The American Cyclopædia (1879)/White Mountains

WHITE MOUNTAINS, a mountain chain of NewEngland. According to the recent survey ofthe state of New Hampshire, the mountainsare considered as belonging to the Atlanticsystem, an older series than the Appalachian,extending from Newfoundland to Alabama,east of the latter. In a wider sense it beginsabout the head waters of the Aroostook inMaine, its first great summit being Mt.Katahdin. The deep valley of the Chesuncook,Pemadumcook, and Millinoket lakes divides it;but beyond these rise on either side of the deepdepression of Moosehead lake Spencer mountainand Bald mountain; thence its course isS. W. Dead river, one of the largest affluentsof the Kennebec, forces a passage through it,and near the S. bank of that river it rises againin the important summit of Mt. Bigelow. Itcontinues its S. W. course to the Androscoggin,sending a spur northward, along the E.bank of the Magalloway river, and along theshore of Lake Umbagog. After the passagethrough it of the Androscoggin, it spreads outS. of that river into a broad plateau, 1,600 to1,800 ft. in height, 30 m. long from N. to S.,and about 45 m. broad, extending nearly acrossNew Hampshire, and bounded S. by theMerrimack river and Squam, Winnipiseogee, andOssipee lakes. This plateau, from which risemore than 200 peaks, and which is traversedby several deep narrow valleys, forms theregion known to tourists as the “White Mountains.” The peaks cluster in two groups, theeastern or White mountain group proper andthe Franoonia group, separated from each otherby a table land from 10 to 15 m. wide. Theprincipal summits of the eastern group are,beginning at the Notch and passing around toGorhara, Mts. Webster, Jackson, Clinton, Pleasant,Franklin, Monroe, Washington, Clay,Jefferson, Adams, and Madison. Mt. Washingtonis the highest, and is indeed the highest mountainsummit in New England, being 6,293 ft.above the sea, according to the most recentmeasurement, 8 ft. higher than earlierestimates. The height of some of the other peaksis as follows: Pleasant, 4,764 ft.; Franklin,4,904; Monroe, 5,384; Jefferson, 5,714;Adams, 5,794; Madison, 5,365. The principalsummits of the Franconia group are Mts.Lafayette (5,259 ft.), Liberty, Cherry mountain,and Moosilauke (4,811). Near the southernborder of the plateau rise Whiteface mountain,Chocorua peak (3,540 ft.), Red hill, and Mt.Ossipee; and in the east Mt. Pequawket, 3,251ft. North of the plateau, and near the upperwaters of the Connecticut river, are severalconsiderable summits, of which the twinmountains known as the Stratford peaks are themost considerable. The plateau is traversedand its surface deeply furrowed by severalstreams: the Androscoggin and its tributaries,which form the N. E. valley; the Saco and itsbranches, which form two deep depressions inthe eastern group, and finally form a part ofthe S. E. boundary of the plateau; thePemigewasset, the principal affluent of the Merrimack,which divides the Franconia group from N. toS.; and the Lower Ammonoosuck and Israel'srivers, tributaries of the Connecticut, whichform valleys in the N. W. part of the plateau.—Thegeological formation of the Whitemountains is almost entirely of the ancientmetamorphic rocks. In many of the peaks theupper portion is composed of huge masses ofnaked granite or gneiss; and the coarsegravelly soil which has been formed by the debrisin the lower portion only supports those treesand shrubs which will grow in the hardest andpoorest ground. The most noteworthy of manywaterfalls among the mountains are: theArtist's fall in North Conway; the Silver cascade,on the side of Mt. Webster; Ripley's falls, ona tributary of the Saco, below the Willey house,the lower one, Sylvan Glade cataract, falling156 ft. at an angle of 45°, in a stream from 50to 75 ft. wide; the falls of the Ammonoosuck,which in a course of 30 m. descends over 5,000ft.; the Berlin falls, on the Androscoggin,descending over 200 ft. in the course of a mile;and the Crystal cascade and Glen Ellis fall,near the Glen house, on a tributary of theAndroscoggin. There are five “notches,” orpassages