With time, and an agreement that Marsh would demonstrate the practicality and safety of his railway at his own expense, Lyon and other railroad men agreed to consider Marsh’s idea. Lyon initially was uninterested and considered Marsh “a crazy man.” Lyon, president of the Boston, Concord & Montreal Railroad (BC&M). To Marsh, there was no more important man among them than John E. To gain financial support, and support for extending their railroads to his, Marsh needed to interest the railroad men of northern New England. (The 1852 date, sometimes attributed to Marsh’s climb, was an error introduced by out-of-state newspapers publishing his obituary.)Īlthough with sufficient means to build the Cog Railway by himself, Marsh knew the success of his endeavor required the support of local railroads to bring the passengers needed for the railway he proposed. The site of his railway was twenty-six miles from the nearest railroad station, in Littleton. Thus, Marsh conceived the idea for the Cog Railway. It could also create a project he could share with his oldest son, engineering-minded (and later, engineering-trained), John Franklin.
Marsh believed “some easier and safer method of ascension” of the mountain could benefit tourists. On an 1857 trip to his Campton NH, birthplace with his Pastor, Augustus Thompson, to visit an ailing brother, the two climbed Mount Washington in a storm that almost claimed their lives. Born and raised in New Hampshire, Marsh made his fortune in Chicago, in meatpacking and grain drying before moving to Boston for what he thought would be his retirement years. Other common activities include glider flying, and annual cycle and running races such as the Auto Road Bicycle Hillclimb and Road Race.A living museum, the Mount Washington Railway Company-or, more familiarly, the Cog Railway, or simply “the Cog”-was chartered by the New Hampshire State Legislature in 1858 at the request of Sylvester Marsh (1803-1884). The charter allowed him 5 years to build his railroad. The mountain is popular with hikers (the Appalachian Trail crosses the summit). The Mount Washington Cog Railway ascends the western slope of the mountain, and the Mount Washington Auto Road climbs to the summit from the east.
While nearly the whole mountain is in the White Mountain National Forest, an area of 60.3 acres (24.4 ha) surrounding and including the summit is occupied by Mount Washington State Park. The mountain is located in the Presidential Range of the White Mountains, in the township of Sargent's Purchase, Coös County, New Hampshire. On the afternoon of April 12, 1934, the Mount Washington Observatory recorded a windspeed of 231 miles per hour (372 km/h) at the summit, the world record for most of the 20th century, and still a record for measured wind speeds not involved with a tropical cyclone.
The mountain is notorious for its erratic weather. Mount Washington, called Agiocochook by some Native American tribes, is the highest peak in the Northeastern United States at 6,288.2 ft (1,916.6 m) and the most prominent mountain east of the Mississippi River.
0 kommentar(er)
