88 PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY. 



the purpose of taking meteorological observations. Others said that a 

 firm in Boston had offered five thousand dollars for the same object, with 

 the avowed purpose of publishing the journal of the observers' experience, 

 expecting to be reimbursed for the large expenditure by the sale of the 

 books. In the efforts during the fall of 1870 to raise funds for the me- 

 teorological expedition then undertaken, every such report was carefully 

 scrutinized, but none could be traced to any reliable source. Even 

 to the present time, people at the mountains still insist that somebody 

 had offered a very large sum for the purpose accomplished by the Mt. 

 Washington expedition. 



Perhaps the first attempt to establish a scientific observatory upon the 

 summit of Mt. Washington was made in 1853, by D. O. Macomber, 

 president of the Mt. Washington Road Company. I have seen no one 

 who recalls the extent of the effort made at this time, but can reproduce 

 a circular setting forth the importance of the enterprise, and a petition 

 to congress for assistance. 



"UNITED STATES OBSERVATORY ON MT. WASHINGTON. 



"The arguments in favor of establishing a permanent building on the top 



of Mt. Washington, for scientific purposes, are numerous and weighty. 



Among them are, 



" i. Mt. Washington is the highest accessible point of land in the United States, east 

 of the Rocky Mountains, being 6,285 f eet above the level of the sea, according to 

 actual measurements made by William A. Goodwin, Esq., civil engineer, in 1852, who 

 was employed for that purpose by the Atlantic & St. Lawrence Railroad Company. 



"2. The construction of a Macadamized carriage-road, chartered by the state of New 

 Hampshire, in July, 1853, and which will be completed in 1854, will render the ascent 

 of the mountain easy for such portions of the year as it is desirable to continue scien- 

 tific observations. 



" 3. A line of telegraph is to be constructed to the summit of Mt. Washington, con- 

 necting with the line now in operation from Portland to Montreal, and which line 

 connects at Portland with lines to Boston, New York, Washington, Cincinnati, &c., &c. 



" 4. A large hotel is to be erected on the top of the mountain by the Mt. Washington 

 Road Company, which hotel, together with the necessary out-buildings, will occupy all 

 the available space on the summit which is suitable for such purposes, and which is 

 already laid out and commenced, and will be completed during the year 1854. The 

 company who erected the first building of any kind on the summit, form a portion of 

 the present incorporation, and merge all their interests in the new building. 



