153 



great changes have been witnessed in the travel of this 

 region. 



Tuesday, Sept. 11. — The main portion of the party- 

 left this morning for the Crawford House, four or five 

 miles distant, and spent the day among its many attrac- 

 tions. This is one of the loveliest and most homelike 

 spots in the mountains. A large number rode to the 

 Willey House,^ and other places of interest were visited. 



Some of the party ascended Mount Washington in the 

 forenoon, going to the Crawford House in the afternoon. 

 There was formerly a stage ride of a few miles from the 

 Fabyan House to the mountain railway station at the base. 

 Within a year or two, however, the inevitable railway- 

 train, with its puffing locomotive, has penetrated the 

 woods, and it now follows the Amonoosuck along its 

 winding way and in the direction of its source, the grade 

 at the last part of the distance being so very steep as 

 to render friction propulsion something to marvel at. 

 Among the curiosities at the summit is a daily paper, 

 well printed and full of mountain gossip. An edition of 

 from 400 to 1000 copies has been regularly issued and 

 sold. Every one visiting this region buys a copy to send 

 home. The temperature was very mild and comfortable 



' Among the present Institute party, was Mr. S. P. Richardson, of Salem, ac- 

 companied by his brother-iudaw^ Mr. Bowker. It was a matter of more than ordi- 

 nary interest to Mr. Richardson, as he visited the Willey House, that his father. 

 Rev. Phineas Richardson, in the year 1826, vehile settled at Lower Gilmanton, 

 K. H., went through tliis section on liorseback, with saddle-bags, in the interest of 

 the Baptist denomination, and under the auspices of the New Hampshire Baptist 

 Convention, as a preacher in destitute iilaces. He stoppeil with the Willey family 

 just two weeks before they were destroyed by the avalanche, and read with tliem 

 out of the same Bible that is still preserved in the house. Every reader, we pre- 

 sume, knows that the Willey family, and two persons in Capt. Willey's employ, 

 were destroyed by a slide while trying to escape from their house, wliich proved 

 to be the only place of safety. There were other slides in the mountains at the 

 same time. They occurred during one of the most terrible storms that ever swept 

 through this region — one, probably, that has never since been equalled. 



