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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(lrntth7, 7H, 110, U'l " Imp 07.111 " MiuliKon, tl " \Vfl)8t4 .173 .174 170 FHr:i Aci:. The ohjcct of this work is to fHrni.
  • 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 nr, 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 I lll ¥ 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 Sllf ' !| ' l:i is! ' ■ ■'■■■ ?«f! H ^< >g ::i^^. l'-,4?'iifij ■ ~r:; ^'rl iJ;S I fff'lf ' Id i Iv 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 k the 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)' j ' 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. U M ■a Ivf** #. ?5>5^nSi IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) Zk ^ A A fe ^fl ^ 1.0 I.I 1.25 ■- Ih III 2.2 11= ?.4 11.6 - 6" V «9 /i *^''"'* ^ «> Photographic Sciences Corporation 23 WEST MAIN STREET WEBSTER, N.Y. 14580 (714) 872-4503 % 6^ % 'ife^ > 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. « two all! vcels and," at. a mm My «: '1,1.1' !tl ' 1; !' I y|;'.)lil , ,fii ii| u ■i: ,'•'■•: .:,]JJ^ j;'^V::u^:j,;M wm i! :i 111 J "■'I5I' : L"^ ) ) -If v' ^'.i!i ■tl'i ovc vir is an ac) lo\ ha do all ui an an an th nr lo ro y< m \v b tl a^ s e n n 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 f, i; 'It? ♦'' ' '■! « \ It! If ■t i ti V •.it 02 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 tain ^iircls I |niiiits I rolled '(-■red h'ing-s. more •csent icn- 'leir Crystal Cascade. 4 i-^\ ,n "J 'i'\ 1 ■ ' i 4 .i ' ":t ■j- ;{ |l 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)lin710 " 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- 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()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 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 ' r- 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 .