EXPLORATIONS AMONG THE WHITE MOUNTAINS. 8 1 



trees terminate and the arctic zone commences. This is occupied in 

 summer by a force of laborers, by whom the roadway is kept in a first- 

 rate condition. But the greatest triumph of engineering" skill is on the 

 west side of the mountain, and was first projected while the carriage- 

 road was in process of construction, but was not realized till several 

 years later. 



The first effort, in the direction of ascending Mt. Washington by steam- 

 power, was made by Mr. Sylvester Marsh, now residing at Littleton, N. 

 H., and the president of the Mt. Washington Railway Company. He 

 invented the special contrivances needed to adapt motive machines to a 

 highly inclined plane. It was found very difficult at the outset to con- 

 vince mechanicians and capitalists of the feasibility of this ascending 

 railway. Mr. Marsh commenced the work, relying chiefly upon his own 

 private resources, and little encouragement was afforded by capitalists 

 till an engine was actually running over a portion of the route. In 1858 

 the application was made to the legislature of New Hampshire to grant 

 a charter for a steam railway from their bases to the summits of Mts. 

 Washington and Lafayette. A model of the invention was exhibited, 

 and it was stated that the petitioner and his friends would assume the 

 expense of the enterprise. After considerable ridicule, this charter was 

 charitably granted, with the usual formula of railroad laws in the state. 

 The actual work of construction was delayed for a number of years. As 

 a preliminary operation it was found desirable to build the new turnpike, 

 already noticed, from the stage road to the point where the ascent by 

 rail should commence, upon which work was begun in April, 1 866. Some 

 five miles from the starting-point this road passes through a clearing of 

 perhaps a hundred acres, called " Twin River Farm." This spot is about 

 five hundred feet above the White Mountain house, and is spoken of as 

 possibly the site of the future junction of the Mt. Washington Railway 

 with the extension of the Boston, Concord & Montreal Railroad branch 

 from near Littleton, now nearly completed to the Fabyan house. 



The Mt. Washington railroad was commenced in May, 1866. It starts 

 from a point 2,668 feet above the level of the sea, and 3,625 below the 

 summit. The distance traversed is two miles and thirteen sixteenths. 

 The average grade is 1,300 feet to the mile, the maximum being 1,980 

 feet to the mile, or thirteen and a half inches to the yard. There are 

 vol. 1. 11 



