New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1905-03-19
MID ALPINE HEIGHTS.
Where the Burned HOspice of st.
Gothard Stood.

Had the hospice on the summit of the Pass
of st. Gothard, in the Alps which bruned
the other day. been destroyed twenty-five years
ago il would have meant a greater loss to the
travelling world than IL does now. Previous TO
the opening Of the ST. Gothard tunnel. in 1882,
all the travel from Lake Lucerne to Lake Mag
giore lay over the carriage road which winds
from Fluelen. at the end of Lake Lucerne, up
through the valley OF the tumultuous Reuss
TO the summit OF the Pass Of ST. Gothard. Now
the railroad. passing through a tunnel nine and
one-fourth miles long under the pass. has
robbed It OF much of it's Importance.
This was not the first hospice on the pass to
be destroyed. The original hospice was erected
In the early part OF the fourteenth century.
when the Archbishop OF Milan sent monk TO
this wild height to minister to the spiritual
as we'll as physical wants of distressed travel
ers. larger hospice was erected three hun
dred years later II lasted only twenty-five
years. however and in 1852 the Archbishop and
the Canton OF Uri replaced it. One day. in the
year 1910, the friars who were stationed there
heard rumbling from the mountain side above
them. 1t an avalanche gathering Roadway
The hospice lay in its path. and in a few mo-
ments had been swept away. Its successor was
burned by the French troops in 1199-1sO0. The
parish of Airolo, which lies on the south side of
mountainside. built IN 1884 the hospice which
was destroyed last week. This was massive
and roomy building. Winter there lasts about
eight months. and fires are often necessary in
the brief summer.
The ST. Gothard road, after passing through
short tunnel. bursts out grassy plain
just under the summit Of the pass. The transit
ton from the Wild, rocky scenery OF the Devils
Bridge at the lower end OF the tunnel, only d
few hundred feet away is brief that the con-
trast adds to the beauty of the plain.
Black yawning a portal. thy soul to alright
Yet beyond II there smiles but land OF delight.
Where the autumn In marriage is met with the
spring.
So Schiller wrote of the approach to this plain
by way OF the tunnel the road. In the win
ter and spring in this valley. however. the
snowdrlfts the roadsides often from
thirty to forty feet high and they sometimes
remain throughout the summer. The pass be-
yond desolate scene, the messy ground be-
ing nearly covered with stones. The passage
in winter and spring is by no means free from
danger. The descent to Airoo is much exposed
to avalanches. More than once lives have been
crushed out by them. At part of the pass
a party of glaciers from the Val Colanca, who
persisted in pushing from the hospice in spite
OF the warning, were buried beneath the
Since the opening of the railroad the pass
mains practically closed in the winter.
The neighborhood is William Tells country
and 1t is the OF Schiller's play wilhelm
Tell Near the point where the Reuss joins the
Lake of Lucerne Is Altorf. Tradition points
this out the scene of the exploits of the
Swiss hero. Nearby is the village of Burglen
his reputed birthplace. At Altorf is said to
have occurred the familiar incident of the shoot
Ing OF an apple from his sons head at the
mand OF the tyrant Gessler. Tell Is supposed to
have ended his life III the neighborhood of his
birthplace. The end befitted his life. hero
all his life. he died like one, for a child hal
fallen into the Shadchen torrent. He attempted
to save II and gave up his own life In the at
tempt.