Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1856-06-05
STAR.
CROSSING THE MOUNTAINS.
[EDIroRIAL C0RREsPoNDENcK,l
CINCINNATI, May 81, 1855

CINCINNATI, May 81, 1886.
This trip was our first journey over the Ale
ghanies by railroad. and also our first through
the interior of Ohio The most remarkable
point striking US upon the journey is the go
lidity and perfection with which the Balti-
more and Ohio railroad is constructed and fur
nished from end to end. To person who has
spent many years in the business of civil en-.
gineer, such trip discloses instantly whore
the immense amount of money has gone which
the road cost. Nowhere else in this country is
there railroad, Of considerable length, neces-
sarily costing anything like the average sum
per mile that this road must have cost; nor ia
there another considerable railroad in the
United States built like this, apparently for
all time. Everything about it is substantial,
from the cut stone water-tanks, that look like
Notifications along its line, at regular dis
tances, and the stone cut viaducts, some of
them apparently three hundred feet high
from foundation to road surface-to its many
tunnels, three of which are said to bore the
mountain over half mile through-one more
than three quarters Of mile. l know not
the precise number Of tunnels on the line, but
three Of them are immense works indeed,
each having cost millions of dollars. The
longest is now being lined with an arched
easement Of brick, which is probably necss-
sary to the completion and security from dam
gerOus slides Of all such works Of civil engi.
neeriug. The highest point on the routeiis
said to be 1900 feet above tide water. The
consequent great change in the temperature
made me quite sensible of the soundness of
the scientific axiom with reference to the va
riatiOns of the thermometer at different alti.
tudes.
In Washington, on Thursday last the light
est summer garb was all sufficient for com
fort At Piedmont, the point at which the i'm
mediate crossing of the Alleganies commences,
we were glad to find the car stove being
lighted. Day break caught US at Altamont,
the highest point on the road, where it was
showing. The difference between the temper
ature at the immediate foot of the mountairs
and their summit, was II degrees OF Fahren-
heit, and perhaps "a degrees between the
temperature of Washington City and the
mountains top. The ascent from Piedmont t.
Altamont is fifteen miles. From thence there
Is a run of twelve or fifteen miles along the
top of the mountain with slightly varying
changes Of level; at the end of which" The
Summit"--the descent commences. The
mountain track indeed begins at the Point Of
Rocks, where the road intersects the Bull
Run ridge, or easternmOst spur Of the Blue
Ridge. The work between the Point Of Roc Ks
and Harper Ferry was stupendous in its daf-
ing and cost, being in its day the most expen-
sive ever constructed in any cOuntry-requir
ing rock cutting for miles in some places, one
hundred feet deep along the face of the noun
points, and through the solid walls of which
the river bursts its way just below its juncture
with the Shenandoah, making the world re-
nowned gorge that has rendered the scenery
at uarper's Ferry so famous.
The ascent from Harper Ferry to Cumber-
land, though less costly, is through avery pie
turesque country, the road hugging the Ches
apeake and OHIO Canal bank in many places
From Cumberland, the great centre of the
Maryland coal trade, to Piedmont, the route
is along the valley of the Potomac, which
grows small by degrees and beautifully less,
until one might almost clear it with hop.
skip and jump! The scenery is beautiful be-
yond description on that portion of the route,
not stunning in it. grandeur, as upon the
western descent from the mountain tops. Hcie
the road winds around the base of mountain
spurs, many of them apparently isolated, and
though Of no great height, exceedingly in
teresting on account of the charming variety
they give to the scene. Some rise suddenly
like cones, others gently, others are faced with
perpendicular wall of rock laying in we'll
defined strata and having the appearance Of
human masonic work. The valley thrcu sh
that particular region is very narrow, and
being fertile, is eapitally cultivated, wearing
at this time a carpet Of green.
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