (and it had a glory in the noble forests of
pine timber that once covered its hills and plains) has
departed, like that of its illustrious namesake. Its
huge forest collossii, which at the present day would
be worth a mine of wealth, fell before the reckless
incursions of the woodman, and were wasted or sold
away for a song, and only here and there remains a
representative of the race, towering on some far hill
side, or protecting the ruminating kine from the sum-
mer heats in some broad meadow — lonely and som-
■^
MONTREAL RAIL ROAD GUIDE.
39
which
tly from
1 Montreal
mville ;
of the
of the
where
voided
to re-
Montreal
s prob-
le fact
ought
inov/n
person
I. But
sts of
s) has
!. Its
would
ikless
r sold
lins a
r hill
sura-
som-
bre, yet still magnificent in its solitude, and worthy of
the dominion of its younger days. — However
'• W'jstward the star of Empire takes its way,"
and as there is nothing par.cularly inviting in the ap-
pearance of things at this point, we may as well be
following its example.
The country onward is qi.ite level, (with sloping
hills in the distance) here and there covered with
a thicket growth of spruce, whose deep recesses
reverberate the clatter of the locomotive as though
half a dozen brazen monsters of the same family
h?.d broken loose among them ; and in a few minutes
the shriek of the whistle tells our approacli to
MECHANIC FALLS,
From Portland, 36 miles ; from the Wliit« Mountains, 55 miles ; from Montreal,
25G miles.
This is a flourishing village, situated on the Little
Androscoggin Ptiver, partly in Poland and partly in
Minot, having been ])uilt up in a great measure within
a few years. It owes its prosperity to its water power,
on which are situated several saw, grist and fulling
mills.
The BucKFiELD Branch Bail Boad extends from
this place to the busy town of Buckfield, a distance
of 13 miles Pursuing our way up the Atlantic Boad,
a mile from Mechanic Falls, we get a view off to the
left of Pigeon Hill, in Poland, with its orchards and
grass fields , — famous in the early history of the town
for the immense clouds of wild pigeons which re-
sorted in autumn to the woods that then clothed it.
Again the brerkman is at his post, and the cars
haul up at
-
I II^
ri
40
PORTLAND, Wlin E MOUNTAINS AND
OXP^ORD,
From Portland, 40 miles ; from the lATiite Mountains, 51 miles ; from Montreal.
252 miles.
This region is somewhat noted for its lumbering
operations, its chief kimber depot being at a loeaHty
called Welchvillc, about a mile from the rail road
station.
The road now (and likewise from Mechanic Falls
up) follows the valley of the Little Androscoggin
River — which river it crosses several times — reveal-
ing not a few picturesque objects and scenes tliat
would attract a painter's notice --tranquil bends in.
the river overhung with elms and maples, and occa-
sionally, it may be, a trout fisher standing on some
rock or fallen tree — green nooks in the woods, from
which the cattle look out as with wonder at the mon-
ster that is rushing by with such turmoil and clatter,
&c., until you arrive at
SOUTH PARIS,
From Portland 48 miles, from the White Mountains 43 miles, from Montreal
244 miles.
The hurry ai?d bustle which attend the arrival of
the cars at this ptint, indicate its immediate connec-
tion with the welfare of the road. It is the outlet of
the wealthiest agricultural and manufacturing portion
of Oxford county, and furnishes more freight and
passengers to the road than any other station this
side of the mountains. The large and flourishing
village of South Paris lies to the Northward of tiie
station.
Paris Hill, one of the oldest settlements in the
county, is about two miles beyond. Here is located
the Court House, Paris being the shire town of Ox-
MONTREAL KAIL ROAD GUIDE.
41
)ni Montreal.
imberiiiff
I locality
^ail road
lie Falls
Dscoggin
- reveal-
les that
)ends in
id occa-
n some
Is, from
le mon-
clatter,
t Montreal
LVal of
onnec-
tlet of
(ortion
t and
•n this
ishing
3f tne
11 the
cated
' Ox-
ford county ; and the inhabitants are distinguished for
their intelligence. Paris Hill is considered a very
healthy location, and vithal being surrounded with
attractive scenery, it is often resorted to in summer,
by people from the sea side who wish to avail them-
selves of the renovating effects of country air.
Norway, two miles South Westerly of the Paris
Station, and connected therewith by an excellent
road, is a neat and well built village, the center of a
large business — deriving a share of its prosperity
from its manufactures.
Pike's Hill, on the South of the village, rises to the
height of six or seven hundred feet. It is a wonder
that this eminence has received so little attention
from tourists, for certainly the prospects thence are
scarcely inferior to those of Mt. Pleasant or Bear
Mountain. It stands alone, the center as it were of
an extensive amphitheater of summits — having no
outlet but towards the ocean. On the West tower
the White Mountains, their tops often curtained with
clouds, stern and gloomy. Northwardly, and nearer,
Singe Poll and Streaked Mountain, and many heights
of lesser note, stand shoulder to shoulder, as if crowd-
ing each other towards their great parent group ; and,
sweeping from the sides of Mt. Washington on the
other hand, wave a.fter wave of sombre ridges line
the horizon, among which the majestic cone of Kia-
sarge and the nearer outline of Mt. Pleasant stand
conspicuous, the public house on each of these sum-
mits being distinctly visible with the aid of a common
spy-glass, and when the atmosphere is free from haze
with the naked eye.
At the base of the hill North Westerly, and stretch-
42
PORTLAND, WHITE MOUNTAINS AND
It '
I
I ^ "
It *i
jng up a valley diversified with fiirming and forest
scenery is nestled a lovely sheet of water nine miles
long", which rejoices in the pretty Indian name of
Pinnisiwassi, while the village and the meandering
stream that connects the lake with the little Andros-
coggin, give variety to the valley immediately to the
North Eastward.
A tri-wcekly line of stages connects with the rail
road at the South Paris station for Harrison, Bridg-
ton, Waterford, Lovell and Fryeburg, affording facili-
ties, for those who wish to take Pleasant Mountain
and Sebago Lake in their way, in journeying to or
from the mountains.
Again we are undenvay, and may begin to claim
companionship with elevations which in England and
Scotland would be denominated mountains.
Off to the right may be seen the houses and church-
es of Paris Hill, with the orchards and farms that
map its southern slope with their rectangular lines of
lively green. These scenes subside, and we approach
SNOW'S FALLS,
From Portland, u3 miles ; from the White Mountains, 88 miles ; froni Montreal,
239 miles.
The train does not always stop here, but if the
traveler could spend an hour in the vicinity, he might
see weather stained mills, a pretty waterfall, rugged
rocks, and trees grouped as if by art to complete a
simple picture, such as Morland or Gainsborough
would have selected as a subject for their pencils.
NORTH PARIS,
Is the next station— from Portland, distant 65 miles ; from the White Moun-
tains, 36 miles ; from Montreal, 237 miles.
There is nothing peculiarly inviting at this point,
;
nd forest
ine miles
name of
andering
Aiidros-
ily to the
I the rail
1, Bridg-
ig facih-
lountain
ing to or
to claim
land and
i church-
ms that
lines of
ipproach
m Montreal,
Lt if the
le might
rugged
nplete a
borough
icils.
hite Moun-
s point,
MONTRKAL HAIL ROAD GUIDE.
45
but the scenery on either hand begins to assume a
grandeur and diversity which cannot fail of being ob-
served.
About four miles from this station begins the heavi-
est grade on the whole road, being a rise of 60 feet to
the mile. This grade continues till you arrive at
BRYANT'S POND,
Prom Tortland 62 miles, from tho White MountainB 29 miles, from Montreal
230 miles.
Here the track has attaiiied to an elevation of 700
feet, while at the boundary line of New Hampshire
twenty miles above, it is but 690 feet, the highest in-
tervening rise being 717 feet, the greatest depression
645 feet.
At this point a pretty little village has suddenly
sprung up. The lakelet (for a view of which see fore-
going page,) is the source of the Little Androscoggin
River — it is three miles in length by from one half
to three quarters of a mile in width. On its opposite
side rises from the edge of the water a steep aclivity
at least a thousand feet in height, called Mount
Christopher, so named because an eavly settler of the
region bore the name of Christopher Bryant — the
lakelet retaining his surname.
This mountain may be easily ascended on its
Western side, and the prospect which its top com-
mands will repay the tourist for any delay and ex-
pense he may incur in order to make the ascent.
Goose Eye Mountain in Newry, and White Cap,
near the lines of Rumford in all their sterile and ruff-
ged grandeur, may be seen Northeasterly as you
approach the Bryant's Pond station house, and just
4G
rORTLAND, WHITE MOUNTAINS A\D
above it you catcli a siglit of Moiinis JolTerson nnd
Adams, two of the higlicst peaks of llio White Moiin-
tcvin group.
The pond affords good trout fisliing, samples not un-
frequontly l)cing talcen in it wliii-ii wi'igh from two to
three pounds.
Stages liere connect with Rumford daily, and with
Dixficld and Audover thrice weelily. From the latter
place, the Umhngog Lakes, which are the source of
the Androscoggin River, are easily accessible. These
lakes present more attractions to the lovers of the sub-
lime and i)iciures(iue than any similar scenery in New
England, while they have long been known as the
Utopia oi' liunters and fishermen.
The Southernmost of tlie chain is 1257 feet above
tide water, and the most northerly nearly an eciual
elevation above that point.
This whole region was surveyed by the Rail Road
Company, in hopes of finding a feasible route farther
North than the present one, but without success. A
tolerable route to the Lake Basin, by following the
Ellis River from Andover through Dunn's Notch, was
reconnoitered, departing from the present line at Bry-
ant's Pond, but insurmountable obstacles interposed
between the Lakes and the Connecticut River, the
only depression between these points, showing any
chance of a route, that of the famous Dixville Notch,
being 1968 feet above tide Avater, and the topography
of the region thence being of such a character as to
require a grade of eighty feet per mile for over ten
miles ; while by the present route of the Rail Road,
the greatest elevation east of the Connecticut is but
1062 feet, the passage of the General Summit, at
MONTIIKAL HAIL ROAD CJUIDK.
47
Island Pond, 1176 feet, and the heaviest grade but
fifty feet to the mile.
The axis of the elevation of the whole peninsula
East of Lake Ciiamplain is in fact North of the Um-
bagog Basin — in which general summit the Connec-
ticut, the Androscoggin, the Kennebec, the Penobscot,
the Chaudiere, and the St. Francis Rivers take their
rise. The general level of this region is between
2000 and 3000 feet above the ocoan, and its dominant
peaks of the Camel's Rump nnd Escohos Mountains,
vie in tlieir winter dress with the white summit of
their more Southern neighbor, Mount Washington.
Leaving Bryant's Pond, we soon strike the Alder
Stream, which we follow down to the main Andros-
coggin River, a distance of eight miles, unwinding,
as it were, a panorama of mountain scenery, which
demands constant attention; and our first stopping
place thence is
LOCKE'S MILLS,
From Portland, 65 miles ; from the AVhite Mountains, 26 miles ; from Montreal,
227 miles.
Here is a growing village, but of more interest to
the lumberman than the tourist.
Precipitous ridges lift their brawny forms on every
side, and at times it seems impossible that the loco-
motive should find her way through such a labyrinth ;
but presently we open on a lovely interval of the
Androscoggin at
B K T H E L ,
From Portland, 70 miles ; from the White Mountflin Station House, 21 miles .
from Montreal, 222 miles.
The village, situated on rising ground a little to the
left of the station house, " resting in the lap of the
5*
16
PORTLAND, WHITE MOUNTAINS AND
u
I
hills," with i; green common, its neat dwelling houses,
churches and stores, it^ highly intellectual inhabitants,
and its fine scenery, has been called the pleasantest
in Maine, not without good reason; and it would rich-
ly repay the inquiring tourist to spend a day or two in
the vicinity.
Here the hills which have been rolling away on
either hand as if ploughed asunder by the glancing
fragment oi another world, draw themselves up into
more compact forms, and with their bare foreheads
and brawny shoulders, occasionally intercept the wan-
dering clouds, or tear away their dependent folds as
they float by.
A semicircle of these collosal steeps bounds the
horizon at the Northward, conspicuous among which
looms the sterile crags of the Speckled Mountain,
whence flow, through sparsely settled wilds, the Cam-
bridge, the Bear, and Sunday Rivers, the first into
Lake Umbagog, the two latter into the Androscoggin,
not far below Bethel. There, too, is White Cap, in
his sombre robe of haze, his bale! forehead lifted high
into the empyrean, seemingly the patriarch of the
group.
Nearer at hand are rich intervals, teeming with
corn, wheat, or rank growing grass, and marked here
and there with lines of tall elms and luxuriant under-
growth, which designate the windings of tiie An-
droscoggin, or the noble stream itself, its clear waters
rattling over their rocky bed, or spread out in lake-like
majesty, meets the view through openings in the rocks
and woods — all contrasting delightfully with the stern-
er features of the mountains.
Bethel is likewise a good point of departure for
g houses,
labitants,
jasantest
)uld rich-
or two in
away on
glancing
lip into
jreheads
the wan-
folds as
mds the
? which
ountain,
le Cam-
irst into
scoggin,
Cap, in
:ed high
of the
ig with
id here
under-
lie An-
waters
ke-like
e rocks
3 stern-
s'
ire for
MONTREAIi RAIL ROAD GUIDE.
51
those wide and wild gems of the wilderness, Umba-
gog and its sister lakes, and the road thither, by the
V. ay of Newry, up the valley of the Bear River, and
thence across the highlands and down the Swift Cam-
bridge, abounds in alpine scenery, whose remarkable
diversity, grandeur and beauty, can only be under-
stood by those who travel it.
Both the Bear River and the Swift Cambridge are
famed for the abundance of their delicious trout, and
sportsmen say that spending a day or two to fish in
the former stream, the excursionist will find comforta-
ble quarters at a cosey tavern-house kept by a Mr.
Smith, some five or six miles up from its mouth.
From Bethel, too, those interesting natural curiosi-
ties the Albany Basins, can be reached with the
greatest facility. These Basins deserve more than a
mere passing notice. They are immense cavities
worn by the action of the water in the granite bed of
a small stream, in the town of Albany, ten miles from
Bethel.
The road between the two points, winding off
among the hills, but keeping always to the bed of the
vallies, is smooth and level. First it traverses a cul-
tivated district and along by the shore of a fine sheet
of water three miles in lengtii, called Songo Pond,
the source of Crooked River, with blue distant moun-
tains all around, — the latter portion among scenes of
a more primitive character, made up generally of thick
forests, rugged slopes and precipitous bluffs in con-
stantly varying succession.
About three miles from the Basins, the road turns
square off among the hills, and is bordered on either
hand with forest trees, whose tall, straight trunks sus-
52
PORTLAND, WHITE MOUNTAINS AND
tain a thick roof of foliage, through which the sun
beams only here and there find a chance to enliven
the obscurity of the forest aisles, the huunts of the
feathery ferns, snowy anemones and blue asters. Fol-
lowing this by-road about a mile, you catch views
to the left, of a small, secluded pond overgrown with
lilly pads and rank grasses, and darkened on all sides
by gigantic forest trees, where it is said the moose-
deer in former times, and indeed till quite recently,
resorted to feed, and where, if tales be true, many an
an tiered monarch of the woods, has fallen before the
rifle of the hunter; hence it is called Moose Pond.
A few minutes ride thence you emerge into a cul-
tivated opening, called the Kjieeland Clearing, where,
sh'.it out from the great world by circumjacent hills,
two farmers with their families reside ; here both road
and traveler come to a halt.
This locality is one of unsurpassed seclusion ; on
the hill sides around, the forests still hold possession,
but the warm, rich clearing, is all the more sheltered
by them, and peace and plenty seem to abide with its
lonely occupants.
The Basins are distant half a mile from the inner-
most of the two houses ; the foot path, by which you
approach them, winding through the woods, brings you
to the head of the series.
The rocky ravine for the space of some two hun-
dred yards down, is gouged into immense hollows or
cisterns, which are choked up with chaotic masses of
granite rock, quarried long years since from the pre-
cipitous bluffs on either hcind, by the unwearying wa-
ters. Into these cisterns, and over and under these
rocks, the stream plunges and twists, shelves and
MONTREAL RAIL ROAD GUIDE.
53
foams, with a resonant song that may be heard long
before you reach the place. From the impending bluffs
the tall trees reach out over the ravine and interlace
their boughs, so that through the thick foliage but few
particles of sunlight fall upon the broken rocks and
dancing water.
Some of the cavities are of enormous dimensions,
the largest being nearly forty feet in depth by thirty
in diameter I Two or three others are nearly as large,
but all are more or less irregular in shape, and much
broken up.
The bed rock of the ravine is a very hard and com-
pact granite, and the volume of water which at pres-
ent makes the stream, could not have produced such
effects in thousands upon thousands of years, if indeed
capable of producing them at all. The most probable
conclusion to be be arrived at is, that a large and tu-
multuous stream, perhaps Pleasant E-iver, in some re-
mote age, went plunging down through the ravine,
creating whirlpools of sufficient power to keep the
granite blocks, tumbled from the steeps on either hand,
in a constant rotary motion, and so in a long series of
years, produced the phenomena.
A slighc subsidence in the surface of the country
above would have been sufficient to divert the stream
to another channel, and there are some indications
which lead one to suppose such a subsidence has ta-
ken place.
The present stream possesses a charm to the sports-
man as well as to the naturalist, in the fine trout with
which its nooks and pools abound.
By an early start from Bethel, with good horses,
which may be readily obtained at the village, the ex-
a
PORTLAND; WHITE MOUNTAINS AND
ciirsionist may reach the basins so as to have five or
six hours there for exploring or fishing, and return in
time fijr supper.
Once more let us consider ourselves in the cars,
speeding up the Androscoggin valley.
Scenes of grandeur and beauty meet the eye on
every hand, and the traveler, if he have but a mod-
erate share of enthusiasm, will find enough to com-
mand his constant attention.
The next station is
WEST BETHEL,
From Portland 74 miles, from the Mountain Station House 17 miles, from
Montreal; 218 miles.
Soon after leaving the station, the train passes over
Pleasant Eiver Bridge, and a mile or so farther on,
Mounts Moriah, Adams, and Jefferson, from Gilead.
where the cars describe a gentle curve on a high em-
bankment immediately contiguous to the Androscog-
gin, you have a fine view, far up the valley, of Mts.
' I
MONTUKM. HAIL UOAD GUIDE.
55
1
Jefferson and Adams, lifting their conical smmits over
the shadowy ridges of Mount Moriah — of which our
artist gives the foregoing truthful sketch.
About five miles from West Bethel, you cross Wild
River, by a bridge 250 feet in length.
This River is a child of the mountains — at times
fierce, imr ;tuous, and shadowy as the storms that
howl around the bald heads of its parents, and bear-
ing down everything that comes in its path: then
again, when subdued by long summer calms, mur-
muring gently in consonance with the breezy rustle of
the trees whose branches depend over it. An hour's
time may swell it into a headlong torrent, an hour may
reduce it to a brook that a child might ford without
fear.
This vicinage is rife with mementos of the Indian
wars. One of the last acts of the aborigines, ere
their strength was forever broken, was an onset on the
defenceless village of Bethel, made by a pariy of the
St. Francis tribe, who had followed down the State
line from Canada. They carried away f^aptives, a
man named Pettengill, ang[ther Sager, and two by the
name of Clark.
Pettengill and one of the Clarks, after proceeding
a few miles, were unable, through lameness, to go on,
and the savages finally consented to their return,
advising them to keep to the same trail they had fol-
lowed up, pretending that there were hostile scouts on
all others. Clarke, who was well acquainted with the
Indian character, suspected treachery in this apparent
solicitude for their safety, and as soon as he was out
of sight, struck into the woods, and swimming the
Androscoggin, passed 'down the opposite side with
6
t
14
'ft
56
POUTLAN'D, WHITE MOUNTAINS AM)
safety. During his lonely tramj) he heard the report
of the gun which proved the death note of his friend,
who taking the path designated, was followed back
by the savages and shot dead.
The mutilated body of poor Pettengill was subse-
quently found, and buried on the bank of the Wild
River, just by the bridge, which is admirably repre-
sented in the sketch on the following page.
Shaggy and rude in the extreme are the bluffs
which succeed on the view, bolstering summits hazy
from their height, und walling in the river with which
the rail road still claims companionship, so as to leave
but a strip of arable land on its confines, which strip,
however, does not want for hardy men to cultivate it.
We next find ourselves approaching
QILEAD STATION,
From Portland 80 miles, from the Mountain Station House 11 miles, from
Montreal 212 miles.
Hayward says that " the chief part of this town-
ship is only fit for grazing, and a look at the alpine
steeps adjacent, will readily induce the traveler to
conform to this opinion.
A mile or so above this station the track crosses the
boundary between Maine and Nev/ Hampshire. A
monument designates the line, and it is further mark-
». ^ by a board fence running nearly at a right angle
with the road, near an orchard.
Here bidding adieu to the Pine Tree State, in a
few minutes we find ourselves at
SHELBURNE,
FroiQ Portland 66 miles, from Mountain House 5 miles, from Montreal 20
miles.
Higher and still more rugged grow the mountains.
M
S-'f
MONTREAL RAIL ROAD GUIDE.
6f
as the jubilant locomotive rashes onward, until the
stem, bare heights of Mounts Washington, Jefferson,
and Adams, burst upon the view from behind a wood-
ed ridge of Mount Moriah.
Mounts Washington, JeiTerson, and Adams, from Qilead.
