Araerie

Hist.sKetch of the
Switch-Back-Railroad.
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THE SWITZERLAND OF AMERICA.

HISTQSIGAL+SKETGH

TJiE DISCOVER/ OF /lNTflK?i CflTE COM,

AND AN ACCOUNT OF THE RISE AND GROWTH OF THE

iLehigi goal and Navigation ^onjpauy.^ 

Compiled by THEO. L. MUMFORD,

COPYRIGHT SECURED AND ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

TABLE OF DISTANCES AND TIKE OF TBAINS

Maudi Ehimk, Summit Hill and Switch BaGk Railroad.

Length of Mount Pisgah . . . 2,322 Ft.
Height of Mount Pisgah  664 "
Distance from Mt. Pisgah to
Mt. Jefferson  6% Mis.
Fall from Mt. Pisgah to Mt.
Jefferson  302 Ft.
Length of Mount Jefferson.. 2,070 "
Height of Mount Jefferson . . 462 "
Distance from Mt. Jefferson
to Summit Hill  1 Ml.

Fall from Mount Jefferson to
Summit Hill  45 Ft
Grade from Summit Hill to . .
Mauch Chunk, to the mile, 96 "
Summit Hill above the Lehigh, 1,015 "
Mt. Pisgah above the Lehigh, 900 "
Mt. Pisgah above the tide . . 1,500 "
Mt. Jefferson above the tide . . 1,660 4*
Distance from Mauch Chunk I 18 Mis,
to Summit Hill and return j circuit

TRAINS.

Leave.
Mansion House (stage)
American Hotel (stage)
Switch Back Depot. . . .
Mt. Pisgah 
Mt. Jefferson 
Summit Hill, arrive. . .
Summit Hill, leave 
Mauch Chunk 
American Hotel, arrive
Mansion House, arrive

No. 1

,.00 ¦05
-30-45 .10 15
4000 15
20

No. 2

No. 3

No. 4

No. 5

No. 6

A. M.

P.M.

P.M.

P.M.

II. 15

2.00

3-30

5.00

II.20

2.05

3-35

5-°5

11-35

2.30

4.00

5-25

11.45

2.40

4.10

5-35

P.M.

12.10

3-05

4-35

5-55

12.15

3.10

4.40

6.05

12-35

3-30

5.00

6.10

12.55

3-5o

5.20

6.30

1. 10

4-05

5-35

6.45

1. 15

4.10

5.40

6.50

Sundays only.

No. 7 No. 8

P.M. I.30
1-35 1.50
2.05
2.302.353.003-25
3.403-45

P.M. I-50
1-55
2.15
2.302-55
3-oo
4.004.204-354.40

The above trips make connections with trains on the Central
Railroad of New Jersey, and Lehigh Valley Railroads to and from
New York, Philadelphia, Wilkesbarre, Scranton, Elmira, Corning,
Rochester, Buffalo, and all points West and North West. Pas-
sengers holding limited tickets, wishing to stop over at Mauch
Chunk can do so by making application to the conductor.
Those wishing to stop over at Mt. Pisgah or at Summit Hill can
do so, and return by any other train.
lE^No. 7 connects with Sunday Trains to and from New York
and Philadelphia.
SUMMER EXCURSIONS.
t^" Special Cars for- Private Parties will be Run
AT ANY TIME DURING THE DAY.

THEO. L. MUMFORD,
Lessee and Manager.

H. J. MUMFORD,
Suft and Pass. Agent.
GENERAL OFFICE:
MA USH CHUNK. Pa.

H}aim*Ghum.

AMERICA'S SWITZERLAND,'

 HM 
Columbia, puzzled what she should display,
Of true home make on her Centennial day.
Asked Brother Jonathan ; he scratched his head.
Whittled awhile reflectively, and said, The " Switch Back."
»AUCH CHUNK, the county seat of Car.
bon county, Pennsylvania, is situated on
the Lehigh river, 120 miles from New
York, via Philadelphia & Reading
R. R., foot of Liberty Street ; via Le
high Valley Railroad, foot of Court-
landt and Desbrosses Streets ; 89 miles
from Philadelphia, via Philadelphia and
Reading Railroad, Third and Berks,
and Ninth and Green Streets.
Over each of these routes the jour
ney is made without change of cars, passing through the beautiful
valley of the Lehigh.
The town breaks abruptly upon the sight of the passenger com
fortably seated in his car, as the train with a swift turn, sweeps into
position at this point, and his eye is greeted with precipitous moun.
tains, which seem to envelop it in their embrace. The impression
strikes him that it has but a single street, but he subsequently dis
covers his error. What he sees is the lower town only, and investi
gation convinces him that this famous resort has verge and space
enough to accommodate its thousands of inhabitants. Here are
spacious and ejegant edifices, the homes of men who by their enter
prise, energy and public spirit, have contributed so greatly. to the
enrichment of the whole valley.

The following poem, by M. L. Hawley, Superintendent of Public
Schools, Massachusetts, we regard as one of the best pen pictures
of the valley that can be given :

ON THE LEHIGH.

