388 PHILOSOPHY OF STORMS. 



line where the soil and vegetation terminate, and growing 

 wider as they descended, were estimated to contain more 

 than a hundred acres. These were all on the western side 

 of the mountains. They were composed of the whole sur- 

 face of the earth, with all its growth of woods, and its loose 

 rocks, to the depth of fifteen, twenty, and thirty feet. And 

 wherever the slides of the two projecting mountains met, 

 forming a vast ravine, the depth was still greater. 



Such was the report which the party from the mountains 

 gave. The intelligence which Mr. Crawford, and the gen- 

 tleman accompanying him, brought from the Notch, was of 

 a more melancholy nature. The road, though a turnpike, 

 was in such a state, that they were obliged to walk to the 

 Notch house, lately kept by Mr. Willey, a distance of six 

 miles. All the bridges over the Amonoosuck, five in num- 

 ber, those over the Saco, and those over the tributary streams 

 of both, were gone. In some places, the road was exca- 

 vated to the depth of fifteen and twenty feet, and, in others, 

 it was covered with earth and rocks and trees, to as great 

 a height. In the Notch, and along the deep defile below it, 

 for a mile and a half to the Notch house, and as far as could 

 be seen beyond it, no appearance of the road, except in one 

 place, for two or three rods, could be discovered. The steep 

 sides of the mountain, first on one hand, then on the other, 

 and then on both, had slid down into this narrow passage, 

 and formed a continued mass from one end to the other; so 

 that a turnpike will probably not be made through it again 

 very soon, if ever. The Notch house was found uninjured, 

 though the barn adjoining it by a shed, was crushed, and 

 under its ruins were two dead horses. The house was en- 

 tirely deserted ; the beds were tumbled, their covering was 

 turned down, and near them, upon chairs and on the floor, 

 lay the wearing apparel of the several members of the fam- 

 ily, while the money and papers of Mr. Willey, were lying 

 in his open bar. From these circumstances, it seemed al- 



