The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1900-12-10

The incline is 1880 feet long, with an
elevation of 1880 feet. For a considerable
distance the elevation is slight, then it
increases and soon is forty-tive degrees,
which gradually increases till for the
last 100 feet the elevation if sixty-eight
degrees. In eight or ten minutes from
the time the car starts the passenger Is
elevated ten times the height of the
Ferris wheel AS the car moves up the
mountain side the traveller sees the hills
beyond Missionary ridge; then he looks
down into the valleys among them, the
mountains of North Carolina come into
view, the Tennessee river looks like
winding stream in a Dakota plain, the
hills settle down and the valley appears
level, you see the great MoccaSln bend
and the mountain that marks the !oca-
ton of the batteries at Moccasin point.
These and other places of interest are
pointed out by a talkative negro guide.
and just as you become thrilled with the
Sublimity of the scene below some one
calls out: Just look down that track.
The car has reached the SteepeSt par
and now climbs up siXty-eight feet Tor
every thirty-two feet it goes toward the
mountain, and you see below toooggan
slide 1000 feet long down among the
rocks and trees and over high trestIes.
What if the cables should part? Inc
guide says the automatic grlppers Woulo
save the car But they never have been
tried. If the cable should break and II
the grippers failed to work, then the car
would go down end over end to the
street 1900 feet away, or more likely
would break into kindling wood and the
fifty passengers be dashed to death.
The last 500 feet is like being hauled up
end and at the mountain top 1t stops
in that position. There are stair steps
up the aisle and the passengers climb
out like going up ladder.
Several of the Iowa party had peeI Oh
top of Pixies peak and had been at ot1er
famous mountain places, but all sa!q they
had never had such sensational llde. AT
the top you step on solid rock, out the
sensation of the last few minutes Gre
ates a desire to descend by some other
route 1t is said that no Such railway
exists anywhere else IN the Worlqc ~, III
ascending the incline after the sleeper
part is reached, the car goes l,OOO reef
up an incline that is quarter pltcn, ana
then for the last 500 feet up a track lhaC
has an elevation equal to setting lad
der thirty-four feet long against wall
with the lower end fourteen feet from
the base. Such a ladder could be CLIMBED
quite easily, but the car goes up Sucn an
incline for over quarter of mile.
The historical Lookout Point is pUt
short distance from the place OIL lalo-
ing. There the Confederates had strong
batteries that commanded the river and
were within striking distance Oh the
Union army. 1t is a popular notion that
Hooker captured Lookout mountain, but
he did not. The Confederate forces be-
low the palisades had lines extending
down the mountain side to the river.
These Hooker defeated and drove to the
eastern side of the mountain. After their
defeat and during the night Bragg eVac-
Uated the mountain and withdrew that
portion of his army to Missionary Ridge,
where they Were again defeated the next
day. The Union forces stopped for the
night at the Cravens house, which was
burned during the battle, but 1t has since
been rebuilt. At that place are numerous
monuments marking the places held.
The place is marked where number
of volunteers scaled the palisades and
reached the summit of the mountain
The wall is lower there than at any
other place. The water has cut an
opening in the rock. At the time Of the
battle a tree stood there and by the aid
of the crevice, the tree and some poles,
the men reached the top. They found
the mountain deserted. A New York
and Pennsylvania regiment spent the
night of the battle under the rocks fifty
feet below the rebel batteries. The Con-
federates threw shells over the banks,
which the Union soldiers rolled down the
mountain before they exploded and then
they had to stand close under the rocks
to save themselves from stones dropped
from above. These positions are marked
by bronze tablets set in the rocks.
The Iowa party was much pleased with
the visit to these parks, and they pro-
pose to utilize the Information gained
in erecting monuments at Shiloh and
Vicksburg. 1t is noted with regret by
every Iowa visitor that while the state
had six regiments and a battery at Look
out mountain and eleven commands at
Missionary Ridge, the state has no mon
uments there. It is the only state, ex-
cept Virginia, that is unrepresented