Let them seek who will for grandeur
"Where the Alpine massea'stand ;
Though unmatched those snowy summits,
Yet, here lies our Switzerland.
Sloping upward, dark and craggy,
From the foaming water's edge,
Taking many a shape fantastic,
Lie the rooks, piled ledge oa ledge.
Seamed and mossy, quaint and olden,
Nature's hastions bravely stand,
Through whose wall there seeni3 no gateway
Leading to the outer land.
Whirled along with roar and rattle,
On the curves we lurch and lean ;
Plunging now beneath the mountain,
Spanning now some dark ravine.
Pausing here, where beetling summits
Overhang the nestling town,
Comes the thought, that some wild tempest
Might their masses topple down.
When, at length, hy patient climbing,
"We have gained the toilsome steeps,
Like a serpent huge heneath us,
- In and out the Lehigh creeps.
In and out among the mountains,
And we catch the distant roar,
"Where, 'mid roeks Jt foams and dashes,
Like the breakers on the shore.
'Round in billowy undulations
Spreads the landscape far, and wide,
Stretiching'through the Open vista*.,
Where the distant hills divide.
Southward 'gainst the far horizon,
Veiled in mist, a crpwn divine,
Blue and beautiful the mountains
Stretch in long unbroken line.

"While the "Water Gap, far eastward,
Lifts its cloven peaks in view,
And the Wind Gap, close beside it,
Lets the dusty traveler through.
Nature shows a glorious picture
On her canvas, rough and bold,
When the sun, that wondrous artist,
Dashes down his shining gold,
Bathes the mountain and the river
In a mellow, golden glow.
Save where float the fleecy islands,
"While their shadows float below.
Green heneath are hilla and valleys,
But the saintly blue above
Hides within its calm abysses
The divine, creative love.
As the sun behind yon mountain
Low descends, the evening star,
With a startling nearness, greets us,
From its azure depths afar..
"When, all silent, weird and solemn,
Climbs the moon yon mountain wall,
Through these glens, like ghostly phantoms.
How the shadows-flit and fall !
And the lonely traveler fancies,
Journeying in the twilight dim,
That he hears the stealthy panther,
Through the darkless, following him.
That he sees the Indian camp-fire,
Flaming up the narrow glen,
Where the hunters held their council,
And the black, bear had his den.
But these haunts no longer know them,
Save what time the fleet deer bounds-
O'er the rocky heights far inland,
Followed by the deep- voiced hounds-

But the Indian legends linger,
Still their names are here impressed,
And will so remain forever,
' "While the Lehigh seeks its rest.

MAUCH CHUNK AND MOUNT. PISGAH.

PICTURESQUE AMERICA
says : "Mauch Chunk" is
doubtless the most truly
picturesque town in the
Union ; it lies in a narrow
gorge between and among
high hills, its foot as it
were resting on the turbu
lent and excentric little
Lehigh river, and its body
stretching up the cliffs of
the mountains : it is so com
pact among the hills that its
houses impinge- upon its
one narrow street, and
stand backed up against
the rising ground, with no
space for gardens, except
what the owners can man-
age to snatch from the
hillside above their heads.
As proof of what can be done in a narrow space, this quaint and
really Swiss village affords a capital example.
The Indian name of Mauch Chunk is " Machk Tschunk," or
Bear Mountain, from which it derives its present name.
It is a peculiarly shaped elevation, immediately opposite the
main town, and in front of which all the passenger trains land trav
elers or tourists who design stopping here.
Mauch Chunk, lies in a narrow gorge surrounded by lofty
mountains, and is approached from either extremity by sharp bends
in the river, and corresponding curves of the railroad tracks, so that
the tourist arriving at the termination of his journey, without being
aware that he is near the place, renders the first impression a some
what novel one, and if the arrival is at night, the sensation produced
is peculiar. [
This feeling cannot be better described than in the words of a
Western literary gentleman, who lately visited here: "It was nine
o'clock at night," he says, "when I was awakened from a doze by
the brakeman shouting, ' Mauch Chunk!' I got out hastily, and the
first impression I had, in my somewhat confused state, was, that a

terrible thunder storm was coming up. I could see what I took to
be dark clouds, lowering all around the horizon, although the upper
portion of the heavens was bright and clear.
Another glance showed me, however, that the dark and porten-
tous encirclement was mountains rising to a lofty altitude.
It must be recollected that it was my first visit to the locality,
and I had had no conception of it. In the East, Mauch Chunk is
known as the Switzerland of America ; I was assured of that as soon
as I landed. Next day, when I came to look about and see what a
unique spot Mauch Chunk was, I blamed my own ignorance that I
had never known it before, and was ready to endorse a celebrated
writer and traveller who said: "Mauch Chunk has no duplicate
upon earth, so decided are its peculiarities. It is a place which
everybody has visited — will visit, or ought to visjt. You may have
flirted your hour at Long Branch and Saratoga, stood wonder-
stricken over Niagara Falls, sailed over all the lakes in the country.
You may have made a tour to Europe, or circumnavigated the globe ;
but, after all, if you have not passed through the Lehigh Gap, tarried
at Mauch Chunk, been whirled on the Switch Back road down the
mountain and up the plains to its summit, you have not seen all
worth seeing ; in short, you must forego all claim to the character of
a finished tourist.
Through the Wind Gap, midway between the Delaware and
Lehigh Rivers, is traced the war path of General Sullivan and his
compatriots made in 1779, leading to the Wyoming Valley. The
upper or Kittatinny Range affords the several precipitous gorges
which are so widely known as the Delaware Water Gap, Lehigh Gap.
Schuylkill (at Port Clinton), and Hunter's or Susquehanna Gap at
Dauphin. Kittatinny was called by the Indians the Endless Moun
tain, and may be tra< ed indeed from Maine to Georgia, through the
Catskills, the Green and White Mountains, to the northeast, or the
many-named Southern continuations. Each of these gaps have been
seized upon by one or more railroads, and a curving foothold blasted
out just above high-water mark upon either side.
Mauch Chunk is within such a cafion upon the Lehigh. The
lower town is upon a narrow shelf, running back through a gulch, as
though a city somewhere above had, by some natural upheaval,
been drifted down from the upper lands and lodged along the river.
It is only when standing at the head of the first plane (of the Switch
Back Railroad) that one can realize where Mauch Chunk hides the
odd eight thousand population which she claims.

