. Harper's New York and Erie rail-road guide book : containing a description of the scenery, rivers, towns, villages, and most important works on the road ; with one hundred and thirty-six engravings by Lossing and Barritt, from original sketches made expressly for this work by William Macleod . d only ap-ply a little of their irresistible ijioneer muscle, that hasso universally cleared the earth of its obstacles to civiliza-tion, to the task of beautifying the soil thus prepared,what a garden this western world would be. But no Ithough this little bit of level soil under the shadow of thesumm
. Harper's New York and Erie rail-road guide book : containing a description of the scenery, rivers, towns, villages, and most important works on the road ; with one hundred and thirty-six engravings by Lossing and Barritt, from original sketches made expressly for this work by William Macleod . d only ap-ply a little of their irresistible ijioneer muscle, that hasso universally cleared the earth of its obstacles to civiliza-tion, to the task of beautifying the soil thus prepared,what a garden this western world would be. But no Ithough this little bit of level soil under the shadow of thesummit is not ungrateful, the denizens of those styes scornthe ■foreign aid of ornament or tidiness ; and so thatpuddle is found to be convenient near the door, and thatbarrel makes a good chimney, and flowers dont supportlife, and so the pigs walk in and out as they please. The cut through the summit winds along half a mile,though it does not retain its rocky character far beyondthe eastern entrance. It is not delved through a contin-uous or compact mass of rock, but in many parts the sidesare of a soft, crumbling texture, which, by the constantdripping from the solid ledges, are turned into a sort of pasteon each side of the road. The geological student will findE 2 106 GUIDE-BOOK OF THE. -- ^ -^*= this a great field of study. These drippings during win-ter form enormous icicles, hanging like pointed gray-beardsfrom the rugged cheek of the pass, and falling in frag-ments below by the concussion of a passing train. Wehave stood in that pass during the hottest days of theyear, and found the air cool; and in the winter old Bo-reas howls along its corridor as though it were a musicalhall expressly made for the exercise of his lungs. Thecost of this rock-cut through Summit was over $200, this magnificent monument of the enterpriseof the company and the skill of the engineer, we now de-scend the mountain by a grade of 60 feet, and nearly ofthe same length with the eastern
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1850, bookidharpersnewyo, bookyear1851
