Part 21 (1/2)
_Bayard Taylor._
=Olive Branch= is the pretty name of the station above West Hurley.
Temple Pond, at the foot of Big Toinge Mountain, covers about one hundred acres, and affords boating and fis.h.i.+ng to those visiting the foothills of the Southern Catskills.
=Brown's Station= is three miles beyond, and near at hand Winch.e.l.l's Falls on the Esopus. The Esopus Creek comes in view near this station for the first time after leaving Kingston. The route now has pleasant companions.h.i.+p for twenty miles or more with the winding stream.
=Brodhead's Bridge= is delightfully located on its wooded banks near the base of High Point, and near at hand is a bright cascade known as Bridal Veil Falls.
Then climb the Ontioras to behold The lordly Hudson marching to the main, And say what bard in any land of old Had such a river to inspire his strain.
_Thomas William Parsons._
=Shokan=, 18 miles from Rondout. Here the road takes a northerly course and we are advised by Mr. Van Loan's guide to notice on the left ”a group of five mountains forming a crescent; the peaks of these mountains are four miles distant;” the right-hand one is the ”Wittenberg,” and the next ”Mount Cornell.” Boiceville and Mount Pleasant, 700 feet above the Hudson, are next reached. We enter the beautiful Shandaken Valley, and three miles of charming mountain scenery bring us to--
=Phoenicia=, 29 miles from Rondout and 790 feet above the Hudson.
This is one of the central points of the Catskills which the mountain streams (nature's engineers), indicated several thousand years ago.
Readers of ”Hiawatha” will remember that Gitche Manitou, the mighty, traced with his finger the way the streams and rivers should run. The tourist will be apt to think that he used his thumb in marking out the wild grandeur of Stony Clove. The Tremper House has a picturesque location in a charming valley, which seems to have been cut to fit, like a beautiful carpet, and tacked down to the edge of these grand old mountains. A fifteen minutes' walk up Mount Tremper gives a wide view, from which the Lake Mohonk House is sometimes seen, forty miles away. Phoenicia is one of the most important stations on the line--the southern terminus of the Stony Clove and Catskill Mountain division of the _Ulster & Delaware_ system. Keeping to the main line for the present we pa.s.s through Allaben, formerly known as Fox Hollow, and come to--
=Shandaken=, 35 miles from Rondout and 1,060 feet in alt.i.tude, an Indian name signifying ”rapid water.” Here are large hotels and many boarding houses and the town is a central point for many mountain spots and shady retreats in every direction--all of which are well described in one of the handsomest summer resort guides of the season, the handbook of the _Ulster & Delaware Railroad_. Three miles beyond Shandaken we come to a little station whose name reminds one of the plains: _Big Indian_, 1,209 feet above the river.
Along the ragged top Smiles a rich stripe of gold that up still glides Until it dwindles to a thread and then, As breath glides from a mirror, melts away.
_Alfred B. Street._
=Big Indian.=--It is said that about a century ago, a n.o.ble red man dwelt in these parts, who, early in life, turned his attention to agriculture instead of scalping, and won thereby the respect of the community. Tradition has it that he was about seven feet in height, but was overpowered by wolves, and was buried by his brethren not far from the station, where a ”big Indian” was carved out of a tree near by for his monument. An old and reliable inhabitant stated that he remembered the rude statue well, and often thought that it ought to be saved for a relic, as the stream was was.h.i.+ng away the roots; but it was finally carried down by a freshet, and probably found its way to some fire-place in the Esopus Valley. ”So man pa.s.ses away, as with a flood.” There is another tale, one of love but less romantic, wherein he was killed by his rival and placed upright in a hollow tree.
Perhaps neither tradition is true, and quite possibly the Big Indian name grew out of some misunderstanding between the Indians and white settlers over a hundred years ago. As the train leaves the station it begins a grade of 150 feet per mile to--
=Pine Hill=, a station perched on the slope of Belle Ayr Mountain.
This is the watershed between the Esopus and the Delaware, and 226 feet above us, around the arcs of a double horseshoe, is the railway summit, 1,886 feet above the tide.
=Grand Hotel Station.=--The New Grand, the second largest hotel in the Catskills, with a frontage of 700 feet, stands on a commanding terrace less than half a mile from the station. The main building faces southwest and overlooks the hamlet of Pine Hill, down the Shandaken Valley to Big Indian. The mountains, ”grouped like giant kings” in the distance are Slide Mountain, Panther Mountain, Table and Balsam Mountains. Panther Mountain, directly over Big Indian Station, with Atlas-like shoulders, being nearer, seems higher, and is often mistaken for Slide Mountain. Table Mountain, to the right of the Slide, is the divide between the east branch of the Neversink and the Rondout.
Continuing our journey from the summit we pa.s.s through Fleischmann's to--
=Arkville=, railway station for Margaretville, one and a half miles distant, and Andes twelve miles--connected by stages. Furlough Lake, the mountain home of George Gould, is seven miles from Arkville. An artificial cave near Arkville, with hieroglyphics on the inner walls, attracts many visitors. Pa.s.sing through Kelly's Corners and Halcottville, we come to--
=Roxbury= (alt.i.tude 1,497 feet), a quaint old village at the upper end of which is the Gould Memorial Church. Miss Helen Gould spends part of her summer here and has done much to make beautiful the village of her father's boyhood. Grand Gorge comes next 1,570 feet above the tide, where stages are taken for Gilboa three miles, and Prattsville five miles distant, on the Schoharie Creek. Pratt's Rocks are visited by hundreds because of the carving in bas-relief of Colonel Pratt and figures emblematic of his career.