1890 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



777 



*' Now, ladies and gentlemen, perhaps yovi would 

 like to get out audwalk a little, and get rest(>d." 

 After riding a good numy miles we were glad 

 to avail ourselves of this suggestion. On ar- 

 riving at the top we were also glad to get in 

 and ride down hill. Again the little aneroid 

 barometer was consulted. Yes. down the hill 

 the pointer indicated— 300, and finally 5(K) f(>et 

 lower. I noticed that, even for a few feet of the 

 descent, it recorded it quite accurately. 



I was cui-ious to observe that some peaks ap- 

 peared tobe very much higher than oth<n-s. Mr. 

 Coe informed me that sucli a [teak, ptiinting to 

 one that s<'em('d very much lower, was in reality 

 If 00 feet higher. As we rode along, every once 

 in a while a panorama of scenery w'ould open 

 up as a clear space between the trees gave us a 

 view. The Catskills, unlike the Rockies (the 

 latter are the result of upheavals), were made 

 by glaciers; and by intently looking at the 

 rocks, and the peculiar formation of the valleys, 

 as well as the shape of certain peaks, this ex- 

 planation seemed to be very reasonable. It 

 seemed funny to think that "this rugged and 

 mountainous country might at one time, before 

 the advent of the glaciers, have been level, like 

 our own State of Ohio. Just how long ago that 

 was, etc., I will leave to the geologist. 



AT THE MOUNTAIN HOUSE. 



We went through two or three little villages 

 that seemed to be sustained largely by pleasure- 

 seekers during the summer; and finally we 

 were told that we were in tlie vicinity of the 

 Mountain House and the Kaaterskill Hotel, and 

 presently we were in the rear of the former. 

 After stepping out of the wagons, our party 

 passed through the long hallway, then out into 

 the front, on to a large table rock. Here we 

 were, something over 3000 feet above the valley 

 of the Hudson River, overlooking an immense 

 cliff — a veritable balloon view it was indeed. 

 Two thousand feet down— what a sight! map- 

 like, here a village and there a village, and the 

 roadways winding hither and yon. The coun- 

 try beneath seemed to be perfectly flat; but I 

 was told that it was quite hilly. Twelve miles 

 distant (it did not seem half that far) was the 

 Hudson River. Mr. Coe handed us a field-glass. 

 Off in the di-stance the dav boat from Albany 

 was seen going down the river to iNew York 

 city. Further on were some of the mountains 

 in Vermont. In all my boyhood days I have 

 always desired th(> privilege of a balloon view, 

 that I might look down upon the country, and 

 view its maplike appearance; and here I was 

 with this aspiration fully realized, but without 

 the attendant dangers of aerial navigation. 



Our next point was the celebrated Kaaterskill. 

 Just as we were about to leave I noticed a 

 young lady and her beau. Like many another 

 gallant suitor, he essayed to climb" down a 

 ledge of the cliff' a little way to pluck a little 

 mountain rose that the girl admired and ex- 

 pressed a wish for. As he clung nervously to a 

 little niche of the rock I fairly held my breath 

 for fear he would lose his scanty hold" and be 

 precipitated a thousand feet below. If he had 

 performed this feat to rescue a little child, I 

 would have taken off my hat in admiration. As 

 it was. I thought. " What a jjoor silly fool he 

 was, just to giatify a mei'e whim and fancy of a 

 girl, who could not have loved him much:" 



Through a winding and narrow path we 

 clambered fi'om one ledge of rock to another, 

 till that magnificent hotel, the Kaaterskill, 

 came into siglit— a structure that had cost ov(>r 

 a million of dollars, and its origin was — what do 

 you think? — a chicken. "Oh, yes!" said I; 

 •• we want to hear 



THAT CHICKEN STORY." 



To this Mr. Coe readily responded. A 

 certain rich man, before the Kaaterskill was 



constructed, together with liis family, was in 

 the habit of spending his summers at the Moun- 

 tain House. He was a very successful lawyer, 

 and hnincnsely wealthy; and whenever he went 

 "outing," he wanted the best that money 

 could buy. One day. while at the Mountain 

 House, iiisdaiighter at dinner called for chicken. 

 The waiter replied that they hadn't any that 

 day; and the proprietor, when apijealed to. set- 

 tled the matter by saying that they would not 

 go to the trouble of cooking just o/)c— not even 

 tor the Queen of England, much less for the 

 daughter of lawyer ^— . Much aggrieved and 

 insulted, as she thought, she related the cir- 

 cumstances to her father, and he likewise be- 

 came angry, and had some words with the pro- 

 prietor of the INIountain House. The result of 

 it was, we are told that he took a stroll among 

 the mountains that afternoon. He selected a 

 spot upon which to build a hotel that would 

 leave the Mountain House and every thing like 

 it far in the shade. He purchased a large tract 

 of mountain country; and although it was still 

 late, he announced that, before another season, 

 he would have a hotel up and ready for the 

 occupancy of guests. There was no railroad 

 there then; and during the bitter winter, work- 

 men nearly 3000 feet above the level of the 

 Hudson Valley, constructed what is now known 

 as the Kaaterskill Hotel. Timbers, etc., were 

 hauled up by wagons, at an enormous expense, 

 and carpenters had to be paid double wages, iu 

 order to be induced to work in such bitter cold. 

 The result was, the building was constructed 

 and ready on time. 



I do not remember exactly now, but I think 

 their rates were from twenty to forty dollars a 

 week. Single articles that cost in most places 

 5 cents were sold for 35. The wealth of New 

 Y^ork city pours in, and seems to delight in pay- 

 ing 3.5 cents for something that ordinarily costs 

 only 5. I believe it was only during the past 

 season that the hotel was made to pay expenses. 

 I was told that enormous quantities of leavings 

 from the table are wasted. For instance, if a 

 leg or wing of a turkey is cut off and not used 

 for a certain meal, turkey and all is thrown 

 away. This may be exaggeration; but there is 

 no doubt that there is an enormous amount of 

 stuff wasted. 



The proprietor of the Kaaterskill, when he 

 built this hotel, did so with the intention of 

 running out the proprietor of the Mountain 

 House. He would have every thing so mag- 

 nificent in its appointments that no one would 

 patronize his rival; but the result showed, as it 

 does every time, that his rival did a bigger busi- 

 ness than he ever did before. The maimer in 

 which the Kaaterskill was advertised and 

 boomed drew people. Those of more moderate 

 means, instead of patronizing it, went to the 

 Mountain House. 



A DOG stoky; his flying leap ovek the 



FALLS. 



After getting our party together we started 

 oui' again for another point— the Kaaterskill 

 Falls. The funny thing about it is, that they 

 are, to a certain extent, artiticial. They dam 

 the water up at the height of ITiOO feet, and 

 when a lot of ])eople are there to look on they 

 ojjen the gate and let the water fall, and thou- 

 sands of people go to see it. We then clamlx'red 

 down and down, until we were half way down 

 the gorge. AVe waited and waited for the water 

 to fall. A snuxll quantity was ruiuiing over, 

 but we waited in vain for a big onslaught. 

 There had been so many visitors that day. that 

 they had used uj) all the water. While we stood 

 down bv the bottom looking up, Mr. Coe told us 

 of a little incident. The owner of a handsome 

 and valuable dog had left his animal at the top 



