78 PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY. 



near the top of a pile of earth and shattered timbers, with "hands 

 clenched, and full of broken sticks and small limbs of trees." The bodies 

 of Mrs. Willey and her husband were also discovered, but so crushed as 

 to be hardly recognized. Rude coffins were prepared, and the next day, 

 Friday, about sunset, they were buried in a single wide grave, and the 

 simple burial service was offered, amid the solemnity and desolation of 

 the mountains. The bodies of two of the children and the other hired 

 man, David Nickerson, were found a day or two after, and also buried, 

 but the remaining three children were never discovered. 



HOTELS, AND MODES OF ASCENT. 



Soon after the completion of the rude bridle-path in 1821, by Ethan 

 Crawford, it was perceived that a house of some sort was needed upon 

 the summit, where visitors could spend the night. Hence Mr. Crawford 

 constructed a stone cabin near the top of Mt. Washington, by the side of 

 a spring. In this was spread an abundance of soft moss for beds ; and 

 thus travellers were enabled to view the setting and rising of the sun. 

 After a while a small stove was brought up, with an iron chest and a 

 long roll of sheet lead. The chest was the receptacle for the camping 

 blankets, and the lead was the register for visitors. Every winter this 

 house was seriously damaged. The roof would be blown away, and the 

 stones fall down from the walls, the chest and stove remaining, sadly 

 rusted. Finally, at the great storm of August 28, 1826, when the Willey 

 family were destroyed, this cabin, with the iron chest and the blankets, 

 was swept down the steep slope and lost. A party had taken possession 

 for the night, but were terrified by the violence of the storm, and had 

 hastened down the mountain just in time to save their lives. 



In 1852, J. S. Hall and L. M. Rosebrook built the Summit house on 

 the very top of the mountain. It is twenty-four by sixty-four feet, quite 

 low, with very thick walls of stone firmly cemented together, and bolted 

 down to the solid rock. Over the roof are four strong cables. This 

 house has now stood for more than twenty years. 



A year later the Tip-top house was built by Samuel F. Spalding & Co. 

 It is twenty-eight by eighty-four feet, and was built in the same substan- 

 tial manner as the other. These two houses were originally under 

 different management, but after 1859 they were both leased by the 