For the next four or five miles, till you arrive with-
in a hundred rods of the station house at Goiham,
these lofty summits remain constantly in view. There
they tower, in storm and sunshine, bathed in thunder
clouds, or soaring sharp and clean in the cloudless sum-
mer noon, always sombre, stern and exclusive.
Just after leaving the station house, the cars pass
near a high and i)recipitous slide or bluff, called Gran-
ny Staiibiiid's Ledge. An immense granite boulder,
many thousand tons in weight, a great portion of
which has been blown to pieces and used in the con-
struction of the rail road, formerly rested on a shelf
of the ledge.
Under this rock, it is said, an aged matron named
Starbird, who supplied the place of physician to the
0*
m
ill
60
PORTLAND, WHITE MOUNTAINS AND
I- JJ
section, long time ago found refuge during one of the
wildest storms that ever smote the mountains.
She was on her way on horseback alone, to visit a
patient, where her presence was tliouglit to be indis-
pensible, so the story goes, when night and storm over-
took her; and, bewildered by the pelting rain, she
was glad to avail herself of such shelter as the rock
could afford. House there was none for miles, and
here she remained cowering all the long night with a
fearful chorus confusing her ear — the rushing of the
great rain through the darkness, the voice of the count-
less streams that flooded every cliff and ravine, the
wail of the great trees on the ridges as they writhed
and struggled and swayed in the merciless grasp of
the gale, and the oft repeated howl of the shivering
wolf driven from his lair by the incursions of the
storm, commingled with the hoarse boom of the swol-
len river that made the very earth tremble.
The laggard morning broke at last above the hills,
but it brc eight no cheer to that "weary auld matron."
Many a noble forest giant lay shattered on the accliv-
ities about her ; the torrents still i)oured their turbid
floods, and filling the whole valley like a sea, the river
slid onward, grinding and crashing, booming and ter-
riffic, with its debris of trees and timber, rocks and
gravel: nor was it till noon, when the clouds retired
to the higher peaks, the sun shone out, and the waters
began to assuage from off the face of the earth, that
she was able to resume her journey.
Our limited information in regard to the matter, does
not allow us to state whether the patient was old or
young, grave or gay, homely oi lovely, or whethei- the
skill of the doctress was successful in alleviating the
g>
ill
s
\{i: i
a:^
m
mal
the
tem
at!
be,
ny
!
MONTREAL RAIL ROAD GUIDE.
63
malady. She believed in her own superior ability in
the healing art, and nothing but her kindness of heart
tempted her abroad on the mission of mercy with such
a threatening aspect in the sky. However this may
be, the place has ever since been designated as Gran-
ny Starbird's Ledge I
Continuing to skirt the base of Mount Moriah, with
the glassy river on your right, a curve in the road sud-
denly brings you in sight of the point where all trav-
elers intent on exploring the wonders of the moun-
tains debark, the Station House, Gorham, otherwise
called
THE ALPINE HOUSE,
From Portland 91 miles, from Montreal 201 miles.
Here, perchance, you are greeted with the scenes
which usually attend an arrival at a fashionable resort
— ladies in their sun bonnets gliding to and fro, anx-
ious to see the new comers, gentlemen under curiously
shaped hats and wreaths of cigar smoke, lounging
prominently against pillar and post as anxious to show
their indifference ; hurrying waiters bumping trunks
and boxes against the elbows of the promiscuous
crowd in the hall, &c.
But barring contingencies, you are immediately
shown to a neat and airy room, and having adjusted
the outer man, the next thing is to look about the
house. You find it a noble edifice, three stories in
height, and one hundred feet front by fifty in width,
with an ell of about the same dimensions. A hand-
some piazza along the front and two ends, gives a fin-
ish to the building, while it affords a pleasant walk,
where visitors may enjoy the mountain air and scenery.
Within, you find broad and lofty halls, and ample
s f
' ' 1.1
; 1 ■
J
G4
PORTLAND, WIHTR MOUNTAINS AND
parlors, sitting and withdrawing rooms, fitted and fur-
nished with corresponding elegance — a noble dining
room, eighty feet by thirty, and sleeping rooms suffi-
cient to accommodate two hundred and fifty persons.
By this time you probably begin to think of dinner,
the sudden transition from the atmosphere of the
ocean to the bracing air of the mountains being a keen
whetter of the appetite. On this score, you could not
submit your case to more considerate persons than the
landlord and landlady, Mr. Hitchcock and Mrs. Hayes.
We are not sure but that the mass of travelers
would respond to the exclamation of a fellow tourist,
that about the pleasantest feature in a day's travel, is
the dinner hour. And certainly to escaps from the
fervor of a July or August sun to tables nicely spread
with every variety of viand that your nicest metropol-
itan hotel can boast, and some things that such cannot
boast, the delicately flavored trout of the mountain
rivulet for instance, is very apt to produce that com-
placent state of mind which disposes one to the en-
joyment of the intellectual.
Dinner over, unless you prefer for company the fan-
cies that hover around a cigar, in the smoking room,
let's stroll under the portico. You find yourself in the
centre of a broad level or table land, closed up by
mountains on all sides, a wonderful depression tlirough
which the Androscoggin makes the passage of the
hills, the foundations of the hotel being but 802 feet
above tide water at Portland.
That titanic elevation, whoso summit severs the sky
on the left, is Mount Moriah, the ascent of which is
the grand aim of all new comers. It was so named
by one of the early settlers of tlie region, because its
E
s
t
iir-
|ing
iffi.
ler.
len
the
res.
'}
%
MONTREAL KAIL IlOAl) GUIUK.
G7
shape or position coincided with some conception le
had formed of its scripture namesake. •
The nonchalant elevation looking over its shoulder,
next Westerly, from its singular outlines, is called the
Imp, and the more distant cone, whose ridges sustain
such a glorious burden of forest, commemorating the
name of a veteran hunter who captured many a bear,
wolf and moose, among its glens and gorges, is called
Carter Mountain.
The summits of the long ridge near at hand, confin-
ing the valley Westerly, will probably acknowledge
to any appropriate name you may be disposed to give
them, as they have none of their own.
In the rear of the house, is the Androscoggin cours-
ing along the base of the mural acclivities which
bound the view to the North Eastward. One of these
massive piles of granite is called Mt. Hayes, in honor
of the landlady of the hotel.
There are many places in the neighborhood inviting
to a ramble. One of these is an elevated plateau of
land, about half a mile down the road, called Prospect
Hill, from which we have a full view of Mt. Wash-
ington. Here, too, a broad reach of the Androscoggin
valley, rich in green fields, woods and waters, charms
the eye with its beauty.
Another is the picturesque ruins of an old saw mill
near the Peabody River, scarcely gunshot distant from
the house. It stands alone, " high and dry," the river
two or three years ago during a freshet, having taken
a fancy to explore a new channel. The compact bed
of small granite chips and boulders which surround it
is a sample of macadamising such as is often worked
by the torrents in their autumnal freaks, or when loos-
ed from the thrnwl of winter.
U
mi
f
m
!'
7 '
»*1
63
roUTLAMi. WIllTfc: MOUNTAIN'S AND
The pot holes or circular cisterns worn by the action
of the water in the rock bed of a small stream called
Pea Brook, about a mile and a half from the house,
are deserving likewise of attention.
A stroll by the banks of the river may pass off an
hour very pleasantly. The utilitarian spirit of the age
has not thus far infringed upon the aspect of seclusion
with which Nature has invested the portion of it con-
tiguous to the hotel grounds, but it comes sweeping
down free and wide, swinging around each point, and
exploring every nook and inlet, its outcirling wavelets
as they pass along the shore turning up their lips as if
to steal kisses from the little blue and white star flow-
ers that cluster to its brink.
" And pure are its waters, i't3 shallows bright
With shining pebbles and sparkles of light,
And clear are the depths where the ripples play
And dimples deepen, and whirl away."
And how perfectly, under the bold bluffs of the op-
posite mountain ridge are the trees, the slopes, and
the clouds floating in the depths of the sky, mirrored
on the shining element.
A hundred rods or so further down, is an elevated
section of table land, terminating in an abrupt descent
of fifty feet towards the river, where opens a romantic
prospect of the noble stream, including the rips or
rapids, whore the impetuous Peabody makes in.
An excursion to
RANDOLPH HILL,
Some three miles distant, on the road to Lancaster,
discovers to the tourist most delightful scenery, and
one gets views thence of Mis. Adams, Madison and
Action
Nled
foiise,
ffan
^ge
•iff
\i^.
■f
Mi
;!l
MONTREAL. KAIL KOAD «;UII)t:.
71
Jcflcrson, from base to summit, which leaves on the
mind an abiding impression of their hugeness and
subhmily. Especially when the quietude of evening
is settling down upon their woods and giens, and the
rifted ridges are brought out into bold relief by the
slant rays of the sun, *-iust their grand appearance
strike the beholder, and some individuals give this
point of view of the loftier summits a preference over
every other.
BERLIN FALLS.
A drive to this interesting locality, some six miles
above the Station House, should by no means be
Berlia Falls.
omitted. Here the whole volume of the Androscog-
gin's waters is poured through a rocky defile scarcely
more than fifty feet in width — descending in the
space of a hundred yards nearly twice as many feet.
The Androscoggin, it will be recollected, is the only
outlet to the TJmbagog chain of lakes. In its pas-
m
III;
,•1;"
'■:¥!
m
si
r,i
POllTI.AM). WJllTIi ,\I(nMAlNS AN'D
sage thence it receives the waters of tlie Magaliu-
way, Diamond and Clear rivers, besides several
streams of minor importance, so that at this point it
is scarcely inferior in volume to the Connecticut at
Northumberland. Seething and i)lunging, and tortur-
ing into billows of snowy foam, it rushes down the
narrow race —
'' Rapid as the light.
The flashing mass foams, shaking the abyss,
presenting a picture which our artist has delineated
with much truth in the foregoing sketch.
From the wooden foot bridge thrown across the
chasm one may obtain a fine view not only of the
falls, but up and down the river. This bridge consists
merely of two logs thrown from the shore to the rocky
island that forms the neither side of the defile, with a
board platform laid upon them. When about to be
put up, it was a wonder to some how the logs could
be extended across the chasm, but the mystery was
soon solved. The i)erson who had the matter in hand
threw a couple of bitch poles across the dizzy gulf,
and by his direction his two sons, mere lads, ran over
on them, trusting to the momentum gained in a start
from a point some distance back, to steady them in
the seemingly perilous adventure, and by their assist-
ance, with the superior power exerted from the shore,
the structure M " . got into place. Looking down from
the bridge upok the rushing vortex thirty feet below,
it makes one shudder to think of such a feat.
In the vicinity of these falls also, may be had a
grand view of the Northerly slopes of the mountains.
Towering peak above peak and ridge above ridge in
MONTUEAL RAH. ROAD GUIDE.
T.i
alpine array, tlio mighty piles frown n|)oii tlio world
about thoni with an enilr.ittlcd ^^loom wliicli tli(> nio-
ridean siiii can scarcely dissipate.
Tlio White Mountulns from Berlin Falls.
But let us return to the Al])inc House.
Evening' settles over the mountains. Every hour
of the day they present a new aspect, a varying hue
and shade puzzling to the beholder, but they never
show to better ellect than when, with the vallies and
ravines below obscured by twilight,
' Their lone summits cast
The sunken day light far through the airial waste."
Night comes on slowly and envelopes the steeps in
her sable mantle ; and you turn away, perhaps to join
the dancers in the hall, or the musical crowd around
the piano ; or if it suits yon better, seek your pillow,
and arc lulled to slumber by the spirit-voice of the
mountain wind.
7*
t:i'
r
;r|
74
PORTLAND, WHITE MOUNTAIN AND
With the morrow morning the ponies arc brought
out, and ho ! for the ascent of Mount Moviah I By
all means make the ascent, and you will be fully
compensated for your trouble in the far, free, glorious
prospects which the summit overlooks. To our mind,
there is not a mountain of the group that is so elal)o-
rate an expositor of the scenery of the region. But
you can judge for yourself.
Getting away from the house, probably witli a few
jokes at the expense of your rough looking cavalcade,
you make a detour to the right, and soon find yourself
pressing up the rugged bridle path in the twilight of
the thick forest. We will not aver that the mountain
air inspires to courage and quickens the animal spirits,
but we never knew of a cavalcade making the ascent
who were not full of good humor and disposed to re-
lieve the difficulties of the way with joke, shout and
banter — and even the ladies plunge into the ravines,
urge up the stee})s, and cross the spiteful cascades
that sometimes come leaping down the glens, with
the nonchalance that would mark them in a morning
stroll amidst the crowds of the city.
There are several points in the progress up, from
which fine views may be obtained — views of the far
valley of the Androscoggin, and the silvery river wind-
ing hither and yon as if at a loss where to find a
passage out — views of the mountains to the East-
ward crowding down tlie horizon, with here and there
some rugged titan towering above his fellows as if
conscious of his supremacy, views of the scathed,
shattered and storm -bleached crags of the noighoring
hills with the mighty forests which cling around them.
And, reaching the summit, if you are not gratified
:krs.
MONTRRAL RAIL ROAD OIJIDK.
ITi
kilt
fully
lions
ind,
libo-
But
with the wide prospects that thence present them-
selves, you may well have reason to suspect that
there is an important feature lacking in your com-
position.
Northerly, often with the clouds trailing over their
tops are the steeps that emhosom the lone waters of
the Umbagog lakes — including Saddleback and far-
ther to the Eastward Bald Mountain in Carthage, and
the Blue Mountains in Temple and Avon ; while
more distant. dc})loy a scries of cloud like eminences,
among which are Mount Abraham near Kingficld in
Franklin County, and still farther Mount Bigelow,
(supposed) in the third range of townships, under
which flows Dead River. Easterly stretches the val-
ley of the Androscoggin, lined for many a mile by the
track of the rail road, with the mountains that draw
themselves up on either side as if to give it i)assage,
and dark ridges beyond reaching out towards the dis-
tant ocean. South Easterly, is an extended track of
more level country, interspersed with shining lakes
and streams, ff ling upon the sight, till it commingles
with the ocean oyond Portland ; and when the atmos-
phere is clear, with a good glass, the city of Portland
may be distinctly seen. More to the Southward are
Pleasant Mountain and the mountains of Waterford
amidst the shadowy vallies of which, here and there
you catch views of lakes, rivers and ponds, shining
like j)olished steel ; and farther to the right are the
summits which environ Lake Winnipisseogee, and a
portion of the lake itself; while on the West, and
comparativx:;iy close at hand, with all their shaggy
steeps and dark ravines, in full view, rise Mount
Washington and the higher peaks of the group, silent
; ;i ,•
I
ii
76
FORTLANl), WHITE MOUA'TAINS AND
and sombre, and intrenched as it were in the dignity
of their " mountain majesty " — all beyond, so far as
eye sight is concerned, being terra incognita.
But the novelty of these scenes cannot be impres-
sed on the mind of the reader by tropes and similes.
Persons judge of objects through different media,
and the impress of oceanic prospects, witnessed from
a point onalevel Vvitli the clouds, is singidarly diverse
in different people I All we have to say, patient fel-
low traveler is, that we do not hold you responsible
for ours — an idea of which you may get in these
pages. In the descent, you have also many fine views
np and down the river.
Mount Moriah from Lur> 's.
One of the best places for contcm])lating Mount
Moriah, in all its hug-j bulk is oji Ihe Lary farm,
near tlio ANDROscoGGI^f HoirsE, a mile or so up from
the Station House — and it was at this [)oint that our
artist took the above spiritctl sketch.
I
JL
MOXTHKAr. IIAIL llOAD <;i-!I)K.
77
pres-
iiiles.
iedia,
from
|t fel-
isible
hese
lews
Having seen the various objects and points of in-
terest, in the neighborhood of the Station House, the
tourist will probably begin to think of becoming better
acquainted with the loftier summitL^ of the mountain
range. For this pur])ose his best course is to pass up
the valley of the Peabody River to the Glen House,
which is immediately under Mount Washington, and
in the midst of the loftiest summits of the whole
mountain district.
We will suppose that he has been fortunate in ob-
taining one of those balmy summer mornings such as
often dawn u])on these valhcs,
" A dewy morn,
Witli breath all incense, and with cheek all bloom,
Laughing the clouds away in playful scorn,
And glowing into day."
)unt
inn,
rom
our
The four horse wagon dashes up to the door ; and
while the ladies, in their bloomers and palm leaf hats,
are bestowing themselves on the seats, and the beaux,
who covet the privilege of making a figure in the
"fuss generally" which attends departure, are hand-
ing them in, some perhaps would like to start on a
pied.
Taking a turn to the left we soon plunge into the
woods and strike the banks of the foaming Peabody,
along which the road winds till it reaches the Glen
House. The air is exhilarating — the shrubs and wild
wood flowers are sparkling with dew, the sweetly-sad
notes of the white throated finch come from the reces-
ses of the woods u}) the steep acclivities — and the
rush of the jubilant river makes the heart bound in
consonance with its music. Did eye ever survey
Rl
I ;
I i
^ i-
I .-''■
7^^
rORTLAND, WIllTl!; .FOUNTAINS AXI)
finer trees than the gigantic patriarchs which flank our
devious way — was ever clearer water than that which
shelves and slides, curvets and sparkles over the clean
granite rocks which form the hcd of the Peahody?
Here is freedom, here is truth, here is energy I
We are wending towards the base of Carter Moun-
tain ; the rich luxuriance of the vast forests that press
up its sides delights every eye. But a turn in the de-
file has hidden it from sight ; and here we come in
view of the loftier and more rugged cone of Mount
Jefferson, the most symmetrical of the mountain con-
vocation.
We well remember the first time we traveled
through this pass. It was a still, dewy summer morn-
ing, and so calm that the scattered particles of sun-
light which streamed through the foliage rested just
where they fell, moveless as so many shining pebbles.
The song of the river came upon tlie car with vivid
distinctness, and away in the woods, you could hear
the patter of the bits of bark which a company of
chicodees w^ere picking from the trunks, as they fell
on the underbrush, sounding like the first stealthy
drops of a shower. Not a cloud shadowed the moun-
tain now before us, and whilst contemplating its se-
rene dignity, signs of a commotion u}) among the
cliffs caught our eye. A huge rock (loosened from its
bed, perhaps by the levers of the winter frosts) had
fallen, and came plunging downwards. We could
trace its progress by a hue of whitish smoke or dust
that floated over its track, and could occasionally see
it in some tremendous bound above the trees, whirl-
ing with the velocity of a cannon ball. No sound
reached us till the connnotion had ceased, when wc
M-m-.
\K our
liicli
lody?
loun-
['ress
de-
iG in
fount
con-
p
U ■■■■ J' 5
r-i I
*Hii
a u
M
a
)j
1
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lll
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m
.. ^.
MONTREAL RAIL ROAD GUIDE.
81
distinctly heard, for a minute or more, a low, crushing
reverberation, toiling the fate of many a noble forest
giant torn asunder or shattered to pieces.
Proceeding slov/ly up the pass, we come to an opon-
iiiT in the trees. Here agaiu is the Peabody, wash-
ino- the foot of the mountaiu, and Q.ir up you may see
the quarry whence the rock was di dodged, and wbicii
those vigorous miners, the winter colds and storms,
have worked for ages. The head of the ravine i.s
fall of such. Well may the view call, forth your ex-
ultant shouts of adniiratio'i. !
Resuming our line of 'ravel, onward wc go
" Over the mountains, Westward ho ! "
And here we have a more full view of Mount Ad-
ams, its shoulder braced against Jclferson — and
Washington looking out from beyond, a head taller
than all the others, the mountain monarch of the
North, about wliose summit, veiled in clouds and
darkness, the thunder god occasionally holds his tur-
bulent court. The old mill and the glassy river basin
in the fore ground, were objects which the quick (yc
of our artist was ready to seize upon to complete a
sketch at this point, for which sketch see preceding
page.
But we are approacliing the
OLEN HOIJSH,
Seven miles from the Station House, and the gentle-
manly landlord stands ready to help you to alight —
whoa !
This likewis3, is a new, large and commodious
liouse, having all the apphances of a fishionable lio-
tel; and at its table on.e can obtain the luxuries of ihe
8
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82
PORTLANn, WHITE MOUNTAINS AND
best city hotels. It stands on a green slope, fachiff
Mount Washington, with the live highest peaks of
the range, from hase to summit, in full sight.
Near hy, the Avater.s of the Pcaljody go rollicking
down the pass, as if rejoiced to (.'Scape from the
gloom of the mountains (affording line sjjort for the
trout fisher) and on every side you may see
" Castled rocks stupendous piled,"
'' Or feci the freshness of the growinj* green
That waves in forest tops, and smootlis the air."
The main huilding is 130 feet in length, 42 feet in
width, and four stories high. A grantl portico gives
beauty and finish to the princijial entrance, and a neat
piazza extends on either hand along the entire front,
and across the ends of the building, surmounted by a
balcony, upon which the second story windows all
open, and from which may be had an iminterrupted
view of acclivities reaching to the clouds, ■whose up-
rolliiig forests have never echoed to the axe of the
ivciedman.
The ir.'erior of the building is on a scale of equal
tspaciuUsnc'S, A broad hall, or passage way, runs en-
tirely liirougli it on the lower floor, with a door at each
end, so as to ensure a cool draught of air in sultry
weathev, and similar passage ways divide the tiers of
rooms on each of the other floors. The dining room
is a noble hall, calculated to scat two hundred persons
— and the withdrawing rooms, which front towards
the mo-.mtains and the rushing Peabody river, are
spacious and airy, and exceedingly pleasant.
