THE JOB ON THE MOUNTAIN
The ride to the summit of Overlook Mountain was the longest, slowest,
hardest ride that Tom had ever been upon.
From Catskill to West Saugerties it was not so bad, though tedious
enough to one accustomed to the sprightly flivver. From West Saugerties
they had to go out of their way for several miles in a northwesterly
direction till they came to Plaat Clove Post Office. From this
settlement they followed the road south over Plattekill Mountain, a
laborious enough climb, and so on past Echo Lake, a lonely,
wood-embowered sheet of water on the lower reaches of Overlook.
Here began the climb of the rugged monarch on the wild, rock-studded
summit of which some enterprising visionary many years back had shown
the rashness and hardihood to erect a hotel. It could never have been a
pronounced success by reason of its remoteness and inaccessibility.
There are hostelries perched as high as the old Overlook Mountain House
but few with such laborious approach. Once it had been damaged by fire
and renovated. Sometimes it had been open; often closed. It was and is
barnlike and unlovely.
A secret wireless station is said to have been maintained in it during
the world war. In its intervals of disuse ghosts, not averse to mountain
climbing, are alleged to have patronized it. Counterfeiters and
kidnappers are reported to have availed themselves of its remoteness. A
disturbing reminder of its insecurity may be seen in the long cables
reaching slantingways down from its eaves in every direction to safe
anchorage in the rocky ground.
In the woods about it savage beasts can be heard in the night and among
the crags of its precipitous eastern face the wild cries of the eagle
and the hawk pierce the darkness. Even the homely old Mountain House
cannot destroy the effect of primitive wildness under its very shadow.
In the memorable season when these events occurred, some sanguine
dreamer with the means to indulge his fancy, had purchased and proceeded
on a rather extensive scale to renovate the old structure and to improve
its immediate surroundings.
Since the memorable exploit of Christopher Columbus it is unsafe to
ridicule an adventurous enterprise, however Utopian, and there is this
much, at least, to be said for the work that was started: it gave
employment to a miscellaneous crew of workers at a time when work was
scarce.
Life on the frowning old mountain with the uncertainties and discomforts
attending employment, proved to have no appeal to adventurous youth in
the country below. The little band of workers, mostly amateurs, were
recruited from distances and localities which gave the work a certain
glamor until they experienced something of its rigors and isolation.
Then they departed unceremoniously. It was no wonder that Nielson Ferris
wanted one real scout to assist in the sometimes disheartening task
which he was superintending.