The Portland daily press., 1877-08-13
The Notch.
A Panorama of the Upper sace.

He who has only been through the Crawford
Notch in the old time of White Mountain trav-
el-the time of carriage and coach-has little
idea of the beauties of the ride to-day. The
stage-route it is true gave an experience not
easily forgotten. But it was necessary to sup
plement the ride by climb up Willard, for
everywhere the foliage obstructed the sight and
nowhere could the traveller get comprehen-
sive view of the great cleft. On much of his
way he had only the consciousness of passing
by a wild and lonesome road oyerhung by
mountains whose tops seemed to touch the
sky.
Today the tourist like a bird on the wing
skins over the tree-tops which hide the wind
ing carriage way and has continually before
his eyes the entire mountain pass from the
hawk-beak of Crawford to the stone sentinels
which guard thelcradle of the:Saco. When the
locomotive, not unlike the fame breathing-deyil
which according to Indian tradition, had its
home in the gloomy cave far up on Mt. Will
lard, broke through the gateway, 1t opened up
panorama of wonderful beauty The rail-
way clings to the sides of Wiley and Willard,
looking down into the ravine where: the Saco
courses hundreds of feet below, and across to
the SCARED 1anks of Webster. II is Bayard
Taylor who says that the lookout from Willard
and (and the view from the railway is quit, as
good) more closely resembles an Alpine pass
than does any other mountain scene on the
Western continent. Indeed the whole trip,
from the elm-dottedl intervales of Conway to
the pillars of the Notch affords succession of
mountain views which certainly cannot be
equalled in New England and which can only
be surpassed in the Sierras. The White Noun
tain tourist who neglects to take this ride has
made as unfortunate and absurd omission as he
who visits Rome and neglects to see St Peters.
The traveller who makes the Notch journey,
makes it, If the weather be fair, under the
most favorable conditions, for he gees by that
blessed invention, the observation car, a car
fashioned like the ordinary passenger car ex.
cept that the sides are entirely open above the
rail, so that panorama of the Saco valley
within its vast walls of rock from Conway to
Crawford's spreads out before him. The Og-
densburg conductors are the most indefatiga
BILE of cicerones and eagerly point out every
object of interest on the way. Seated in his
swivel chair that enables him to box the COM
pass.as often as he pleases, the tourist starts
from the Conway station with Moat Mountain
on his left and the shapely Kiarsarge towering
skyward on his right. For a long way they
and the Ledges keep him company, and the
White Horse runs by his side. AS he leaves
them to his rear (Kiarsage that once was Pc
quaket dominating the. scene for miles) he
comes in between other mountains, Iron, Tin.
Thorn and the like, whose rugged names but
family shadow forth their shaggy grandeur.
These gather about him ever closer
as he speeds on. From Bartlett the
valley narrows like the eye of q cat in the
light, and at Bemis all retreat seems shut
out by the mighty barrier which Crawford has
thrown across the entrance to the Notch, while
in front the only way out is apparently to scale
the mountains. AT Bemis the most wonder
full part of the road begins. The iron rails
creep far up the side of Wiley, whose tower
ing height looks down from a thousand feet
above. Below, the Saco, but q brook now,
tumbles headlong down over the stones which
obstruct its way to the sea. Across the great
ravine Webster walls in the view,
Webster, as seen from the Notch railway, is
the most striking peak of all the White Noun
tain range. From the time one enters the
Notch to the time one passes through its west
ern gate Webster dominates the imagination.
Its mass of granite, thinly patched with YER.
dure, and SCARED by hundred landsldes, its
square edge of summit standing out distinct
aud unrelieved against the sky, the cascades