The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1875-09-21
Frost Bound ON Mount Washington.

10 Tue E0IoF " Tue TTeSS.
Your correspondent was one of the party
who on Friday, Saturday and Sunday last were
snow bound-or rather frost bound-on the
summit of Mt. Washington. Our experiences
were so altogether unique that brief account
may not be altogether without interest to your
readers.
On Friday afternoon twenty two Of the Bap-
tist Social Union excursionists left the Crawford
House for the Summit. The day had been
stormy, yet the promise of the sky and of the
weather observers on the mountain, as received
by telegraph, was of pleasant evening But
long ere our ten mile stage ride was epded the
storm was renewed, and in the midst of pour
ing rain we reached the base of Mt. Washing
ton.
An hour and half later we had made the
ascent by the Mt. Washington railway, only to
find ourselves enveloped in a cloud of mist alb
solutely impene.rable to vision, and driving
across the mountain at the rate Of fifty miles
per hour, the thermometer registering twenty
above zero. The hospitable rooms Of the Sum-
NIT House speedily gave our party shelter,
though the falling barometer and rising wind
gave prophssy of "high old time" on the
morrow. Saturday morning this propoesy was
fully realized. The observations at the govern
ment signal station were Thermometer fifteen
above zero, wind 7S miles per hour, N. W."
The fog and mist continued, and was rapidly
eangealing on every object out of doors, cover
ing them with the beautiful frost feathers of
fshich pictures are so common. Seeing was out
fd the question, locomotion out Of doors almost
N impossibility; the Glen House stages dared
Dot attempt the descent, and Superintendent
AIKEN Of the railway, refused to allow a train
bbe run lest the cars be blown from the track.
We tried to be resigned; we could do nothing
ese Brief-and they were very brief-recon-
J instances Into the outside fog and gale wels
} made by nearly every one of the party. One
gsatleman gracefully allowed bis "kersey" to
take up winter residence in Tuckerman's Ra-
tine and another sent his "straw"on an aerial
expedition down the mountain. One lady was
blown from her feet and enly saved from being
dashed over the brow of the mountain by q
..sy rush to the rescue of two gentlemen
Ihobappened to hea her cry for help. Four
,fthe five telegraph wires became useless, and
/ conmunication by the ffth-the government
able-was suspended for several hours.
Z The guests at the Summit House numbered
in all forty I've, representing fourteen cities,
from Bath, Me-, to San Francisco, Cal.
The day. however, wore away and shortly
after dark the company were electrified by one
of our number who came in exclaiming, ''the
stars are out, the stars are out" And so it
proved. Almost in the twinkling of an eye the
gale had lul,ed, the skies had cleared and the
moon was shining on scene of grandeur and
beauty seldom witnessed by human eye. While
the upper strata of clouds had entirely disap-
peared the entire visible surface of the earth
from thousand feet lbelow was mantled with
vast masses of vapor. Upon the upper surface
of these, the moon just risen, was shioing
brightly. No words can describe the beauty of
the view, but it is photographed upon the MEM
ory of every beholder. Late into the,night the
party watched with ever increasing delight the
matchess scene. ~
On Saturday morning at half past we were
reused for suniise; and such sunrsel The
whole mountain top was enveloped in glory
of crimson light, while all below was darkness.
The sun rose behind a thin veil of cloud just
sufficient to hide his blaze, while every object
within the horizon was distinctly visible. With
the naked eye the islands of Casco bay could
be easily seen and counted, and when, about
o'clock, the sun shone out unobscured upon the
bay and ocean, with small field and opera
glasses the vessels in the harbor were distinctly
visible, and the spires and domes, and even the
houses of the city could be clearly distinguish
ed. The contrast between the summit of the
mountain white with frost and snow, aud the
green fields of the valley below, was neither
the least noticeable nor the least beautiful ele-
ment of the scene, but the story of the view
from Mt. Washington has been too often told
to need repetition. AT one o'clock Sunday af-
ternoon the embargo was raised, Superintend-
ent Aiken declared the track in safe condition
and we made the descent, satisfied and gratfed
that our visit to this celebrated outlook had
been rewarded with a view such as not one in a
thousand of its visitors obtain. We had seen
the summer and the winter view from Noun 4
Washington at a single visit s.