THE STORY OF MOUNT WASHINGTON.
By F. Allen Burt. Hanover, N. H.: Dartmouth Publications, 1960. 305 pp. $6.50.
Since Dartmouth College, so far as I know, is the only college which can lay claim to the summits of not only one but two mountains, it seems fitting that the story of New England's highest mountain should be published by Dartmouth Publications - a volume, incidentally, put out under the aegis of the redoubtable Ray Nash. And the author of The Story of Mount Washington is eminently equipped for his task, since he has had access to the voluminous records acquired by his father and grandfather in their capacities as publishers of Among the Clouds, ' the only newspaper ever printed on a mountain top."
Mr. Burt begins the story long before the publication of his family's newspaper in 1877, with the probable first sighting of Agiochook from the ocean by the Cabots in 1497" 98 and its famous first ascent by Darby Field in 1642. He continues the story with appropriate attention to the exploits of those two epic figures, Abel and Ethan Allen Crawford (and the latter's Lucy), who first saw the possibilities of the mountain for adventure and recreation. There follow full accounts of historic ascents; of the building of the Tip Top House and the Summit House and of the carriage road and the cog railway; of the history of Among the Clouds; and of the recent transformation of the summit by radio and TV stations and the various experimental enterprises of the Armed Forces, which have made the top of New England to the regret of climbers almost as crowded as Coney Island.
Of particular interest to Dartmouth men will be the chapter on the adventures of Bob Monahan and Alex McKenzie on the summit during the winter of 1932-33, with the yeoman assistance of Salvatore Pagliuca and Joe Dodge - naturally Joe Dodge appears prominently in the account of recent years. There is a chapter on Colonel Teagues rejuvenation of the railway and the acquisition by the College of the railway and the Summit House on the Colonel's death. But in what chapters would Dartmouth men - especially the climbers and skiers - not be interested?
Mr. Burt's story is authoritative, comprehensive, and agreeably written. In fact, if this book were the biography of a mortal man instead of an immortal mountain, one could confidently describe it as definitive; but alas, such is the adventuresomeness, not to say recklessness, of the race, that the two pages of fatalities on the mountain, which Mr. Burt lists in his notes to the chapter on climbing, will inevitably be extended in the course of time.
The book is bountifully illustrated with photographs, many of them unusual, is attractively printed by the Stinehour Press, and has an excellent index, prepared by Miss Virginia L. Close, Baker's expert Reference Librarian. It is a book to own, to browse in, or to read from beginning to end.
