Lyon County times. [volume] (Silver City, Nev.) 1874-1907, 1901-02-09

the train forward, literally inch by
inch, until the entire nine miles of
the ascent is covered. The road
bed is from fifteen to twenty-five
feet wide, and has been cut from
solid granite. Nearly two hours
is required to travel the length of
the road in either direction, and
that this form of mountain climb
ing is somewhat expensive may
be appreciated, when it is stated
that the members of farmers
convention which recently charter
ed the four trains or, in other
words, six passenger coaches for
a trip up Pixies Peak, paid $2,7oo
for the privilege.
Even the traveller making the
ascent on this road would scarce
| ly appreciate the amount of study
devoted to the difficult problem of
its construction by the best engi-
neers and mechanics or the perils
and hardships which attend the
survey and the actual work of lay
ing the metal highway. Camping
out, climbing over mountains
covered with fallen timber and
Jagged rocks, the occasional in
tense cold, terrible snowstorms
often attended with high wind
and the difficulty of getting pro-
visions, made the obstacles to this
undertaking almost insurmount-
able. A feature of the Pixies Peak
line is that there is no trestle work
whatever, the four short bridges
being of iron, resting on solid
masonry. To prevent the moving
or sliding of the track--a contin-
gency which is, of course, the re-
motest of notwithstanding to
its enormous weight and the effect
of varying temperature upon iron
and steel, nearly one hundred and
fifty anchors are embedded into
the solid rock or masonry at vary
ing distances along the route.
The rack or cog rails are each
less than seven feet in length and
very heavy. The teeth were cut
from the solid piece by machines
especially constructed for the pur
pose. So particular were the con
structors, that the contract for
making these rails required that
each tooth be within the fiftieth
part of an inch of the specified
size. On the Pixies Peak road
there are two cog rails set couple
of inches apart. AS in the case of
the other American mountain
climbing railway, the locomotive
pushes the car in ascending and
precedes it when descending.
On the summit of each of the
mountains reached by rail the
United States government main
tains an observatory and signal
station. The observatory on Pixies
Peak is the highest in the country.
The first building, erected in 1876
and which afforded the first signal
officers shelter, is quite small and
was abandoned in 1882 for the
more commodious stone house
built in that wear under the direct
ion of Chief Signal Officer Gen.
| William B. Hazen. AT, the sum-
nit of Mount Washington there is
also a hotel, heated by steam, and
capable of accommodating two
hundred persons. 1t is frequent
ly crowded to its capacity by the
people who remain on the summit
over night to witness the sunset
and sunrise. On the summit of
Mount Washington also is the
Office of Among the Clouds, the
only newspaper printed on the
summit of any mountain in the
world. For more than a quarter
of century this novel publication
has appeared regularly. Two
editions are printed daily during
the Summer months in as COM
plete a little printing establish
ment as a person could expect to
find anywhere, The copies Of
the paper, which are to be mailed
to all parts. of the country, are