EXPLORATIONS AMONG THE WHITE MOUNTAINS. 89 



"5. It has been satisfactorily ascertained that no private individuals have any title to 

 the surface of the summit of Mt. Washington, but the same is held by the state of 

 New Hampshire, from whom and by the legislature of which the charter of the Mt. 

 Washington Road Company was granted. 



"6. When the building, with an observatory attached, shall be completed, and fur- 

 nished with the necessary instruments, scientific observations may be kept up through- 

 out the entire year, giving, over the telegraph wires to Washington, New York, Cincin- 

 nati, &c., three times each day (viz., sunrise, meridian, and sunset), the record of 

 the thermometer, barometer, and wind, and also the duration and power of storms. 



"7. Mt. Washington has been for years past, and will be for years to come, the cul- 

 minating point of many of the most important and interesting observations connected 

 with the coast surveys under charge of Prof. Bache, and which are now becoming of 

 so much acknowledged practical utility to the great commercial interests of the United 

 States, and of the world. 



"8. It is evident that if an observatory, for the use of the government and the benefit 

 of the public, is ever to be erected on the summit of Mt. Washington, it should be 

 built in connection with the house now about to be commenced, and both constructed 

 in the most durable and permanent manner, not only to resist the force of the elements, 

 but also for the safety and comfort of those whom it may be necessary to station there 

 during the winter season for scientific observations, and who will be wholly inaccessible 

 to those below for at least five consecutive months. 



"9. The proposition to the United States government will embrace all the advan- 

 tages of furnishing an excellent road for its use, and keeping the same in repair, 

 erecting a tower for scientific observations, with movable dome, and with a centre 

 isolated pillar on which to place instruments, with sufficient rooms for observations, and 

 also for the use of any scientific corps it may be necessary to place there, with appur- 

 tenances for heating the same during the winter months. These rooms, together with 

 the observatory, to be entirely under the control of the government, and, if desirable, 

 built under the inspection of scientific gentlemen to be named by the president." 



" To the Honorable Senate and House of Representatives of the United 

 States in Congress assembled: 



"The president and directors of the Mt. Washington Road Company propose 

 to the United States government to build, for the use of the government 

 and for scientific purposes, an observatory on the top of Mt. Washington, 

 in the state of New Hampshire, in the manner following, to wit : 



"i. The observatory to be 25 feet square, with walls 4 feet in thickness, and to be 

 not less than 40 feet high above the top of Mt. Washington. 



"2. The rooms inside to be 17 feet square, or of an octagon form, and a stone pillar 

 to be erected in the centre from the foundation to the top, entirely disconnected with 

 VOL. I. 12 



