AMONG THE COAL MINERS. 205 



tleman some time ago obtained permission of the 

 owners to run an excursion train over the road 

 twice a day ; and parties are now taken over the 

 route in comfortable little cars, without locomotives 

 or driving power of any kind. To reach the road 

 proper, it is necessary to ascend to the top of 

 Mount Pisgah, a precipitous dome in front of the 

 hotel upon the opposite side of the river, and about 

 thirteen hundred feet high. We take an omnibus, 

 which carries us up four hundred feet to a niche 

 in the mountain, and here stepping into the car we 

 are drawn up at an angle of forty-five degrees 

 to the top of Pisgah, nine hundred feet higher. 

 On the very apex of the mountain the stationary 

 engine is placed, with two huge smoking chimneys, 

 which give to the mountain the appearance of a 

 volcano. We started from this elevation on one 

 of the loveliest mornings in June, to make the 

 circuit of the " Switch Back," or what is sometimes 

 more properly called the " Gravity Road," and 

 this carries us over an extent of twenty-five miles 

 upon the tops and sides of mountain ranges. Our 

 first stage is down a gentle decline of nine miles to 

 the foot of Mount Jefferson, up which we are 

 drawn by another stationary engine. The way is 

 now a downward grade until we reach Summit 

 Hill, when we descend rapidly into the valley, 

 where most of the coal mines in working condition 



