From the Earth to the Moon direct in ninety-seven hours and twenty minutes, and a trip round it . fact thereare but two chains of moderate elevation, between which runs themagnificent Mississippi, the king of rivers, as these RepublicanYankees delight to call it. Eastwards rise the Apalachians, the very highest point ofwhich, in New Hampshire, does not exceed the very moderatealtitude of 5600 feet. On the west, however, rise the Rocky Mountains, that immenserange which, commencing at the Straits of Magellan, follows thewestern coast of Southern America under the name of the Andesor the Cordill
From the Earth to the Moon direct in ninety-seven hours and twenty minutes, and a trip round it . fact thereare but two chains of moderate elevation, between which runs themagnificent Mississippi, the king of rivers, as these RepublicanYankees delight to call it. Eastwards rise the Apalachians, the very highest point ofwhich, in New Hampshire, does not exceed the very moderatealtitude of 5600 feet. On the west, however, rise the Rocky Mountains, that immenserange which, commencing at the Straits of Magellan, follows thewestern coast of Southern America under the name of the Andesor the Cordilleras, until it crosses the Isthmus of Panama, andruns up the whole of North America to the very borders of thePolar Sea. The highest elevation of this range still does notexceed 10,700 feet. With this elevation, nevertheless, the GunClub Avere compelled to be content, inasmuch as they had deter-mined that both telescope and Columbiad should be erected withinthe limits of the Union. All the necessaiy apparatus was conse-quently sent on to the summit of Longs Peak, in the territory THE TELESCOPE OF THE ROCKY MOUNTAIIT3. [p. 137.] THE TELESCOPE OF THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS. 127 Neither pen uor language can describe the clUricultics of all kindswhich the American engineers had to surmount, or the prodigiesof daring and skill which they accompliyhed. They had to raisoenoiTuous stones, massive pieces of wrought iron, heavy corner-clamps and huge portions of cylinder, with an object-glass weigh-ing nearly 30,0001bs., above the line of perpetual snow for more than10,000 feet in height, after crossing desert prairies, impenetrableforests, fearful lapids, far from all centres of population, and inthe midst of savage regions, in which every detail of life becomesan almost insoluble problem. And yet, notwithstanding theseinnumerable obstacles, American genius triumphed. In lessthan a year after the commencement of tho works, towards theclose of September, the gigantic reflector rose
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1870, bookpublishernewyo, bookyear1874
