The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1883-08-11
THE WHITE MOUNTAINS.
Picturesque Views in the F'avorite
Mountain Resort OF the East.
A Country Where 1t Is Always Morning
The Crawford Notch-A Famous YER
mont Family, Etc.
Correspondence of the indianapolis Journal


where it was always afternoon. Were he
now here he would write in breezier vein ola
land where it is always morning-tIme. ! can
imagine here no languor, no dolce far niente.
| The vast panorama OF mountains and valleys
lies before me, not vague and misty, but
/ clear-cut as a cameo. The breezes that sweep
by do not browse languidly, but rush along
/ like winged Mercuries on busy errands bent.
The air does not luil ones nerves like
Lethean nepenthe, but initiates the lungs ana
! fires the blood and sends it bounding
/ through the veins like sparkling wine. You
| feel like acting, not like dreaming. You
want to scale the Hottest cliff, and wish it
were higher and sleeper. You want to
gambol over the rocky slopes like the wild
kid, and only sigh because you have not the
wings of yon eagle that so calamity breasts
the rushing winds in the far upper heavens.
1t is a land of perpetual life and buoyancy
and spirited action.
A MOUNTAIN RIDE.
| left North Conway for Fabyans late in
the forenoon. l should have donned my
pilgrim shoon and taken alpenstock in hand.
( But, didn't. 1 took railroad train; or,
rather, let it take me. OF course, it seems
sacrilegious to run commonplace noisy
railroad, with engine fouling the air with
smoke and gas through this sanctuary of
nature. But, it's a convenience. The modern
Adam would till Eden with a sulky-plow,
and Eve would pare the forbidden apple
with a silver fruit-knife. | made the best of
! 1t by taking an open observation" car.
| which allowed full view of the scenery in
| all directions. At first we ran among the
! broad intervales green and rich in color,
| shaded by acres of giant elms, whose branches
| tossed IN the breeze, strong and lusty, in
| the good old colony days when we were
under the king" Then at Upper Bartlett
we began to climb the mountains amid
scenery that it hath not yet entered into the
mind of man fittingly to describe. The great
green mountains rolled away skyward, like
! huge emerald pillows suddenly petrified into
everlasting stiffness. Far in the distance the
| green darkens and turns into blue, and peak
after peak is piled against the sky, like the
| looming shapes of huge thunder clouds, dark
with wind and rain.
Close by, the picturesque details appear.
The silver green of the brches and pop
lars blend with the bright emerald elms
and NAPLES and dusky-hued pines and
spruces Here and there are bits OF color,
where wild cherries hang in slender raCemes,
like glowing rubies, and big purple clusters
and blazing fire-trees show among the shad-
ows like the pillar of fire of old Here we
pass tiny cascades of silvery water, and here
little pools OF water among the rocks that
CLEAN hazel-brown in the shadows. Just
past the famous Crawford House we pass
! Annonoosuc lake, a romantic little sheet of
water, dusky in the shadows of the Notch,
and upon its bosom solitary boat, whose
| solitary occupant is intent on hook and
line. Then the country grows wilder. For
ests have been cut off, and huge gnarled
stumps, overgrown with moss, are mingled
with the gray weather-worn rocks. The
shadows grow darker, the frowning SUBMITS
nearer. and we think of the Black Forest
the wild Hartz mountains, the demon forge
and the Wild Huntsman and his train.
FABYAN's.
But amid the widest of the wild scenery,
we are called quickly back to the practical
comfortable commonplace civilization of
nineteenth century Yankee-land. The
Fabyan House comes into sight. 1t is a
very large hotel with fiat roof. The halls
are broad, the piazzas spacious and all along
their eXtentand up the stairs are big pots
full of ferns and flowers. The DINING hall
is vast. and the tables bear burden pre-
pared by cooks whose viands rivals those
of Delmonico's. In short, here in the wilds
of the White Mountains Is one of the finest
and most luxurious hotels in the world
Fabyans is managed by Mr. Oscar Barrow,
the most successful hotel keeper in the
whole White Mountain region. He has
several brothers, in partnership with him,
and they have charge of Fabyan's.
Crawford's, Mount Pleasant, and the Twin
Mountain House where Henry Ward Beech
er has for many years been wont to seek
/ relief from hay fever. He is much missed
there this year. These Barrows have been
| eminently successful with all their houses
and their popularity seems to grow with
time. From these four houses they net
probably profit OF over a quarter of mil
lion dollars year.
1t was in 1887 that this house was founded
| by Mr. Fabyan, a market man from Port
| land. Me. The original house was burned
in 1858, and then the land stood vacant until
the close of the war, when, in 1866, | think,
the present house was built 1t stands on
the crest of the Giants Grave" an emf
nence about 800 feet long, seventy-five wide
and fifty high, as regularly formed and
smoothly rounded as any cemetry mound.
1t commands a superb view OF Mount Wash
ington and the o her peaks of the presiden-
! tial range, the summit of Mount Washington
being only about seven and one half miles
away. Nearer at hand lies Mount Deception,
peak so named because, though looking
very easy to climb it, is one OF the most in
accessible heights in all the Granite State.
HOTELS AND HOTEL MEN.
Mr.. Fabyan died three years ago, and was
succeeded by Mr.. Barrow The Barrow fam
lily are, like nine-tenths of the prominent
hotel-keepers OF the United States, Vermont
people. The fathers Of the present genera
ton, Asa and Oscar Barrow, were among the
best-known and most successful hotel keep
ers in the Green Mountain State During
the war they were at White River Junction.
In 1868 they came to New Hampshire and
started the Twin Mountain House Every
year after, for half a dozen years, saw large
additions to it built, until now it is one of
| the nryeSt in the Stale In 1879 thev hnno,ht