The lovers of nature's grandest scenes will appreciate the views
from Mt. Pisgah, both up and down the river, especially when the
afternoon sun paints the mountains
In a mellow golden hue,
Whilst the clouds brood fondly over,
Casting shadows down below.

f " j^a— ^«gmBnmaaaig80t^M^ML--

GOING TO THE SWITCH BACK.
Mauch Chunk owes its origin to the enterprise of the Lehigh
Coal and Navigation Company, who formerly owned the ground
upon which it is situated, and who started the settlement in the year
181S ; it now contains an industrious and thriving population of
nearly eight thousand.
There are several fine churches, schools and hotels ; among the
latter are the Mansion House and the American Hotel, both excel
lent establishments, where travelers can be comfortably, and even
sumptuously, entertained.
The tables are furnished with all the delicacies of the season,
served in a manner not to be surpassed ; the rooms are well lighted
and ventilated, and furnished in the best and most comfortable styles.
Of the proprietors of these model establishments, we hardly
know what to say ; their good natured smiling faces are apparently
to be seen in all parts of the house at the same time, always atten
tive to the wants and pleasures of the guests ; they certainly know
' ' how to keep a hotel. "
The Switch Back is kept in operation from the middle of May
to the 31st of October, and affords a novel enjoyment to thousands
every year.
One of the greatest attractions is a ride upon this famous gravity
railroad — a most delightful and romantic trip ; the scenery is one
continuous panorama of beauty, vast and exhaustless as it is ever-
changing, sublime and impressive. The entire distance fragrant
with the balmy perfume of the foliage and wild flowers on either side.

First Discovery of Anthracite Coal.

EFORE making the interesting jour
ney, however, it will not be out
of place to give a short historical
sketch of the discovery of coal in
this region, as it was this discov
ery that led to the necessity for
the construction of this important
and very ingenious piece of en
gineering skill.
Coal was first accidentally dis
covered on the summit of Sharp
Mountain (now the site of the
town of Summit Hill) nine miles
west of Mauch Chunk, Carbon County, in 1791, by a hunter named
Philip Ginter, and is referred to in a communication to the State ¦
Historical Society, written by Dr. J. C. James, who travelled in this
region in 1804. He says: "In the course of our pilgrimage we
reached the summit of the Mauch Chunk Mountain, the present site
of the mine, or rather quarry, of anthracite coal.
At that time there were to be seen three or four small pits, which
had much the appearance of the commencement of rude wells, into
one of which our guide descended with great care, and threw up
some pieces of coal for our examination ; after which, whilst we
lingered on the spot, contemplating the wildness of the scene, honest
Philip Ginter amused us with the following narrative of the original
discovery of this, most valuable of minerals.
He said when he first took up his residence in that district of
country he built for himself a rough cabin in the forest and sup-
ported his family by the proceeds of his rifle, being literally a huntei
of the backwoods ; the game he shot, including bears and deer, he
carried to the nearest store and exchanged for the other necessaries
of life. But at the particular time to which he then alluded, he was
without a supply of food for his family, and after being out all day
with his gun in quest of it, he was returning towards evening over
Mauch Chunk Mountain entirely unsuccessful and dispirited, having
shot nothing. A drizzling rain beginning to fall, and the dusky
night approaching, he bent his course homeward, considering him
self one of the most forsaken of human beings.

As he trod slowly over the ground, his foot stumbled against
something, which by the stroke was driven before him.
Observing it to be black, to distinguish which there was just
enough light remaining, he took it up, and as he had often listened
to the traditions of the country of the existence of coal in the vicinity,
it occurred to him that this might perhaps be a portion of that stone-
coal of which he had heard. He acccordingly carefully took it with
him to his cabin, and the next day carried it to Col. Jacob Weiss resid
ing at what was then known by the name of Fort Allen, now Weiss-
port. The Colonel, who was alive to the subject, brought the specimen
with him to Philadelphia, and submitted it to the inspection and
scrutiny of sundry mineralogists and learned savants ; it finally came
into the hands of Charles Cist, a printer, who pronounced it stone-
coal, and authorized the Colonel to satisfy Ginter for his discovery,
upon his pointing out the precise spot where he found the coal.
This was done by acceding to Ginter's proposal of getting through
the forms of the Patent Office the title for a small tract of land,
which he supposed had never been taken up, comprising a mill site,
on which he afterwards built the mill which, afforded us the lodging
of the preceding night, and of which he afterwards was unhappily
deprived by cause of a prior survey.
Hillgate, Cist, Weiss and others, in the year 1792, formed them
selves into what was called the Lehigh Coal Mine Co., but without a
charter or incorporation, and took up eight or ten thousand acres of,
till then, unlocated land, including the Sharp Mountain, but the
mines were not worked to any extent until after the commencement
of the war of 1812. Small quantities had been taken to the city from
time to time, but owing to a want of knowledge as to how it should
be used, the company received such poor encouragement, that they
were compelled to abandon for a time the attempt of its introduction
into market. Some of the coal, it is said, was tried under the boiler
at Center Square, but only served to put the fire out, and the remain
der was broken up and spread on the walks in place of gravel.
In 1812, Messrs. White and'Hazard, who were then manufactu
ring wire at the Falls of the Schuylkill, associated with others, ap
plied to the Legislature for a law for the improvement of the river
Schuylkill. The coal, which was said to be on the head waters of that river,
was held up as an inducement to make the grant ; when the Senator
from Schuylkill County asserted that there was no coal there, that

