Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1911-01-08

watch station on the aerial route Is
reached. Here one Of the many watchful
employees of the tramway proclaims that
all is we'll along the line by ringing a
tends from the base to the summit of the
mountain is used to report any trouble
along the route-should there ever be
any trouble-and every precaution Is taken
to make the journey absolutely safe.
From the first station the voyagerS are
carried upward to where lonesome pines
stand sentinels over the sleeps. The sec
ond watch station is located at the alti-
tude of 1905 feet, and here flowers, In
dian pinks, dwarf arbutus. sunglow and
blue bells grow abundantly. But a short
distance farther on and timber line" is
reached, and from there on to the sum
NIT the trip is over rocks and snow, for
vegetation has ceased.
AS the aerial basket swings around the
rocky knob OF one of the mountain s les
ser peaks, a stiff breeze strikes the vOy-
ayers and ADDS another thrill to the many
OF the trip. the fear that the passengers
will be caught in q severe windstorm
there in the little basket with the earth
far beneath. This spot is called Windy
point and 1t is soon passed as the climb
to the summit proceeds.
~
While the travellers pull their coats and
wraps about them in the colder strata Of
air encountered. still more mountain
grandeurs are revealed to them in precipi-
tous cliffs and the sheer walls of rock
which rise up to one side of the aerial
tramway., Then suddenly the scene Is
blurred and all but wiped out by a mass
of swirling clouds that, sting the yoy-
ayers faces. with their chilly moisture.
For brief stretch this trip through the
clouds continues; then. as suddenly as the
billowy ocean was entered. the basket
energies and the passengers see below
them the filmy. vapory mass.
1t is but a short distance now to the
summit. but the climb seems even sleeper
and the sensation of the trip just as
keenly thrilling as when the voyagers
hung suspended over the first chasm A
few more stops. and the. summit shed.
which has been in view for several min
utes. is reached and the basket halts
while the passengers are unloaded on the
top Of Sunrise peak.
Here the travellers may engage in snow
balling, even when the thermometer is
near the 100 degree mark on the earth be-
low. One of the chief objects of interest
ON the summit is a huge pile Of rocks. in
which is set brass plate, telling the visi-
tor that the spot is a point In the United
States governments original Louisiana
purchase survey. The journey to the base
of the mountain In the basket Is equally
as interesting as the trip to the summit
On the the way down the returning voy-
ayers pass baskets loaded with travellers
for the mountain top. and gay greetings
are exchanged between them.
Scenic wonders are still unrolled before
the gaze, and the passenger never fully
banishes the insinuatinE fear of dropping
down through space as the basket stops
over deep canyons. Only when the bottom
is reached and one sets his feet firmly on
the good old earth Is the dread of some
unforeseen accident entirely driven from
his system.
The trip to the mountain top and back
to the base In the swinging baskets is one
that the passenger will remember for a
lifetime, and relate to his children and
grandchildren in the twilight OF life. It
gives nearly all the thrills Of Q balloon
voyage. but Is without danger,