The Tipton advertiser. [volume] (Tipton, Cedar Co., Iowa) 1856-1962, 1860-08-16
"a JUNE JAUNT" ON THE BALTI.
MORE AND OHIO RAILROAD.

. l"A JUNE JAUNT" ON THE BALTI'
! In June, 1856, distinguished part,
of gentlemen tourists, among whom wer,
the historian Bancroft, Prot. Henry, aut
several others, took a leisure look at tn,
historical and natural scenery of the Bal
timore and OHIO Road. Brantz Mayer
the author, was of the number, and VIII,
afterwards published a very tull ant
graphic account of the tri p in Harper's
Monthly Ma.asine. From this we ex-
tract the following paragraphs relative tc
the Mouatain division Of the Road, from
Piedmont to Grafton, 20 miles in length
No one, am sure, has ever looked
westward from this point without won
deriDg how the passage is to be effected;
yet no one has made the Journey without
equal surprise at the seeming ease by
which science and energy have overcome
every impediment. As you pass forward
from Piedmont, the impression is that
you are about to run q tilt against the
mountain flank with blind and aimless
impulse but graceful curve winds the
train out of harm, and you move securely
into the prime::a, forest, feeling the en-
sine begin to tug up the sleeps as it
strikes the edge of Savage River, which
boils down the western shoulder of Saw.
age Mountain. The transit from the
world to the wilderness is iDstau tancous
Mr. Bancroft and mounted the engine
at this spot so as to enjoy an unobstruct
ed view of the scenery during the ascent;
and although a gust began to growl owe,
the mountains, with frequent flashes OF
| lightning and thunder, we kept our post.
finding the grandeur of the prospect en-
hanced BY the rush of the storm as We
rose higher and higher on the mountain
flank
No one has observed iue scenery with
out acknowledging the difficulty Of its
description for its impression is purely
emotional, and emotion is 50 cyanescent
that the effort to condense it into lancu-
age destroys the sentimcn. as breath de.
stroys the prisms Of a snow fake. We
may give catalogue of pines, precipices,
rocks, torrents, led dges, overarching trees,
and all the elements that make one feel
the sublimity of stern solitude;" but
| have never been able to convey, by
words the exact impression of such scenes,
nor do believe we can obtain what is
somewhere called "a realizing sense
in the desert p.ions OF others. In this
respect, music and painting have more
power than language music has the
spirituality which painting lacks, and
painting the body in which music is de.
! ticie"t but, as their effects can never be
completely united, We must despair of in
luencing the mind at second hand from
! Nature.
And so we rolled rcsis,less y upward,
for seventeen miles along the broad ledg-
es, seeing the tree tops sinkin- as we
swoopcd into the air, which fre,hcned as
We arose seeing the vale grow less aud
| lass, and the submits that We're Just now
above US come closer and closer till We
touched their lcv'l; seeing the river
whence we started shrink into finn into
it's bed j; and seeing the narrow, upward.
imprisoning glance widen into a down
ward, distant reach
On we hurried without hal,ing but
once, till we turned from the Savage Val
ley into the Crabtrec Gorge, along the
flank Of the great Allegheny Backbone;
and few miles above Frankville, Gan
eyrie among the SUBMITS, some $500
feet above tide, and hoo feet above
Cumberland cast our eyes back toward
the north east for a rapid glimpse Of one
of the grandest views ia the mountains.
The gloomy masses Of Savage Mountain
tower On the right, fold upon fold, aud
the eastern slopes Of Meadow Mountain,
with its spurs, on the left while between
them the Savage River winds away for
miles and miles in IA silvery trail till it is
lost in the distance, THROUGHOUT the
whole passage from Piedmont to Ala.
mort (2,620 feet above tide and the
greatest elevation along the route) the
road constantly and almost insens!bly as
cends, in every portion filing the mind
with sense Of as perfect security as it
the transit were made in a coach
At Altamout We dipped over the east
ern edge of the Alleghanies, and by a
slight descent entered the highland basin
of the old mountain lakes, which extends
over many thousand acres, and is known
as the Glades.' There the lvughiog
heny takes its rise, while the dividing
ridge Of the great Backbone sends the
water on one side into the Gulf of Mexi-
co, and on the other into the Chesapeake.
These beautiful glades, or mountain
meadows, are not connected in level
field like our western prairies, but lie IN
broken outlines, with small wooded rang
es between them or juttng out from their
midst in moderate elevations. At this
height the air is extremely rarited and
cool throughout the summer so that, al
though the country is not adapted for ag-
riculture, it is calculated for every spe-
cies of animal and vegetable lite that is
disposed to run wild aud take the world
as it finds it, 1t is rich in all the natural
grasses that delight herdsman, relieved
by Islands Of whitc-oak interspsrsed with
alder it is full of copious streams, kept
full and fresh by the clouds that condense
round the SUBMITS; its waters are alive
with trout, and waste themselves IN deep
cascades and falls after furnishing pools
for the fish; it pastures innumerable
herds of sheep, whose tenderness and
flavor rival that Of the deer which abound
in the woods wild turkeys and pheasants
hide among it's oaks, becchcS, walnnts,
and magnolias the sugar maple supplies
it with a tropical luxury in abundance;
the woods are vocal with arks, thrushes,
| and mockinp- birds and in the Towering