TWO MILE TURN, ON THE SWITCH BACK.

there was a kind of black stone that was called coal, but it would not
burn. In December 1813, the Company made a lease to Messrs. Minei,
Cist and Robinson, consideration to be the annual introduction intc
market of ten thousand bushels of coal for the benefit of the Lessees.
Five ark loads were started from Mauch Chunk, two of which
reached Philadelphia, the others being wrecked in their passage.
The principal part of the coal which arrived was purchased at
twenty-one dollars per ton by White and Hazard, but even this price
did not remunerate them, and they were compelled to abandon the
lease. In December, 1817, the Lehigh Coal Mine Company executed a
lease to Messrs. White, Hauto and Hazard, for twenty years, of their
wholo property, on the condition that after a given time for prepara
tion they should deliver for their own benefit at least forty thousand
bushels of coal annually in Philadelphia and the districts, and should
pay upon demand one ear of corn, as an annual rent for the property.
Having obtained the lease the gentleman applied to the Legisla
ture for an Act to authorize them to improve the navigation of the
Lehigh. Their project was considered chimerical from the failure of the
various companies who had undertaken it under previous laws.
The Act of 20th March, 1818, however, gave these gentlemen
the opportunity of ruining themselves, as many members of the Legis
lature predicted would be the result of their undertaking.
On the 10th of August, 1818, the Lehigh Navigation Company
was formed ; the full amount of stock, Fifty Thousand Dollars
($50,000), having been subscribed. The work of opening navigation
was immediately commenced.
On the 21st of October of the same year, the Lehigh Coal Com
pany was formed with a Capital of Fifty-five Thousand Dollars
($55, 000), for the purpose of making a road from the river to the
mines, and of bringing coal to market by the new navigation.
The road, which now for nine miles constitutes the grading of
the railroad to the Summit Mines, was laid out in the Fall of 1818, and
finished ini8ig.
It is claimed that this was the first road to have been ever laid
out by an instrument — a level.
It was intended for a railroad, as soon as the business would
warrant the expense of placing rails upon it.

A pair of horses would bring down from four to six tons in
two wagons.
The Navigation Company having great difficulty in carrying on
the work, found it necessary that more money should be raised, or
work must be abandoned,
On the 21st of April, 1820, the two companies amalgamated
their interests under the title of the " Lehigh Navigation and Coal
Company," providing, adding to their Capital the additional sum of
Twenty Thousand Dollars ($20,000). White and Hazard taking
nearly three-fifths of the stock. With this aid the Navigation was
improved, and three hundred and sixty-five tons of coal sent to
Philadelphia, as the first fruits of the enterprise.
This quantity stocked the market, and was, -with great difficulty,
disposed of in the year 1820.
It will be remembered, that no Black Diamond (as it was then
called), came into the market from any other source until 1825, ex
cept small shipments ftom the Schuylkill, in Canastota wagons,
in 1822. The coal shipped by the Lehigh Coal and Navigation Co. for
last year (1883), was 907,126 tons.
On May the ist, 1821, the title of the company was changed to
its present name of the "Lehigh Coal and Navigation Company.
The boats used consisted of square boxes, or arks, from sixteen
to eighteen feet wide, and twenty to twenty-five feet long. They
were steered with long oars like a raft.
Boats of this description were used till the end of the year 1831,
in which year forty thousand nine hundred and sixty-six tons were
sent down, which, required so many boats to be built that if they had
been joined together they would have extended more than thirteen
miles. The boats made but one trip, and were then broken up in the
city and sold for lumber; the spikes, hinges and other iron work
being returned to Mauch Chunk by land, a distance of eighty miles.
The hands running these boats walked back for two or three
years, when some of the tavern keepers placed rough wagons on the
roads to carry them at reduced fares.
The business was now so large, that the time had arrived for
changing the Lehigh into a slack water canal.
For the same reason it was found difficult to keep the turn-pike
to the mines in good order without coating it with stone, and it was
determined to convert it into a railroad.

