574

MOUNTAINS IN NEW-HAMPSHIRE.

west side, through the Notch at Upper Bartlett, by the Portland
and Ogdensburg railroad, either from Portland, or coming from
Boston over the Eastern railroad to North Conway, thence over
the Portland and Ogdensburg railroad to Upper Bartlett, or from
Boston over the Boston and Maine railroad to Great Falls Junc-
tion, thence over Eastern railroad to North Conway, &c. On the
west side, at the Twin Mountain House, in Carroll, by the Boston,
Concord and Montreal railroad, from every section of the country ;
their connections with all the lines of railroad being nearly perfect.

Many of the towns in the vicinity of the mountains are becoming
quite a resort for these mountain tourists, especially, where the
mountains are in full view, and it can be truly said, at many points,
that distance lends enchantment to the view. At Lancaster, Gor-
ham, Jefferson, Dalton, Whitefield, Littleton, Bethlehem, Lisbon,
Carroll, Conway, Bartlett, Jackson, Franconia, there are large
hotels and summer boarding houses built expressly for the accom-
modation of these tourists.

The Notch is the name applied to a very narrow defile, between
two huge cliffs rent asunder by some powerful convulsion of nature,
seemingly to admit the waters of the Saco, which passes between
these walls for a distance of two miles. At the northern extremity
of the Notch, the distance between the perpendicular rocks on
either side of the chasm is only twenty-two feet. Through this
narrow chasm passes the foaming Saco, and the road leading from
Bartlett to the Crawford House. In this notch was situated the
celebrated Willey house, directly under the Willey Mountain.
This house was built as early as 1821, for a public house, and wa3
kept by a Mr. Hill for several years. In the autumn of 1825, a
Mr. Willey, with his family, took possession, and lived comfortably
through the winter. In June there was a slide from the mountain,
and although they were somewhat frightened, it did them no mate-
rial injury. From this incident, Mr. Willey anticipated worse
results from similar slides, and had taken the precaution to prepare
a place of refuge in case there was another slide from the mountain.
August 28, 1826, there was a violent storm around the Notch, and
a vast amount of rock and earth was precipitated into the valley
below, leaving the Willey house again unharmed; but the Willey
family was swept away, leaving not one to tell the awful tale. It
is supposed they heard the danger approaching, and attempted to
flee (as they thought) to their new shelter of safety, but were over-