Account of the celebrated Slide of Alpnach. IIS 
After the trees had descended the slide, they were collected 
into rafts upon the lake, and conducted to Lucerne. From 
thence they descended the Reuss,- then the Aar to near Brugg, 
afterwards to Waldshut by the Rhine, then to Basle, and even 
to the sea when it was necessary. 
In order that none of the small wood might be lost, M. Rupp 
established in the forest large manufactories of charcoal. He 
erected magazines for preserving it when manufactured, arid 
had made arrangements for the construction of barrels for the 
purpose of carrying it to the market. In winter, when the 
slide was covered with snow, the barrels were made to descend 
on a kind of sledges. The wood which was not fit for being 
carbonised, was heaped up and burnt, and the ashes packed up 
and carried away during the winter. 
A few days before the author of the preceding account visit- 
ed the slide, an Inspector of the Navy had come for the pur- 
pose of examining the quality of the timber. He declared that 
he had never seen any timber that was so strong, so fine, and 
of such a size, and he concluded an advantageous bargain for 
1000 trees. 
Such is a brief account of a work undertaken and executed 
by a single individual, and which has excited a very high de- 
gree of interest in every part of Europe. We regret to add, 
that this magnificent structure no longer exists, and that scarce- 
ly a trace of it is to be seen upon the flanks of Mount Pilatus. 
Political circumstances having taken away the principal source of 
the demand for timber, and no other market having been found, 
the operation of cutting and transportings the trees necessarily 
ceased. The money, we understand, which was paid for the Fo- 
rest, has been employed in building at Alpnach a church, in 
every respect disproportioned to the population and resources 
of the village 
* Ml- Playfair’s very interesting paper upon the Slide of Alpnach, will appear 
in the IXth Vol. of the Edinburgh Transactions, now in the press. 
VOL. II. NO. 3 . JANUAUY 1820 . 
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