14

15
The railroad was commenced in January, and in operation the
May following, 1827.
It is nine miles in length, and has a descent all the way from the
Summit Mines to the river.
The whole transportation of coal upon it was done by gravity ;
the empty cars being returned to the mines by mules, the latter rid
ing down with the coal but in their own car.
The mules travelled from 35 to 45 miles per day, and so fond
did they become of riding down hill that in one instance when the
train was sent up without the mule car the hands could not drive
them down, and were under the necessity of drawing up the wagon
for the animals to ride in. The mule is a sagacious beast and fond
of natural scenery.
The Lehigh slack water navigation was first opened for use at
the close of June, 1829, when the improvement of the Lehigh was
demonstrated, and the extensive coal field owned by them was no
longer considered to be of problematical value.
The Legislature of 1818 was censured for having granted such
valuable privileges, and all the craziness of the original enterprise
lost sight of.
At present this Company owns lands which are estimated to
contain after allowing for faults in mining and waste, the enormous
quantity of six hundred million tons of coal.
In 1844, the increasing demand induced the projection and con
struction of the back track, to facilitate the transportation of the
black diamonds to the canal. i
The track was laid over Mount Pisgah, along its side to Jeffer
son Plane, again to the Summit (which is now called Sharp Moun
tain) and down the ridge to the mines at Summit Hill, where we join
the old mule track, and by that route take our way back to the river.
We cannot help noting the difference between this country now,
and what it must have been fifty years since ; when only a few tons
of coal at a time could be wagoned to the river bank, and from
thence boated to civilization, with ten chances to one against its
reaching market in safety.
Now, we see spread at our feet from the summit of Pisgah,
hundreds of canal boats being loaded and waiting for their turn.
;While seemingly, almost endless trains take their way through
the valley with their precious freight, rumbling and shrieking songs
and cries of triumph, as if rejoicing at the wondrous things which
have been accomplished in so short a time by brain and muscle.

16

Around the SWITCH BACK.

¦ OW that we have glanced at the history of the
discovery of coal, and seen the trials, diffi
culties and triumphs of the Company in
surmounting nature's bulwarks interposed
between the black diamond aud civiliza
tion, we will take a flying trip around the
Switch Back, the great attraction of Mauch Chunk.
This piece of track is said to be the oldest railroad in America,
with the exception of one of two or three miles at Quincy, Mass.
The Switch Back is now used exclusively as a pleasure road.
It belongs to the Philadelphia & Reading Railway Co. and is leased to
private parties.
By taking the stage at the Mansion House, or American Hotel,
the tourist, after a most interesting drive through the village and up
the mountain side, arrives at the Switch Back Depot, or if he prefer
to walk, he will go up Susquehanna Street, beyond the Court House.
and there take the road passing between the beautiful house and
grounds of the Hon. H. E. Packer on the left, and the tastefully
decorated villa of Judge Leisenring on the right.
Immediately on the brow of the hill above Judge Packer's home,
we find the starting point of the Summit Hill or Switch Back Rail
road, and the stage having arrived by the longer road around the hill,
and deposited its living freight, we take our seat in the pleasant
summer cars, and time being up, the brakes are sprung, and the car
runs by gravity to the foot of Mount Pisgah Plane.
In looking up at this formidable place of ascent for the first time,
the visitor feels somewhat timid about going up, but there is no cause
whatever for the slightest apprehension of danger.
The plane is 2,322 feet in length, with an elevation of.' 664 feet,
being a rise of about one foot in three.
There are two tracks and upon each runs a safety car, to which
is attached two heavy Swedish iron bands, each seven and one-half
inches wide.

17

few

iitf^^PI^

Hi

llllH

fEwyi

MOUNT PISGAH PLANE.

IS

These bands are fastened to iron drums, twenty-eight (28) feet in
diameter, in the engine house at the head of the plane; the mo
tive power being two stationary engines of one hundred and twenty
horse power each, while the steam is generated in ten boilers which
measure 2\ x 30 feet.
The safety car has attached to it an iron arm, which extends
from the side of the Barney or safety car, over a ratchet rail between
two tracks: should the band break, or any accident happen to the
machinery, the least backward movement causes the arm to drop
into the notches of the safety rail, holding the train stationary.
In all the years that this enterprise has been in
^^ operation, not asingle passenger has met with
///"'// f^v "2§^- aceident in going up this mountain. This
speaks well for the management, as well
as for the ingenuity of the invention, which
\ \°l\ may well claim to be perfection itself.
The signal is given to the engineer
at the head of the plane, the safety
\\\ car is drawn slowly from the pit
behind the car, and the train
begins to ascend
until we arrive at
the top, nearly
900 feet above
*fi our start

ing point,
or river.

rs.-=. -NivZ/VV

19

THE HOMESTRETCH ON THE SWITCH BACK.

Mr. Henry, in his history of the Lehigh Valley, says of this ride:
"Up, up we go, until the mountain tops which just now towered
above us, sink into the valleys and become pigmy hills; and the
whole face of the surrounding country, in an immense circuit, opens
under us like one vast flower bed, enriched with all the glowing
garb of Autumn, and glittering in the sun-light, which intensifies
every beauty and color.
Novel emotions crowd upon the mind, as the enchanting and
exciting scene unfolds itself with new and almost appalling gran
deur, as the summit is approached, and the soul is transported with
awe, as the works of the Creator stand out in their imposing contrast
to our littleness, as we hang suspended, as it were, in mid-air.
We have now reached the summit of Mount Pisgah, and at
tained an elevation of fifteen hundred (1,500) feet above tide water.
And now what a glorious, what a sublime, what a varied land
scape bursts upon the enraptured vision ! "
We can not describe it better than in the well-known lines of
Sheridan Knowles :
" The land of beauty and grandeur, lady;
" Where looks the cottage out on a domain
"The palace cannot boast of; seas of lakes,
"And hills of forests; crystal waves, that rest
" Midst mountains all of snow, and mock the sun —
" Returning him his flaming beams more thick
" And radiant than he sent them. Torrents,
" There are bounding floods; and there the tempest roams
" At large, in all the terrors of its glory.
" And there, our valleys, — ah, they are the homes
" For hearts ! our cottages; our vineyards;
" Our pastures, studded with the herd and fold;
" Our native strains, that melt us as we sing them;
" A free — a gentle — simple, honest people ! "

