NO. 1886 SHELTER ON MOUNT WHITNEY — ABBOT 505 



was SO discouraged that he sat down on the trail and cried, but got 

 up and went at it again. In the face of the opposition and the natu- 

 ral difficulties, I think very few men could have carried the job t(i 

 completion. Marsh worked at all kinds of jobs himself — cooking, 

 breaking stone, carrying stone, carrying snow for water, riveting and 

 cementing, as well as general bossing. He will never get paid in 

 this world for the work he did on that house. I hope the Secretary 

 will write him an appreciative letter of thanks. 



"I had set my apparatus up mainly by Thursday night, August 26. 

 Friday it snowed a little, but the house was finished Friday after- 

 noon, August 27. Two of the workmen went down that day, and 

 the masons on Saturday morning. On Friday about noon, three of 

 us being seated about the stove, one of the workmen tried to show 

 us how convenient a Smith & Wesson hammerless revolver is for 

 shooting from the pocket. He forgot it was loaded, and it went off 

 bang! and struck the stove pipe in the corner of the room. Fortu- 

 nately nobody was hurt and the stove pipe was too thick to pene- 

 trate, so that the bullet fell at his feet. This celebrated the comple- 

 tion of the house. 



"Mr. Campbell, with Messrs. Albrecht, McAdie, Dr. Miller, 

 Hoover, and Skinner, came about noon on Saturday, August 28. 

 They arrived in a thunder-storm of sleet. Lightning struck near by 

 just as they reached the door. It became partially clear on the fol- 

 lowing Wednesday, and Campbell secured good observations on 

 Wednesday and Thursday nights. My own preparations were set 

 back by the storm, so that I only got ready Thursday afternoon. 

 September 2. Friday morning was beautiful, and I think my obser- 

 vations of that forenoon were satisfactory. I took two holographs 

 also about 2 and 5 p. m. of Friday afternoon between clouds. On 

 Sa-turday it snowed 4 inches. Mr. Campbell and party went down. 

 They almost lost one mule among the rocks (had to leave the mule 

 behind after two hours' work, but it went down the trail the follow- 

 ing Wednesday), and three others slid off of the ice on the east side 

 of the range and rolled a hundred feet or so. The Smithsonian has 

 been so fortunate as not to have had any of the animals in its employ 

 injured during the whole operations. This no doubt is largely due 

 to the skill of the head packer, Horace Elder, of Lone Pine. He 

 is said to be perhaps the most skilled packer in California, and his 

 good nature and eagerness to do his best for us in the work were 

 very refreshing. After waiting several days without much improve- 

 ment in the weather, Mr. Marsh and I left on Wednesday, Septem- 

 ber 8. I hope it will be possible for me to complete my work up 

 there next July or early August, when the weather will probabl\- 

 be better. We were very unfortunate this year in being up there 

 while storms prevailed in Mexico and all over the Rocky Mountain 

 States. 



"A little later I hope to send pictures taken on Mount Whitney. 

 One of the pictures which I did not get would have represented me 

 on the back seat of the auto riding the 50 miles to Little Lake, 

 holding my pyrheliometer box in my arms in a desperate effort to 