It would be difficult to conceive more complete ar-
rangements for the accommodation of those who seek
c.
o
lacing
Iks of
ong
the
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I f
I
'M
MONTREAL RAIL ROAD GUIDE.
85
the mountain air or scenery, which may here be en-
joyed in their fullest extent.
The smooth knoll on which the house is built is 830
feet above the sills of the Alpine House, or 1G32 feet
above tide water at Portland.
The romantic attractions of this locality — glens
and. gorges, streams, torrents, slides, lakelets and wa-
terfalls — arc unequalled by those of any other in the
mountain region ; while many of the steeps and ra-
vines remain yet unexplored, tempting the courage
and acti\'ity of the adventurer.
Our first business cf course Avill be to ascend
Mount Washington, which can be done by a shorter
if not an easier path, from this point than from any
other. An early start is desirable, since clouds are
more likely to gather on the summits and obstruct the
views ill the after jiart of the day.
Taking a turn through the meadow, and crossing
the Peabody, you enter the forest, and do not emerge
thence until you get at least half way up. The
growth consists of birch, beech, hemlock and maple,
interspersed with spruce, fir, and the mountain ash,
with an undergrowth of moosewood, bear berry, whor-
tleberry, brakes, Sec.
As in the ascent of Mount Moriah, the path appears
exceedingly rough, and at times the obstacles in the
way seem insurmountable ; but the horses are well
trained, and thousands make the ascent yearly, and
the first accident therefrom has not yet occurred.
Here you mount steep ridges, anon file around pre-
cipitous crags, then again cross deep ravines and
rushing torrents, the scenery ever changing, while
the long train of horses, winding through the twi-
8*
V)'
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' II
m
86
PORTLAND, WHITE MOUNTAIN AND
light gloom of the trees, present a picture such as the
writers of old romance in their tales of robbers and
banditti delighted to describe.
Emerging from the wood, you mount a stupendous
spur of rock whose bare projections, unclothed by
even a lichen, have been l)leached with the storms
of ages, and coming to a halt, you are more than
compensated for the troubles you have encoun-
tered, by the view which presents itself, comprising
the remote valley of the Androscoggin with its ribbon-
like rail track, and its lateral agglomerations of billowy
mountains, fading on the eye in the distance, and
immediately balcw you the deep valley of the Pea-
body, with the Glen House in full view. Facing
upwards on the right is the sharp cone of Jefferson,
and on the left the shattered crags of Washington,
and between is the gloomy depths of the Great
Gulf, whose fearful precipices have rarely if ever
been descended.
The cavalcade at this point, can be seen from below,
and presents a singular appearance. The horses with
their riders, do not seem to walk, but move off nois-
less and mxysterious, things of strange shape, and it
requires no great draft on the imagination of the be-
holder to fancy them the genii of the hills on their
spirit rounds.
But our guide is becoming impatient — no time to
linger when the mountain top, yet two miles distant,
may be covered with clouds ere you reach it, unless
you hasten your pace. The ladies look up ; we are
cut off j&om the lower world as it were — the fierce
prospect is almost appalling. Yet difficulties are
boldly faced here which elsewhere would be consid-
MONTREAL RAIL ROAD GUIDE.
87
■the
md
|ons
by
mis
Ihan
i
i
ered insurmountable. Or rather in many cases, like
the moral obstacles we encounter in life, they are dif-
ficulties more in aspect than reality, and need but be
boldly met to vanish.
There are many other points in your progress up
which command vast, varied and beautiful scenes —
one particularly which looks out Northerly far along
a teeming vista, just after you have scrambled up a
tortuous path, and attained a level spot which invites
to a moment's rest for your panting horses. Immortali-
ty of reputation would be the due of the painter who
could transfer the vastitude and wild beauties of that
scene to the canvass — the rude acclivity on which
your party is grouped, as parties somewhat fatigued
will naturally group themselves, for a foreground ; for
the medium distance the mountain on the right with
its storm-blasted trees, its ragged escarpments and
floating mists, leaning away as if to reveal the far,
quiet " happy valley" for perspective, which with its
smooth fields, its woods and waters, its hazy mountain
confines, fades and commingles in the distance with
a sky whose serene summer aspect, perchance, makes
the heart glad.
But the word is still " onward ; " resuming your
march and toiling slowly over the broken and jagged
masses of rock which cover the mountain for the last
three quarters of a mile, you at last stand on the sum-
rait of Mount Washington.
No one ever described the ocean so as to give a true
impression of it, or the sea-like extent of one of our
western prairies, or the falls of Niagara — and all at-
tempts to impress the view, in a clear atmosphere,
from Mt, Washington on others, must be nearly futile.
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88
PORTLAND, WHITE MOUNTAINS AND
You Stand the center of a circle of country two
hundred and fifty miles in diameter — high above all I
An ocean of earth billows, misty and sombre, reels
away to the far horizon, on every side, an ocean which
has, as it were by " stroke of the enchanter's wand,"
become suddenly and forever cong-calcd, and that at a
moment when whirlwind and tempest were heaving
it into gigantic surges. We can conceive of no better
comparison than the waste, the melancholy, tempest
ridden main, frozen in the midsi, of its strength. Sun-
shine and shadow chase each other over the silent
waste, light and darkness fleck its surface ; but the
prevailing feature is one of shadow and gloom.
Far in the North is Moose Head Lake, looking like
a strip of burnished silver amidst a region over which
the shadows of night have fallen. Tliere too, is Mt.
Kineo, and the clejihantinc summit of Katahdin
crouching beyond. West^-rly arc the Green Mountains
of Vermont rolling along the outer edge of the circle
like the humj)s of a great sea serpent, and more than
a hundred miles distant to the South West is Mount
Monadnock, peeiiing over the intervening ridges, as if
playing at hide-and-go-seek with some other titan a
hundred or two miles off.
Sebago Lake at the South East, and Winnipisse-
ogee more to the South, are also visi])lc, with many
other lakes and ponds, reduced to mere specks, glint-
ing afar like diamonds, in the sombre waste ; and the
Androscoggin and Saco seem mere silver threads in-
extricably tangled in a chaos of blue ridges and earth
billows. Still beyond, at the termination of the vast
perspective, wlien the atmo.sphere is free from haze,
may be seen the ocean off Portland.
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MONTREAL RAIL ROAD GUIDE.
01
However, it is not always that you have a clear sky
over the inouiitaius — as often as otherwise you are en-
vironed by clouds. The sun may shine about you, it
is true, but all below may be a driving gulf of cloud
and shadow, bounding your view, very likely, to a few
acres of jagged and disintegrated rock, with the long,
low building, \vhich for other reasons than its altitude,
has attained the name of "tip to]) house," nestled
down among them, as if cowering from the bleak
atmos})here.
This latter feature puts us in mind that the journey
up the mountain sharpens the n})j)etite — but enter,
and you will find an aspect of comfort even here
among the clouds, and your wants will be nicely and
amply jirovided for.
Here you may obtain accommodations for spending
the night, and if on so doing, you should be so fortu-
nate as to have clear weather at day break on the fol-
lowing morning, a rich reward will be yours.
In this case leave yom* couch early — go out on the
rocks, (taking the precaution to don all the clothing
you can come at,) just as the first grey streaks of
morning begin to appear, and while yet the stars,
which sparkle with a brilliancy unknown to the val-
lies below, continue their silent watches — when all
below is involved in impenetrable obscurity. Amidst
the strange solitude of the sky cavern above and
about you, contemplate the re-creation of the world.
As the sky reddens in the east, the nearer crags
slowly lift themselves from the gloom ; then the for-
ests far below are emulous to shake off the robe of
night. The outlines of the more distant peaks in front,
meanwhile become defined, and the spectral light
h
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PORTLANP, WIIITr: MOUNTAINS AND
steals out ii'rndiirilly over tlio l)Oiin(l]ess prospect
Eastward, aiul fniutly streaks the lines and ridges
which mark the boundaries t)f inimiuiTalile plains,
rallies and lakes. The sky f^'rows red as the sun ap-
proaches the horizon, and the wide earth partakes of
the mellow hue. ()1)J(m;Is insensibly become more
distinct, until as the sun beuins to show his disc, the
line of the far oil' ocean i^^leams like fire, and every
elevation in front and to the rii^ht and left, crowding
to the remote horizon, rejoices in his welcome smiles.
Still the twilight gloom lingers in the fathomless
vallies about yon — and the mountains at the West
are cold and grey; but with the rising sun, peak after
peak is illumined as with fires kindled to herald the
new creation's birth, and night has relincpiished his
dominion to his co-ruler, day.
The chief summits of the mountain group a.nd all
above the skirt of woods that clings round their waists,
are Init enormous heaps of torn, shattered, jagged and
disintegrated rocks of every form and size. These
rocks arc a sort of half mixed granite ; or to speak
more scientifically, a micaceous shist passing into
gneiss ; and hoary with untold ages of storm, or black-
ened with the crisp liclicns that defy the most in-
tense cold, they present an ap})earance of indescrib-
able desolation. Although not properly volcanic in
their origin, there is but one theory by whicn you can
account for the manner in which these debris were
uppiled ; this is that the granite undercrust of this
section of the globe was rent to atoms and hurled
high into the empyrean by the explosion of pent up
gasses — perhaps in the early ages of creation when
the fires which still rage in the interior of the earth
MONTREAL nA:L ROAD GUIDE.
03
Ipect
Mges
jiiiiis,
li ap-
^sof
|] 110 re
Uie
f'VcMy
had not relircd so far from its surface. Lying cdgc-
■vvise, end wise, and at every angle, it is evident tliat
they fell as you now see them. What other theory
will account for this condition of things ; unless, in-
deed, yen adopt the train of thought of a queer look-
ing old gentleman Avhom we met absorhed in a brown
study on the })innacle of Washington, and with him
exclaim, " What a monstrous waste of labor it must
have been to bring all these big lumps of rock up
here!"
By the early explorers of this region these moun-
tains were called the Crystal i!Zi7/5; and extravagan':
stories were told of the diamonds, carbuncles and
other glittering stones with which they abounded ; but
the region is anything but rich in mineral wealth.
The nearest approach to the " diamonds" are the ag-
glomerated masses of quartz crystals which are found
in some localities. Garnets, emerald, tourmaline,
jasper, and iron pyrites arc also found in less abun-
dance ; and it may be that as the mountains become
more fully explored, a few other varieties may be ad-
ded to the catalogue of their minerals.
Some of the early explorers told wonderful tales of
the savage beasts that infested the ravines and val-
lies — of " grate lyons whose roaring in the nyte"
deprived them of sleep — and of terrific dangers which
they encountered in scaling precipices, and fording
rivers.
The Indians, gave still more extravagant accounts
of the wonders of the mountains. From certain of
the precipices, according to their descriptions, depend-
ed immense carbuncles, which, in the darkness of
the night gleamed afar with supernatural brilliancy.
9
94
roilTLAND, WHITE MOUNTAINS AND
Some of thoir moro fonvloss wnrriors lincl discliarged
arrows and niuskels at those glitlorin"- sliilactites, but
nialf(jrtunc immoclialoly Ibllowed the perpclnitors of
siicl) sncrileiiC'.as it was deemed — and Iwo or three of
their imndier wlio bad essayed to eJiud) up iind ol)tain
the shininji; treasures were never heard of alterwartls!
Indeed the savajires faneied the niouutaiu siuuuiits
to be the abodes of invisil)le spirits who I'ontrolled
the winds and tempests; and at times they olfered
sacrifices 1'" Mvorshijjjx-d these mysterious l)eings.
Similar si. ■( itions also obtained amonj^ the more
ignorant wintes; and there are those at the present
day. who cling to a beliel" in these supernatural agen-
cies, and tell of tbe wonderfid exi)erienee of .^eir
ancestors in regard to them.
Belknaj) says, that an ancient tradition prevailed
among tbe savages tbat a deluge once overs] iread the
land, -and destroyed every buman l)eing except a sin-
gle sacbem andhis scjuaw, wbo, perhaps assisted l)y the
s])irits of the winds, climbed to tbe toj) of tbe liigbest
peak, and thus preserved the race from extermination.
The Indian name for tbe mountains was IVauni-
beket Mctlma, signifying mountains of tbe Snowy
Foreheads. A more appropriate name could not have
been selected, for their " foreheads" arc white with
snow nine months in the year. This in part may ac-
count for the preference which has been given to their
present name over the more poetical one of Crystal
Hills.
Mount Washington having been disposed of, the
tourist will naturally inquire for other remarkable fea-
tures of the vicinage; and none more deserve his at-
tention than the two wild torrents, which have been
<l
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•rged
h, but
•rs of
|ieeof
l>tain
^iircls I
|niiiits
I rolled
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more
•csent
icn-
'leir
Crystal Cascade.
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MONTREAT. n.VIT, ROAD GUIDF:
07
named tho Crystal Cascadr and CJi.en Ellis Fall.
Ovviiiii; to the Eustoru (Icclivitios of the inomitains
bciiiii: roinolc uiul (hlliciih of access from the lines of
travel, proviiuis to the oi)euiiii2; of the Allii.'itic aiul 8t.
Lawrence Rjiil Road, tliesc heaiitifiil objects, m com-
mon with many t)lher of their wihh\st features, were
almost unknown • and they })ossess all the charms of
novelty.
THE CRYSTAI. C'ASCADK
Is a gift of Mount Washington, flung down upon
the vallies to enliven the verdure, and rejoice with its
music the echoes of the woods, rocks and glens. Its
location is a secluded ravine about a hundred rods to
the right of the road which now connects the great
routes of travel East and West of the mountains,
and about three miles from the Glen House.
The way from the Glen House down, developes
scenery as romantic as any among the mountain pas-
ses; primitive forests into whose dank recesses human
footstei)s have seldom found their way; deep, rocky
gullies, that send out the sound of rushing waters,
frowning clilfs that have shaken from their shoulders
into the vallies below masses of rock of every size
and shape ; scenes whose wildness is diversified with
green nooks and hollows, where the fire weed, the wild
aster, and ei)ilobium display their petals to the wel-
come sun, or plume themselves in the mountain winds.
The stream which feeds the cascade takes its rise
up among the heights of Mount Washington, and af-
ter winding its way througli unexplored glens and for-
ests, here finds its w^ay down into regions where day
can look upon it, through a rent in the ragged blufT,
9*
**n
rnnri-ANrt. whitr mocntains and
which n))penrs as though it wcro iniidu there on pur-
post' fortlie wiitor to oscapo.
Tiic whole height of the fhll is perhaps eighty Coot;
the water, however, does not come in an iiiihrokeu
sheet tk)wn, hut steps froiu slieif to shell'. Hinging
showers of diamond dust on the impending foliage,
until (hr.illy it takes a long jump into a dcej) hasin
with a ringing noise, as if expressive of satisfaction
thai it has got down into a district where it can pursue
its rejoicing course with greater ease.
Such is the central jiortion of the cascade. Over
other projections of the clilli which are clothed with
richly shaded green mosses, the inn)ulsive stream oc-
casionally shoots in glassy threads, tortuous in their
descent as the roots of some giant tree, a lit[uid han-
yan. Hemlock and fir, and the ever tremulous hirch,
contend for a footing in every seam and fissure of the
contiguous crags, grouped and scattered among t)ieir
projections in such a manner as delights an artist, and
over all, frowns Mt. Washington, strongly contrasting
the brilliant play of the cascade, and the varied lively
green of the adjacent forests.
-<
W
^
ai.EN EI.T.IS FAT.T..
This is another wild cataract on the East side of
the mountains, in point of romantic beauty disputing
for the palm of su])'^riority with the Crystal Cascade ;
and some })eople even give it the preference over its
more impetuous rival.
Its locality is about a mile further down the road,
a few rods off to tlie left, in a deep ravine on EUis
River. You approach it through hoary, moss-bearded
woods, whose solitudes ever reverberate the song of
jHir-
l"('Ct;
nken
|l^•ing
Klire,
•iisin
ii'tion
ursiie
)irc'h,
(ik'U Ellis Fall.
MONTRKAL RAIL ROA IJ (iUIDE.
101
its waters, and in threading your way down occasion-
ally catch glimpses of the eml)attled cliffs of Carter
Mountain, not unfrcqucntly overshadowed by heavy
masses of clouds. Turning an abrupt bluff suddenly
the fall bursts upon the view, sweeping do\ m between
two immense sections of precipice.
The water falls in an unbroken mass a distance of
seventy feet, but owing to a bulge in the rock, twists
to the left so as to make almost a complete turn be-
fore it reaches the deep basin in which it is lost be-
low. Trees and shrubs climb the mural cliffs contig-
uous wherever they can get a footing, and from its
summit, clinging with its long bird toes to the fissures
of the rock, shoots a tall hemlock far over the rushing
waters, nearly a hundred feet in height. How it has
thus sustained itself on the dizzy verge through the
fierce onslaughts of the mountain tempests, " from its
youth up," seems a mystery, and looking upwards one
almost expects to see it topple down, of its own
weight ; and yet on a recent occasion, when a party
of visitors were present, a lad climbed to its very top,
and looked down into the seething basin, a vacuum
of nearly two hundred feet beneath him, with the ut-
most indifference — for which feat he considered a
York sliiUing a handsome compensation I
This fall was christened with the name it now bears
in the summer of 1852, by a i)arty of ladies and gen-
tlemen from Portland, who in hunting up the romantic
scenery of the region, casually learnt of its existence.
Although some of the inhabitants of the nearest
towns had known of it, by report or otherwise, as the
" Pitcher Fall," it is not mentioned in any of the guide
books, and there is little doubt that it was wholly un-
known to tourists.
^i
•>: f/
ll
102
PORTLAND, WIHTK MOUNTAIN?* A N 1»
The rivulet which supplies llic water to the Crystal
Cascade and this fall, has been named
THE CRYSTAL STREAM.
This stream was explored by a gentleman from
Charleston, S. C, and the writer of these pages, in
in 1852, and unless traversed by the bear and deer
hunters of the mountains, it had probably nfever been
fully known before.
It was a question v/ith visitors, where so large a
body of water came from, and ascertaining that a
spring, which had its rise three or four hundred yards
Southerly from the toj) of Mount Washington, flowed
in this direction, we ascended the mountain by the
bridle path, and essayed to fo' ow it down, rightly, as
it proved, conjecturing that this was the source of the
Stream.
Mr. Hall, to whose energy in part is to be attributed
the construction of the house which is perched hke
an eagle's eyry, down among the summit crags, join-
ed us. Keeping the brook .n sight, we descended,
leaping from crag to crag, where a false step might
have broken a lea:, if nothing worse, until we were
arrested in our progress by a yawning chasm six or
seven hundred feet in depth I
Our brook, or more properly torrent, augmented by
several tributaries whicli it had pressed into its service
on its way down, here spread out over a shelving
rock, and falling in a hundred dripping streams, was
lost to our view below. Again far down through the
shattered rocks and blasted shrubbery, at the bottom
of the immense gulf, it appeared in sight, winding its
way in snowy foam, or gleaming like silver, where it
'rystal
MONTREAL RAIL ROAD GUIDE.
103
slid over some smooth shelf, but the sound of thefall-
ino- and rushing water ceased to vibrate the atmos-
phere ere it reached the lofty spur on which we stood.
All to us was silence, wild and mysterious.
Against the edges of the surrounding cliffs the clouds
occasionally drove, in their retreat throwing a deeper
o-loom over the savage scenes below. As JelTerson
said of the passage of the- Shenandoah and Potomac,
through the Blue Ridge, the scene was worth a trip
across the Atlantic to behold.
By making a detour of half a mile, appearances
indicated that we might descend into the ravine with-
out much trouble, but we were pressed for time, and
would gain an hour, perhaps, if we coukl descend from
the point where we were stEinding; so we resolved to
make the attempt.
The i)recipice was jagged with projections, seamed
with fissures, and had many a rugged shelf that af-
forded good foot hold, and low^ering ourselves down by
the cavities in one place, making a jump in another,
anon following a descending seam, and where we
could do no better, making a short slide, we at length
reached a broad projection of ledge, partly covered
with earth, dank mosses and trailing grasses, among
which grew a perfect swamp of wild flowers, deep
blue, brilliant yellow, wliite and pink, some of them
of fine fragrance, and all new to me.
The position we occupied was continually wet with
the mists and spray from the descending water. Look-
ing up, the wildness and sublimity of the scene were
almosi terrifying. Imagine a rugged bluff some four
hundred feet above us, darkened by hovering cIouvas,
its surface for the width of fifty yards striated all over
h
fe;.
101
PORTLAND, WHITE MOUNTAINS AND
with innumerable rib])ons and strings of liquid crys-
tal, which ribbons and strings were changed into
diamond dust by the action of the atmosphere before
they reached the rock below, and you may have a
faint conception of it. From the many ramifications
into which the water was divided where it fell over
the precipice, we gave it the name of the Fall of a
Thoi'sand Streams.
"We had still a descent of two or three hundred feet
to make ; but beneath us, and stretching up a liollow
along the base of the precipice, for tlie distance of a
hundred yards or more, was a bed of ice and snow,
and far down the dark, misty glen, rolled the voiceless
stream, tempting us onward : so turning our faces to
the rock, we resumed our scramble down, and after
various difhculties, some of which taxed our ingenuity
and nerves not a little, we stood on a level with the
snow bank, and gave three cheers which were return-
ed with three times three by the mural cliifs around I
Next to tlie face of the bluff, the snow had melt-
ed away so as to leave a gaj) between, too wide to
jump; we therefore descended, and passed under the
snow bank through a passage made by the torrent,
where an arch, at least ten feet in thickness, was above
our heads. This was late in the season, the 20th of
August, and from the de|)thof the bank, its granulated
appearance, and from a small dark vegetable mould
or lichen, with which it was covered, we knew that it
had remained from the previous winter, and had some
reason to suppose that it was perpetual.
