Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1884-10-02
TIE BOHEMIAN FORESTS.
Mountain pass Rich in Historical
Suggestkons.
-a1fs1.a


They die away, and the Fichtel Geb-
irpe form pivot, from which the
range takes q turn S. s. z. at right
angles, and cuts off Bohemia from
Bavaria The mountains reach the
Danube below Passau, and are cut
through bv tina. noble river in It's
course to Linz, where it rushes and
swirls between lofty walls of rock
and sOmbre pine, with scarce cas-
tie and ~Ot 3 village to show that this
part Of It's course is through habitable
land. The name of ''wald" or forest
IS now Synonymous with mountain in
Germany. The Oden valid is an al
most treeless range, covered with corn
and vine. The ThuriH ger valid, the
Teutoberger valid, the Franken valid,
the Balrischer valid, and the Black
forest are all mountain ranges. An
old Teutonic word for full grown for
est was hardt or harz, a name that is
preserved in the Roman designator of
the vast German forest Sylvia Hercy-
MIA. The name remains scattered
over Germany, as the Hardt range
near the Mossela, the Harz mountains.
the SpessarG, and the Mann-hart.
Originally these We're only local des
IgnatlOns Of portions Of the ALIEN
Dracing forest land, but as cultivation
spread, the valleys and plains were
titled and peopled, and the forest
shrunk before the plow and chung to
the mountain ranges and groups,
which thenceforth retained the name
Of forest, and to this day most of the
mountain chains of Germany are dcs-
ignated only as forests.
The principle peaks of the BONNER
valid are the Cerchow, 3, 400 feet; the
Osser, 1850 feet; the Arber, 1880
feet; the Rahel, 4.708 feet; and the
Dreisesselstein, 4, 800 feet The chain
is cut through by the so-called
Bohemian gate at Tauss, on either
side of which stand the Cerchow and
the Osser as guardian giants. Through
this gate runs the railway that con
veys US to Cham; it passes Tauss, and
reaches PilsOn and Prague. The step
of this ''gate" is only ], 200 feet above
the sea. About it lie, Oh the Bohe-
milan side, the towns of Neuern,
Neugedein, Tauss, and Eschelkam;
and on the German side, Furt-im-
VALID. Cham, and Neuburg. This was
the way by which armies entered 30
hemia, and by this door also burst
forth the Huessite hordes, to burn
and sack the towns and castles of
Bavaria. The whole district is an old
battlefield. At Tauss, the ancient
Togast, in the beginning of the seventh
century, Sumo, at the head of his
Sclaves, defeated Dagobert and his
Franks; here, IN 1910, Boleslaw I. of
Bohemia drove back the Germans
under Henry ILL.,; at Neugedein, in
1431, Procopius the German put the
crusaders to the rout. and again
George Podjebrad and his Czecks de-
feated and put to the sword the un-
disciplined German hosts poured into
Bohemia to crush nina. The great
and strong castle-the Rosenberg at
Neugedein, which commands such a
magnificent view over the plains of
Bohemia and the granite walls Of the
forest chain, the castle Of Tauss. and
many another fortress now a lettering
ruin-ten of q past when this gate
was a scene of conflict.
A second lass is by Eyepstein,
further south, between the Arber and
the Rahel, but this was of less con-
sequence, as it. presented greater
natural difficulties.
To the west of the high range which
carries the frontier on its crown rises
a second and inferior roll of noun
tains, and the latter is properly the
Balrischer valid; but, inasmuch as the
whole district of some 10000 square
miles is clothed in forest, up to the
summit of the Bohemia mountain
wall, the name of Bairischer valid is
often applied to the whole of the dis
trict. In Geek, the ridge south of
Iauss pass is called the Sumava, and
north Of it the Chcsky les.
The mountains are of granite, mi
caceoUs and gneiss slate, and, though
they are inferior to the Alps in alti-
tude, they are of infinitely greater
antiquity. Indeed, they are the most
ancient mountain range in Germany,
and lowered into the sky clothed IN
snow and wreathed with glaciers be-
fore Monte Rosa, and the Matter
horn were thought of. The central
crystalline chain of the Alps was
forced up through the late d0lomitic
limestone beds y plutonic force. It
was not SO with the BONNER valid.
Aber, OSser, and RaheI looked down
on the Triassic sea, which reached
their feet and received their glacier.
Now, weathered by storms and fret
ted down by the lapse of countless
ages, they are but the poor, worn
stumps that mark where once great
mountain fangs stood up, white, gilt
tering, and monstrous.
But if these mountains are not Of
Alpine magnificence, taey are not des-
titute OF interest and beauty. Here,
and here only, can on see the giant
trees of the old Hercynian forest
Everywhere else in Germany the
veterans among pines have fallen be-
fore the AK; here some 1inger on. But
of these anon. Here we have nile
after mile of magnificent forest roll
ing about the mountains like rich fur
mantles, and sweeping fol3 on fold,
Of deep green velvet, over the lesser