Worcester daily spy. [volume] (Worcester [Mass.]) 1850-1888, 1859-07-23
From Galignani's Messenger.

The Pass OF THE STELvIo.-The Stelvio
Pass is in the mountains which Join the Rhet-
ian Alps to the mass of the Ortler, and con-
fine the upper part of the Valtelina. 1t is the
highest point in Europe over which man has
carried a road but, Notwithstanding that pc
cuarity, it is but little known, being out of the
line ordinarily taken by tourists. 1t is 1859
feet high, that is, 2183 feet higher than the
Mount st. Bernard, over which no vehicle can
pass, and nearly 1000 feet above the region of
perpetual snow. When the Treaties of Wen
ma placed Lombardy and Veniia under the
domination of Austria, that power became de-
sirous to open direct communication between
Vienna and Milan and as the road by Istria
and Carinthia, in the south, and that by Salz-
burg, lnnspruck, and the Brenuer, to the
north, were very kong and difficult, whilst the
road by the Valley of the Inn, the Col of La
ever Swiss territory, the Austrian Govern
ment resolved to construct road over the Col
of Stelvio. The road begins to ascend
near the little town of Glurns. 1t then
enters a narrow valley, which is trav-
ersed by the torrent of the glaciers of the
Orter, and ascends slightly for about two
leagues. Then the zlgzags commence, and they
lead to a spot from which are seen the glaciers
of the Cristalo in front, and to the left the Ort-
lerSpitz, a cone covered with frozen snow,
l2,05o feet high, and the eliminating point of
all the Tyrol. To the right is the Col of Stel-
Vlo, with the intermediate zigzags which lead
to Its summit. In the course of these windngs
are seven long galleries OF tunnels, solidIy
built, the object of which is to protect the most
exposed parts of the roads against avalanches
and falls of stones These galleries have saw.
ed the lives of many travellers. AT the spot
where they begin all vegetation has ceased !;
there is nothing but rock and snow even the
roaring OF torrents is not heard and the
death-like stiffness which prevails is only occa-
sonally Interrupted by the cry of the eagle,
the fall OF tvalanches, or the raging of storms.
AT the topof the Col there is no hospital, as at
St Bernarl, no shelter Of any kind, nothing
but stone bearing an inscription that the Col
is the boundary of three different countries, the
Tyrol, Italy, and Switzerland, and that it
is 1850 feet higher than the Coils of the
Simpon, st. Gothard, Mount Gems, &C.
In descending on the side of the Val
feline, after a while some large build
ings are found, which serve as hotels, po-
liGe offices, and barracks for soldiers. They
are situated in the upper part of the valley of
Beaulio, in which the various torrents unite
to form the AIDA. From the Col to this sta
ton the road descends in zig-zags between
high banks of stone. Further on it enters
a trightful defile called the Horrors of Bor-
milo, being an immense rent in the mountain,
full of precipices, and at the AIDA roaring
along In this deie the road is carried over
precipices by means of bridges, through mass
es of rocks by means Of tunnels, and in some
casses it passes beneath cascades. At last it
reaches Bormio and there the passage of the
colonies. The contrast between the beauty of
the country beyond Bormio and the horrible
defile is most striking. On the map Glurns
and Bormio seem near together; but the
winding road Which unites them is fifteen
leagues long, and is everywhere so steep that
only pedestrians, horses or light mail carts
can pass over it. The expenses of making the
road must have been enormous, and the engi-
neering immense.