341 
- . oftlieSlldeofAlpnach. 
This singular road has been constructed at considerable ex- 
pence; though, as it goes, almost for its whole length, through 
a forest, the materials of construction were at hand, and of small 
value. , It contains, we are told thirty thousand trees ; it is, in 
general^ supported on cross timbers, that are themselves sup- 
ported by uprights fixed in the ground ; and these cross tim- 
bers are sometimes close to the surface ; they are occasionally 
under it, and sometimes elevated to a great height above it* It 
crossesvin its way three great ravines, one at the height of 64' 
feet, another at the height of 103, and the third, where it goes 
along the face of a rock, at that of 157 ; in two places it is con- 
veyed under ground. It was finished in 1812. 
‘‘ The trees which descend by this conveyance are spruce 
firs, very straight, and of great size. All their branches are 
lopped off; they are stripped of the bark, and the surface, of 
course, made tolerably smooth. The trees, or logs, of which 
c the trough is built, are dressed with the axe, but without much 
care. 
“ All being thus prepared, the tree is launched , with the root 
end foremost, into the steep part of the trough, and in a few 
seconds acquires such a velocity as enables it to reach the lake 
in the short space of six minutes ; a result altogether astonish- 
ing, when it is considered that the distance is more than eight 
miles, that the average declivity is but one foot in seventeen, 
and that the route which the trees have to follow is often cir- 
cuitous, and in some places almost horizontal. 
Where large bodies are moved with such velocity as has 
now been described, and so tremendous a force of course pro- 
duced, every thing had need to be done with the utmost regula- 
rity ; every obstacle carefully removed that can obstruct the 
motion, or that might suffer by so fearful a collision. Every 
thing, accordingly, with regard to launching off the trees, is di- 
rected by telegraphic signals. All along the slide, men are 
stationed, at different distances, from half a mile to three quar- 
ters, or more, but so that every station may be seen from the 
next, both above and below. At each of these stations, also, is a 
telegraph, consisting of a large board like a door, that turns at 
its middle on a horizontal axle. When the board is placed up- 
right, it is seen from the tWo adjacent stations ; when it is turn-- 
voL. vr. xo. 12. APiJit 1822. z 