Passing through the engine house, and slowly over a trestle
spanning a wild ravine, to the
right and north you see Broad
Mountain, and in a ravine half
way between the summit and river,
can be seen Glen Onoko, a piece
of nature's handiwork.
|;HIS beautiful place is situated about
two miles above Mauch Chunk,
and can be reached by cars any
hour of the day. It consists of
several cascades and waterfalls,
each havingits appropriate name —
the highest fall being seventy-five
feet. The gorge varies in width,
and extends from the bottom to
the summit of Broad Mountain, a
height of about 1,000 feet.
There is, perhaps, not another place in the State where so much
of the truly sublime and picturesque is so magnificently displayed as
here, and it is well worthy a visit.
There is a fine view of the river, and on its right bank the Lehigh
Valley Railroad, while on the left bank, and crossing the bridge can
be seen the track of the Lehigh and Susquehanna division of the
Philadelphia & Reading Railway.
To the left (and southeast), high above, tier upon tier of moun
tains loom — Lehigh Water Gap, through which the river forces its
way beyond the Blue Ridge, and still beyond the Gap, one distinctly
sees Schooley's Mountains, near Hackettstown, New Jersey, distant
by rail sixty-five miles. The Water Gap is only twelve miles away.
Immediately below, the Lehigh shows itself again, rushing past
the town of Mauch Chunk, of which place a splendid view is also
obtained from this point.
In all other directions mountains in long ranges piled on other
mountains; beneath, the towns, which look like groups of toy
houses, but from which and from the river ascend the busy sounds
of industry, the voices of men, the whistling of steam engines, the
boatman's merry horn, the rattling of coal as it goes down the chutes
into the boats." ,
Another most excellent writer, in speaking of the view from the
tOD of Mount Pisgah says: " Yes, that is Mauch Chunk ! Down,

down in that twisting serpentine ravine just under us ; down in the
gorge between the mountain sides, the sun on a hot day reflecting,
first from one side then from the other, till it seems as if the village
would be par-boiled every twenty-four hours, and then washed down
into the Lehigh should there come a drenching rain storm to start
the current of rushing water down the side of the mountains rising
high and abruptly on either side.
Mountains and valleys, hills, ravines, little villages and mining
settlements below us, with long blue ridges of mountains rising all
about us, as far as the eye can reach, attract the tourist and add to
the novelty of the scene.
Everything seems to have been twisted and scrunched, and
hurled and piled together ; then turned, piled, and hurled together
again, as if the elements of nature had been in rebellion when this
part of the country was finished or perfected, if we may call this
rugged broken grandeur below us, and far Outreaching, the per
fection of nature. To this fascinating spot have been justly applied
the favorite lines from Scott :
1 So wond'rous wild, the whole might seem
The scenery of a Fairy dream.'
We now run by force cf gravitation only, and two miles from
Pisgah pass the old tunnel and deserted hamlet of Hackelbernie.
This tunnel was opened by Josiah White, as an outlet for the
Nesquehoning Valley coal, but becoming almost filled with water
was abandoned.
The fall of the grade to the next plane (6f miles from Pisgah), is
47/^ feet to the mile. Four miles from Hackelbernie, we find
Bloomingdale Valley, and the plane of Mount Jefferson ; no halt is
made longer than the time required to place the safety car in position,
when we again ascend by means of machinery, similar to that em
ployed at Mount Pisgah. This plane is 2,070 feet in length, and has
an elevation of 464 feet. Again we see the earth seeming to recede
from us, and again after reaching the summit (1,660 feet above tide
water), drawn by invisible chargers, we hurry along over a mile de
scent of forty-five feet, to the quaint mining village of Summit Hill.
A curious place it is, with rambling streets, old buildings, and a
dismal looking town hall, in appearance resembling a French bastile,
flanked on either side with its stone towers, (formerly used as an
armory,) it was built in former times to overawe mischievous miners,
and in case of riot to afford protection.

THE OLD ARMORY.

24
The Burning Mine.
We will now visit the burning mine close by, which has been on
fire since the year 1832, and thousands of dollars have been expended
in endeavoring to extinguish it. The effects of the fire and its accom
panying heat are almost as well shown here as at Vesuvius and Etna,
scaring and blighting acres on the surface above it ; the rocks are
baked, and of every shade of color, they have changed their stratified
position, and are reclining in every conceivable way.
This is where coal was first discovered by Mr. Ginter, the pieces
found by him had been thrown to the surface by the uprooting of a tree.

THE DISCOVERY OF COAL.
These mines were abandoned years ago in consequence of their
having accidentally caught fire, and other mines being opened along
Panther Creek that could be worked to greater advantage.
The vein of coal at this point outcrops or comes to the surface,
and is a part of the Great Eastern or Pottsville Coal Basin, which
extends nearly to the Susquehanna, in Dauphin County, where it is
divided into two prongs. The greatest ascertained thickness of coal
here is 54 feet, but in one place is supposed to be 100 ; that which is
fully exposed to view is generally from 12 to 25 and even 35 feet in
thickness. But the supreme pleasure of our ride is yet in store for us ; it is
the return by the old mule track route over the nine miles of contin
uous descending grade to our starting point.

We interpolate here a little poem by Mr. Proudfit who visited
Mauch Chunk last year. It is suggestive. Go thou and do differently.
Down the Switch Back.

