With the D.O.C.
MOOSILAUKE SUMMIT CAMPCOMPLETELY DESTROYED BY FIRE
ON SATURDAY, OCTOBER 24, a small party of undergraduate members of the Outing Club, while on a routine hiking trip to Moosilauke, noticed from the hill below the Summit Camp an unusual tall tower rising into the sky where the lodge should have been. They climbed to the top and found no lodge, only the still smoking remains of what had been one of the Club's most valuable and valued camps. Burned almost to the ground was the large wooden portion of the building; still standing were the chimney and the stone walls of the older part of the camp which for many summers had been a favorite meeting place of Dartmouth men and summer campers.
Investigations have led to the belief that the fire was started on Friday, the 23rd. A thick fog hung over the mountain that day and no one—not even the fire warden—reported a blaze from the camp. A bad electrical storm, accompanied by driving rain, on the 23rd, in addition to the way in which the building apparently burned from top to bottom, has led to the belief that the fire was started by lightning.
A search of the ruins disclosed that large numbers of metal tools, twisted bedsteads, a kitchen sink, a number of kerosene stoves, one gas stove, an unused iron wood stove, and an electric generator were all damaged, probably beyond salvaging. Broken china ware, useless kitchen utensils and silverware, plus the fact that the copper dishwashing sinks and aluminum pots and pans had been melted away bore further testimony to the extent of the fire. Among the known items lost were beds for 62 people, mattresses for 90, and blankets for 37. The camp is not opened during the winter and most of the linen had been removed prior to the fire.
The Summit Camp had been built originally in iB6O as the Prospect House, a low and massive stone building. It was opened on July 4 of that year with ceremonies in which 1000 people took part. The Newbury Brass Band provided appropriate music, Col. Stevens M. Dow marched a regiment of citizens, and a patriotic oration by the Honorable Thomas J. Smith were apparently the highlights of the program which was concluded by a group of Indians who "sang, danced, and sounded the war whoop."
A road was built to the camp in 1870 to provide for the increasingly large number of people who were visiting it for its justly famous views. The road was designed primarily for horse-drawn vehicles and when automobiles made their appearance was not rebuilt but fell into disrepair, later becoming an important ski run.
In 1891 and in 1901 the building was enlarged and has since been modernized in many respects. For years it has been the site of the senior class carnival, freshman pre-college trips, and other special student affairs. During the summer it was staffed by a group of students who maintained it as a public lodge. Its rebuilding will, presumably, await the end of the war.
