IO SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 65 



On July 29 the party, accompanied by Mr. Gregg and Mr. Hatha- 

 way of the Weather Bureau, left Los Angeles for Lone Pine, Inyo 

 County, California. After arrival there in the morning a suitable 

 place was found for the lower station, and final arrangements were 

 made for the guide and pack train for the mountain party. The 

 disposition of the observers was to be Angstrom and Kennard at the 

 upper station, Brewster and an assistant at the intermediate station, 

 where observations were to be made only in the mornings and even- 

 ings, and, finally, Williams and Brackett at the lower station. 



On Thursday, July 31, the mountain party set out from Lone Pine 

 with Elder, the Mexican guide, a cook, a pack train of seven mules, 

 and a light cart to convey the party up the incline to the foot of 

 Lone Pine Canyon, whence the ascent would have to be made on foot 

 or in the saddle. After some prospecting on the way, the inter- 

 mediate station was located on a crag overlooking the canyon from a 

 precipitous height of several hundred feet. Here Brewster was 

 stationed and was later joined by a Mexican helper. Leaving Brew- 

 ster, the party climbed that night to Elder's camp, at an elevation 

 of nearly 3,000 meters. In spite of a storm which began with rain in 

 the night and changed to snow, increasing in severity the next day, the 

 summit was reached early in the afternoon. A thrilling electric 

 storm raged for some time. Every point of rock and the tips of the 

 nails and hair emitted electric discharges. But the little stone-and- 

 iron building of the Smithsonian Institution furnished shelter. That 

 the climbing of the mountain, with many instruments and a large 

 pack train, succeeded without an accident, is largely due to the 

 excellent work of Mr. G. F. Marsh, of Lone Pine, who had worked 

 for weeks with a gang of 20 men to open up the trail, so that the 

 ascent might be possible for men and pack animals carrying pro- 

 visions, instruments, and fuel. Even so, in its upper reaches the 

 trail passes over long slopes of ice and snow and clings to the face 

 of naked and rugged steeps, where a false step would be fatal. 



On the top of the mountain, a short distance from the house, is 

 a little flat-roofed stone shelter about six feet square and eight feet 

 high. In and upon this shed most of the instruments were set up. 



On the whole, the weather upon the mountain was very favorable 

 for the work of the expedition. Observations were made on seven 

 nights out of a possible ten. Besides the hourly records of nocturnal 

 radiation, the solar radiation was measured at suitable intervals 

 throughout the day, and complete records were kept of the tempera- 

 ture, humidity, and pressure of the air at the summit. Strong winds 



