Evening Republican, Volume 16, Number 119, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 17 May 1912 — HARNESSING GLACIER STREAMS [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

HARNESSING GLACIER STREAMS

tkxu Siuitseriand Capitalises Its Barrenness S Underhill 1

■■ ■■ HO has not known Swltser- ■ land the past five years knows M M I not the Switzerland of today. The cascades, the torrents, _ and rivers run there still, but they are controlled and utll■tfP&gjjijaffi?. ized. The mountains rear their lofty heads, but not as of old. They are conquered and The early sumfner of 1911 Indicated that the heat was to be unusual in Italy, and that we must leave our villa on the heights near S. Miniato for some cool retreat, and Switzerland was decided upon. Our approach thither was by Lago di Como, planning to remain a few days at Tramezzo, where the summer preceding we had enjoyed for nearly two weeks, the companionship of several American friends. From Tramezzo we took steamer for Menagglo, crossed by the railroad to Porlezza on Lake Lugano, over which we sailed, past Lugano to Capo di Lago and by the “rack and pinion" railroad to Monte Generoso, conceded to offer the widest, most varied, and beautiful expanse of mountain scenery in Switzerland, its only rival the Gorner Grat. In our approach down the Lake of Lucerne by the . historic point where Tell Jumped ashore, past the Rigi, and the many summits that rise from the shores of that historic lake, we began to observe the wonderful results of Swiss energy and ability. The rack and pinion* railroad takes one to the summit of Pllatus, " about 6,000 feet altitude, where the night may i be passed in a large comfortable hotel,' and returns you to Lucerne next morning for the moderate charge of twenty-live francs, covering all charges for the excursion. The rack and pinion the Rigi some 6,000 feet, on w|p9*e summits are several good hotels. Th* general impression made by such I ascentywas Well voiced, 1 think, by an American jfirl, whom I overheard saying:—“I was — really disappointed with, the Rigi, but I am glad I went up, for I should always have thought I had missed much if I had not gone." The funicular railroad takes one to Burgen--4 stock, Stanserthorn, and also Sonnenberg and Gutsch. I

As, even In this age of travel, not every one goeffto Switzerland, or has observed the difference in principle of construction between die lack and pinion'ami' the funicular, I may say here that the former has a middle rail on the roadbed, set with teeth deep and broad, and the motor can usually has four cylinders with similar teeth, each cylinder so successively revolving as to reciprocally Insert its teeth between the teeth of the middle rail, and so force the car up. It usually descends by gravity, controlled by brakes, in either case moving at very slow pace, rarely six miles an hour. It is obviously much safer than the funicular, having so much more holding surface, and nowhere depending upon a single support The funicular is run by a single cable on the principle of the elevator. It has the advantage of being usable on much steeper grades than the rack and pinion can be run on, even at an angle over 60 per cent, while the rack and pinion seldom exceeds 26 per cent and usually runs at about 20 per cent. Both are armed with very efficient brakes, but in case of mishap I should prefer to be on the “rack and pinion." The ascent of the Wetterhorn Is made by a car suspended from a cable dangling in midair. The ride across the S. Qothard from Lugano to Lucerne had been interesting. We were now to attempt an even wilder pass, the Brunig, on our way to Interlaken, mainly taken over by the “rack and pinion.” The development in the rural region is remarkable, and particularly In recent years. The view of the Jungfrau from the park at Interlaken was not nearly as attractive as it was last year, when In the very cool summer it was completely covered with glistening snow and ice. The courage and shrewdness of the Swiss is shown In reaching out from the old established centers to new fields, selected because of thei£. favorable exposures; sometimes approached by the funicular, or rack and pinion, sometimes only over a donkey path, and even for miles on foot. Saas-Fee, for example, at <5,000 feet altitude is so approached from the Visp to Zermatt -- We met a gray-haired rector of the Church of England and his grown daughters, who were all to walk for five hours, mostly u# grade, from the station to Saas Fee. The yßngHwh are particularly fond of such picturesque quiet mountain resorts. Bat L must return to our ride to the Jungfrau. The last six miles and over were through a tunnel cut in the solid rock, and the preseat terminus is In the solid rock, hundreds of -feet below the surface. Hie only light, air, and outlook are through wide apertures cut through the solid rock of tbs mountainside. Standing in the

large open restaurant, salotto, and entrance room containing even post office facilities (except for the open spaces in the mountain side) you are completely entombed in solid rock beneath great bodies of snow and Ice In the very heart of the Swiss mountains. It Is the loftiest tunnel in Europe, probably In the world, measuring ten feet wide and fourteen feet three height, cut through limestone so hard and tenacious that a lining of masonry Is unnecessary. The gradient is one in four, the track is three feet four inches wide; the last stretch starts from Kleine Scheidegg, on which only a score of years ago not a single house stood. Now several large buildings have been erected, hotels, shops, sheds, etc., and they are the center of great animation; the cries of railway and 'hotel porters, and the ringing of bells, mingled with the conversations carried on in every known tongue by tourists, are heard on every hand. Over 3,000 persons are carried to the Kleine Scheidegg in a single day. The Jungfrau railway Is worked by electricity, and Its engines are the finest mountain engines In the world. The Wegen alps and the Jungfrau railway Is not worked after October. Because of the heavy snowfalls, water Is difficult to procure. From November to May, fresh water is entirely lacking, every drop required for drinking, washing, etc., and for the drills, is obtained from snow, melted by electricity. Fourteen quarts of snow make one quart of water. Incredible quantities of snow fall here, the entire lower story of the houses Is burled In snow, and a thick wall of It rises in front of the windows. The worst foe of the colonists is the south wind, or “Fohn." Under its Impact the buildings tremble to their very base. In the oppn air it is Impossible to make head against the “Fohn ” the only thing to do is to lie down fiat on the ground and to bold on to whatever one can grasp, taking advantage of the lulls to advance a few yards. The first station after entering the great tunnel is Elgerwand, excavated In the rock. Nowhere except on the Jungfrau railway is there a station blasted out of the Interior of a mountain and yet commanding a magnificent view. In the evening an electric searchlight of 94,000,000 candle-power throws its beams far and wide. It Is said that by its light s newspaper can be read in the streets of Thun, sixty miles distant. At last we reach Eismeer, the present terminus, 10,370 feet above sea leveL The station Is a marvel of constructive ingenuity. A large ball, excavated, pierced with several openings on the south side, twen- - ty feet wide, forms a comfortable room which