Side by side we rode together,
On a clear October day,
While the mountains, crimson-crested,
Kept a royal holiday.
Down the Switch Back from Mount Pisgah
We went speeding o'er the hills,
With the golden sunlight flashing
From the rippling mountain rills.
But the flashing and the glinting,
And the blue of autumn skies,
Were but frosty in their beauty
To the summer of her eyes.
Side by side we rode together,
And I did not dare to wait,
For she was seventeen, and I
Was turned of forty-eight.
So I whispered to her : " Darling,
Let iis travel, side hy side,
Down the grade of Life's long Switch Back,
To the shoreless ocean's tide."
But she looked away far over
All the hills that lay between,
To the distant, dim horizon,
And her eyes were too serene,
As she said : "I like October,
With its splendors of decay,
But I like the spring-time better,
And the warm, sweet air of May.'r
Thus we traveled down the Switch Back,
Thus I trifled with my fate ;
For she was seventeen, and I
Was turned of forty-eight. David L. Proudfit.
A single turn of the brakes, and off we start, faster and faster,
down through long stretches of shaded roadway, around wondrous
curves, along giddy cliffsj under shadows of great ivy-grown crags,
and still down, down, down, at a dizzy speed, and as if borne on
the wings of the wind; there, like- a toy village in the distance, be
fore and far below us, we once more descry Mauch Chunk, with its
familiar church spire, so indelibly impressed upon all who have
visited the town.

26
How fast we seem to be approaching it ! and so indeed we are,
for almost ere we know it our fleet charger has drawn rein, and we
are safe and sound, bu* breathless with delight and excitement, at
the platform from which we so recently started on our ascent.
Brick Pomeroy, who made this journey, says, and we think that
all others who have done so will heartily coincide with him: "This
ride was most delightful — no noise, no rumbling, liability of explo
sion or colliding with a train or car going in an opposite direction.
It is all one way here. The cars are pulled up, and down they go of
their own accord."
The route is up hill and down, over rugged uncultivated country,
rocks, stones, mountains, ravines, hills, cliffs, rocks, stones, decliv
ities, hills, rocks, mountains; rocks set up endwise and stuck on
edge, and you have a very good picture of the crooked circuitous
route by which we went and came on this, the pleasantest railroad
ride in our life.
As novel and entertaining as this excursion is during the Sum
mer season, its interest, beauty and pleasure are enhanced by a visit
to and over the road in the Autumn.
Riding around the mountain with locomotive speed, the numer
ous landscapes stretching about on every side, changing as rapidly
and charmingly as the views in the kaleidoscope, keep the tourist
rapt in a continual state of enthusiastic admiration: the cool bracing
atmosphere, the novelty of whirling along the road at so great an
elevation without any apparent motive power, the valley lying so far
below, the various ranges of hills and mountains with their trees
and vegetation in an endless variety of colors, are all calculated to
make the beholder think himself in some enchanted fairy land.
You may travel thousands of miles and it will be difficult to find
any other locality so truly picturesque.

27

Not Pleased with Switch Back.

A BROOKLYN MAN SEES NOTHING BUT PARASOL TOPS AND DANGER.

Mauch Chunk is in the mountains of Cameronsylvania, once
known as Pennsylvania, and is a mere apology for a village. It is
walled in on all sides by mountains which are as steep and hard to
climb as a lightning-rod, and so high withal that the people of the
village see no more sunshine than frogs at the bottom of a well.
There is a railroad on each bank of the small river, one of which
found room for a diminutive station by building into the water, but
the other road has not even a station shed, for there is no place to
put it. True, there is land enough and it is cheap, but it stands up
edgewise. Alighting from our train a short walk took us to the foot
of the famous Switch Back Mountains, where we found a little open
car, no larger than a Brooklyn horse car, into which we hastily scram
bled. At the top of old Switch Back there is a stationary engine, a
stout chain from which was lowered down the mountain and attached
to our car and we were drawn up. The ascent seems to be at an
angle of about forty-five degrees, and they told us that the mountain
is 1,500 feet high, but any man who is mean enough-to live in Mauch
Chunk, with not one ray of heaven's blessed sunshine from January
to eternity, is plenty mean enough to lie about the height of a moun
tain ; anyway, it was high enough, and I was thoroughly frightened
in the ride up. I can ride up Mount Washington with no more
trepidation than a man usually experiences when receiving an un
expected visit from his mother-in-law, but that ride up Switch
Back filled my soul with terror.
At the top of Switch Back, and before we had time to draw a
long breath of happy relief, that chain was hastily unhooked by a
saturnine-looking human fiend, and we shot down a long descent of
nine miles on the other side of the mountain by the force of gravi
tation. I had been told that the view from Switch Back was one of
the finest in the whole world, and we had better take it all in. I had,
luckily, as I then thought, secured a front seat so that my outlook
would not be cut off by that essence of human abomination, a
parasol. Women have more virtues and more vices than men, and
their one major vice is their fiendish insistence in carrying a parasol.
The parasol knocks our hats, hits our noses, and would put out our

