THE ADIEONDACKS. 73 



House, Keeseville, there is excellent accommodation. Both 

 places are reached by steamer from "Whitehall and Burhug- 

 ton, and also by railroad from Montreal. Tourists often take 

 the Keeseville route in order to visit the celebrated chasm 

 of the Ausable Eiver, a magnificent mountain gorge of most 

 romantic effects and picturesque scenery. There is also a 

 route to Saranac Lake from this point, which passes through 

 AVilmington Notch and skirts the base of " Whiteface Mount- 

 ain," and thence continues on through North Elba, where 

 may be seen the tomb of John Brown, of Harper's Ferry 

 renown. There is a road to the top of "TThiteface," whence 

 can be had an illimitable ^^ew of the Wilderness. This route 

 altogether affords the most remarkable and varied sceneiy to 

 be found in the Adirondacks ; and a visit ■will well repay 

 those lovers of nature who have never yet " wet a Hue " or 

 "drawn a bead on a deer." 



By the other route there is a romantic bit of sceneiy at 

 the Franklin Falls of the Saranac ; but its natural charms 

 ai'e disfigured by one of those utilitarian improvements, a 

 saw-mill. Here is the " half-way house " where passengers 

 for Smith's and Martin's dine. Two seasons ago, while in- 

 dulging in a post-prandial cigar, I took the trouble to count 

 the names on the little hotel register, an4 found that they 

 numbered fifteen hundred! and the season was only half 

 over. These, however, included those going out as well as 

 those going in. (When a man is headed for the Wilderness, 

 he is said to be " going in.") 



There are two other routes from the east, namely, from 

 Westport, and from Crown Point, on Lake Champlain. Both 

 of these take the visitor into the heart of the mountains, the 

 birth-place of winds and the nursery of snow-fed river-sources. 

 Here old '•' Boreas Mountain " dwells ; here is Boreas Lake, 

 the fountain-head of Boreas Eiver. Here also are Lakes 

 Sanford, Henderson, and Deha, which are often resorted to 

 by pertinacious sportsmen ; but as these are more accessible 

 from the south by the old Fort Edward stage-route, or the 