through the mountains: the Whitemountain notch, 1,914 ft. high, 2 m. long, andat its narrowest point only 22 ft. wide, throughwhich the Saco river passes; the Franconianotch, 2,014 ft., which permits the passage ofthe Pemigewasset; the Pinkham notch, 2,018ft., through which a branch of the Saco andone of the Androscoggin find their way; andthe Grafton and Dixville notches, throughwhich flow the Androscoggin and one of itstributaries. “The Flume” at Franconia notchis the most noted of the narrow waterwaysexcavated through the rock, though there areothers hardly inferior to it. Among the otherobjects of interest in the Franconia group isthe “Old Man of the Mountain,” on Profilemountain, opposite Mt. Lafayette; it is a welldefined profile of the human face, 80 ft. long,formed by three projecting rocks. At the baseof the mountain lies a beautiful lakelet a quarterof a mile long and an eighth wide, called“Profile lake,” or the “Old Man's Washbowl.”Five miles S. of the Franconia notch is the“Basin,” a circular bowl-like cavity 45 ft. indiameter and 28 ft. in depth, produced by thewhirling of large stones in a natural hollow inthe rock by the current. It is filled with clearsparkling water, which flows down themountains in a succession of beautiful clearcascades. The “Pool,” in the same vicinity, isa natural well in the solid rock 60 ft. indiameter and 190 ft. deep, of which 40 ft. iswater. A carriage road has been constructedto the summit of Mt. Washington, on the E.side, and a railroad on the W. side, the lattercompleted in 1869. A rough stone building,40 by 22 ft. and 8 ft. high, with walls 4 ft.thick, was erected under the lee of the highestrocks on Mt. Washington in 1852, anda second structure, known as the “Tip-tophouse,” not long after. In 1872 the newSummit house, 170 by 30 ft., 2½ stories high,was erected. There are now several additionalbuildings, including one occupied as ameteorological station by the United States signalservice. The White mountain plateau isapproached by travellers from four directions,viz.: from the east by the Grand Trunk railroadto Gorham, also direct to the Fabyanhouse by the Portland and Ogdensburg railroadfrom Portland, Me.; from the south byLake Winnipiseogee and the valley of thePemigewasset; from the southwest by way of theConnecticut river and the Boston, Concord,and Montreal railroad to the Fabyan house;and from the north by the Grand Trunk railroadto Northumberland.—The Whitemountains were first visited by white men in 1642.John Josslyn, a naturalist, visited thembetween 1663 and 1671, and gave an accountof his journey in his “New England's Raritiesdiscovered” (1672). No settlements weremade in the region till about 1771. The firstscientific exploration was made in 1784 bythe Rev. Manasseh Cutler, D. D., of Ipswich,nnd six others. In 1797, and again in 1803,President Dwight passed through the Whitemountain notch, and he gives a full descriptionof it in his “Travels.” In July, 1804, Dr.Cutler again visited the mountains, and madeobservations to ascertain the height of Mt.Washington and with some friends collectedthe alpine plants of the region. In 1816 Dr.J. Bigelow, Dr. Francis Boott, Mr. F. C. Gray,and Chief Justice Shaw made a thoroughnatural history survey of the mountains, whichwas published by Dr. Bigelow under the titleof “Account of the White Mountains of NewHampshire.” The flora of the mountains wasalso thoroughly explored by Mr. W. Oakes, ofIpswich, who published “Scenery of the WhiteMountains” (4to, with 16 plates, 1828). Themost complete work illustrative of the scenery,botany, and history of the region is “TheWhite Hills, their Legends, Landscapes, andPoetry,” by the Rev. T. Starr King (4to, Boston,1859). Since 1868 the mountains have beenvery thoroughly explored by the NewHampshire geological survey, under Prof. CharlesH. Hitchcock, state geologist, whose reportsdescribe fully their geology, mineralogy, botany,zoölogy, scenery, topography, andexploration (vol. i., 4to, Concord, 1875). Thisorganization established a meteorological stationon the summit of Mt. Washington in the winterof 1870-'71.