28
eyes if we were less alert than weasels. If there is anything to be
seen a woman raises her parasol, thereby cutting off the view of
twelve Christian men and causing them to swear. It isn't right.
The Switch Back view may be very fine, but I did not see it ; I
was too scared. Coming up the front of the mountain was bad
enough, but this ride down the side was worse. There I sat upon
the front seat of a little open car, on a little mean-looking narrow-
gauge railroad, shooting down the side of the mountain at the speed
of kicked lightning, with no engine or other visible power, but
going down, down, down, as though kicked by the devil, sometimes
over high trestle-work where the smallest break would have sent us
flying in the air to fall hundreds of feet upon the hell of cavernous
rocks below, and all the time so near the edge of the cliff that a
break of any kind would have dashed us to instant death. Oh, yes,
the view may be fine, but I saw only that miserable little track. I
wanted to go home.
At the end of this "hell-bent" ride of nine miles the car stopped
of its own accord. A chain was lowered from an engine on the
ridge-pole of that end of the mountain, and we were drawn up a
height of 1,625 leet> then tne chain was unhooked and we were
started down the mountain side on our return, and at the end of nine
miles the car stopped again of its own volition at the spot where we
had entered it. We had been on an eighteen-mile ride at lightning
speed with no other motor than the power of gravitation, and I want
no more such riding. One nervous old gentleman was so terrified
by the ride down the mountain that he left the car at its first stopping
place, nine miles out, and attempted to walk back to Mauch Chunk,
but he had not arrived when our train left and we came home with
out him, and no doubt he miserably perished of cold and starvation.
And every day people go over this road by thousands and pay money
for the privilege of risking their lives, and then they go home and
tantalize their neighbors by talking about the beautiful views. I saw
nothing but danger.

2g

ONOKO FALLS, IN GLEN.

30
Glen Onoko.
fHE great popularity of the limestone
glens of Central New York prompt
ed the Lehigh Valley Railroad Com
pany to develop the dell, which was
formerly known as Moore's Ravine.
The pathway which leads one suc
cessively from one fine point of
view to another, and over frequent
bridges of rustic timber work, is the
only improvement made; nature's
handiwork being left in its rich
simplicity of form and tangle. The
"_3=: • depot itself is a rustic creation,
happily typical of the beauties beyond.
Its several cascades are christened in a nomenclature expres
sive, in a felicitous way, of their beauties. So we have " Hidden
Sweet," "Crystal," "Moses," " Spectre," " Elfin," and "Terrace"
Cascades, as well as the " Lover's Bath," " Pulpit Rocks," " Heart
of the Glen," the beautiful "Chameleon," "Home of the Mist."
and "Onoko Falls."
It were a hard task indeed to say which of all these is the more
worthy of admiration; each in turn will have its meed of praise.
We will leave Longfellow to tell how the wonderful mixing up of
things in the glen was brought about :
" Nestled 'mongst the Great Bear Mountains,
In the grand primeval forest,
With the tall and graceful hemlock.
With the giant pine aspiring,
And the stately oak, majestic,
Ranged around in serried phalanx,
'Round the hills encircling,
Keeping off the boisterous north wind,
Lay the Lake of Aguaclara —
Lake of calm, pellucid water,
Fed by clear and crystal streamlets
That, adown the hills encircling,
Leaped and danced and sung forever.
On the shores of Aguaclara,
Lake of calm, pellucid water,
Stood the wigwam of Onoko,
, Onoko, Chief of Lenni Lenapes.

31
Sage in council was Onoko,
He it was who slew the Great Bear —
Slew the Great Bear of the mountains ;
Met him singly on the mountain,
In his brain deep drove his hatchet,
Bore his claws off as a trophy,
Left his carcass for the ravens.
To the shores of Aguaclara
Brought he his fair bride, Wenonah —
Wenonah, as the lily, graceful ;
Wenonah, as the maiden, modest ;
Wenonah, as the bright star, radiant.
Out upon the Aguaclara,
Lake of calm, pellucid water,
In the frail canoe of birch bark,
Floated they in listless pleasure,
Onoko and his bride Wenonah.
Floating thus, in listless pleasure,
Sudden a portentous shadow
Fell upon Lake Aguaclara,
On the calm, pellucid water,
Shrouding all in gloom most sombre.
There, upon the hills encircling,
Stood, frightful in his awful stature.
Towering as the Great Bear Mountain,
Mitche Manitou, the fearful,
Envy from his wild eye flashing,
Thunder from his dark brow crashing.
With his great right hand uplifted,
Covered with the magic mitten.
Swift as light his right hand falling,
Crushing through the hills encircling.
Cleft the hill from crest to surbase,
Left a wide and yawning chasm,
Through which rushed in waves tumultuous,
All the tide of Aguaclara,
All the bright and shining water,
Bearing on its surging bosom,
Onoko and his bride, Wenonah,
In the frail canoe of birch bark.
Woe is me, Onoko !
Woe is me, Wenonah ' "
Throughout the glen rustic seats are placed where tired climb-
ers may rest and listen to the woodland sounds and the falling
water.

32

Oh ! there is sweetness in
the mountain air.
And life, that bloated ease
can never hope to share.
— Byron.

parting adieus must be
made, with many kind
wishes for your future
prosperity, and the hope
that you are delighted
with your trip around the
Switch Back and to Glen
Onoko, and not altogether
displeased at our feeble efforts to point out the principal points of
interest. Too short and fleet the day went by,
' Where Nature's hidden beauties lie,
A memory folded in the heart.
In other lands, 'mid other scenes,
This sweet day, like Eden-gleams,
Shall sometimes mingle in our dreams.

ASCENT OF MT. JEFFERSON, CROSSING THE DOWN TRACK.

YALE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY

3 9002 08760 1804