can be heated, with parquet floor and glass windows. On one side are the apartments of the stationmaster, with a post office, the loftiest in Europe; on the other, the kitchen of the restaurant and the larders. No wood or coal lg used. Electricity does the cooking and heating. Soon the railway will be carried to a point near the summit, where an elevator, a genu* ine perpendicular lift, will take the tourist 240 feet to the very summit of the Jungfrau (13,428 feet). A two days’ drive over the Grlmsel Pass took us through tunnels, under overhanging arches, by leaping cascades, roaring brooks and rivers, and endless chains of pines and firs, broken occasionally by a small holding of cleared land. A level bit of land Is always cultivated, and chalets are raised here and there, the goats crossing our track, the cows, with their bells keeping time with the footfalls of our horses, and always In ever-shift-ing lines the everlasting hills, rising higher and higher. Who knows how they came there? - All along I have been impressed with the sagacity and energy with which the Swiss exploit their rugged country, whose chief assets are mountains and glaciers, ordinarily the most profitless. And, yet. In doing So,they kill the romance of mountaineering. The imagination that kindles the courage that dares, the glory of being one of the elect few to achlevq such ascents, the fine ecstasy of conquest, the exhilaration of the hardly won far-distant reaches, all are to disappear pefore mechanism and finance. In about two years any gouty old gentleman and delicate, grayhaired (never old) lady on the summit of the Jungfrau, at 12,670 feet altitude, can took sympathizingly down upon the toilers below. Mont Blanc, the highest summit of the entire range, is being rapidly harneased dear to Ita summit, with Its equipment of rack and pin-

ion. Even the Matterhorn is partially equip ped With fixed ropes, and some attempts at paths have been made. On can reach the summit of the Rigi and return In a few hours, or remain in a comfqrtable hotel. ' I have alluded to the exploiting of the mountains. The glaciers are being similarly utilized. All the mountain railways are rur by electricity, so are the cars in passing through the Simplon Tunnel. Soon the S. Gothard line will be electrified, and in turn the other railroads will follow. The only hindrance is the delay and first cost in substituting electric motors for steam. As 1 drove by the fierce rushing torrents, mainly fed by snow and glaciers and apparently, unfailing, I estimated that at no distant day Switzerland would supply electricity profitably not only for Its own requirements, but also for nearly all Germany, in time those snows and gla ciers are to pay the entire expenses of the republic, averting the necessity of taxation. A gold mine will give out; those mountain summits and glaciers will not. The Italians were shrewd and able in utilizing, capitalizing the forestiert, but the Swiss are far in the lead,.the most highly organized, scientific absorbers (another word nearly escaped me), I think, on the face of the earth. When I found myself taxed for the band 1 protested. I had not asked for any band, or agreed to pay for one; I would pay something if they would not play Of course, It ended in my paying. A Kursaal tax 16 levied on tourists, through the landlords. A friend of mine protested that her mother, past eighty,

never entered It. The official replied there U no requiring such payments, but your landlord will have to pay If you do not; she paid it ~ The railroads are practically all owned bj the government, and the rates are high; the mountain rates, very high. Of course, as the} are expensive, and the season Is short the? should charge accordingly; but I have paid 5t cents a mile for each of my family. All trunks are weighed and charged for at high rates On the mountain railroads even the hand pieces are so charged. Not every one, these tunnel-days, has - crossed the Passes, anc noted the admirable road-engineering In whicl the Swiss, as well as the Italians, are pas masters. And they protect their roads; autc mobiles being allowed only on. certain roads and passes, and at certain hours. We migh well take lessons from them. Automobiles like the railroad cars, should have their sp* cial roads, and be restricted to them. In the season Switzerland Is a mob. Tin extreme tunnel road to Esimeer, only si) nfties long, is carrying three thousand pas sengers a day, running trams In three sec tions, at fourteen cents a mile. The income is easily reckoned. I should advise all Afneri cans to time their/Visit to Switzerland foi June or September, unless they are fond o; “winter sports" and are strong enough to beat them. Every whiter sees a decided increase of vis itors who come to slide down hill, skate, anc revel in the snow and ice. Toboggan alldei of three to four miles, run with proper safe guards, are arranged; the return ascent h made by railroad or other similar contrivance Artificial ioe ponds. If natural ones are no near, are eleared of snow for the skater. Switzerland is to be as much. ®f a winter resort as a summer one—-perhaps more. U short, the canny Swiss are likely to commoner out of snow and lot. - •