Here Mr. Hall left us ; and weary with the exer-
tions made in the descent, we flung ourselves ou a
shrubby knoll, and more leisurely looked about us. —
MONTREAL RAIL ROAD GUIDE.
105
crys-
into
J e fore
lave a
ations
over
OF A
We were walled in on all sides but to the Southward,
by precipices and steep acclivities, from five hundred
to a thousand feet in height, the diameter of the
circular array of cliffs being scarcely quarter of a mile.
What better name could attach to such a spot, than
the
MOUNTAIN COLISEUM.
On the South West the shaggy steeps of Mount
Miuiroe were marked with the track of many an ava-
lanche, which bearing in its course the stunted trees,
rocks and gravel, had encumbered the ravine with
their debris, presenting a picture of perfect desolation.
Northerly, over the frowning cliffs ])y which we had
found our way down, trailed the Fall of a Thousand
Streams, in many places shattered into spray by pro-
jecting crags, but immediately condensing to stream
down over other projections, until concentrating its
force in a shelving hollow, it broke away, a fierce tor-
rent down through the boulders and blasted shrubbery
of the ravine.
Farther to the Northward towered Mount Wash-
ington above the mural cliffs, and at their base stretch-
ed along the belt of snow and ice, in strong relief
against their dark back ground. A little farther to the
right, the ravine was strown with enormous shattered
fragments of rock, which had tumbled from the upper
cliffs, and farther East frowning over the mouth of the
ravine, a lofty spur of Mt. Washington took peculiar
shapes ; and relieved against the blue sky, it required
no great stretch of imagination to fancy them the
genii of the mountains frowning on us for intruding
into their secret domains.
Far down through the passage which opened out of
10
lOG
PORTLAND, WHITE MOUNTAINS AND
this stupendous amphitheatre of rock, swept a waste
of forest tops, concealing witli their exuberant verdure
the rough steeps that sustained them, and beyond
rolled away the lesser hills of the range, l>!llow alter
billow, till the eye wearied in tracing them through
the violet haze of the horizon.
A week's study of the oceanic })ictures to be seen
from the top of Mt. "Washington, would not give so
vivid an im})ressiou of the elevation and hugeness of
the mountains, as a glance at the craggy walls of that
singular glen I
It must not be inferred that the ruggedness of this
picture was entirely without enlivening features. —
There were flowers of various hues growing luxuri-
antly among the rocks and along the bed of the tor-
rent — the erigeron and blue aster, epilobium, and oth-
ers for which though familiar, I have no name ; and
on a dry knoll, near the snow l)ank, a cluster ol' straw-
berry plants were just struggling into blossom, while
close about us grew a patch of stunted whortleberry
bushes, blue with fruit. The berries, however, were
sour, and had the appearance of being a npecies be-
tween what is called the black whortleberry and the
blue variety.
With a lingering look at the sublime scene, we re-
sumed our scramble downwards, keeping to the rough
bed of the stream, in preference to trusting to the
scraggy shrubs which had penetrated through the })ass,
the tete d arme of the vast forest columns that were
pressing up the steeps from all sides below.
The water plunged and curvetted, and leaped from
rock to rock, and so did we I Here it spread out into
a deep basin, there it rushed forward impetuously, and
MONTREAL RAIL ROAD GUFDE.
107
^vaste
"dure
^yond
after
Irouirh
with one long loap was lost in some dark chasm, send-
ing forth a hollow roar that resembled distant thunder.
Now passing through a narrow passage, it spread fan-
like over a smooth shelf; again it was lost under a
gigantic boulder, to gush up below as if forced out by
some tremendous engine. Many of these bouklers,
hundreds of tons in weight, encumber the ravine ; in
composition they seem entirely diverse from the rock
strata of the locality.
Following the bed of the stream thus down the wild
gorge a mile or so, it brought us suddenly ujion the
borders of a small lake, that lay in the embrace of an
arm of Mt. Washington, as it were in trance, reflecting
on 'Js shining surface the waudering clouds, the frown-
ing cliffs, and the grizzly, moss-bearded spruces that
in close array, leaned out from its shores. This we
named the Hermit Lake.
No bird winged his llight over its glassy waves, no
sound disturbed the repose of its scraggy woods, but
it lay in the lap of the hills, where it had remained
for ages ur visited by any living thing exce])t the sul-
len bear < r prowling wolf, or possibly the fearless mm-
ters of the region — a picture of utter loneliness.
Tlicrc is a lakelet on the elevated plain between
Mounts Franklin and Washington, "a gem in the set-
ting of irranitc," called the "Lake of the Clouds,"
which has won the admiration of tourists, but our
Hermit Lake embosomed in this deep mountain gorge,
glassing the rude clifls and thicket woods around, is
infinitely more lone and enticing.
The entire fall of the stream, from its first appear-
ance near the top of Mount Washington, down to the
Crystal Cascade, is over four thousand feet, or more
f. 1]
Ill
U-,
108
rORTLANP, WHITE MOUNTAINS AND
than three quarters of a mile — the whole distance of
its course about five miles. From the Ileiinit Lake
to the Cascade, a distance of not far from three miles,
its career is through a deep gorge darkened hy precip-
itous ledges and encumbered with vast boulders, shat-
tered stumps, and the chaotic remains of slides from
the steep ridges on either hand, under which and over
which the hurrying waters fret and foam, ])ound and
phmge, in every conceivable form und manner, pro-
ducing many falls tliat will com})are in wildness and
beauty, if not in height, with either the Crystal, or Glen
Ellis Fall. Then there arc sparkling basins deeply
worn in the rock, and level curvatures danmied u]) by
boulders, dead trees ai d gravel, and overshadowed by
the pendant l)ranchcs of the mountain ash, asj)en
poplar and tremulous b'rch, fit for^the gambols of Nai-
ads — exquisitely beautif'il.
In some places the forest trees crowd close to the
rushing water, clinging with their brawny roots to the
bare rocks and dank hollows ; in others they retreat
back over steep escarpments, which produce almost
unceasing twilight in the ravine.
J3TRCH PITCH,
Is the name which has attached to a fall about half
a mile above the Crystal Cascade, where two colossal
dead birches lift their spectre arms from the very
midst of the stream.
The locality is choked with the debris of winter
floods, through which the water foams and frets, and
on which the brilliant tinged summer flowers bloom
as if in irnckery of the desolation around. The name
was suggested by a gentleman who was one of the
MONTREAL RAIL ROAD (UllDE.
109
most active advocates and forwarders of the rail road,
and lust Prc^' lent of the Cor[)oration, who, in com[)a-
ny with the landlord of the Glen House and the wri-
ter of these paf]fes, ascentlcd the stream to this point,
before its further exploration.
Some twenty rods bidow, a columnar fall has exca-
vated a deep cistern, about six feet in diameter, in a
level flat of compact granite, and as nicely as if
wrought by machinery. Out of Ibis the limpid water
pours into a smooth bowl, ten or twelve feet in cir-
cumference, also hollowed in the rock, an excellent
arrangement for a cold bath.
In short the romantic features of the stream are
almost endless ; and they may be reached with hardly
so much fatigue as is experienced in the ascent of Mt.
Washington on foot. But proljably a bridle path will,
in time, be made along the border of the ravine, even
to the top of Mt. Washington, bringing the tourist in
contact with all its romantic r».:.tures.
The Crystal Stream is not the same with the Pea-
body River, as some suppose ; but pours its waters
into the Ellis River, over Glen Ellis Fall, having cros-
sed the rinkham Road in three several divisions,
which are spanned by gridiron bridges. It is, however,
asserted by dwellers among the mountains, that it
formerly ran into the Peabody, and that during the
memorable storm of August, 1826, when the Willey
family were destroyed, the stream excavated a new
channel.
It should be borne in mind that the objects we
have here attempted to describe, are all connected
with ONE of the mountain gorges ; the exploration of
others may reveal many features quite as sublime
and beautiful. 10*
ii"s
m
ild
l",)RTI,AM), WrilTK MOCNTAIN A.Nfi
ill'
Tlie Glen House is in the midst of strerims and
brooks whicli abound with trout, not to mention in
this connection the teeming* I'eabody. Tlie ]'iincipal
one of these is Nineteen Mile Brook, so designated
because the i)oint where it crosses the Pinkhani lioad
about half a mile below the house, is just ninet'jon
miles from the boundary line of Conway. It is a most
romantic stream, working its way through rocky glens
and forests, whose lonely seclusions have never been
explored, excepting by the adventurous hunters —
having its source in the gorge between Ilight and
Carter mountains, some three or foiu* miles up. The
fisher who possesses an ordinary degree of skill can
hardly fail of procuring an abundance of trout in its
dark pools and shady rip|)les in all weathers.
Near the source of this stream, among wooded
steeps and shattered crags, that burst up into the sky
in the wildest forms, is a deep lakelet, whose waters
approach in clearness the atmosphere itself — a perfect
gem of the wilderness. Its Western ]>orders arc over-
shadowed by a ragged precipice from three to four
hundred feet in perpendicular height, crowned with
forests ; and with this for a base line, its shore de-
scribes a semi-circle, and is fringed with a sandy beach
which :s seldom trod except by the wild deer who
come here to drink.
The precipice, on the discharge of a gun, it is said,
gives back a strange echo, at times clear and oft re-
peated, again confused as the uproar on a battle field.
Hunters represent that an enormous slide on the South
East slope of Mount Hight, has filled the ravine
.MONT«I:aL UAll. IlUAl) iJflDE.
Ill
nns and
lit ion in
'incipaj
iunatod
a Koad
iiiet'jon
I most
y i?leus
or been
liters —
i^lit and
[). The
kill can
ut in its
tliroiigli wliicli flows the head waters of the Ellis
River, with sliattered trees, und boulders of liii«j;o di-
mensions ; and is eoutiniially tiiml)lin<i; down masses
of rock, which tearing their way througii all obstruc-
tions, have created a picture of terrible devastation.
The section offers a fmc field for the explorations of
the adventurous tourist.
THE IMP
An object of interest to the curious between the
Alpine and Glen Houses, is a grotesque figure or
sphinx, colossal in its pro})ortions, formed by the crags
of the Imp Mountain. It is seen to the best advan-
tage on the Westerly side of the Peabody River, in
the afternoon ; and in order to get to the point of ob-
servation, the excursionist must cro.js the bridge about
a mile and half below the Glen House, where the old
post road turns off towards Randolph, and proceed
thence a quarter of a mile or so down the left bank
of the river, to the first farm house.
ji .i
i
l\:i
mUTI.AN'l), WIIITI': MOUNTAINS AMt
The iiiiM<j;(r looks uji the Viillcy, as il'oii duty :is a
sentry, but like n siMitry wliu lias bocoinc dozy lliron2;h
lotif? WiitchCiilnoss. Many tliiiik it a tnon^ wonderful
icon tlinn tlio (udohratcd "Old M;ui of ilio Mitini-
tain" at Fraiiconiii. However this inny ho, all mast
concuir that the ride down I'roni the (Jleu Ilonsp, is
one whose pic'tnres([Me Mttraclions will well repay the
time and cost of the exenrsion.
\ .
IIEIGIITS OF THE PRINCIPAL SCMMITS.
The lieii!;hts of the prineipal mountain peaks, as
ascertained by William A. Gocnlwin, Escp, one of the
engineers of the rail road, is —
Washington, 028-^ icet.
Adams, o790 "
Jo f Person r>710 "
Madison 5:JG1 "
The elevntion of the other summits, according to
old measurements, is —
Clay, />Oll feet.
Munroe, 5:M9
Franklin, 1850
rieasant AT 13
Clinton, 4200
Several other peaks attain to an altitude of more
than 3000 feet, among which are Mounts Moriah,
Webster, Crawford, Kiasargc, Higlit and Carter.
To the great body of j)leasurc travelers. Summer is
the season wlien the mountains jiresent their greatest
attractions. Then there arc crowds at the hotels, and
MOMKKAI, UAtl, KOAI) (illDK.
11:5
none luck coiiipimy in their (Wiuirsions to llie viuiuiis
intcrcstini? k»c!ilili<'s. Tlicii iic([ii!iiiit!ui('('s nrc foriiictl
whic'li not iintr('(|U()ntly ri[){'n into tiMnU'rcr tics ; then
the hii^h sun htoks into evciy sechulcd <;lcii and val-
ley, clothes the trees in the j^jossiest «?reeii, and lures
out the cheery wild flowers into every •^reen nook find
forest oixMiing.
And they who seek the hills for their more novel
but transient attractions, will delay their piiurinuit^c
till after the iirst frosts of AtTir.M.v have bei-n abroad,
dispensing regal garnuMits to the vegetable uorld, as
it were i)rei)aratory 10 the advent of the Winter King.
When every precipice is hung with tapestry more
brilliant in its hues than ever emanated from oriental
loom, and the forests arc inlaeed, as it were, with
iridescent decorations, whose splendor and profusion,
art, backed u\) Ijy all the wealth in the world, cannot
approach. Autumn in its Indian sunnner aspect,
when the mountains put oil' their cloud shawls, and
stand up in the violet hued atmospliere in the repose
of conscious power, every ridge and outlmc clearly
defined — Mdien the streams in the deep dells respond
to tlie glances of the sun with a hazy and vmcertain
ghnuner, and the grass in the meadow droops, and
the blue aster in the shadow of the wood vainly
strives to put on its summer smile.
h\ a letter to the ]Joston Transcript, in the fall of
1852, from Rev. T. Starr King, written after a trip
over the Atlantic and St. Lawrence Hail lload, we
find the following passage :
" The only way to appreciate the magnificence of
the Autumnal forest scenery in New England, is to
observe it on the hills. I have never before had a
$ 1 .1
\^ 'I a
m
1m
m
Ill
PORTLAND, WlIITn MOUNTAINS AND
■ill
i
conception of its gorgcousness. The appearance of
tlie mountain sides as we wound l)etwecn tliera and
swept by, was as if some omnipotent magic has been
busy wi1h the landscape. It was hard to assure one-
self that the cars had not been switched ofTinto fairy
land, or that our eyes had not been dyed with the hues
t)f the rain1)ow. No dream could have had more
brilliant or fanlastic drapery.
" Now we would see acres of the most gaudy yel-
low heaped upon a hill side : soon a, robe of scarlet
and yellow wouhl grace the proiiorticns of a stalwart
sentinel of the valleys, here and there a rocky and
naked giant had thrown a brilliant scarf of saflron and
gold around his loins and across his shoulders; and
frequently a more sober mountain with aristocratic
and unimpeachable taste, would stand out, p.rrayed
fro.n chin to feet, in the richest garb of brown, purple,
vermilion, and straw color, tempered by large spots of
heavy and dark evergreen. It did not seem possible
tluit all these square miles (jf gorgeous carpeting and
brilliant upholstery had been the work of one week,
and had all been evoked by the wand of frost, out of
the monotonous green which June had dung over na-
ture. The trees seemed to have bloomed into roses,
or rather to be each a nosegay, done up into proper
shape, and wailing to be i)lucked for the hand of some
Brobdignag l)elle."
But he who wishes to see the mountains in their
most sublime aspects, must traverse their passes in
Winter. Let him, for instance, follow up the Pea-
body in January. Then the sun scarcely rises above
the uplifted horizon of mountain ridges, and the snowy
crowns of Mount Washington and his compeers, in
fi
MOx\TREAL ilAII. ROAD (iUII)K.
ll-'i
uico of
'111 and
i^ been
I'o one-
' faiiy
hues
more
contrast with tlio bleak Ibrosts that cVm^ about their
hips, ghtter with a dazzhng wliiteness that makes the
eye quiver. Or if contemplated in the mooiihgiit,
their dimly defined peaks, against the field of cold
blue that characterizes the sky, seem imbued with
a phosphorescent glow that lights up the sky cavern,
and will make the traveler almost fancy himself in
spectre-land.
Then the mountain torrents pile up sparry palaces
and grottos of crystal, against the precipices, and hang
the impending woods with glittering stalaclites, crea-
ting an array of splendor that might vie with the fa-
bled beauties of fairy land.
Then the voice of the ice ])ouncI river is hushed,
and silence watches over every object, silence and
boding solitude, — save when the fitful wind rushes
out from the top of Mount Washington and shakes
the ])Owdered snow from his hoary locks in blinding
wreaths on the deep sunken passes. J3nt it is time
we were prosecuting our journey round, the moun-
tains.
J'lIE MOUNTAIN CIRCUIT.
The tourist who wishes to obtain a knowledge of
all the most prominent features of the mountains,
should make their circuit, l)y the stage line that mns
daily through the rinkham valley.
This route passes in the vicinity of the Crystal and
Glen Falls, and thence through the town of Jackson
to Bartlett. At the latter })lace it intersects the old
road up the valley of the Saco, leading through the
Notch, passing which it strikes off to the right some
six miles beyond, and makes a detour over Cherry
Mountain, and through Jefferson, Kilkenny and Ran-
dolph, back to the Station House.
i
J 1 '
lU)
roilTLAM), WHITE MOUM'AINS AM)
Leaving the Glen House by this route, you proceed
some half a dozen miles over a rough road, then
strike upon a turnpike, in a more smooth and open
country, whence for miles you have a full view of the
loftiest summits, Mount Washington included, in their
Southern aspects — a view unsurpassed for sublimity
and beauty, and which the eye leaves with regret.
At Jackson village, on the Ellis stream, is a pictur-
esque waterfall some seventy or eighty feet in height,
which, although curbed up to do the labor of a small
mill, claims a full share of attention Eight miles this
side of the Notch, on the banks of the Saco, is the
MOUNT CRAWFORD HOUSE.
This place for many years, and up to the time of his
death, was the residence of "old Abel Crawford" the
pioneer settler of the mountain district, whose vener-
able countenance, and whose fund of anecdotes in
reference to his early life and experience among the
mountains, will be well remembered by all who have
ever tarried with him.
At the back of the house winds tnc Saco, through
a channel which it has worn in the solid granite —
probably the patient work of centuries, and the scene-
ry around possesses many attractions.
The house still retains its original name, but few
traces of the old mansion of the Crawfords can be
discovered in the large, handsome and commodious
hotel into which it has grown l)y successive additions.
Six miles off among the woods and hills, is the se-
cluded lakelet known as Bemis Pond, famed in the
elder Crawford's time for its noble trout, and as it is
not much visited, it is still in high re})ute by those
MONTREAL HAIL ROAD GUIDE.
117
who consider a basket full of fine fish, as sufficient
compensation for the difficulties and fatigtie to be ex-
perienced in reaching it The brooks and streams in
the vicinity, which are much more easi'y accessible,
are also favorite resorts of the trout fisher.
Mount Washington may be ascended from this
point by a road which passes over Mount Crawford,
and overlooks the Saco valley, with its winding river
and mountain barriers. Southward.
Proceeding towards the Notch from the Mount Craw-
ford House, the scenery constantly enchains the at-
tention of the tourist. Mountains of the most rugged
aspect tower away on either hand, whose sides are
broken into crags, and scarified by the tracks of many
an avalanche, or strown with blasted trees which have
been torn up and hurled down the precipices by tem-
pests, while up their steep guHies still press the un-
daunted forests, varying the roughness of the scene
with their luxuriant and lively green, with here and
there some richly tinted maple or birch, that has been
touched by unseasonable frosts, towering in their
midst as if the standard bearers of the gallant array.
Nearer at hand sings the wayward river, amidst its
fringe of trees, or deploys some grain field, weltering
in the mountain wind, whose breath even in the most
serene summer day is never wholly hushed; or the
forests approach the road and inlock their arms so as
to form a green arch above you more elaborate in its
tracery and ornaments than the noblest gothic minstpr
can boast.
Meanwhile, owing to the sinuosities of the road, the
traveler soon becomes surrounded by mountains. Be-
fore him, behin<\ him, on the right and on the left,
11
t
■ '■ .,=■
118
rORTLAND, WHITE MOUNTAINS ANJ(
■i
they tower like immense unscalable ramparts, appar-
ently leavinii' no chance lor egress.
Such is the character oT the scenery until you ar-
rive at the
^VIT.^.KY HOUSK,
Six miles from the Mount Crawiovd House, and
two miles Southerly of the Notch. The scenery here
is unsurpassed in grandeur and beauty; bat there is
a melancholy interest connected with the place cal-
culated to swerve the mind from its natural attrac-
tions. It was here that the AVilley family (from
The Willcy House.
whom the house derives its name) consisting of nine
persons, including two l)oarders, were destroyed by
an avalanche on the night of the 28tli of August, 1826,
during a terrific tempest. Prol)ably feeling the earth
shake beneath them with the concussion of the ele-
ments, [j^robahly, for none of them escajied to tell the
tale;) or it may be, still more alarmed l)y the premon-
MONTREAL RAIL ROAD GUIDE.
119
u ar-
itory trcinbliiiGfs of jho down eavinii- inouiitnin, thoy
forsook llicir house and fled towards a rceoss in the
rocks, which had been fitted nj) as a shelter in case of
any such calamity, l)nt the slidinu' mountain — torrent,
rocks, trees, earth and j^ravel, jji:rindiiii]i: and thunderin<5
in its descent with a eoramotion tiiat made even the
dwellers at tlic distant Crawford farm, trcniMe with
apprehension, swept over and bnried them, while the
lionse from Avliich ihey liad fliMJ, owinti' to the ava-
lanche being divided by a s})nr of tiie bed rock in its
rear, remained nnharmcd ! Seven of the bodies were
subsequently dug out, and buried together down l^y
the river a liltle to the right of the house. A mound
of stones, marks 1hc sj)ot, which yearly increases in
size, it hnviiig become a practice for visitors each
to add a sloue.
