Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1881-08-02

| 81 MEEK LIFE IN The NotNTAlNS-WHAT Is To
BE DONE AND sEEN-A PUFF FOR THE PUFF
| ERs-THE HOTEL AND COTTAGES AND THEIR
INMATES-''GooD BOYS FROM HOME"
CRESSoN. Pa. July =. 1881.
This. suppose. may be called the height of
the season" at this popular and pleasant sum-
mer resort. If it is not, then pity the unlucky
wight who gets here when it is any higher than
it is now. When got here the immense new
| hotel was literally filled to OVERLOOKING; the
spacious annex had not even a cot to spare. nor
room for another lodger. while the cottages on
every side were loaded down to the guards"
as Pittsburg steamboatman expressed it, in
the terse and graphic manner peculiar TO his
guild And when say the place is full IT means
no small collection of people; for, starting with
small beginnings good while ago. Cresson has
grown, year by year. until it has come to ne
quite populous summer city in the mountains
A GLANCE BACKWARD.
Those familiar with Cresson as if was and as II
looked only few years ago would scarcely re-
cognize the place now. so greatly has it changed
IN every respect. My own recollections of the
locality run back nearly to the time when the
late Senator Sumner was sent here by his physi-
clan to build up in its cool and pure mountain
|
con of Brooks. Then the hotel was an insignifi-
cant little affair close by the north side OF the
single railway track. and the lovely spot where
the new hotel now stands was rough mountain
side thicket, made up of stately forest trees and
| rich and tangled underground. Following
this old-time hOstelry came the larger yellow
frame Mountain House. which was located
couple of hundred yards south of the railway
track at quite an elevation above it, and nearly
on the site occupied by the present structure
M yaa mn arafa pti
but comfortable and quiet home to good many
summer guests; but finally. and even with the
supplemental aid of the settlement of cottages
which had grown up gradually about it. it, too.
proved to be inadequate to growing demands
The second house has, therefore given way in
turn to newer and still larger ediice which,
| IN point OF size, appearance and appointment ia
fully in keeping with the spirit of the age.
THE PLACE AND ITS PATRONS
Cresson. it is scarcely necessary to tell the
| intelligent reader of The STAR is situated near
to but not actually on the summit of the
Allegheny mountains. on the line of the great
Pennsylvania Railroad $50 miles west of Phila-
delphia, and 100 miles east of Pittsburg. 1t
occupies position almost exactly corresponding
in every respect to that held 10y Oakland. on the
| line of the Baltimore and Ohio Railway
From the beginning, Cresson has been a dis
tinctively and strongly-marked Pennsylvania
| summer resOrt,-nOt alone i'm geographical
position. but in respect to its patronage. Her
visitors have been largely from Pittsburg and
Philadelphia. with occasional sojourncrs from
Baltimore and Washington on the east and
Columbus and Cincinnati. on the west; but the
people here are mostly from the two cities first
| named, and from the prosperous and growing
interior cities OF the state. As a consequence of
this patronage ones ear is constantly filed with
the queer lOcalisms. the peculiar infections of
the voice. and the occasional severe wrenches of
the rules of grammar which mark the converse
ton of the average rural Pennsylvania and
which, L may remark, are also pretty plainly
observable in the talk of what are called the .'oad
families" of the principal cities.
WHAT DO WE Dor
Well, to be honest about it, there il very little
done or to be done here. Mostly we sit on the
broad and well-prOtected piazzas and idly watch
the many long and heavily-laden trains go BY,
or quietly study the play of light and shade on
the forests and fields of the distant hills But
there is plenty to do besides admiring nature
and the works of man. for those Who are so
| minded. There are good teams and we-kept
roads for those who wish to ride or drive aud
cool dark mountain paths for those who prefer
to walk. For those who play lawn tennis and
they who are willing to risk quarrel with their
lover at game of croquet. ample facilities are
provided. The quietly disposed have cards and
chess, while for those more rObuStuously in
| clined there are billiards and tenpins Then of
evenings We have music and dancing and about
the house and grounds there are quiet recesses
and lovers retreats galore. Fishing? Oh, of
course Every well-regulated summer re-
sort has good fishing. And also good hunt
ing. too, if you want it. L have generally
observed, however, that at the seaside the
real good fishing is good distance off, up or
| down the coast, or away out at sea on some i'm
agnary bank or other not laid down in any chart
while in the mountains it is away up towards
the head of some nameess rocky and overriding
branch" about eight or eleven or thirteen miles
distant. 1t is curious that il should always be
those exact figures, but it is. 1t is ust SO here
In the mountains, too. as at the seaside they
always tell you that you ought to have been
here about three weeks ago.
But cool and pure mountain air and scenery
are not the only medicines which Cresson has to
offer those seeking health. Within easy walking
distance of the hotel is to be found strong iron
spring, and another whose waters are SO freely
lmpregnated with alum that even those who
have no music in their souls may whistle with
ease. third, it is claimed. presents a clear
case of magnesia. The waters of all these. to-
gether with those of the famous Bedford and
Minequa Springs. brought here fresh every day.
are constantly kept Ion tap" free to ALL in the
lobby of the hotel They seem to be literally
partaken OF, too.
WHAT CAN WE SEE?
Not very much In the way of distant views.
such as one might think could be got from
| mountain summit or its vicinity. Cresson does
| not pan out well. The same may be said, i'm
point of fact. of the whole Allegheny range. The
truth is, that the Alleghanies are series of wood
covered humps. rather than mountains, i'm the
ordinarily understood meaning Of that term.
They have nothing of the true mountain peak
form about them. 1t is true that all the APP
prOaches to the ranges, and particularly those
from the seaboard side, furnish some lovely hill
and valley views. but when you are once well
| up in what might be called the higher Allegha-
| MES, you get no such extended sweeps as are
afforded from the White or Franconia groups
| for example, or from the Adirondacks or the
Catskills. From their formation and situation
relatively to each other, all point of view from
the higher elevations of the system are
unsatisfactory and disappointing. When
you reach one of the supposed SUBMITS
and finally get look out, it is only to see other
wooded hill tops as high as that upon which you
are standing, or little higher. and all you get
for your labor is glimpse into not very awful
looking gorge and a sl0ping wall of Hlbroken
green not far away on the other side. have
been among and across the Alleghanies at q
number of points. and / know only one excep-
ton to this experience north of the Tennessee
and North Carolina lines. That is afforded by