The most remarkable pass in this attractive mountain district is the
great White Mountain Notch, through the heart of the range. The
valley of the Ammonoosuc, farther ascended from Bethlehem Junction,
soon becomes an enormous chasm, cut deeply down, and sweeping grandly
around from the south towards the east, disclosing in magnificent
array the splendid galaxy of Presidential Peaks as it is carved along
their western bases. This Notch is formed by the headwaters of the
Ammonoosuc rising among the foothills of Mount Washington, flowing out
towards the west, and by the Saco River, flowing southeast to the
Atlantic. The Maine Central Railway avails of this remarkable pass to
get through the White Mountains, and bring the traffic of northwestern
New England and Canada down to the sea. To the northward arises the
Owl's Head, around which this railway circles after emerging from the
western portal of the Notch, and on the northern flanks of this
mountain are the head-streams of Israel River, over beyond which is
Mount Starr King. Here is Jefferson, another gathering of hotels and
cottages, enjoying one of the finest views of the White Mountain
range, a popular resort, from which there are grand drives around the
northern side of the Presidential range, seventeen miles eastward to
Gorham on the Androscoggin. It was on this route that the famous view
of these mountains was painted by George L. Brown--the "Crown of New
England," owned by the Prince of Wales. Jefferson Hill has been
described by Starr King as "the _ultima thule_ of grandeur in an
artist's pilgrimage among the New Hampshire mountains." Seven miles
northwest, down the Israel River, is Lancaster, with nearly four
thousand people, another favorite resort, though with more distant
mountain views.
Where the Ammonoosuc, now become so small, curves around from the east
towards the south at the western portal of the Notch, is Fabyan's, and
here are located some of the great hotels of the district, right in
front of Mount Washington. Between Fabyan's and Crawford's, four miles
southward, the Presidential Range is the eastern border of the Notch
and is passed in grand review. The headspring of the Ammonoosuc is on
the slope of the mountain alongside Crawford's, where the floor of the
valley is at its highest elevation, nineteen hundred feet above the
sea and three hundred and thirty feet above Fabyan's. Higher than this
the massive walls of the Notch rise some two thousand feet farther,
and then slope backward up to the mountain summits, which are much
higher, but invisible from the bottom of the valley. In front of
Crawford's, where there is a rather broader space, one looks southward
at the little oval lake which is the source of Saco River. Just beyond
is the "Gate of the Notch," where the rocky projections of the huge
mountains on either hand come out and almost close the passage,
leaving an opening of only a few feet width for the diminutive Saco,
here a mere rill, to start on its career, soon becoming a vigorous
mountain torrent, leaping and bounding down the canyon. Upon the left
hand of the stream the rocks have been cut out to give the wagon-road
room, and on the right hand the railroad has hewn its route through
the granite, the three being closely compressed between the high
cliffs towering above. The Elephant's Head, formed of dark rocks, with
trunk and eye well fashioned, looks down upon this "Gate," and just
beyond, another cliff presents the semblance of an Indian papoose
clinging to its mother's back. The little Saco soon cuts the Notch
deeply down, such is its steep descent, so that in a short distance it
becomes a vast ravine. Thus, with the railway high up on a gallery
upon the mountain side, and the road deep down by the Saco, the ravine
is cleft between Mounts Webster and Willard, the latter, as the chasm
bends, falling sharply off, a tremendous precipice of steep and bare
rock, when Mount Willey appears beyond. Thus the Notch deepens and
broadens, becoming an enormous chasm, with the rapid river down in the
bottom, constantly increasing in volume. The Saco is said to have been
thus named by the Indians because of the mass of water it brings down,
the word meaning "pouring out."
About three miles below the "Gate," the Notch broadens into a sort of
basin enclosed by the bare walls of Mount Willard to the westward and
Mount Willey to the south, curving around the long crescent-shaped
slope of Mount Webster, which makes the northern border. Here is the
Willey House, the scene of the Willey Slide, the great tragedy of the
Notch, a small and antiquated inn, now adjoined by a modern hotel. In
August, 1826, there was a terrific landslide down the slope of Mount
Willey behind the old house, then kept by Samuel Willey, from whom the
mountain was afterwards named. A heavy storm after a long drouth had
made a flood in the Saco, and Willey, fearing an overflow, deserted
his house in the night, with his family of nine persons, to seek
higher ground. Suddenly the slide came down the mountain and the
flight was fatal, the avalanche of rocks and dirt overwhelming them
all, while a convenient boulder behind the house so deviated it that,
although almost covered with rubbish, the building was uninjured. A
traveller who afterwards came through the Notch found the half-buried
inn deserted, with the doors open, the supper-table spread, and a
Bible lying open upon it, with a pair of spectacles on the page,
evidently just as they had been left in the sudden flight. Owing to
the bend in the Notch there is an unrivalled view down it from the
summit of Mount Willard, which thus stands practically at the head of
the deep pass. The southern face of this mountain is a vast and almost
perpendicular precipice, out on the brow of which the observer stands
to look down the deep valley stretching far away, and enclosed
between mountains rising nearly two thousand feet above him on either
hand, so that the view has a singular individuality, as if one were
looking at it through a camera. The depth of the gorge and the
precipitous front of the mountain make the Notch a tremendous gulf.
The deeply concave chasm is scooped out like an immense cylinder,
having the inside covered with dense green foliage, and grandly
bending around to the left until lost afar off behind the distant
projecting slope of Mount Webster. The railroad stretches, a streak of
brown, along the right-hand wall of the valley, twisting in and out
about the promontories. Down in the bottom the thick forest hides the
wagon-road and the bed of the Saco until they come out in a flat
cleared green spot in front of the Willey House. The towering mountain
slopes are scratched and scarred where slides have come down, and two
or three bright little ribbons of white water are suspended on their
sides, making cascades that help fill the river beneath. Beyond the
outlet of the Notch, the eastern background is a vast sea of mountain
ranges and billowy peaks, having the bold, white, pyramidal crown of
proud Chocorua rising behind them. This splendid scene, regarded by
many as the finest in the White Mountains, had a peculiar charm for
Anthony Trollope on his American visit. He did not usually view
America with favor, but he emphatically wrote: "Much of this scenery,
I say, is superior to the famed and classic lands of Europe," adding
"I know nothing, for instance, on the Rhine equal to the view from
Mount Willard and the mountain Pass called the Notch." Most
experienced observers are convinced that as an impressive exhibition
of a deep mountain canyon with an enchanting background, this is not
surpassed in Switzerland.