Holmes County Republican. [volume] (Millersburg, Holmes Co., O. [Ohio]) 1870-1895, 1873-07-24
Communication.


MEssRs. EDITORS: You have for some
unaccountable reason made a request
that wesa party of town-folks now rus
ticating among, and enjoying the clear
cool atmosphere of, the Mountains,
should indite for you an account of our
adventures, SO that what we may do
and what we may see may 60 down to
posterity in the shape of well defined
history. What has prompted you to do
this am unable to say, for We are neith-
er members of Congress, NOR illustrious
: in any respect; nor is the place of our
sojourning known to the majority OF
: the reading public; nevertheless one of
our party has rashly promised, and for
} the establishment of our spoken word,
here is the fulfilment:
On the 9th of July our party, which
consisted of two ladies and three gen
tlemen, not to speak of one small boy
who at present call themselves the
Jnniata Rangers-left the pleasant but
warm town of Millersburg and via. the
P. & Ft. W. r. r. reached Pittsburgh,
where they found comfortable accom-
modations in beautiful palace car till
they reached Mifin, a village about the
size of NJ, on the Pennsylvania
Central r r. But 1 cannot resist the
temptation of DEPRESSING here, going
back to Pittsburgh and describing the
two hundred mile trip over road,
which is said to be the safest and best
conducted in the United States. First,
about that same Pullman Palace Car,
nothing can express the sweet comfort
and bliss, everything else being equal,
to be enjoyed while riding in these 10
comotary parlors. The Doctor fixed HIM
self comfortably so as to have large
plate glass mirror and the window, so
ARRANGED that he could see both sides of
the road at the same time, without the
slightest extra effort, or wearying of
the vertebra of his neck by constant
turning; here he could sit, and, while
going at the rate of forty miles an hour,
enjoy all the comforts of first-class
drawing room at home. As you keep
your eye fixed on the window, there
passes before you, one OF the most beau
tiful panoramas ever presented to the
eye of man. Neither pen nor pencil
can ever be equal to the task of convey
ing proper idea of this magnificent
reality. As you leave the thronged |
streets of the city, behind, the face of
the country gradually changes from the
gently rounded, rolling and fertile hills
to be more and more rugged, till finally
you see, away in the dim distance, the
long blue ridge which marks the course
of the Alleghenies. As you rapidly ap-
proach these become more and more de-
fined, and soon you actually see the
massive rock bound sides of the mount
aims reach up skyward on the right and
left, and now you hear the engine puff
fing and painting as it tugs up the side
of the snonntain, in q winding way,
dragging its long train behind. Here
too, commences the scenery, which
draws almost every passenger, to the
windows, and fills the platforms with
brassy travellers who coolly disregard
the doorpiate forbidding persons from
occupying this dangerous place. To
one who is unaccustomed to it, this
mountain scenery is superlatively grand
the massive greatness is hard to ap-
preciate, but one gets used to it as the
train winds around among the valleys,
and in the dark shadows of the pine
clad rocks, waking up echoes, which
the grand old mountains seem to. throw
ont as murmarings against this latter
day progress of man. Often too, as the
train passes around cnrye, it is an
actual fact, that you can look out of the
ear window and see the engine rattling
along right mp the hill above you, or,
If you are on the front of the train, you
may see the last ear following along
just below. There are a great many of
these bends, but one especially attracts
the notice of travellers, it is called from
its peculiar form the Horse Shoe Bend,
and is situated on the other side of the
mountain, just before you get to Altoo-
ma. going east. 1t is the greatest curve
on the road, and presents the widest
and grandest scenery. The way the
train goes laundering down this curve
is perfectly marvellous, using no steam
and with every break set, yet flying at
a terrible speed, created by its own
momentum. The business this road
does with its capital of only three hum
dred million is rather large, as every
one travelling along the line will see,
for ever and anon the whole view is
shut out by a slowly passing freight or
a flying passenger train, which goes so ;
fast that, although the engineer is ring
ing his bell all the time, you only hear
one tap, and by the time it taps again it
- soo ioA away ioi thO souuu W ICdCu
you. This road averages a train every
five minutes in the day, It is double
tracked from Pittsburgh to Phiiadel-
phia, distance Of three hundred aud
sixty miles, and 4 large force OF hands
are now at work building third track
from Mihin to Philadelphia a distance
of one hundred and sixty miles, this as
1 am informed, win be the only road
with three tracks in the United States.
There are nine hundred and ninety-one
engines on the road, using each three
tons of coal per day, making a total of
two thousand nine hundred and seven
ty-three tons of coal used by the road
in every twenty-four hours. One of our
party made a calculation of the amount
of water taken from one of the water
tanks per day, and found that
from this tank alone was taken five
hundred and eighteen thousand and
four hundred gallons, or thirteen thous-
and barrels every twenty-four hours.
But speaking of water this road has a
method of taking water on an engine,
which was at least new to us. All along
the load our curiosity was continually
excited by long copper lined cutters full
Of wafpr ctratnhipu for n ouarfar of q ,