Civilian & telegraph. [volume] (Cumberland, Md.) 1859-1875, 1859-09-08

Is with the influence of the solemn poetry of
Nature, whose Sd,lctum SanctOrum we seemed
to have invaded. The shrillnot of the steam
whistle recalled us to the realities Of our po-
stion, and we reluctantly resumed our seats
to be whirled alongon our westward journey"
must go back iiaeen or twenty miles, how
ovsr, to spot not SO remarkable in itself as
in the thought which there meets you. It is
the western edge Of the summit-level Of the
Mississppi--thc far-reachng elevation stand
ing upon which, lit has seemed to you, as you
approached it from the Atlantic side,) you
might hang your hat on the evening star
But, suspend your admiration for u moment!
What is the name of this grand threshold Of
tine West? To think Of pausing on SO sub
lime spot, and, as you remember that
Westward the course Of empire takes lis way,
inquiriug, with the suppressed breath Of rev.
ercntial awe how they have nainel it, and be-
ing told-Cranberry Summit Cranberry
Summit "a name cOmnemorating, not that
this is the starting point of the wealth-laden
waters of a grand half-continent, but that
here the children Of the early sqatters found
sour berries, and got their first indigenous
stomach-ache! Tell us, Oh Taste of tho ma
ton should not Congress give us a Commit
tee Of Nomenclature, for the correcting Of
such mislabellings of Nature?
Under the widest of mountains, little be-
yond the immortalizcd cranLerrics, we came
to the blasted hole which cost a MILLION of
dollars-a hole principally blasted out with
powder, that is to say, for that entcrprising
sum This marvel Of labor, which, one would
think, might surprise even a mountain with
the inevitableness of human penetration, is
called 'kiugwood Tunncl," and, exclusive Of
its approachcuts, is four thousand one hun
dred feet in length. For myself, | cannot get
fami!iarized to the ''intcrnal improvement of
coming to q high hll and going straight
through it. instead of the old-Gashioncd way
OF up one side and down the other. AS the
children say, "t feels pokerish particular
ly if you sit on the platform of the rear car,
and see the daylight fade rapidly on the faces
Of your companions, while You leave the SUM-
shine behind and hurry into tho depths Of
the resoupding abyss. it is little too like
ones early imagination of what might be the
'.facilc desccnsuS Arermi."
Two miles west Of this terrible BORE" is
another called ''Murray's Tunnel" two hun
dred and fifty feet long, blasted Though solid
rock in the same way, but Roored with vein
Of coal which chances to follow the same di-
rection. There are fourteen such tunnels on
this one Railway between Baltimore aud Ohio.
Think what necklace it is-lourteen noun
tains strung on single Railroad, like string
of pearls for our Goddess of liberty. To quote
from Brantz Mayer again:
",lhe bridging and tunnelliug alone. along
the whole route, amount to about Fre and a
quarter mites the laborers and empiOyceS
form almost five regiments in number aud,
when VIC take into consideration the depOiS,
tlnls engines, rails, statiouhoiIscs, and in
Vulnerable cars for freight and travel, as well
rs the two lines Of tclegraphc wires belong
IN. exclusively to the Company, which keep
every portion in communication and success
ful operation throughout the line, one no long
er wonders that twenty five millions We're eX
pended on the structure, but is only SUI prscd
t.'at the people Of Il small, single State could
accomplish so colossal all enterprise"
But there is marvellous overc )mng of
time in 1y''orrM, as well as of speed obstacle
and distance, OF this route A full grown
man only six years old, would hardly bc more
oiawondcr than the town of Grafton--a we'll
built, Thriving and handsome village with
eight hundred inlabitauts-wh which six years
ago, was only the spot for single log shut in
tie wilderness There stands the log hut ii
the middle Of the town, at this moment, as il
the chill Is pinaforc, in tho hurry of his
growth, had been left tied, forgotten under
the chin Of the fullgrown man. We are for
tunate in the invention of the photograph,
which can verify sub strange facts for his
tory!
Aud what a pityl had thought, as SO
visited Fort Cumberland farther back on the
route)-that tie photograph was not there,
a century ago, to record for lis how looked
the young George Washington in his first
uniform! Just Twenty-Five, and getting for
that ''first fight" when he declared "there
was something charming in the sound of
whistlns bullets but, how little thought
Braddock, the consequential general who
comm anded him, what a difference there
would be, in hundred years, between his
young lcuLenants place in history and his
own
An hour or two after leaving Grafton, we
stopped to visit a man who might easily have
seen and admired Washington with his first
sword and plume, tbeing then three years Of
asc,l Henry Church. the centurian of T'ygart's
Valley. The old mans portrait, absolutely
perfect, was given by Strother, you renem-
Der, in the Harper of last June. He sat in
the same chair, leaning his hands on the same
stick, apparently; and he banded jokes with
our party, gathered roand him, as happily
and humorously as if conscious, in his soul :,
Of the already begun eternal youth of anoth
or existence Two Of the "old folks who are
the children of the patriarch, were busy in
the yard, constructing new hen-coop. aud
taking very little notice Of the locomotive
and cars Of passengers stopping at the gate
The old girl and boy did not leave off small
csrpenter-ing, even to see their father hobble
out to take drink with railway load
Of visitors. Human curiosity varies
l think you will have to leave me, once
more, to rest Il week. The topics wish to
touch upon, accumulate and tanele. l en-
joyed exceedingly this particular part of the
geography of our excursion-(my grandf,th-