16 Various Facts. 



he relaxes the pressure of the lever, when the car springs forward 

 like spirited horses at the word of their master, makes the illusion al- 

 most complete.* 



On the whole, whether we regard scenery, science, comfort, amuse- 

 ment, or health, Mauch Chunk may be presented to every intel- 

 ligent traveller as a point of peculiar attraction and gratification and 

 its extraordinary combination of rare and strange features, grouped in 

 a wild and almost savage spot, partially softened and subdued into 

 civilization and comfort by man, cannot fail to excite and to satisfy 

 an increasing public curiosity. 



There is here, a very ample and comfortable public house ren- 

 dered an agreeable home, by the kindness and intelligence of Mr. and 

 Mrs. Kimball. There are stages to Pottsville situated among the 

 Schuylkill mines and to the Susquehanna and Delaware rivers. 



At the Mauch Chunk mine the intelligent stranger is gratified by 

 the urbanity and frankness of Mr. Holland the immediate superin- 

 tendant, and at Mauch Chunk village, every information may be ob- 

 tained from the head of the entire establishment for the mines and 

 the navigation, Mr. Josiah White, than whom it would be difficult to 

 find, in any country, a gentleman more perfectly master of his own ar- 

 duous duties, or more courteous and interesting to the enquiring stran- 

 ger. His intelligence, perseverance, and energy, have been decisive 

 in securing the success of the company, of which he is the head, 

 whose expenditure of ^2,500,000, now places them in a situation to 

 give the fullest effect to their mining operations, and to secure the 

 most extensive market for their invaluable coal. Mr. White states, 

 in a published document, that their rail way alone has saved them 

 ^50,000 but that he does not think it economical, on account of the 

 wear and tear, to travel on rail ways faster than six miles an hour 

 with heavy loads, unless with passengers and valuable goods, which 

 will bear heavy tolls, so as to reimburse the expense of repairs, which 

 is of course greater as the motion is more rapid. Still, he is of opin- 

 ion that a rail road may be constructed sufficiently solid, strong and 

 true to admit of a motion of sixty miles an hour for a short time. — 

 The lockage from Mauch Chunk to Bristol on tide water, is five hun- 

 dred and twenty four feet, in a distance of one hundred and six miles, 



* The proprieter informs us, that the pleasure cars generally do not go so fast as is 

 mentioned in the text; they are carefully and frequently inspected and they are made 

 of a strength which places them beyond the danger of breaking, by ordinary use ; — 

 when going at the rate of twenty miles an hour they can be stopped within a dis- 

 tance of fifty or one hundred feet, by the breaks attached to them. 



