APPENDIX A. 
DISTANT POINTS VISIBLE FROM MT. WASHINGTON.* 
By W. H. Prckerinc. 
F an observer were to go up four particular peaks in the White Mountains he 
could see all the distant points visible from any of the other summits, together 
with a good many more not visible from them. These four peaks are Washington, 
Moosilauke, Passaconnaway, and Lafayette. I name them in the order of the extent 
of the distant views obtained from them alone. Now, looking at the subject the other 
way, no matter from what distant point the White Mountains are seen, one of these 
four points must always be the most conspicuous object in view, provided no near hills 
intervene. By means of the following formule the distance visible from any mountain 
may be readily calculated, and also the elevation a mountain must have in order to see 
acertain distance: d=4,/ h, h—=4d?, where d=distance in miles, and 4= eleva- 
tion in feet. They may also be used to calculate mountain profiles as seen from dis- 
tant points. In this connection I may add that there is a slight inaccuracy in the 
Guide Book relating to Chocorua. It says,—‘‘It is the noblest peak in all the view 
from Washington, and lifts its white pyramidal ledges far into the sky, flanked by bare 
supporting ridges.” This must be a rhetorical hyperbole, for it is not at all true. 
And far from lifting its pyramidal ledges into the sky, it does not even come up to the 
level of the horizon by 420 feet. 
For some time there has been a question whether Katahdin was visible from Wash- 
ington or not. It is 163 miles distant, and would be the most distant point from which 
ithe White Mountains could be seen. According to calculation, 3500 feet of it should 
be visible if the land between were on the level of the sea. Now the horizon line as 
seen from Mt. Washington passes five or ten miles south-west of Moosehead lake. 
Moosehead lake has an elevation of 1023 feet above the sea. Now, allowing the land 
* Read before the Appalachian Mountain Club, October 11, 1876. 
