Ashtabula telegraph. (Ashtabula, Ohio) 1874-1880, 1874-10-17

| STREAM TRAVEL IO The AIPS-HO'
THE COUNTRY IS MADE PLEASANT T
ToURIsTs-PRosPERIT OF swITzET
LAND-THIRTY MILLION DOLLARS LEF
YEARLY BY vIsITORs-THE FERTILE Val
LEY OF THE AARE-6RANDEUR OF Al
PINE sCENERY-swIss MANUFACTURES
| FEATURES OF THE GOVERNMENT
THE NEW CONSTITUTION.
Correspondence of the Chicago Tribune.
Mt. RIGI, LAKES OF THE Four CAST2Ss .sSs
Sept 18th, 1874
The finest and most comprehen
sive panoramic view of Switzerland
is to be had from the top of
MI. RIGI,
which has the advantage of standing
issoIated in the edge of the grea
Swiss plain or Valley of the Aare
Having free situation, it command
an exceedingly extensive sweepins
landscape. The mountain is on
mile above the lakes which surround
and touch IFS base. From the spo
where l sit, the observer can see il
every direction clear around the ho
rizon for a circuit of more than 40C
miles! Within range of view are
the white tops of the high Alps
which look down into Italy on the
south, and over among the Tyrol
peaks on the east. Away to the
northeast can be discerned the dim
outlines of the Black-Forest range
in Baden, Germany; and in the
southwest, peering over the heads
of intervening snow-covered peaks
and domes, is Mt. Blanc, the Mon
arch of European mountains. The
whole scope of vision on the west or
French side is bounded by the long,
dark range of Jura Mountain, which
the eye can trace along a line of
more than 100 miles of frontier, be-
tween France and Switzerland. y
Within the range of sight lies
spread out before the spectator,
like a map, the great Swiss Valley
of the Aare River, which is the
south branch of the Rhine; the 9th
er branch encircles Switzerland on
the southern and eastern sides.-
From the elevation of Mt. Rigi, the
Valley of the .Aare looks like vast
rolling plain, spangled with lakes
and silver ribbons of water-courses,
while the plain itself is thickly stud
ded with farm-houses, villages, and
cities, as the heavens at night with
stars. When one travels through
this plain, it seems hilly and irregu-
lar in most parts, yet exquisitely
beautiful; still light and distance
soften down the landscape, and add
to the view.
For the easy convenience of the
multitudes of excurtionists who visit
The Rigi to view the glorious pano-
rama an English Swiss company of
have constructed
AN INCLINE PLAIN RAILWAY
from the landing place to the sum
nit of the highest pinnacle. 1t has
} grade of 20Tto "a feet rise per hun
lred feet. and looks as steep as the
'oof to a house. The length of the
rack is 5 miles, and the ascent is
made In an hour-the fare being
s1.40 up, and half that amount
Town. A powerful locomotive, with
IN upright boiler, pushes ahead of
one car, which has seats for sixty
shree persons. A double rail, with
steel cogs, is laid on the middle of
he track-looking exactly like
adder standing against a house.
Up these. steel steps of the iron lad
Ter the locomotive climbs, by means
# two cog wheels fitting the cogs
# the centre rail, which are revolv-
d By the steam pistons. Standing
little distance aside, the machine
,ears striking resemblance of a
lod carrier going up the ladder with
hod of brick. Last year the doz-
n "steam men" employed carried
10000 tourists to the top of the
mountain, and theonet profits of the
Company exceeded 40 per cent.
That amount was divided among the
toekholders, leaving untouched a
considerable reserve fund. The
whole capital is only $3.50, 900. The
yreat success of the undertaking
las caused the organization of sew.
raj other companies for -the-con
truction of other similar railroads
Up even higher and more difficult
Mountains in other parts of Switzer-
and. ~
A large part of the people who
lseend the mountains remain over
light to witness the .zas
BR1LL1ANoY OF THE SUN
RISE,
he prismatic hues and colors reflect
ID from the snow-capped mountains
round half the horizon, and the |
gradual changing of the dark shad-
lows, which fill the valleys and COW
II the lakes with golden light as the
God of Day mounts into the heav-
ms. witnessed the glo wing, gol-
,eous scence, but feel utterly unable
o describe it or "do justice to the
ubject."
From my porch on the crest of the
2igi, l counted fourteen lakes-some
n the distance, and others clustered |
round the base of the mountain
he chief being the one called
HE ''LAKEs OF THE FOUR cANToNs,"
which is really half-a-dozen lakes
mixed together most curiously, re-
in shape the letter T at
ached to the letter L, or perhaps /
more like the figures Of cross and
carpenters square-constituting
TX lakes joined together by naviga-
lie straits, each being from 7 to 10
niles long by one third as much in
width. As they lie among hills and
ncuntains, they cannot all be seen
t once from any point of observa-
ion; but any change of position
ives the spectator new and beauti-
III views OF them, as they seem to
7ind and coil around the headlands
nd peaks of the mountains.
The next largest lake in full view
5 Lake Zug, on the north side of
ne mountain. 1t comes so close up
o the wall of rock that it seems as
one could cast stone into it. It
xtends out into the plain dozen
niles, and its shores are studded