EXPLORATIONS AMONG THE WHITE MOUNTAINS. 



77 



a terrible effect upon the sides of the Mt. Washington range. The 

 whole line was devastated by land-slides. A party ascending the Ammo- 

 noosuc soon after, counted thirty along their path, some of which ravaged 

 more than a hundred acres of the wilderness. On the declivities towards 

 North Conway, it was thought that this one storm dismantled more of 

 the great range than all the rains of a hundred years before. As soon 

 as the fate of the Willey family became known, relatives at Conway, and 

 many neighbors, hurried to the notch. An immense slide had come 

 down the mountain directly towards the house, but had been divided by 

 a huge boulder thirty feet high, in the rear of the buildings, uniting again 

 in front. A portion of the stable had been swept away. The doors of 

 the house were all open, and beds and clothing showed that the family 

 had hurriedly left. They had probably fled from the only place of safety 

 at just the moment to be overwhelmed in the terrible pathway of the 



Fig. 9. THE WILLEY SLIDE AND MONUMENT. 



slide. The whole family, Mr. Willey, his wife, and five children, together 

 with two hired men, had perished. Search for the bodies was at once 

 commenced. The first found was that of one of the hired men, David 

 Allen, a man of powerful frame and remarkable strength. He was found 