That wikl night is still remembered with terror by
those who experienc(Hl its eflects in other parts of the
mountain glens — the fitful moanings of the gale, the
rushing of the great rain through the darkness, the
crash of the thunderbolt, the momentary fall of rocks
loosened from the heights, crushing the mighty pines
and birches in their headlong career down the moun-
tain steeps, and the boom of the flooded torrents and
streams ! The old man Crawford used to relate that
the Saco rose as it were at a bound, to the level of
his house, twenty or thirty feet from its ordinary bed,
and even jlooded his lower floors to the dc})th oi a
foot or more ; but retired almost as suddenly.
Professor Espy, in some of his writing states that
there may be a condition of the atmosphere which
will precipitate the clouds into a dense column of
water instantaneously; and several years after tho
h
I
1
:
|H
' !
H
1 !
;
H I :
H^^ ^ M
i
hI
1
i
^K|
Rl'
^
v:i
ICO
rORTLAND, WIIITK MOUNTAINS AND
catastrophe in question, while on the .spot and wit-
nessing the remains of the shde in the heaps of
stumps, roots and bonklcrs that still obstructed the
channel of the river, he unhesitatingly gave it as his
opinion that something near this sudden condensation
of the clouds, must have taken i)lace and caused it.
The house remained as it was left, for years, a sort
of hos])ice for travelers whose business led them
through that dreary wild in winter, though untenanted
in summer ; l.i.t it has more recently exi)anded into a
large and commodious hotel, which the great increase
of summer travel seemed to require at that j)oint, and
is now kept in a manner that cannot fail of being sat-
isfactory to those who may tarry here to examine the
interesting features of the neighborhood.
The scenery for the remaining two miles to the
Notch is of the same sublime character with that we
have endeavored to describe on the route up from the
Mount Crawford House, the majestic, the wild and
beautiful, varied by new hghts and shades, giving it
the charm of novelty, each successive hour in the day.
THE NOTCH.
Approaching this stupendous rocky gate way, Mt.
Webster lifts its shattered walls on the right, and on
the left soars Mt. Willard, with a deep dark ravine at
its base, far down which the Saco, here a mere rivu-
let, runs its rejoicing course, hidden among the thick
array of pines and spruces. The road is built at the
side of this ravine, and as you pass along you may
catch occasional glimjises through the tree tops below
you, of the water twisting and sparkling among the
rocks and bushes at its bottom.
The whole vast chasm between Mounts Webster
..* J
wit-
|).s of
|il the
IS' his
[ation
M it.
sort
[them
piited
nto a
I'case
, unci
sat-
e the
■ J
11*
■ .'!'
lii>
MONTRHAL KAIL RUAI) (JKIDK.
123
and Willnrd, extcndinj; at least for two miles, is the
wonderful fenturc of the locality, and tiiere arc iew
wonders with which tiie civilized world arc conver-
sant, that will compare with it, but the narrow gate-
way, hewn by the hand of Nature through the solid
rock, some twenty-five feet in width, and twenty in
depth, is usually recognized as the " Notch."
On the left as you go up, about half a mile this side
of the gap or gateway, a beautiful fall comes leaping
and sliding down the rocks and fissures, called the
Silver Cascade. This has been much admired in by
gone times, but contrasted with the Crystal Cascade
and Glen Ellis Fall, it does not a})pear to advantage,
unless just after a shower, when it comes rollicking
down, and scattering its spray to the rocks and shrubs
on either hand, with a coquettish display of its charms,
as if sensible of its increased importance !
Looking up on the other side in the beetling wall of
Mt. Willaid, and near its summit, the mouth of a dark
cavern, called the Devif s Den, catches the eye. Some
years ago a gentleman was lowered by a strong rope,
from the crag above, down to this cavern. There
were bones and skulls about it, as if it had been the
resort of wild animals, — who might have approached
by seams and fissures in the rocks known only to
themselves — but dangling over a gulf a thousar.d
feet in depth, with a prospect of encountering a wild
cat or wolf, if he entered the cavern, was a little too
much for his nerves, and he was glad enough to get a
foot hold on the clifl' again.
Minute descriptions of such romantic localities as
the Notch, generally fail to give any correct idea of
them, and we will only add that the eye wearies in
;l-
'
lu
'
■! I
I ■.! n
,"!i
124
roRTr.ANlJ, WlflTK MOr:.\ TAINS AlVl)
contomplMlinir the varied ohjocts of gi-fiiidcnr find beau-
ty wliicli charnctcrizc (lie soction.
Just l)cyond i\io. Noti'li is the laigo and coinmodious
hoi ^i known as the Cniwford or
Norcii iiousK,
built within two or throe years. It is under llie iiropri-
ctorshi|)of Mr. J. L. Gibb, who won Ji merited popular-
ity us keeiier of the Lafayette House, at the Franconia
Noleh, and now in a more; enlarged sphere, is a deserv-
ed (avorite with travelers.
From this point, looking Northerly, the country js
more level, the mountains retiring on oilhcr hand and
leaving a valley, through which winds the river i\m-
monoosuc. This stream takes its rise in Mt. AVusli-
ington, receiving tributaries from Mts. Munroe, Frank-
lin, Pleasant, Clinton, Willard nnd Tom.
From this house a carriage path has been construc-
ted to the top of Mt. Wiljard, where those who cannot
endure the iatigues of ascending the more eminent
summits, may obtain views of the majesty of the
mountain scenery, which in many lespects equal, and
in some surpass, those from more elevated i)oints.
A good bridle path also departs hence, leading over
Clinton, Pleasant, Franklin and Munroe, to the top of
Mount Washington, diversiiied in its far and immedi-
ate views so OS to give the excursion a never Hugging
interest.
Contimiing on our tour aroiuid the mountains, four
miles further, you come to the location where stood
the Mount Washiugto'i House, which building was
burnt lo the ground in the spring of lb-33. This, on
account of its romantic- attractions, was one of the
i:; I
li
MONTREAL KAIL IIOAI) (JtriPE.
125
"' I'cnn.
hioilions
• projiri.
"'I'lilar-
I'l'iconia
llUlry \^
\nd nu-l
<^-r Am-
AVasIi.
l-'jiiuk-
Jiistnic-
> cannot
'ininont
of tlio
ifvl, and
Its.
ig" over
I top of
imcdi-
aii'frmo-
5, lour
stood
^ was
lis, on
)(■ tlio
earliest fasliifjnablc resorts of the rof^ion, nnd another
hotel will doubtless he put up on the site of the old
one. Here you have a full view of the Westerly de-
clivities of the nu)uutiuns, euibraoin^ all the highest
peaks, whose l)eauty has often ealled forth eneuuiiuuis
in print.
Tlie soft, purple hue, at times tlirowii over their
lone ridges by the summer sunsets, enhances their at-
tractions from tliis ])oint.
The old bridle path hence for ascending* Mount
Washington is carefully constructed, and as the return
route is diflerent from that of the ascent, the whole
tour possesses a never llauging interest.
The Lower Amnionoosuc Falls, distant half a mile
from this place, should not ho passed l)y without the
notice of the excursionist, and the locality of the two
"Upper Falls" of the Ammonoosuc, four miles distant,
and reached hy a romantic bridle path winding ofT
among the hills and vallies, is still more attractive, not
only on account of the peculiar wildness and beauty
of the i)lunging and boiling waters, but for the wide
and deep wells worn by their whirling motion in the
solid rock, similar to those in Albany, and more per-
fect, but not so immense.
A long and narrow heap of earth fifty feet in height,
called the Giant's Grave, near the site of tlie house,
is supposed by some to be the work of people who
lived in that lost age when the mounds and enclosures
of the Great Western valley were reared. Perhaps
they journeyed far from the pleasant clime of the
Ohio, and erected this mound as an altar to the Deities
of the mountains; many of the mounds of the far
West bciuii: known to inclose altars. A cannon dis-
i
il
I 'ij
lt>')
roiiTLAND, wiiiri: mokntains a\i»
n !
I
clmriiod at this point, or the hlnsl oC ii htiulo, will set
the (lisliuil (biTst, c'sc:ir|>iiuMit in iVoiit cchoiu'r and ro-
vcrhcrnting with iui indiisti-y and i-liinu,()r tridy ro-
niarUahU'.
'11 ii: wiii'ii: MorN'i'Aix hoi-st,
Is l)iit, half ii niih- bcvond this loi'idil) , mid ol' course
possesses the same ehai'msoC sctniery. It isaiuodorn
built, neat and commodious eslablishmcut, luid its
landlord, Col. John II. White, is a g'enllemau who ap-
preciates, and attends accordingly to the wants of the
traveler.
It is not our province to decide as to the superiority
of either of these moimtain hotels. Each has its
warm advocates, and it is sunicient in a guidt! hook,
like this, to state '.3 simple fact thattliey are all good.
Brook or motded trout may be caught more; or less
plentiful, in all the mountain rivulets and streams; and
there is no loss to attain this kind of spoit from any
of the houses. Find a brook, a ])ond, or a stream any
where in the region, said a facetious friend, and you
have only to drop a line to the cunning little rogues,
and they will l)e all ready I
THK NOK THKllX SLOPI-IS.
Thus far the tourist has Ik^u brougli' into contact
with the linest and most notetl objects of the moun-
tain scenery on the East, South and West. With the
exception of the view^s from Ilandolidi Hill and Tna-
lin Falls, wc have had little to say in regard to the
Northern slopes, and it is but Justice to slate that the)
possess features of grandeur and beauty, although of
a diflcrent character, 1 t surpassed by any of those
already witnessed.
All
sea
or<
inc
(lis
cu:t
est
MONTlinAI. KAIL KOAI) (.1 IDi:.
\:il
will set
and re-
I'lily re.
iiiudcrn
htiid Its
"I" llic
H'Wority
has its
■ I'Ook,
" good.
or Ji'ss
IS ; and
^'111 any
iim !iny
\\^\ you
rogues,
'onlficl
nioun-
itJKlie
i\ 13 iT-
lo the
t thcj
I'ih of
tiiu.sc
A liiiP t'T singes rims (hiily from (lildi's, round t<i i lie
Alpine or Station llonse, rirriving nt the latter point iu
scnson Cor an early dinner, and to takc^ the noon train
of cnrs so that the traveler, who has tollowed with
nie, leaving (Jibh's, or While's in the morning, if so
dis[t(jsed, may arrive at Portland al I o'eloek, and in
Bjston by P. M., (»(' llie same day, besides l)eing
enabled 1o e(.iin[ilete the circuilof the central and lufli
est summits of the While Mountain group I
From Gibb's down to White's, we have already al-
luded to the scenery; from tin- lathr point the road
passes (or the lirst. two miles* through a primitive for-
est, in whoso deep, shady recesses, the squirr(^l chat-
ters undislurlied, and the cawing of the jay rings wild
and wide. Presently yon lind yourself ascending, by
easy gradations, the sloj)es of Cherry Mountnin, over
which you pass, and crossinu" Israel's River, come upon
the more o])en country of the iownshi[) of Jefferson.
You arc still among the hills, but the road is excel-
lent, and patches of wheat, rye, barley and oats, are
spread over the undulations, while the broomy pasture
lands higher up, allbrd sustenance to numerous sheep
and cattle, and here nnd there on some green flat, or
under some sheltering knoll, you discover a snug farm
house, with its hay stack nea: by, or its spacious barn
wide open, as if in expectation of the incoming har-
vest — scenes pleasantly varying from the untamed
luxuriance and stern aspects of the mountains, with
which yon have been of late conversant.
Meanwhile you agnin come in view of the mon-
arch of the mountain region lifting his hoary forehead
into communion with the clouds, or throwing back the
glances of the morning sun — with his lofty sup])ort-
«(:
Ifii
m
'ill,
128
ro III LAND, WHITE MOUNTAINS AND
1 k
Uh
1,!^ 'M
ill
ft .
J' r
U .-
m
W)
ers crowding near, and the iinfaihomed ravines that
drop awny in darkness and shadow I'roni their craggy
ridges ; and distance gives them that appearance of
cahii dignity, which seems to lie the attribute of exal-
tation and power, no less among mountains, than men I
For seven or eight miles while ])assing through Jef-
ferson, Kilkenny and Randol])h, you thus retain some
of tlie principal peaks in sight, and only lose them
on approaching tlie Alpine House.
FRANCONIA.
If the tourist before completing the circuit we have
just traced out, wishes to visit Franconia Notch, he
may do so by taking the stage at White's, the distance
bomg about twenty miles.
The Old Man of the Mountains, a gigantic pro-
file of the human face cut by the hand of Nature on
a tall cliir far up a wooded hill, is one of the most
remarkable objects of this section. The " Old Man's
Lake," a small clear sheet of water, which flows under
the mountain ridge, might appropriately be called the
Old Man's Mirror.
The Basin, another object of attraction to the curi-
ous at this point, is a deep excavation in the bed rock
of the Pemigewasset Stream, some twenty-five feet
in diameter, and thirty feet in depth from the original
surface of the rock, and contains some fifteen feet of
water. The stream still rushes through it, continuing
the slow process of enlargement.
Echo Lake, is a small but deep sheet of water, a short
distance from the Lafayette House, surrounded by
cliffs and mountains. A gun discharged from the sur-
face of this lake creates reverberations alrao t deafen-
MONTREAL RAIL ROAD GUIDE.
129
nos that
r craggy
(I'i^nce of
of exal-
[an men I
(ugh Jef.
lin some
Me them
we have
otch, he
distance
intic pro-
latiire on
me most
Id Man's
ws under
ailed the
the curi-
bcd rock
fiv^e feet
original
n feet of
ntinuing
r, a short
aded by
the sur-
deafen-
ing — seeming more hke the opening roar of a park
of artillery on a battle field than mere echoes. The
writer of these pages, so far as he is aware, was the
first to discover this remarkable phenomenon. Pass-
ing through this Notch some eighteen years ago, just
as the then landlord and his newly married wife were
taking possession, he sauntered down to the lake.
An old skiff lay upon the shore, and a loaded gun
stood against a neighboring tree, where the landlord
who had been watching for wild ducks, had left it.
Wishing to get a view of the hills from the midst of
the lake, and at the same time thinking possibly to
get a shot at the host's expected game, he took the
gun on board and shoved out into the midst of the
water, and on discharging it, the echoing crash was
such, that for a moment, he really thought the con-
cussion, slight as it was, had shaken down some of the
chlTs of the mountain which towers near I
The Flume is a deep narrow chasm dividing an
immense bluff, some two hundred feet long, and
seventy feet high, through which a branch of the
Pemigewasset comes rushing down. At the upper
end a large granite boulder, probably fallen from
above, has got firmly wedged in, some tweve feet
above the water I
The Pool, a small, deep pond almost entirely wall-
ed in by rocky cliffs, and Ferrin's Pond, secluded
among the trees, are also attractive objects of the
vicinage ; and the section further abounds in scenery
of a character calculated to gratify the taste of the
lover of nature.
The Franconia Notch, as the pass is called, is
formed by Mounts Lafayette and Jackson — the for-
12
'i
III I
130
PORTLAND, WHITE MOUNTAINS AND
m 1
mer rising to the heigh of 5700 feet above the level
of the sea.
Tlie hotels are, the Lafayette House, kept by Mr.
L. "W. Cobleigh, Jr., close under Mount Lafayette,
and the Flume House, six miles further down the
Pemigewasset, under the proprietorship of Mr. R.
Taft, both of which vie with the other hotels of the
mountain region in llieir eflbrts to please the traveling
public.
But we will suppose ourselves once more arrived
at the Alpine House. This spacious hotel from its
excellent accommodations, attracts the pleasantest
class of company, and hence as well as on account of
its central position in the broad, open valley of the
Androscoggin, it is a superior place to settle down,
recruit, and enjoy the mountain air.
Among the many other conveniences which the
proprietors of the house have bestowed ujion it with
an unsparing hand, is the establishment here of a
Telegraphic Station, communicating with all the
principal cities and towns of the States and Canada,
and thus enabling the tourist, w^hile enjoying the di-
vertisements of the mountains, to inform himself, at
any moment, of the condition of ailairs at home.
This is certainly a most important desideratum to
those who have left relatives or friends in ill health
behind, or whose business calls require llieir personal
supervision.
Ere resuming our seat in the rail car, it Avould be
well to state to tlie excursionist, that if, having " done
up'" the objects and points of attraction which we
'
MONTREAL HAIL ROAD GUIDE.
131
[he level
by Mr.
t%ette,
|own the
Mr. R.
Is of the
traveling
•■ arrived
from its
asantest
^coiint of
y of the
le clown,
"hich the
•n it with
icrc of a
h all the
Canada,
g the di-
raself, at
it home,
•atum to
11 liealth
personal
i^onld bo
g " done
hich we
have heretofore pointed out in this section, he wisiies
for farther appropriation of his time, he will find a
drive by the high road to Shelburne, six miles down
the river, a delightful jaunt, passing as it does, through
some of the most picturesque scenery of the match-
less Androscoggin valley, and revealing many views
which cannot be seen from the cars.
An excursion across the river to the top of Moinit
Hayes, will also repay him richly, as the views thence
in a Northerly and Easterly direction arc only e(pial-
led by those from Mount Moriah. In their season,
the ridges of this mountain arc literally blue with the
quantity of whortleberries which grow upon them,
tmd persons from all parts of the surrounding country,
at such times, resort here to gather them.
But to return to the route to Montreal : —
Leaving the Station House, the road crosses Moose
River, about a mile above, and soon after commences
the long grade overcoming the summit between the
Androscoggin and Connecticut Rivers. In the region
of Berlin Falls, the river descends 230 feet, in a dis-
tance of two miles. To overcome this summit by an
easy gradient of fifty feet to the mile, required en-
gineering skill of no ordinary character; this was
accomplished by starting the embankment in the plain
below the falls, and swinging from the rugged side of
the mountain which the Androscoggin here severs, so
as to distribute the rise over a space of four and a
half miles.
At this point the Androscoggin River could be ea-
sily turned into the Connecticut, the Upper Ammo-
'1
1
]r
I
.. i. 1
1 .'■
132
PORTLAND, WHITE MOUNTAINS AND
nonsuck, an important tributary of that river, taking
its rise within a short distance of the Androscoffo-in
and descending thence over 190 feet into the Con-
necticut valley at Northumberland.
liERLIN FALT^S VII.I.AGF^,
Westerly of the Mountains 6 miles, from I'oitJnnd 07 miles, from Montreul 196
miles,
Is a station of considerable importance, on account
of its business in the lumber line.
The scenery again relapses into the rude and prim-
itive, the country being bnt sparsely peopled. Tlic
road soon skirts Dead Ptiver Pond, and thence strik-
ing the valley of the Upper Ammonoosnc, ibllows it
down, (freqnently crossing that eratic stream,) to the
Connecticnt meeting the next station,
MILAN,
Westerly of the Whito Mountains 13 miles, from Portland 104 miles, from
Montreal 188 mi'ns.
The locality here is unimportant, but is destined,
one would suppose, to become populous. The whole
number of inhabitants, according to the last census of
the township, was but 493.
In coming down from the Station House 'r this
point, the traveler may get several tine views of Mt.
Washington et cet, but henceforward he loses siglit
of the White Mountains, if we mistake not, alto-
gather. At this station the cars stop to wood and wa-
ter. In order to have the water placed at a sufiicicnt
elevation, the stream has been dammed, and a mill-
race constructed which carries pumps by which the
water is forced up into a large cistern, whose base is
on a level with the locomotive tenders. The machine-
takiiio-
f-'oggin,
Con-
})nm-
-I lie
MONTREAL RAIL ROAD OiriDE.
133
ry is covered by a wooden building, in which a fire is
kept in winter to prevent the water freezing. Tliis
excellent p -rangcment was planned by Mr. S. T. Cor-
ser, Superintendent of the American portion of the
road.
Still traversing a rough country, and winding fre-
quently to the right and left, to avoid the hills, the
cars next haul up at
WEST MILAN,
North 'R'ost of the Mountains 18 miles, from Portland 109 miles, from Mon-
treal 183 miles.
Tlierc is nothing to attract the special attention of
the traveler here, so we will rattle on to
STARK,
West of the Mountains 24 miles, from Portland 115 miles, from Montreal 177
miles.
A mile or so beyond this point, you pass under a
tremendous circular precipice, called the Devil's Slide,
whose perpendicular walls, shattered and wracked
apparently with some mighty convulsion, rise to the
height of five or six hundred feet.
The Indians, as is well known, in their mythology,
peopled all these mountain regions with invisible
spirits, who controlled the winds and storms, and in
their quarrels hurled the gleaming thunder bolts at
each other, the effects of which were seen in the splin-
tered trees and shivered rocks ; and they have a tradi-
tion that in a remote age, a huge mountain barred the
valley where now the rail road passes, and that on a
time when the heavens were convulsed, the earth
reeling, and the atmosphere blazing with the terrible
warfare of these invisible powers, one half of the
mountain sunk down, into the bowels of the earth,
12*
tin
;!
t
i
j
J?
[I'
h
i
t>-
134
POIITT.AND. WllJTF, MOUNTAINS AXD
til
(I(
111
leavinj^
shattered as they have remained to the present day.
Hence the name which they now bear.
