Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1884-10-09
ASCENT OF MOUNT RIGT.
4 Summit from which Fourteen
Lakes May BE Seen-Modern sun
Worshippers.
San Francise Chronicle.


San Francise Chronicle.
There are two ways of going to the
top of the Rigi and / have done both.
The first that [ tried was the good old
fashioned one, which needs no other
accessories that stout pair of legs
and an alpenstock and where there
are no tolls 10 pay. The second
time / took the railway to the
top from Vitzna, and went down OF
the other side by another railway to
Arth, at q cost of about So 80, and of
the two ways Of dong the Rigi
found the former by all odds the
most enjoyable, but by no means the
most easy. The ascent is not near so
difficult as that of Mount P1latus-
the mountain is not so high by 1,5O0
feet and the zigzag path is less pre-
precipitous. In three hours we were
on the Kuhn, the highest summit of
the famous mountain, and it was still
early enough for us to have a day
view of the mountains to the south
and of the lowlands to the north, in
Guiding all the peaks have previous
ly named and which / saw two DAYS
before from the Eisel. Near us were
the mountains which encircle the
Lake Of Lucerne, verdanG meadows,
and the valley through which runs
the st. Gothard railway; the mighty
cone OF Brinstock the snowy TItlis,
precipitously steep on its eastern side,
che Wallenstock and the Gadneriluh.
Then comes the Bernese Overland,
with the Finistaarkhorn 04,O13 feet,
the Schreckhorn (13,337 feet, the
R0senhOrn, the Mittlehorn and the
Wetterhorn, then the Moench, the
Flyer, the Brlethora, the Silberhorn,
and the peerless Jungfrau, remark
able for the dazzling Wilderness of it's
snowy mantle; all Of these latter
mentioned ones over u, 900 feet high
and lying yonder behind Interlaken,
whittier | go from Lucerne in day
or two. TO the west the horizon is
bounded by the dark blue Juras. On
all sides gllttering Ice-crowned peaks
hem mo IN, and [ notice that their
Glltfs and precipices are all worn and
furrowed by the storms of thousands
Of ages. On a clear day fourteen
lakes can be distinguished from the
top of the Rigi.
There is no lack of hotel accom-
mediation for the 1000 people who
come up here when the weather is
tine from Lucerne, Zurich, Zuz, and
everywhere around about, to see the
sun set and rise among the grandest
spectacles of nature, when witnessed
from this particular point on the sur
face of the globe. We do not see the
sun go down to night, the clouds have
come up too thickly, and we go to
our rooms with fears that it will not
be clear IN the morning. 1t was neces-
sary to get up at 3 O'clock to see the
sun rise, and l don't think it was
much past 2 o'clock when the noisy
Alpine horns began to resound
through the corridors to warn us that
it was time to turn out and see the
coming of the dawn. [ partly dressed
myself and hurried out of doors. [
was on the top of mountain, placed
like an observatory at the extremity
of a vast chain, and overlooking a
wide, long plain, and my eyes IN vain
sought to distinguish objects in the
shade of the starlit night; as yet there
was nothing but obscurity in every
direction that I looked Presently a
IOSC GluSS SpItStu ONCE Vic gray veil
which hung on the eastern horizon,
a white CLEAN broke forth like that Of
a gentle fame, and as it grew it be-
gan 10 lose its paIeness, became
bright, then sparkling, and soon glow
ing like a furnace mouth, whence
burning sparks scenes to be shower
ing forth; now fiery rays pierced
through the clouds, and all at once a
thousand rocky points began to glow
like the gems OF some vast d1adem,
and the edge of the sun peeped up
from behind them. Soon the broad
disk appeared in full view, and with
it the whole of the tremendous pano-
rama purst upon my sight. Lakes,
looking like mere ponds in the dis
lance; masses of forest, towering
mountains, emerald fields, winding
rivers, towns, villages, villas, cot
tages-all in such numbers that the
eye does not know where to begin to
take in the scene At my feet, way
down on the flank of a neighbor1ng
mountain, is CHASTITY furrow, which
tells the terrible tale of an avalanche
that rushed down its sides, carrying
death, desolation and ruin to the lit
tie town of Goldau, where, out of 800
inhabitants, only three escaped alive.