St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1895-08-19
THE RUINED GLEN HOUSE.
A Famous Resort in the White
Mountains Going to Decay.

Mountains Going to Decay.
Boston Transcript.
To those who knew the White
Mountain Glen house in the days Of
its fame and prosperity the desola-
ton and abandonment of the plateau
that 1t crowned are pathetic enough.
One may still journey thither from
Gorham and Jefferson Highlands,
from Jackson and North Conway, and
the many visitors to the neighbor-
ing water scenery along the Ellis
river are still driven to the site of
the house to catch a glimpse of the
superb prospect it affords and to
gain from their driver some hint of
| its story, as one might hear the tale
of a deserted village. Naught of the
,, house remains except the base of a
brick chimney. the empty cellar, and
| "a bit queerly-a wooden landing
platform on one side of the embank-
| ment upon which the hotel stood.
| In contrast the big stables and a
cottage for servants were spared by
the fire and stand, nearly empty,
but intact, while in sharper contrast
still the little arbors and rustic pa
vilions in sight of the house, yet far
| enough away to escape the flames,
seem, as the wayfarer approaches, to
| betoken the existence of a hidden
| hotel, with its usual company of
guests. They somehow, in spite of
winter storms, have held together,
with few signs of impending dilapi-
dation; but elsewhere, at a greater
distance from the whilom house, the
eager underground is filing the care
J fully cut paths that lead to the water
scenery and to favorite points Of
view in the neighborhood; plank
| walks and wooden steps are rotting,
and guideboards are oftener found
| on the ground than fastened to their
| posts.
In this particular the steps that de-
scended the cliff to the foot of the Glen
| Ellis falls are a menace to limb, if
not to life itself. Perhaps this sheer
descent of the Ellis river under the
| bold, steep side of Mount Wildcat. in
| the heart of forest that has thus
| far escaped the lumbermans ak, is
| the most impressive bit of water seem
| cry in the whole White mountain
country. Certainly there is no fall to
compare in swiftness and free, exu-
berant strength with this sharp leap
OF the young river, struggling against
Its narrow, rock-bound bed sheer down
| a cliff fully seventy feet high, to
| pound the Lodges underneath with the
| force of its waters, and to veil them
| In its spray. 1t is one of the chief
| show places on the southeastern side
| OF the mountains. In the long sum-
mer hundreds of travellers go thither
from North Conway and Jackson,
| and tens from the little hotels of
Jefferson Highlands and Randolph,
while the hotelkeepers profit at least
| by their carriage hire.
None the less, since the burning of
the Glen house, the long, steep flight
| Of steps down the cliff has been left
| to rot away. In some places the
boards have fallen away altogether.
leaving long gaps in the descent; in
| others they are loose and treacherous.
! Nearly everywhere the railing would
now break if one leaned heavily upon
II. AS the steps are at present, it is
nearly impossible for a woman, unless
she has some aptitude for climbing,
to descend without much difficulty and
some risk to the foot of the falls, and
| there are men who prefer to hazard
the slippery rock to the tottering
! stairs. By another summer, at the
| present pace of decay, there may be
no practicable steps at all, and then,
] perchance, the laggard hotelkeepers
! will bestir themselves to rebuild them.