Just beyond this locahty you open on a fine view
off to the right, of those rcinarkal)lc twin mountains,
called the Stra{ford Peaks — generally considered to
be the most symmetrical elevations of the whole moun-
tain region. Standing aloof from the dark mountain
ridges which swing away Northerly, their white cones
clearly defined in almost all weathers, the tourist can-
not mistake them, from whatever point viewed ; and
none can behold them but to admire.
Having these " nursing mothers of the clouds" al-
most constantly in view for six miles, you next find
yourself at
NORTUMBKRT.AND,
North West of tho AVhite Mountains 31 niiles, from Portland 122 miles, from
Montreal 170 miles.
This is an old town, its settlement having been
commenced as early as 1762.
From the rail road station, the excursionist sees, to
the Westward, the steeps of the Land Pilot moun-
tain, burdened with forest, and the loftier and more
rugged ridge of Cape Horn, to the right ; while to the
Northward, are the Stratford Peaks. He will how-
ever, discover in this untamed scenery, but slight in-
dications of the agricultural thrift and productive-
ness which characterize the town.
The principal settlemeuo is at the fnlls on the Con-
necticut, about three miles below, called Northumber-
land Bridge, the pretty village of Guildhall, being
opposite on the Vermont shore,
Six miles further down the Connect iciit is th(; town
|i'C' and
It (lay.
view
[iitains,
|cred to
moun-
ninlfiiu
cones
[st can-
tl; and
\.l
I
MA
i
< > i
H-^^
■ m
ai
\t'i
MONTREAI, RAIL ROAD GITIDE,
137
of Lancaster, the most populous and thriving place in
Coos County. Here there are many wellbui't stores
and dwelling houses; and several kinds of manufac-
tures are carried on ([uite extensively, through aid of
the water power furnished by Israel's river, which
here joins the Connecticut. This river, has its source
in a pond under Mount Adams. It takes its name
from a noted hunter named Israel, a veritable Leather
Stockhiiis, who for many years pursued the game that
harbored up and down its forest darkened shore , and
whose exploits are still the theme of many a winter
evening's story among the dwellers of the rcr^icn.
The mountains in the region of Northund>erland
and Guildha^'., retire from tlie Connecticut, irregularly,
a mile or more, leaving to the river a rich alluvial val-
ley, along which are many excellent farms, and a ride
down the New Hampshire side, to Lancaster, return-
ing on the Vermont side, or vice versa, reveals a vari-
ety of river and rural scenery, which will delight the
excursionist of refined taste.
The view of the Stratford Peaks, given by our
artist in the foregoing page, was taken from the Guild-
hall side of the river, but as to the mountains them-
selves, gives a truthful conception of them, from
whatever point viewed.
It would be well worth the delay occasioned there-
by, to ascend these peaks, as they command views of
great extent and beauty.
Maidstone Lake, some six miles from Northumber-
land, is often resorted to by sportsmen for the spendid
lunge which are taken in its waters, and deserves,
equal favoritism for its attractive scenery.
But to return to the Rail road. Pursuing the course
%
i
:!:
138
PORTLAND, WIIlTIi MOUNTAINS AND
11
J
\
1
1
'
Ife
1-
upwards, the route soou strikes the banks of tlie Con-
necticut, upon a pleasant intervale, which gives its
name to the next Station,
STUATFOIIT) irOI.T.OW,
West of the White; Mountains ao iiiilefi, from rortluiid 127 milcn, from Mon-
treal 105 miles.
This is a mere hmdini^ phice for the passeni^ers and
freight of the fanning region which surrounds it.
There is a considerable village off to the right, pos-
sessing, however, no particular attractions to the
tourist ; so contenting ourselves with a view of the
beautiful scenery of the locality — clifls, slopes, fields,
forests and groves, with mountains trooping around
the outer edge of the circle, and the winding river
doubling each object in its glassy depths, we will con-
tinue on.
Still following up the Eastern bank of the Connec-
ticut River, with the townships of Maidstone and
Brunswick on the Vermont side, and here and there
opening on a jileasantly located farm house, with
orchard and mowing or grain fields spreading out over
the valley, or up the slojies, we arrive at
"TORTH STRATFOnO,
North Westerly of the White Mountains 4.3 miles, trom Portland i;J4 miles,
from Jlontreal 158 miles.
Here is a small village, which has received a rpiick-
cning impulse in its business by the rail road ; and
there are some excellent farms along the banks of the
river in the neighborhood
A line of stages runs through this place to Cole-
brook, distnnt about twelve miles, from which point
conveyance may be had to that wonderful mountain-
pass known as the Dixville Notch, some ten miles
beyond.
Con-
'v'cs its
PI'S and
lids it.
j)OS-
to the
of tlic
iolds,
arouiul
MOXTllKAl- JtAII, JtOAr) (I (IKE.
I.JO
This is nn immonsc chasm, dissevering liie iiiomitiiiu
rnn,ii;e down to its loiindiition, whose |)reci))itons ridijos
rival in wikhicss and siibliniily tiic White Mountiiiu
Notch.
^w^*^.jm^^jwi^
Dixvillo Notch.
The serrated clifls of mica slate on cither hant{
shoot into the blue empyrean in clean and sharply de-
fined pinnacles ami lances, to the height of seven or
eight hundred feet, reminding one of the turrets and
minarets of Saracenic palaces. Here and there, along
its walls, on some knotty sj)nr, or in some deep fissure,
cluster a few spruces and wiiitc birches, forlorn 'io[)es
of vegetation, as it were, struggling against the sliding
avalanche and almost invulnerable sterility; and the
bottom of the dcfdc is encumbered with shattered
rocks and the debris from the bristling crags above.
The locality is indeed a second Ai'abia Petrea, where
solitude has an abiding place. A never ceasing gale
howls its mournful anthems among its sharp ledges,
.11
*
I v. h I
no
IMiltTI.AM), WiriTi: iMOi;.\TAl\H AND
w
^
I
juid tortureil IViimtains wiiuliiif; llirough sccriit glcn^s,
send out a gurgle that seems ominous of evil. Other
sound there is none, unh'ss it ho the baric of tin oc-
casional wolf, or the shout of the wayfarer, to whom
the echo of his own voice in such a solitude is com-
panionable.
The region is a favorite resort of the hunter, and
our CO mpauion and guide, while passing uj) the Notch,
pointed out a crag near what is called the Central
Pinnacle, from whicdi a deer, hotly pursued, lcaj)ed
down, a distance of five hundred feet, and was dash-
ed to pieces.
A passalde road winds through Ihc Notch, and con-
tinues on some twenty miles through primitive scenery
of the most romantic character, to the Umbagog lakes,
but to sec the Notch in all its wildness and sublimity,
it should be ap})roached from the Southern side.
Returning to North Stratford, tlie rail road crosses
to the Vermont side of the Connecticut river, by a
substantial bridge thirty feet in lieight, and three hun-
dred and twenty in length; thence pursuing a West-
erly course it soon strikes the valley of the Nulhegan,
which it follows u}), occasionally crossing the river till
within about a mile of Island Pond.
The Nulhegan region is little else than a vast forest
of pine, hemlock and cedar, intermingled with birch,
maple, and other deciduous trees. Sweeping up moun-
tain sides, spreading out over swamps, crowding to
the banks of the rushing river and its tributaries, and
investing the lonely lakelets and jionds with its shad-
owy array, it everywhere presents the same aspect ;
and to those who never before looked upon a primitive
wilderness, offers a welcome contrast to the rural
scenery just left behind.
MONTltUAL RAIL UOAI) lilMUi;.
II
•glens,
Other
:in oc-
whom
IS coru-
Thcso woodod roj^ions arc slill the hiimits of the
moose aiul the red ilrei', and thoiij^h the shriek of the
locomotive whistle inny drive them from the immedi-
ate vicinity of the rail road, the dark salens and thickets
to which they have resorted so long, will not soon he
forsaken by them.
To the left of the Niilhcgan valley as yon proceed
UJ1, lofty, forest-clad hills wave along in regnlar snc-
ccssion, bcuiing away Sontherly as you ai)proach Is-
land Pond, so as partly to encircle that beautiful sheet
of water, and throw their evening shadows over its
surface.
Just this side of Island Pond, is reached by easy
grades the grand summit of the Green Mountain Ridge
the continuation of the great Alleghany chain, which
divides the waters of the St. Lawrence basin from
those llowing into the Atlantic ocean.
It is a most remarkable depression through which
the whole line of the Railroad is laid, its extreme sum-
mit being only 117G feet above tide water; and look-
ing back it strikes the mind of the inteUigent traveler
with astonishment to find, that in threading the mazes
of this, the most mountainous and intricate route from
the Atlantic coast to the St. Lawrence basin East of
the Hudson, he can cross the dividing ridge with a
less elevation than by any other route. North or South,
but such is the fact; and tlie thoughtful mind can
scarcely avoid the impression that the Great First
Cause of all things, shattered down the jnccipiccs,
moulded the deep glens and vallies, auv". set the toil-
ing streams at work to rear embankments with the
ultimate purpose of the erection, through this other-
wise impassible region, of a great highway of NationsI
13
U:>
rORTLANO, WHITE MOUNTAINS AND
I*
^1
Just half way heUveen Portland and Montreal, a
slight gravelly ridge, not appreciahlc to every eye, is
the point which the engineer's level has demonstrated
to he the dividing summit of the great waters. Spec-
tacle Pond — so called from its supposed conformation
to a pair of spectacles — on the one side, finds an out-
let for its waters through the river Clyde, the Magog
Lake and St. Francis Kiver, into the St. Lawrence ;
on the other, the Nulhcgan stream journeys on to the
Connecticut, which in turn pays tribute to the Atlantic
ocean.
The short portage between the pond and the boat-
able waters of the Nulhegan, pointed out this as the
route of the Indians in their annual pilgrimage be-
tween the great river and the sea, from time imme-
morial. Marks of the Indian encampments and of
their trails through the woods still remain ; and a point
which makes out into the pond, now called the Old
Man's Nose, bears evidence of its use as the seat of
their council fues. The rounded point, clear of under-
brush, and smooth as a shaven lawn, is overshadowed
by a growth of ancient pines, forming a complete
shelter from the sun, while on cither side and in front,
the sheltered waters of this miniature lake are the
picture of calmness and re])ose.
This spot is now as well fitted for a large pic nic
party, or lor a camp meeting, as if the ground had
been prepared and the trees planted a century ago.
Bidding adieu to this pretty gem of the wilderness,
the n,ncicnt forest still bears you company for half a
mile or so, when you strike upon a singular embank-
ment, which, although the work of Nature, appears
as though thrown up on purpose for the accommoda-
MONTREAL RAIL ROAD GUIDE.
11:]
itreal, a
( eye, is
i^trated
Spec-
imiation
an out-
Magog
wrence ;
n to the
Atlantic
lie boat-
is as the
lage be-
e imme-
and of
-I a point
the Old
B seat of
f under-
ladowed
omplete
ni front,
arc the
pic nic
ind had
ago.
lerness,
r half a
tnlmnk-
ippears
iimoda-
tion of the rails, and you soon haul up at the termina-
tion of the Atlantic and St. Lawrence Railroad, on the
Northerly border of
IST.AXD POXD,
From rortland 1-19 mile?, Westerly of the White Mountains 53 miles, from
Montreal 143 miles.
The first object that strikes the eye on reaching this
spot, is the beautiful island in the midst of the lake,
whicli gives the name to this locality.
The Pond is about two miles long by half a mile
average width, and lies partly in the township of
Brighton and [)artly in Wcnlock. Its shores generally
present a white beach of disintegrated quartz sand,
hard and smooth, capable of furnishing an unbroken
drive of over five miles in extent.
Many of the views in the vicinity are highly pic-
turesque; and from the summit of " Bonnybeag," on
the Sonth shore of the lake, overlooking the valley to
the South, the eye takes in one of the finest landscapes
that can be found among the wilds of New England.
These attractions have already excited the skill of the
painter, and several beautifid views of the local scen-
ery have been taken, among which one by our artist,
from whicli the following engraving was copied, gives
a very accurate conception of the Pond, the Island,
and adjace.it shores and mountains.
The i);i[)ortancc of the locality, in a business point
of view, has recently been immeasurably eiilianced
by the amalgamation of all the great Canadian Rail-
way eiiter})rises into one " Grand Trunk line," which
trunk here connects with the Portland Road, and thus
finds a channel to the Atlantic Ocean shorter than
could possibly be obtained by any other route. This
1
I
Ui
144
PORTLAND, WHITE MOUNTAINS AND
Ci!
m '
magnificent consummation, it may here be well lo
state, will secure an unbroken line of Railroad on the
broad gauge, from Halifax, through New Brunsvvick
and Maine, to Montreal, Toronto and Detroit, a dis-
tance of 13-30 miles!
It is in contemplation to extend the Passumpsic Rail
Road to this point, and this road being on the narrow
guage will here require the transhipment of goods. —
The Missisquoi Railroad to extend from Rouse's Point
to Island Pond, and here connect with the Portland
Road, will save at least eighty miles in distance from
Ogdensburg to an Atlantic port, over either of the
Boston routes. The length of this latter road will be
but sixty miles, and such ste})s have already been tak-
en, as makes its completion very probable. Thus will
Island Pond become the great inland centre of a most
magnificent net work of Railroads, and in time will
probably be the principal port of entry on the Cana-
dian frontier.
The depot grounds of the two companies, in view
of this state of things, are laid out on the most exten-
sive scale, comprising an area of twenty' acres, and a
spacious station house, two large engine houses, repair
shops, Sec, are building, while private enterprise has
laid out the adjoining section with broad streets and
avenues, which are to be graded as fast as the require-
ments of the place demand.
A spacious hotel in progress of construction, will be
opened during the summer to accommodate travelers,
as the through trains will here stop for dinner, and way
trains for the night.
The locality must become a favorite resort for sports-
men. The pond abounds with lunge and other fine
ivell Lo
on the
a dis-
ll I
i
1" :
l3
13*
fish,
and
witl
tini
cat(
I
dis
hill
lire
poi
r
gio
for
Se
ani
na
br(
te(
eq
of
El
m
L
b(
S(
ri
tl
tr
k
1]
I
AIONTREAL IJA[L llOAl) GUIDE.
117
fish, and as it is connected with Memphremagog Lake,
and thence by a series of hikes and streams even
with the St. Lawrence itself, it will probably long con-
tinue to afford ample amusement to the lovers of pis-
catorial sports.
Lake Willoughby in Westmore, some twelve miles
distant, a perfect Como in its woods, cliffs, slopes and
hills, has a good hotel for the accommodation of pleas-
ure and fishing parties, and the drive between the two
points is characterized by the finest scenery.
There are several other lakes and ponds in the re-
gion, deserving the especial attention of the tourist,
for their fine fishing and scenery, among which are
Seymour Lake in Morgan, Echo Lake in Charleston,
and the chain of lakes and ponds in Averill and Ca-
naan. All these lakes abound in fine fish, and the
brooks and streams in the neighborhood everywhere
teem with trout. As to hunting, the facilities are
equally promising, the woods affording all the varieties
of game common to the unsettled districts of New
England of similar latitude.
The undulating country Northward of Islai'd Pond,
more especially between Coaticookc River and Magog
Lake, and extending into Canada to the great forest
beyond Richmond, a distance of between sixty and
seventy miles, abounds with all the concomitants of a
rich and populous rural district — busy market towns,
thrifty hamlets, excellent farms, good stage roads
traversing every section, and the best of horses, neat
kine and other stock. And with their thrift, the in-
habitants seem to have acquired a taste for the appro-
priate and picturesque, seen in the location and con-
struction of their dwellings, in the disposition of their
■ 1 M
k I
fii
Ti
H8
I'OKTLAM), WHITE MOUNTAINS AXlJ
iHi]
m
¥
li'
1 1
oiitbuiklings, and in their shade trees, gardens and
I'ences, too often wanting in agricultural regions far
inland. This feature can but he noticeable to all who
travel through Stanstead, Hatlcy, Compton, Ascot, and
other of the somewhat famous Eastern Townships,
not leaving out Derby, and some adjoining towns on
this side of the line ; and it often comes in as a fill
lip or finish to pictures of rural beauty, such as must
enrapture the fancy of the painter.
The scenery, indvOed, of the whole region is pecu-
liarly attractive. Its surface is broken up into rolling
hills, and the farms arc generally under a superior
state of cultivation. Each has its maple grove, (high-
ly prized for the production of sugar) its W(.v d lot of
beech, birch, elm and other hard woods, and often its
growth of evergreen timber, stretching up the hill
sides, along the vallics and bordering the rich alluvial
bottom lands, giving the charm of diversity, while the
lakes and rivers with which the country al)o\mds add
the feature of water prospect, without which no land-
scape, however attractive in its details, is coniiilete.
Of the lakes the most extensive and beautiful are
Memphemagog, (oftener called Magog) Massawippi,
and Seaswanincpcs. The first mentioned, extending
in a direction nearly North and South from Coventry
in Vermont, to Waterville, Canada, a distance of thirty
miles, with an average width of about two miles, has
few equals in regard to beauty and variety of scenery
in America. The Green Mountains, which traverse
the whole length of Vermont, advance their outposts
to its very shores, while on the ojiposite side
" Mountains that like giants stan<1,
To sentinel enchanted hvnd,"
I
arc
lis and
3ns far
11 wlio
Ot,flllcI
SHIPS,
iVlLS on
a fill
must
pecii-
roUing
MO.VTRKAL RAIL ROAD GUIDE.
Ill)
arc arrayed, as it were, a corps of observation, watcli-
inf;; their stern opponents of the hitlier shore.
Owl's Head, one of the princi[)al summits on the
Western border of the lake, rises to the altitude of
2500 feet, and its top commands views of mountains,
vallies, plains and waters, marshalled afar in the dim
day, which will richly repay for the fatigue of the as-
cent. One of the views thence, that to the jVorth
Eastward, takes in the Megantic Mountains, on the
borders of the State of Maine, probably sixty miles
distant.
There is a hotel at the base of the mountain, where
strangers can be comfortably accommodated, and where
if deemed neces.-ary, guides can be procured.
This lake is getting to ])e much frequented in sum-
mer ; and to acconmiodatc the pleasure and sporting
travel, a small steaml)oat called the Mountain Maid,
has been ])laced upon it, v/hich runs up and down the
Lake, daily. GeorgeviUe, a pretty village, in the
township of Stansteau, on the Eastern shore of the
lake, is the fashionable summer resort. From this
place a steam ferry communicates with Bolton, on the
opposite shore, whence a line of stages crosses the
country to St. John, at the foot of Lake Cliamplain,
distant about sixty miles, thus enabling the tourist if
he chooses, to avail himself of the various facilities
of travel, North or South, at that point.
Lake Massawippi, lies to the Eastward of Mem-
phremagog, and finds an outlet for its waters, through
the Avindings of the Massawippi stream into the St.
Francis River, at Lemioxville, in Ascot township. It
is nearly ten miles in length by a mile in width, and
in some places its waters are said to be almost im-
i<:
I
' ^
'I ;
i ^
i i I k
fh
)' :
Mil
160
PORTLAM), WIIITK Mor\TAl.\'S AND
if rj
5
Ifi I
fathomable. Winding among romantic higblnnds and
wavy slopes, from which o])cn out green and liixu-
rient valleys, it possesses a great variety of charniino-
scenery.
Some of the more intelligent of the Canadians,
especially those of English and Scotch origin, justly
take ])ride in the beanty of these lakes, and often
compare them with Windermere, Dcrwentwater.
Locks Lomond and Katrin, and other sheets of water,
which the genius of poetry and painting has -ade
famous, in the mater land.
It is hardly necessary to add that these waters, con-
nected as most of them are with the distant St. Law-
rei) 30, abound with a variety of delicious lish, bass,
black and mottled trout, maskanonge and })ickerel, et
cet ; but as each species of these fish has his favorite
haunts, it would ])c well for the sportsman to o1)tain
the company of some amateur Isaak Walton, (and he
will find no difficulty in so doing, at Sherbrook, Stan-
stead, or any of the towns or villages of the region)
to accompany him in his excursions.
To reach Memjihremagog, the tourist can leave the
cars at Island Pond, from which it is distant 22 miles,
or from Norton Pond, Coaticooke, Compton, Lennox-
villc or Sherbrookc, from either of which })laccs he
will readily obtain conveyance by stage, or private
carriage. Or, leaving Island Pond, he can j)roceed to
Sherbrookc, taking them all in his route, and there
again take the cars, having traveled by stage some
sixty miles.
But our purpose, more particularly, is to follow the
lire of the Rail Pvoad. Resuming our scat therefore
in the cars at Island Pond, we pass up the valley of
MoNTiii: Ai- iiAii, uoAK (;rii)f;.
lol
a small but pictiircsqiio stream, wliicli has been dig-
nified with the name of Pherino- Pviv^cr, to Norton
Pond, ten miles, and circling the Eastern shore of
that wood embosomed lakelet, i)roceed on through the
heart of Norton township, and strike at the South
West corner of Barford in Canada,
THE PROVINCE EINE,
From the AVhitc Mountains 74 miles, from Portland 165 miles, from Montreal
127 miles.
Tiie original forest still holds possession of a large
portion of the region through which we have just
passed ; although off to the Westward, in Charleston,
Morgan and Holland townslu})s, are many good farms,
and settlement is steadily progressing.
Still continuing down the valley of the Coaticooke
River, through a pleasing alternation of farming, forest
and river scenery, we next arrive at
COATICOOKE,
From the White Mountains 83 miles, from Portland 1 74 miles, from Montreal
118 miles.
