Over Mohawk Trail . mooth road ahead through virgin forest. Hawthorne, who was always delighted in drinkingin the beauties of nature, thus describes his impres-sions of the natural beauties of this section which hevisited in 1838, Often it would seem a wonder howour road was to continue, the mountains rose soabruptly on either side, while looking behind it wouldbe an equal mystery how we had gotten hither,through the huge base of the mountain, which seemedto have reared itself erect after our passage. Be-tween the mountains were gorges that led the imagi-nation away into new scenes of wildness
Over Mohawk Trail . mooth road ahead through virgin forest. Hawthorne, who was always delighted in drinkingin the beauties of nature, thus describes his impres-sions of the natural beauties of this section which hevisited in 1838, Often it would seem a wonder howour road was to continue, the mountains rose soabruptly on either side, while looking behind it wouldbe an equal mystery how we had gotten hither,through the huge base of the mountain, which seemedto have reared itself erect after our passage. Be-tween the mountains were gorges that led the imagi-nation away into new scenes of wildness. I havenever driven through such romantic scenery, wherethere was such a variety of mountain shapes as this,and though it was a bright, sunny day, the mountaindiversified the view with sunshine and shadow, andglory and gloom. Hawthorne could have written no more vivid de-scription of the scenic beauties of the Mohawk Trailhad he but just driven over its magnificent roadbedin these days of the modern automobile. -21. The Trail in HistoryCould we catch the pictures of all those who havetraversed the Old Trail, what a panorama it wouldmake: Indians on errands of peace or war from timeimmemorial; surveyors and land speculators withcovetous eyes on the rich Berkshire and HoosacValley river lands; committees of the General Courtto lay out new townships; Dutchmen from Rens-selaerwick to lay hold of forbidden territory; Lieu-tenant Catlin to build Fort Massachusetts, SergeantJohn Hawks and Chaplain Norton to defend it; Cap-tain Ephraim Williams to see that his men in theFort were faithful to their trust and by such visitsto be moved to become the founder of one of thenoblest of our educational institutions, Williams Col-lege ; settlers from eastern Massachusetts and RhodeIsland seeking homes in the wilderness; Quakersfrom the east bringing their peculiar faith and prac-tices with them and leaving a lasting imprint forgood upon the section; Benedict Arnold, then theideal American patri
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