XI 

 A MOUNTAIN ROAD ON THE HUDSON 



All roads have a character of their own which 

 affords some interest to the passer-by; but now 

 and then a road is met that has a striking 

 individuality, as is the case with one climbing 

 Storm King Mountain. This road is replete with 

 features peculiar to itself, rugged beauty, grandeur 

 of outlook, and quaint woodland charm. Though 

 some beautiful roads have been evolved in a hap- 

 hazard way this is no chance road. 



A quarter of a mile from the highway, in a 

 nook blasted out of the rocky hillside, the house 

 was built. After long study and much weary 

 tramping a line of road leading to the house was 

 devised, creeping along the difficult contours and 

 crossing them at times so as to double twice on 

 itself in a length less than a mile. It passed through 

 thick woods; across deep ravines; plowed through 

 necks of land, forcing its way upward to the 

 house, its final destination. Much of the road 

 was dynamited from the solid rock and the hollows 

 were filled with the blasted fragments. 



Thus a solid rock foundation existed every- 

 where either by nature or by filling. Rocky walls 

 towered at places and at others steep declivities 

 dropped abruptly away to unseen depths. At 

 certain points drainage streams, flowing out of 



[43] 