This village is in the North Easterly section of the
townshi}) of Bnrnston. It is a center of some im-
portance, havmg superior mill privileges, which are
im})roved fw sawing lumber, &c., and the impulse
given to it by the rail road, is likely to increase it con-
siderably.
Barnston (in which this village lies) is looked upon
as one of the most important of the Eastern Town-
ships. Its soil is of fair quality, in many places ex-
cellent, it is watered by several small streams, in
addition to the Coaticooke River, and its farmers
are generally in easy, independent circumstances.
The township of Barford, which adjoins it on the
'1 '
i
';
1
ii; r
\
u
1
.■•*.-jili»L.«:.;, Lfwti*,/.-
152
Hi !.
it
i
!■
!t
m
m 1 M
4!^ I
'
1:18 3
roUTLAND, WiilTl:; MOUNTAINS AND
East, hns nlso many good farms, although they are
generally away from the rail road. Still there are
some fair farms along the valley of the Coaticooke,
and in passing tlirongh it, scenes of rustic beauty and
thrift often meet the view.
The Coaticooke, increased in volume by several
tributaries, ilows on through the central portion of the
township of Com])ton, having a .valley irregular in
width, of fertile alluvium, a large portion of which is
used for the cultivation of hay, producing heavy crops ;
and the broad, lone mowing fields, waving and chang-
ing in the summer wind, the blue winding river, with
its stragghng groves and detached trees, and neat
farm houses on the s]o})es, often cml)owered in shrub-
bery, are well calculated to produce that impression
of serene contentment and happiness, with which,
perhaps not altogether without reason, we are prone
to invest the life of the agriculturalist.
The township of Compton is also watered by the
Salmon River, which runs a course nearly paralled
with the Coaticooke, some three miles to the North
Eastward. The country between the two rivers is
generally under an excellent state of cultivation, and
indeed the larger part of the entire township has been
parcelled off into farms, which handsomely recom-
pense their proprietors for the labor and expense of
cultivation.
From these remarks may be inferred the fact that
the region is well settled ; and we have only to add
that its numerous fine drives dcvelope a variety of
delightful scenery.
Through the midst of this important township,
sweeps the Railroad, still clinging to the Coaticooke
MONTUEAL llAII- HOAD GUIDE.
.'53
Valley, and we next find oiirself approaching its most
important village,
COMPTON CKNTER,
From the Wiite Mountains 90 mile?, from Portland 181 miles, from Montreal
111 miles.
The settlement which lies off to the right of the
rail track, dates its commencement many years back.
It covers quite a large extent of ground, has several
good shops and stores, not a few prettily constructed
houses, and withal a coihfortable hotel.
WATERVIT.I.K,
From the White Mountains 94 miles, from Portland 185 miles, from Montreal
107 miles,
Near which the rail road passes, not far this side of
the Northerly limit of the township, is a busier place,
though of more recent origin.
One feature which cannot fail of attracting the no-
tice of the tourist through "the townships" is the
clean, thrifty groves (or orchards as they are here call-
ed) of sugar maples, which everywhere meet the
view. It is the aim of every farmer to have one on
his promises ; he considers it fully as much a source of
income and convenience as his apple orchard, and the
whole region is supplied with sugar manufactured
from their sap.
The season of sugar making, which commences
about the middle of March and lasts a month or more,
is generally hailed with joy. In order to obtain the
sap, each tree is bored into with an augur, or tapped
with an axe or chissel, and the saccarine liquid which
trickles slowly out, is caught into troughs or other
vessels, prepared for the purpose. This hquid, which
has rather an insipid taste, is boiled down in spacious
14
151
I'OIITT.AND, WHITE MOUNTAINS AND
iron ketllos; and ninny of the (armors have small,
rustic lookiiii^" l)uihlini2;s on tho f(l<ic of tlioir i^rovcs
for the ])urj>()sc of boiiiiit!;, whit'li bnilclinss in conncc"
tion with the symnictricnl and thrifly lives, a p;roen
slope, and, })er('hance, a L>lance at the shining' surface
of some ncisj^hboriui]? lokelot or stream, and a, hhio
curtain of distant monntnins, often combines to make
gems of picturesque scenery, wliich your true artist
must admire.
Some of the iarmers realize on the average from a
season's boiling two thousand ])()un(ls of sugar or
more. It is valued at from five to seven or eight
cents per pound.
The tourist in these jjarts must also be struck with
the many excellent horses, and the superior neat stock
that almost every where meet his gaze.
Heretofore, horse dealers have driven a good busi-
ness by purchasing here, and selling in the States, but
the farmers finding their stock begin to degenerate
from this cause, have gradually come to set such pri-
ces on their favorite animals, as no longer leaves a
remunerating profit to the drover.
The next station we come to is
LENNOXVIT.T.E,
From the White Mountains 100 uiilos, from Portland 191 miles from Montreal,
101 miles.
Some two or three miles before reaching this vil-
lage, the rail road leaves the valley of the Coaticooke,
which it has traversed for more than thirty miles, and
swings away more Easterly into that of the romantic
Massawippi.
Lennoxville is delightfully situated, at the junction
of the latter stream with the St. Francis river. It is
MO.NTUBAL HAIL llUAl) 0111)13.
155
a thriviii*? iintl liniulsomo town, doriving not a littlo of
its iiujiortiuiro fntiii llic well endowed imd itui)uliir
institution culled r>ishoi>'s College, wliich is lociitcd
within its limits.
From this plnc' !i lino r)f st!i,£j;es nm to ihc settle-
ments in the townships oC E'.iton, Bury jind Lingwick,
to the North Kfistwiird — beyond which is a vast track
of wild(M-ncss conntry extending Eastward across the
lines of Maine, even to Moosehead L;Uve, where the
moose, the caribou aiul bear still inhabit, probably in
greater nundji'rs than in any other region of the North.
From Lennoxville, following (h)wn the St. Francis
river three miles, wo next arrive at
SIIKIlIillOOlvE,
From tlio White Mountains lit,'] miles, from I'urtlaud 194 milen, from Montreal
ftS miles.
This important town, silnatcd at the continence of
the Magog and St. Francis Rivers, is the capital of
the Eastkrn Tow.vsnii's. It contains a po[)nlation
of over .'3000, and in connection with Lennoxville,
(botli pkices being within the limits of the township of
Ascot) is entitled to send a representative to the Pro-
vincial Legislature.
The rapid ]\[agog Pvivcr mns throngh the center of
the town, aiTording a water power of almost nnboiind-
ed capacity.
This is already improved to consideralde extent;
and now that the rail road is opened, will, it is
thought, increase the place into a great and popnlous
business center.
The ]3riti.sh American Land Company have here
their i)rinci})al oliice. They possess nearly six hun-
dred thousand acres of lands scattered through the
Is
,1 ;
I 1
■Ml
I:
153
PORTLAND, WHITE MOUNTAINS AND
\\^l
n
m
Eastern Townships, which is offered for sale on hb-
eral terms to settlers ; and in nearly every township
have agents to give all necessary information relative
to the quality and condition of the lands, water privi-
leges, &c.
The scenery about Sherbrooke is highly interestino-.
The Magog river, now gliding in calmness under
overshadowing rocks and trees, now plunging down
steep declivities, in sheets of crystal, striped with
bands of snow, or elbowed from side to side by ob-
stinate spurs of ledge, till the whole volume is mad-
dened into hcnps of fierce, hissing foam, is especially
worthy the notice of the tourist; then again the broad
St. Francis, flowing on with the calmer dignity that
characterizes powder — here reflecting some cidlivated
slope on its bosom, there a clump of trees or embower-
ed cottage, or more distant, forest-crowned hill, nevej-
ceases to plea.iC the eye of the gazer.
The Congregationalists, Methodists, Episcopalians
and Koman Catholics, have each a church in Sher-
brooke ; the educational requirements of its population
are provided for by two excellent academies, and a
number of less pretending schools ; and its citizens
have the news dispensed to them, through two weekly
journals. There is no lack of cnterjirising men in
the place, to attend to the demands of business traffic
in every line which the region is ready to sustain, and
withal, its young men need not exile themselves in
the wilds of Australir? nr California, in search of gold,
since their own soil, as nas recently been discovered,
vs impregnated with the yellow treasure, to an extent
that will remunerate the labor of digging — and it is
hoped that further explorations in the valley of the
St. Francis, will discover it in greater abundance,
K }i
MONTKKAL RAIL llOAU GUIUK.
157
lib-
IS hip
lative
[)nvi.
sting-.
inder
llown
I with
ob.
The Ptail Road Station House at this place, is a
handsome stractnrc 200 feet in length by GO in width,
and near at hand is a circular brick engine house, 150
feet in diameter, aflbrdiug accommodations for 20 lo-
comotives. A large machine shop and car factory has
also beei erected to meet the requirements of the
rail road.
From Slicrl)rookc the rail road follows down the
valley of the St. Francis, to the splendid bridge which
spans the river, two miles beyond Richmond — in all
a distance oi.' twenty seven miles, often in close prox-
imity to the broad stream, and the ever changing and
romantic scenery is worthy ot^ the constant attention
of the travelri-.
Four miles after leaving the Magog, the road com'^s
upon a series of foamiug n[)s, known as the " Big
JBrompton Falls," which extend along the channel of
the river for more tJian a mile, walled in by rocky
shores and separated by islets covered with trees and
verdure, about which the water curvets, and foams,
and dashes, with a romantic beauty that will linger
with the traveler long after he has left the locality.
Along through Ibis section the hills advance their
rifted roots to the very edge of the river, and deep
rock cuttings, or galleries, follow heavy embankments
in rapid succession. One of the most extensive of
these galleries, jienetrates transversely, thiough an
immense bed of slate of perpendicular stratitication,
which nnist hnve opposed an obstinate resistance
to the progress of the Avork. A half a mile beyond
this point the St. Francis makes a complete elbow to
the West, and the rail road crosses to the Eastern
side by n, noble bridge of a single span, 184 feet 4
14*
\- il
i(ir:'--a«jiiitii*»j.'u.^"-i:ii^'j«,''i^v^5FT
15S
PORTLAM), WHITK MOUNTAINS AND
i
1 1 1
a
1 , ! •
'I , •
Iwt ■ ■ i
inches in length — the river below being nearly sixty
feet in depth.
Continuing on, down th(^ Eastern shore of the river,
the scenery presenting a pleasing alternation of the
wild and rugged, calm and gentle, we next arrive
at the station in the township of
WINDSOR,
From Portland 208 miles, from the White Mountains 117 miles, from Montreal
84 miles.
Near this station the rail road crosses the Windsor
stream, on which, within a stone's throw, is a roman-
tic waterfall some thirty feet in height, which has
been (as the utilitarian would say) improved by a
gentleman named Wurtcle, through the erection of a
number of saw and grist mills, which bid fiiir to be-
come the center of a thriving village. Otherwise the
station at Windsor has little to interest the traveler.
Still following the valley of the St. Francis, often
on the edge of the beautiful stream, whose minor-like
surface has a simile for every object that approaches
its shores — after the lapse of half an hour, we find
ourselves approaching the pleasant villages of Mel-
bourne and Richmond, the former on the West, the
latter on the East side of the river. Here the scenery
has many points of interest, and the perspective views
above and below the villages, are of a very pleasing
character. The rail road station is in
RICHMOND,
From Portland 218 miles, from the White Mountains 127 miles, from Montreal
71 miles.
Melbourne is a well built, large and pleasant place,
and has a good business, supported by the fertile
farming district back from the river. Richmond is
MONTREAL KAIL ROAD ClMDf:.
lo9
inferior in extent to Melbourne, but as it is to be the
terminus of the great rail way from Quebec, it will
probably soon outstrip in importance its neighbor.
The two villages arc connected by a covered bridge,
five hundred feet long.
A line of stages communicates from this point with
Port St. Francis at the foot of Lake St. Peter
QUKBEC AND RICHMOND RAIL ROAD.
This great enterprize is in rapid progress towards
completion. The longer bridges are to be of iron ;
the passenger stations are all to be of one and the same
model, substantial and elegant ; the engine houses
are to possess all the improvements which have
been made in their construction in England or on this
continent, and the whole road when finished, v/ill be
second to no other in America.
The stations now projected are ten, viz : —
Danville, from Richmond 12 miles, Harvey's 25
miles, Nicolet 31 miles, Stanfold 42 miles, Somerset
48 miles, Becancour Bridge Gl miles, St. Flavien 69
miles. Black River Settlement 77 miles, Kelley's 82
miles, Chaudiere Bridge 89 miles, Hadlow Cove 96
miles.
From this latter point passengers will be conveyed
across the river to Quebec, by steamboat.
To return to the Montreal Road : —
Two miles below Richmond, the road crosses the
St. Francis by u line bridge 320 feet in length, and
here bidding adieu to the valley of the majestic river,
takes a course almost due West, through a dense for-
ute wf ■ g - iisifc./ r »i ' H i T^ !^
i
160
PORTLAND, WIIlTi: MOUNTAINS AND
ill
if-
Hi
M
t
t
est, which conlinucs with scarcely a break, exceptino-
such as the impulses of the rail road have produced,
for more than thirty miles. Through this dark wilder-
ness wind the Yamaska and Black Rivers, their sun-
If^ss solitudes aflording shelter to numerous wild ani-
mals, as likewise to vast flocks of wild fowl, which
breed in their impenetrable swamps and ])ayous, sel-
dom disturbed by the presence of man. The first
station ppprooxhed after slrikinc' into these woods is
DURHAM,
From Portland 233 miles, from the White Mouutaius 142 miles, from Montreal
59 miles.
There is nothing hereto attract the attention of the
traveler, unless like ourself, he can find interest in the
beauty of the plumy ferns and attenuated wild flow-
ers which tremble to every zephyr that hunts its way
among the winding labyrinths of the lurest — or in
contemplating the noble trunks that sustain the vault-
ed arches of " living green" about him.
The growth is various — pine, hemlock, fir, occa-
sionally interspersed with l^irch, ma}>le, beech and
other hard woods, but there is little or no cessation
to the wide, dark forest.
It seems singular to find this vast tract of wilderness
intervening between the populous Eastern Town-
ships, and tiie older and more important districts bor-
dering on the St. Lawrence, and one is somewhat at
a loss to know how l)usiness was Iransacted between
the two sections, before the rail road was constructed.
The Townships must, to a great degree, have ex-
isted within themselves, in tbrmcr times. Indeed, it
is a matter of history that as Irle as 1S20, the site of
the town of Sherbrooke, was inaccessible from Mon-
MONTUEAL UAII, MOAU GUI'. C.
161
!epting
)tlucccl,
wilder-
ir sun-
Itl fiiii-
whicli
IS, sel-
le first
kIs is
treal, excepting by canoes on the St. Francis or by
a trail designated by blazing tlie tree:j throiigli the
woods. Nearly the whole region, however, to a[)-
pearance is susceptible of a good degree of cultiva-
tion, while its numerous streams can furnish hydroulic
power to any extent for manufacturing, and it will
doubtless at no distant day sustain a large population.
ACTON,
The next Depot— 241 miles from Portlanil. 150 from the White Mountains,
51 miles from Montreal,
Is located near the banks of one of the tributaries of
the Black River, called the AVhite Branch. This
place although in the woods, is a center of considera-
ble importance, and has one or two houses recently
constructed to entertain travelers and excursionists.
The thriving village of Metcalfe, in the township of
Roxton, about five miles distant. Southerly, is reached
by a plank road. A road is 0})cned, or is about to be
opened, also, to Drummondville, on the St. Francis
River, Northward about twenty miles.
Still speeding onward in the shadow of the woods,
we next come to the Station at
UI^TOX,
From Portland 247 miles, from the White Mountains 1.5G miles, from Mont-
real 45 miles
Here a small village is springing up, induced by
the exigencies of the rail road, or by the facilities for
lumbering which the road affords, and some two miles
down the Black River, (on which Ibis depot is locat-
ed) at the Great Falls, so called, there are numerous
saw mills, creating quite a busy locality.
Eight or nine miles from Upton, you emerge from
it ;i
TtWtfciwa^
162
I'u i;.T L A nmj, u'lriTn mdum'-uns and
m
\: ,. :
i i'.
I r
■I
the forest that has walled you in so long, and come
upon the broad lahle land of the St. Lawrence, which
extends to the river, a distance at least of thirty-five
iniles.
This immense jilain has a basis of limestone, and
hence it is inferred that it was once the bed of a vast
lake — and the mountains that here and there alirupt-
ly l)reak tln-oiig'h this limestone crust, are but masses
of basalt, which were elevated by tlie action of the
interior fires of the earth, at a j)eri()d long- after the
sedimentary rock formation, as is evident l)y the brok-
en masses of the latter being U])heaved all around
their edges. In many cases the fragments of the
limestone crust have been turned comi)letcly over,
as is plain by the reversed order of stmtification. Ge-
ologists conversant with the region, also say, that
seams of the igneous (basaltic) rock forced up through
the limestone, may be traced fro)ii each of tliese moun-
tains to the otliors. Have we not here an autopsey
of the marvellous changes that have taken ])lace in
the surface of our globe, as well as of the vigor of the
great panting heart of fire within I
This immense prairie is for the most part div( sted
o^ woods, and is under a greater or less degree of cul-
tivation. The pojudation is generally of French ori-
gin, and their scattered villages and hamlets, and the
long lines of rails that mark tlic divisions of their
farms, may be traced on either hand till they fade in
the horizon. Their low, stone built cottages and out-
buildings with the never absent feature of cattle,
sheep and fowl grouped about them, strikingly remind
one of the jiictures of Paul Potter.
With scenes such as these to interest us, so entirely
li u
tl come
, wliieh
i-lj'-five
no, and
:i vast
lirupt-
inasses
of tlic
ter the
ic brok-
arouiid
of the
y over,
)n. Gc-
^Y, that
thron<?;li
moiin-
utopscy
place m
r of the
.MONTKI:aI. KAII. UOAU (il'IDE.
16:?
diverse from those of the region throujdi whicli we
have been passing, and so novel to iin American tour-
ist Avithal, the next four miles seem concentrated into
one, and we find ourselves apitroaching the Yamnskai
River. This fine vStream is crossed by a bridge four
hundred feet in length, and we enter the town of
ST. IIYACIXTHE,
From Portland 260 mile?, from the White Mountains 109 miles, from Montrpal
82 miles.
This neat and pleasant town reminds one of some
of the large interior villages of France or Belgium.
The houses arc generally well built, often surrounded
with shrubbery, and there are many fine orchards and
gardens in its neighborhood. On the right of the rail
road as you proceed Westward, is the extensive piles
of buildings of the Catholic College — an institutions
which is in high repute among the French Canadians,
There arc some enchanting drives in the neighbor-
hood, and the tourist can here find a comfortable liotel,
and could hardly fail of being gratified from spending
a day or two in the vicinity.
The population of the place is not far from 3000.
Proceeding on by rail, the tedium of the long
road being relieved by pretty views of the French vil-
lages of St. Rosalie and St. Charles, on the one hand,
glimmering in the summer atmosphere afar over the
green level, and by Yainaska and Beloeil mountains,
and Monts Rouges, on the other, rising hke lofty
volcanic islands from the ocean wide prairie, we next
come to
T.ES SOIXANTE,
From Portland 267 miles, from the ^\^nte Mountains 176 miles, from Montreal
% miles.
The road from St. Hyacinthe and indeed four
ill H
1^ ^:
l' i
161
roUTl<A.\D, WIIITK MOUNTAINS AND
I
f:(
;!\,
miles beyond, to this place, is on a perfectly straio-ht
..le, and so continues, till you approach St. Hilaire
inn'' a distance of nearly fifteen miles. And there
are other very long readies of straight track on this
road, making the most rapid transit feasible, and per-
fectly safe.
The level prairie still continues to stretch, sea-like,
on every hand, studded with houses and hamlets, and
fields of various green shades, sinking gradually in
the empurpled distance, and the lofty proportions of
Eeloeil mountain grow more distinct, until under its
cloud curtained summit, the cars haul up at
ST. HTI.AIRE,
From Portland 273 miles, from the White Mountains 182 miles, from Montreal
19 miles.
Here we have a charming country, and a place of
much resort in summer, by the citizens of Montreal.
The Beloeil mountain on the left rises to the height of
nearly fifteen hundred feet, its shadowy crags in many
places, relieved of their gloom by the presence of lux-
uriant and patulous woods. At its foot is the pretty
French village of St. Hilaire, rambling towards the
banks of the Richelieu, whose majestic tide flows
near at hand, and on the right is the princely resi-
dence and broad, fertile acres of Major Campbell,
proprietor of the seigneury of Rouville.
The isolated position of Beloeil mountain gives an
exceedingly wide range to the views from its summit.
In one direction the eye takes in the undulating
swales of Montarville, the distant St. Lawrence and
Ottawa, Montreal city nestled beneath its sheltering
hill, and the wide, level country beyond. On the other,
the burnished waters of the Yamaska, and nearer the
I
mo\tiil;al kau, koau tiuiDi;.
IGo
Richelieu, wind amidst level fields, whose crops of
variously tinted green, give the plain the appearance
of an immense plaided carpet, while empurpled by the
distance, and darkening the land with the- pr 'ence,
loom the titan forms of the Yamaska, and vouge
mountains, sustaining apparently onthei s. mimts the
cerulean dome of the summer sky. lucu. '^c the view
in any direction would well reward th'^- tourist for the
not very difficult task of ascending th "^i^ht.
