The Cook County herald. [volume] (Grand Marais, Minn.) 1893-1909, 1895-10-19
THE RUINED GLEN HOUSE,
Famous Resort in the White
Mountnins Going to Decay.


Mountains Gcine to Decay.
To those who knew the White
Mountain Glen house in the days Of its
fare and prosperity. the desOlation
and abandonment Of the plateu that it
crowned are pathetic enough. One
may still journey thither from Gorham
and Jefferson Highlands. from Jack
son and North Conway. and the many
visitors to the neighboring water
scenery along the Ellis river are still
driven to the site Of the house, to
catch glimpse of the superb prospect
it affords and to gain from tehir driv-
er hint Of it's story, as one might
hear the tale Of deserted village.
Naught of the house remains except
the, base of a brick chimney the
empty cellar, and--a bit quecrly-a
wooden landing platform upon one
side Of the emDankment upon which
the hotel stood. In contrast, the big
stables and 4 cottage for servants
were spared by the fire. and stand,
nearly empty. but intact. while in
sharper contrast still, the little arbOrs
and rustic pavilions in sight of the
house. yet far enough removed to es-
cape the flames, seem. as the Wayfarer
approaches. to hetoken the existence
of a hidden hotel. with it's usual COM
pany Of guests. They somehow. in
spite Of winter storms have hung to-
gether. with few signs OF impending
dilap pidation; but elsewhere at Il great
er distance from the Wilhelm house,
the eager underground is t;llirg the
carefully-cut paths that lead to the
water scenery aud to fayo!i,c points
of view in the neiGhhorhn"l: plank
walks and wooden steps az" rotting,
and gUidebOardS are cttcnCr found on
the ground than fastened to their
posts.
In particular. 1hc steps Lat descend
the cliff 10 the foot Of Clc- Fills Falls,
are a n.trace to limb If Eit to lie it.
self. Perhaps this sheer descent of
the Ellis river under the bold steep
side Of Mount Wildcat in the chart of
forest that h1s thus far escaped the
lumberman's AK, is the most impress
i've bit of water scenery in the whole
White Mountain country. Certainly
there is TO fall to compare in swift
ness and free. eXubcrlnt strength with
this sharp leap Of the young river,
struggling against its narrow rock
bound bed, sheer down cliff fully
seventy feet high. to pound the lodges
underneath with the force OF it's Wa
ters, and veil them in it's spray. 1t is
one Of the chief show places on the
sOuthcasterly side of the mountains.
In the long summer hundreds Of trav-
e.tars 90 thithccc.-: ts--om North ConwaR
and Jackson. and tens from the little
hotels Of Jefferson Highlands and Rafi>
doiph. While the hote1keppers profit at
least by their carriage hire.
Fortunately, the carriage road from
the Glen to the summit of Mount
ashlngton is in the control of a cor
poration that still keeps it open and
carefully mended: but with no lote!
at its foot even the small Prestige that
the vulgar little railway in the I'ay-
yam side had left it declining. one
may walk now the whole eight miles
from base to summit on 4 clear day
ana encounter only the solitary man
who takes toll at the Halfway House
and his three comrades and the two
Dig bay horses that work uDon the
road, and then descend again with on
~ blackboard and two passengers
for company. Meanwhilr. on tho 9TH
or side of the mountain the rI1rpr
crowd that finds its way to the sum-
NIT, IN part because it is the correct
thing to Go, is filling the little cars,
and the noisy engines go hustljne
up their stupid way along the prosaic
western slope.
But the dusty wayfarer who works
his passage. so to say. up the endless
ascent OF the zig-zays of the disdained
carriage road knows, as he smokes his
pipe at the ledges, or Cape Horn," or
the seventh mile post, that he and not
the engine is climbing Mount Wash
1ngton. The crowd in the cars has
only paltry SUBMITS and relatively
smooth slopes for companions, vhilo
over against the occupant arc Adams
and Jefferson and Madison-the three
highest and boldest and most massive
peaks OF the range, with only the
broad, deep and sweeping rayine of
the great gulf to separate him from
them. Or when, again, at the fifth
mile post. he looks out upon the crags
at the head Of Huntington's rayine.
perhaps the most commanding and the
strongest. most scanned and storm-torn
clltf in Eastern America, he NAV re-
Jolce that the carriage road shares not,
at least In accessibility. the decay Of
an things else about the whilom GIer
House.-Boston Transcript