The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1872-02-02


walls. These Herren will please to OBJ
serve the view looking both up and
down the pass, before entering the
mouth of the tunnel--there is not a
finer view in all Switzerland
1t must be great advantage to the
people hereabouts, having 80 good a
road from valley to valley" said l,
smiling at his enthusiasm.
ooh, it is a fine thing for US, mein
Herr |" he replied. Sand fine thing
for all the Canton. 1t will bring visitors
floods of visitors By the way, these
Herren must not omit to look out for
the waterfall above the gallery. Holy
st. Nicholas the way that waterfall has
been arranged ~
Arranged ~ echoed Wolfe, who was
as much amused as myself "Diavoio I
Do you arrange the waterfalls in your
countryY'
" 1t was the Herr Decker" said the
landlord, unconscious of banter; "the
eminent engineer who planned the New
Pass. The waterfall, you see, mein
Herren, could not be suffered to follow
its old course down the face of the rock
through which the gallery is tunneled,
or it would have flowed in at the loop
holes and flooded the road, What,
therefore, did Herr Becker do ?"
Turned the course of the fall and
brought it hundred yards further on"
said |, somewhat impatiently.
Not so, mein Herr-not so! The
Herr Becker attempts nothing so ex-
pensive. He permits the fall to keep
its old couloir and come down its old
way-but instead of letting it wash the
outside of the gallery, he pierces the
rock III another fundamentally
behind the tunnel; constructs an arti-
fetal shoot, or conduit, in the heart Of
the rock, and brings the fall out below
the gallery, just where the cliff over
hangs the valley. Now what do the
English Herren say to that?'
"That it must certainly be d clever
piece Of engineering" said Wolf.
"And that, having rested long enough,
we will push on to see it," added !, glad
to cut short the thread of our hosts
native eloquence.
So we paid our reckoning, took a
last look at the view, and, plunging
back into the woods, went on our way
refreshed.
Our path still continued to ascend,
till we suddenly came upon a burst Of
daylight and found ourselves upon %
magnificent high road some thirty feet
in breadth, with the forest and telegraph
wires on the one hand, and the preci-
pice on the other. Massive granite
posts at close intervals protected the
edge Of the road; and the cantonniers
were still at work here and there break
ing and laying fresh stones and clearing
debris. We did not need TO be informed
that this was the New Pass
Always ascending, we continued now
to follow the road, which at every turn
commanded finer and finer views across
the valley. Then 10y degrees the forest
dwindled, and was at last left far below /;
and the giddy precipices to our left
grew sleeper; and the mountain slopes
above became more and more barren,
till at last the Alp-roses vanished, and
there remained only a carpet Of brown
and tan moss scattered over here and
there with great Cumbersome freshly
broken away from the heights ABOVE,
others thickly coated with lichen, as if
they might have been lying there for
centuries. We seemed here to have
reached the highest point Of the New
Pass, for our road continued at this
barren level for several miles. An i'm
mense panorama of peaks, snow-fields
and glaciers lay outstretched before us
to the left, with an unfathomable
gulf of misty valley between. The hot
air simmered in the sun. The heat and
silence were intense.
And now the gray rock began to crop
out in larger masses close beside our
path, encroaching nearer and nearer,
till at last the splintered cliffs lowered
straight above our heads. and the road
became meie broad shelf along the
face of the precipice. Presently, on
turning sharp angle of rocks, we saw
before us vista of road, cliff and valley
the road now perceptbly on the de
cline, and vanishing about mile ahead
into the mouth of small cavernous
opening mo bigger, as it seemed from
that distance, tEan good sized rabbit
hole) pierced through huge prof Getting
spur, or buttress, of the mountain.
" Behold the famous gallery !" said |.
Mine host was right as something
like the Splugen, barring the much
greater altitude Of the road and the still
greater width of the valley. But where
is the waterfall?'
We'll. it's not much Of waterfall"
said Wolfe. 81 can just see ia tiny
thread of mist wavering down the cliff,
a long way on beyond the mouth of the
tunnel"
"Aye; see it nova sort of inferior
Staubbach. Heavens what power the
sun has up here! At what time did
Kaufman say we should get to
Standardization.
I" Not before seven at the earliest
and now it is nearly four"
"Humph three hours more; say
three and half. Well, that will be a
pretty good first days pedestrianizing,
heat and all considered"
Here the conversation dropped, and
we plodded on again in silence.
Meanwhile the sun blazed in the
heavens, and the light, struck back from
the white rock and whittier road, was al
most binding. And still the hot air
danced and simmered before US, and a
Il o., iroao % NJ 1aath Low IInOn