On the summit is an antiquated stone chapel, which
may be seen as you pass along the rail road, often
canopied with clouds. A small inn or restaurat has
been established at the foot of the mountain for the
convenience of excursionists, and in many of the
neighboring cottages nice lodgings may be obtained —
a mode of living which cannot fail of being agreeable
to those who like variety.
The cars cross the Richelieu to the Beloeil station
by a bridge which has been built at great expense,
twelve hundred feet long, and fifty feet in height.
This noble stream is as rich in names as a Spanish
princess. At Lake Champlain, where it takes its
rise, it is called the Sorel, farther down it obtains the
name of St. John, here the Richelieu, &c.
We are now approaching Montreal, the character
of the scenery being the same as heretofore ; the next
station is
BOIJCHERVIT^T.E MOUNTAIN,
From Portland 280 miles, from the White Mountains 189 miles, from Montreal
12 miles.
This station is at the Southern base of a long ridge
called Montarville ; the tourist will find here no lack
of scenery of an interesting character.
15
; )
I
JGG
roWTLAM), WHITI-; MOINTAIX^I A^D
Five miles beyond is Ihc stution cciUed Charons,
passing which the sea-like St. Lawrence comes into
sight, and we are soon greeted with tlie usual appear-
ances of a large city, steamboats and shipping, and
smaller water craft coursing up and down, carts and
drays jiassing in and out, and then the city of Mon-
treal piled up aljout its magnificent cathedral, whh all
its tinned roofs and spires glittering over the wide
waters like burnished silver, remind one of descrip-
tions of oriental splendor.
The terminus of the road is at
I.Or;GUEIL,
From rortland 200 miles, from the \N'liito Mountains 199 miles, from MontreaJ
2 miles.
Here the company's steamer is ready to ferry the
traveler over the St. Lawrence, and in a few minutes
he may tread the busy streets of
INIONTRExVL,
From Portland 292 miles, from tlie Wliite Mountains 201 miles.
This is the most important city of all the British
possessions in America, and its favorable ])Osition at
the head of the navigable waters of the St. Lawrence,
in connection with the magnificent system of internal
improvements, of which it is the center, warrant the
expectation that it is to become an immense metrop-
olis.
It is situated on ar island having the same name,
both deriving their appellation from the mountain
near its Eastern shore, called Mount Real, or Royal
Mountain. Its latitude is l-^"-' 31' N., longitude 73^
34' W.
The island is about thirty miles long by ten in breadth,
I
iii?;'*
::/r /, .1-1 v?; '::''':,
ii I-. ,.
" Ml'
,i!«i:li!i.yi:i;:''i'!
f^M
'i|.'i|!'''i-
l«
i iM-v|VV''w;' '111' '■';'' I
:mi{im:'it
$.
MONTRIJAr, UAH, KOAU c:rii)i:.
IGi)
s
and is rcmnrkiiljlo for its Irrlility. It is ilivicU-d into
ten parislics, tho cliicl' of \iii('li is that of Montreal,
wliieli coniprchcnds, besides the city proper, the Cotes
de hi Visitation, St. Joseph, Notre Dame des Neij^cs,
and St. Pierre, toi^ethcr with portions of St. I'uul and
St. Catherines, the. isle of St. Panhiit the month of the
River St. Pierre, and the Isle anx Herons.
The city rambles along the Eastern shore of the is-
land, for al)ont two miles, having the mountain imme-
Th
d)out
diately in its rcai
nunU)er, arc laid out nt rii^lit !\ni2;les. Notre Damo
street is the fashionable retail business avenue, and
the Western division of St. Paul street and its inter-
secting thoroughfares is the chief locality for heavy
mercantile transaction.-!.
The muniei[)ality is divided into nine wards, and its
government is vested in a Mayor, Board of Aldermen,
and Board of Council, who are elected by free holders
having an annual rentage of at least $22 50, and by
houscholdtn's who i)ay a rent of Slo, or u[)wards.
The city was founded by M. de Maison-neuve in
1642, by whom it was named Villc Marie; and it re-
tained this name for many years. The present popu-
lation is l)etween sixty and seventy thousand, more
than one half of whom arc of French exlraciion.
Montreal has many fine buildings. The Cathedrp'l,
or Church of Notre Dame, probably surpasses in si/c
and magnificence, every other building of the kind in
America. It is 225 feet G inches in length, and 134
feet G inches in breadth. The two i)rincipal towers
are 220 feet in height, the others 115 feet. From
the snmmit of the main towers the view is grand be-
yond conception. The great window behind the high
altar is 64 feet in height by 32 in breadth.
ii
170
PORTLAMJ. WHITE MOUNTAINS AND
II:'
IP
In one of its main towers is a bell weighing 29,400
pounds, without doubt the largest in the New World,
in the other is a superior chime of bells, whose music
often beguiles the labors of the boatmen of their weari-
ness, on the far winding river.
The interior view of this mammoth church is highly
imposing, although the pews into which the main floor
is broken up, are calculated to detract from its gran-
deur.
The architecture of the building is the massive per-
pendicular Gothic style of the middle ages. Its erec-
tion was commenced in the summer of 1824, and it
was completed, so far as to be dedicated in 1829, al-
though its two chief towers were not finished till sev-
eral years afterwards. No less than ten thousand per-
sons were gathered within its walls on liie occasion
of its dedication.
The St. Andrews Church on Beaver Hall Square,
is an elegant edifice built of stone in the Gothic style,
to which the more sim})le l)ut graceful Grecian Doric
of the Unitarian Church near by, offers a pleasing
contrast.
St. Patrick's Church is a large and costly building,
in the same neighborhood. Great St. James Street
Church, (Methodist) is also a fine large building, whose
more florid Gothic architecture can but attract the no-
tice of the stranger.
Christ's Church, on Notre Dame Street, is a hand-
some stone building, with a doric front; and within is
a noble organ, the gift, if we mistake not. of a member
of the royal family now deceased.
There are nineteen other churches in the city, most
of which are noticeable for their architectural propor-
tions.
MOXTREAT, KAIL ROAD GUIDE.
171
400
nsic
ari-
hly
oor
ran-
The new Court House on Notre Dane Street, now
progressing towards completion, is patterned from the
celebrated Temple of lUysus, one of the finest speci-
mens of the Grecian Ionic style. It is 300 feet lono-.
140 wide, and 70 hi2;h.
The Bonsccours Market, fronting on the river, is a
massive and imposing pile of wrought stone, in the
Grecian Doric style, erected at a cost of $300,000.
The Bank of Montreal is a noble building of cut
stone in the Coiinthinn style, fronting on the Place d'
Amies. The Bank of British North America, the
City, and the Commercial Banks, and the Banque du
Peuple are also fine edifices, built of stone.
There are numerous other buildings about the city
of a public or private character, deserving the especial
notice of the tourist — and indeed it is not extravagant
to say that few cities in America show such a propor-
tion of fine buildings as tlic City of the Ptoyal Moun-
tain.
The hotels are numerous, and some of them de-
servedly popular. The most fashionable are Donega-
na's on Notre Dame Street, the Hay's House on Dal-
housie Square, the St. Lawrence Hall, and the Ottawa
Plouse, Great St. James Street, the Canada Hotel,
St. Gabriel Street, and the Montreal House, Custom
House Square.
The Exchange Coffee House, the Adelphi, the Ea-
gle House, (Temperance) and (^rants, are commodious
and comfortable hotels, and there are several others
that stand well with the traveling public.
A prominent feature of the city is in the Nunneries,
of which there are three. These are —
The Hotel Dieu, on St. Paul Street, founded in
.
n
i
172
PORTLAND. WIIITK MOI'XTA INS AND
1644, for the reception of sick and diseased persons,
an institution whose name, at least, is lamiliar to many
from the denunciations made against it by tlie notori-
ous Maria Monk.
The 2d is tlic Black or Congregational Nunnery, on
Notre Dame Street, founded in 1G59 for the education
of young females.
The 3d is the Grey Nunnery, on Foundhng Street,
founded in 1692, for the care of lunatics and found-
lings.
These institutions are instrumental of doing a great
amount of good.
The wharves and al)u1ments on the river, built of
heavy blocks of stone, and in the most thorough man-
ner, cannot fail to attract the admiration of the Anier-
icci-n tourist for their symmetry and regularity, as well
as for their permanence.
The Locks and Basius of the Lachine Canal, at the
Southern limit of the city, may well l)e the boast of
the citizens, on account of their extent and solidity,
rivalling every thing of the kind in America.
The Champ do Mars, the parade ground of the gov-
ernment troops, is also a favorite resort, especially in
summer, when the military bands of the regiments in
garrison, go thither to play.
The scenery of Montreal has often been noticed by
travelers for its surpassing beauty and extent.
The magnificent St. Lawrence rolling along in front
of the city, its far wave sprinkled with snowy sails,
and nearer at hand sustaining the mercantile squad-
rons that have come up from the ends of the earth,
has more the appearance of a sea tlian a river. And,
indeed, what is the broad stream and its connecting
'4:
MONTUKAL KAIL ROAD iM'tDE.
173
chain of mighty lalces swee})iiig across and nearly sev-
ering the continent, bnt one great fresh water ocean,
with an area rivaUing that of its sahne cousin the At-
lantic, to which it ])ays tril)ute 1
Opposite the city, and on every hand, sweeps the
great plain of Canada, luxuriant wit^i verdure, and va-
riegated with shining waters, and towns, and villages ;
and here and there end)racing some isolated moun-
tain, whose dark crags seem favorite resorts of the
thunder clouds — the violet walls of the horizon being
the ouly a])parent bounds to the view.
But the reader must look upon these scenes himself,
to get a correct idea of their vastitude and beauty;
and in order to do this to the best advantage, he should
take a drive around the mountain (or rather moun-
tains, for what is called Mont Real, consists of two
distinct hills,) which l)esides bringing him in juxtapo-
sition with the ]iicturesque villas and summer residen-
ces of some of the wealthy Montrealese, will open to
him a clear horizon on every hand.
This is one of the favorite drives of the citi: 3ns.
Anotlier charming drive, although of greater length, is
to Longne Point, and may be continued through a
pleasant district to Point aux Trembles. Still another
is to So.ult au Recollect. On the other hand — nine
miles distant by Railroad — the rapids of Lachine (so
named because some of the early explorers of the
country conjectured that by surmounting them, a facile
route to China would be dscovcred up river,) attract
many visitors. Beyond this })oint, and at the extreme
Westerly part of the Island is St. Ann, at the mouth
of the Ottawa, a place immortalized in Moore's beau-
tiful Canadian Boat Song,
i ■• ;
'• '\^-' .A
174 I'OUTLA.M), WmXR MOCNTAIXS A \ IJ
" Soon as the woods on shore look dim,
We'll sing at St. Axn our parting hymn."
Thus we liavc pointed out wlrat have ajipcared to
us to be the features of Montreal autl vieiniiy, most
interestinaf to stranirei-s.
Most persons who visit Montreal, make it a point
also to take Quebec in their tour. There are Iwo
lines of steamers running daily bctw<.MMi these places;
the fare is moderate, that of the Hoy!' I Mail Bonts be-
ing 12s. Gd. or S2,50 cents — by tlie other hne 10s. or
$2, sometimes less.
Sorel, at the mouth of the Richelieu, a place of
3000 inhabitants, 4o miles down the river, is the fust
landing jilacc.
Below Sore] ihe river expands into n lake called St.
Peters, nin<' f.:iii > wide, at the Eastern extremity of
which is th'' ;i:"t stopping place. Port St Francis, 82
miles below Montreal.
The next is Three Rivers, one of the oldest towns
in Canada, dating its first occupancy as far back as
1613. This place is just half way between ]\lontrcal
and Quebec, the distance hence to either p/lace being
90 miles. The Falls of Shawanagenne, on the St.
Maurice River, about 2o miles back of this place, are
unsurpassed for romantic beauty. The water descends
over a perpendicular precipice at least 200 feet.
Batiscan, 117 miles below Montreal, is the last land-
ing place of the steamers before they arrive at Quebec.
QIIKBKC,
The second city of the English })Ossessions in Amer-
ica, contains a population of about 4-5,000 souls. This
city was founded by a Frenchman named Charlevox
i
9^
^1
'fe?i
MO.NTRICAI. llAiL UOAU (.;L"I1>E.
176
ml 60S. Its latitude is 4 6^ 49 'K, longitude 71° 15 'W-
Tiic portion of the ])lace situated on the heights is
called the Upper Town, that along the river hank, the
Lower. The city is divided into six wards, and its
municipal govennnent is vested in a Mayor and nine-
teen Couns 'filers.
Quehec lias heen on several occasions the scene of
desperate hattlc; and in that which resulted in its
capture Vy the British army in 1759, the gallant Gen,
Wolfe, and the French General Montcalm, were both
slain. An elegant monument sixty feet high, erected
to tiieir memory in 1827, occupies a conspicuous place
in the promenade of the city called the public garden.
Here the bands of the regiments in garrison, are wont
to play on summer evenings.
The ramparts, another much frequented promenail?,
command extensive views of the surrounding scene;.y.
Durham Terrace, a platform erected on the site of
the old castle of St. Louis, is also 'uuch resorted to
for its fine views of the harbor, rivt and lower town,
and every stranger should by all means here take a
promenade.
The citadel of Cape Diamond, is said to be one of
the strongest fortresses in the world. The area em-
braced within its fortitications is over lorty acres in
extent. Strangers can readily obtain admittance here
by applying to the Town Major.
The principal hotels are the Albion, on Palace St.,
and Swords Hotel, corner Halde land and St. Louis
Streets, Tjiper Town. The City Hotel, Upper Town,
and the Ottawa, St. Lawrence and Scott's Hotels,
Lower Town, arc also excellent houses.
There arc many places and objects of interest to
the tourist in and about the city.
h.
r
17G
roi'.TLAN'i), wiirn; mui.'.n tains and
■yrr
The Plains of Abraham where the last great battle
was fought between the French and English, r ^^^in
the city on the "West — a monument indicates the spot
where Wolfe fell.
A painted board, on the road from Champlain Street
to Diamond harbor, jjoints out Ihe spot where the
American General Mo)itgomery was slain, during the
investment of the city by the Americans in the winter
of 1775-G.
The Falls of Montmorenci, eight miles below
Quebec, have • world wide reputation, for their ro-
mantic beauty. The stream here GO feet wide, de-
scends in one leap from a blufl' 250 feet in height, into
the St. Lawrence.
Tlie Chaudiere Falls nine miles above the city, are
also much visited on account of their romantic attrac-
tions. They are on the river of the same name, at a
j)oint where it is about 400 feet wide, and are 130 feet
in height. The Quebec and Richmond Railway pas-
ses but a few rods above them.
Lake Beauport, fourteen miles North Easterly of
the city, rdjounds with excellent trout, and is a favorite
resort of piscatory sportsmen, as well as of the lovers
of beautiful scenery.
Lake St. Charles, twelve miles North of the city,
the source of the river St. Charles, which entering the
St. Lawrence at Quebec, forms a part of its harbor,
is also a favorite resort of tourists and anglers.
At Lake St. Joseph, twenty-eight miles North Wes-
terly of Quebec, the finest of trout and black bass are
taken in large quantities.
The river Sagucnay, whose wild and sublime scenery
has scarcely a parallel in the world, falls into the St.
^
I
;M(.).NT1:EAI. KAll. UOAl) (iLlDi:.
177
w
Lawrence 140 miles below Quebec. Tlie fare for a
steamboat excursion thither and back is about $12,
the time occupied in making it from three to four days.
UPPER CANADA-NT ACtARA.
The great round of summer travel, hereafter, doubt-
less will be from New York and the Atlantic cities
South, to Portland, thence by the Railroad to the White
Mountains and Montreal, nnd thence by steamer up
the St. Lawrcjnco, or by land carriage, to Niagara.
The majestic scenery of the St. Lawrence has been
the admiration of "i^avelers from the time of its dis-
covery to the jiresent, and every tourist who seeks to
be conversant with tlie more wonderful features of
America, will of course mako it an object to pass up
or down this noble stream.
The trip to Quebec we have already performed; we
now propose to take an excursion to Kingston, at the
head of the river, and thence over Lake Ontario to
Niagnra. The whole distance from Montreal to Ni-
agara is 110 miles; the steainboat fare during the last
year was 88 50 cents.
Taking the cars on the Lachine Railroad, we pro-
ceed to the villngc of Lachine nine miles, where we
embark on board a steamer which is fired up and wait-
ing. The steamer crosses the reach of the river call-
ed Lake St. Louis, and enters the Beauharnois canal,
which, in the distance of eleven miles, overcomes a
rise of eighty tAvo feet. This is a uolde work, and
while i)assiug throug]; its nine locks, the excursionist
will have enough to occupy his attention.
Leaving the cnual the steamer touches at Coteau
Landing, 15 miles from Montreal, thence the river
ir,
i
k
178
I'ctKTLANI), WlIlTt: AlO C.NTA 1 NS AMj
again spreads out into a wide basin called Lake tSt.
Francis, which is thirty seven miles in length.
Proceeding up this broad sheet of water, we next
arrive at Cornwall, wliere the foaming and fierce rapids
in the river make another canal trip necessary, and
here we enter the Cornwall Canal, which is eleven
and a half miles long, and overcomes an ascent of
forty eight feet with seven locks. '
At the head of the Cornwall Canal is Dickinson's
Landing, 91 miles above Montreal.
Again we encounter rapids in the river, which can
be descended without difficulty, by the steamer, but
not ascended, and proceeding up we must take in our
route the short canals called Ferin's Point, Rapid Plat,
Point Iroquois, and Galops, in succession, the four
helping you along on your journey a distance often
miles, and overcoming a rise of 30 feet. The locks
on these, as well as on the Beauharnois and Cornwall
Canals, are all 200 feet long, 15 wide, and 1) feet deep.
We have now smoother work of it, and proceed on
to Prescott, distant from Montreal i:]o miles, tlie im-
portant town of Ogdensburg, the termination of the
great lines of Railroad to Boston and New York, being
on the opposite shore, within the territory of the Em-
pire State.
A rail road to connect Prescott with Bytovvn, the
principal place on the river Ottawa, is ))rogressing to-
wards completion, its length is 53 miles.
Brockvillc, the next point at which the steamer
touches, is 12 miles above Prescott. It is a place of
about 4000 inhabitants.
Some eight or ten miles above this point, the steam-
er enters among the Tnous.4ND Islands, whose wild,
MoXriniAI, UAIL lUJAD C.l'lUK,
179
diversified and picturesque beauties, rendered the more
interesting by the Indian traditions connected with
them, have often called forth the finest nuud)ers of the
versifier, and tlic n\ostglo.v'"g descriptions of the tour-
ist.
Kingston, at tlie head of the river, 108 miles from
Montreal, is a busy place, formerly the seat of Govern-
ment, containing h. population of nl)out 15,000, and
ranking as the sixth commercial city in Canada. Its
chief hotels are the St. Lawrence, ])ritish American
City, and Princess.
Travelers from Montreal to this place, who wish to
visit the splendid scenery of the Ottawa River in their
way, can do so, by taking the steamer at Lachine
thence proceeding to Carillon, a distance of 50 miles.
Here tliey take the stage to Granville, distant 12 miles,
where they again embark on the river, and proceed by
steam to Bytown, a distance of GO miles — making the
whole distance from INIontreal 123 miles.
Bytown communicates, by that magnificent struc-
ture, the E-idcau caual,. with Kingston, the distance
being 12G miles, and a steamer runs over the canal
three times a week for the accommodation of passen-
gers. The cost of this work w;is but little short of five
millions of dollars !
The first landing place on Lake Ontario, after leav-
ing Kingston, is Coburg, distant 29.3 miles from Mon-
treal.
Port Hope, the next j^lace at which the steamer
calls, is 300 miles above Montreal.
Toronto, 363 miles from Montreal, next receives the
steamer, into its fine harbor. This is a city of about
35,000 inhabitants — the third in point of population
I
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180
POUTLivNl), Wlini:; Mul NTAINS A N U
in the Cauadas, and standinii; ncxl lo Montreal in the
amount of its imports. Its principal liotuls are Bread's,
Wellington, Western, North American, Masonic Arms,
and City Arms.
The steamer at length arrives at Queenston — Lew-
iston being opposite, on the American shore. From
these plac(>s the falls are seven miles distant, and the
tourist will have his choice of several modes of ffoinjr
up.
We will not essay to describe Niagara — it is
enough to say that it is the outlet of all the Great
Lakes, Ontario excepted, and their inflowing streams,
draining a region larger than all'' K^ope ! and the
mighty fall of such a flood over a })recipice 150 feet
in height, must be seen to be appreciated. The follow-
ing quotation may, however, serve to give some im-
press of the scene :
" How jirofoiind
The fifulf ! and Iiow tlie giant element,
From rock to rock leaps with deliriom 1)0iiih1,
Crusliing tlic cliffs, which downwards worn and rent
With its fierce footsteps, yields in cha.-nis a vent
To the broad column whicli rolls on and shows
More lilxc the fountain -vf an infant sea,
Torn from tiie woinh of mountains bv the tin-ocs
Of a new world * * * look back !
Lo. where it comes like an eternity,
As if to sweep down all things in its track !
Terribly beautiful ! And on the verge,
From side to side beneath the glittering morn,
An iris sits amidst the infernal surge ;
Like I. ope ujjou a death bead — and uaworn
Its steady eyes, while all around is torn
By the distracted waters, bears serene
Its brilliant hues witli all their beams unshorn ;
Resembling 'midst the torture of tlie scene,
Love watching Madness with unalterable mein."
F I M 3 .