Evening Republican, Volume 16, Number 128, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 28 May 1912 — HARNESSING GLACIER STREAMS [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

HARNESSING GLACIER STREAMS

How Switxerland Capitalises Its Barrenness p O' Underhill B

5 Ml HO has not known SwitserTm X land the past five years knows ■ I not the Switzerland of today. The cascades, the torrents, and rivers run there still, but they are controlled and utiiized. The mountains rear thelr lottv heads > but not of old. They are conquered and patefcAj. harnessed. The early summer 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 sev- ’ eral American friends. From Tramezzo we took steamer for Menaggid, 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 Corner 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 pintyn railroad takes one to the summit of Pilatus, about 6,000 feet altitude, where the night may be passed in a large comfortable hotel, and returns you to Lucerne next morning for the moderate charge of twenty-five francs, covering all charges for the excursion. The rack and pinion also ascends the Rigi some 6,000 feet, on whose summits are several good hotels. The general impression made by such ascent was well voiced, 1 think, by an American girl, whom I overheard saying: "1 was really disappointed with the Rigi, but 1 am glad r stent ...up^-ior..!_ should’ always- have thought I had missed much if I had not gone." The funicular railroad takes ohe to Burgenstock, Stanserthorn, and also Sonnenberg and Gutsch. A’ fe. As, even in this age of travel, not even?one goes to Switzerland, or has observed the difference in principle of construction between the rack and pinion and the funicular, 1 may say here that the former has a middle rail on the roadbed, set with teeth deep and broad, and the motor car 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 ease 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 25 per cent, and usually runs at about 20 per cent. Both systems 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. Gothard from Lugano to Lucerne had been interesting. We were now to attempt an even wilder pass, the Bruntg, 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 their favorable exposures; sometimes ap- . proached by the funicular, or rack and pinion, Sometimes only over a donkey path, and even for miles on foot. Saas-Fee, for example, at 6,000 feet altitude is so approached from the Vlsp 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 up grade, from the station to Saas Fee. _ The ’English are particularly fond of such plcturesque quiet mountain resorts. But I must ■ return to our ride to the Jungfrau. The last miles and over were through a tunnel cut in the solid rock, and the present terminus is fa the solid rock, hundreds of feet below the gjirtace. The oniy light, air, and outlook are through wide apertures cut through the solid r 'jrock of the mountainside. Standing tn 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 inches in height, cut through limestone so hard and tenacious that a lining of masonry isr 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 4n 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 open air it. is impossible to make head against the •‘Fohn,” the only thing to do Is to lie down Bat on the ground and to hold on to whatever one can grasp, taking advantage of the lulls to advance a few yards. The first station after entering the greet tunneTTs Eigerwand, 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 haama far and wide, It is said that by its light a newspaper can be read in the streets of Thun. Sixty miles distant. At iastwe reach Elsmeer the present terminus, 10,370 feet above sea level. The station is a marvel of constructive Ingenuity. A large ban. excavated, pierced with several openings on the south side, twenty 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 is used. Electricity does the cooking and heating. Soon the railway will be carried to a point near the summit, where an elevator, a genuine perpendicular lift, will take the tourist 240 feet to the very summit of the Jungfrau (13,428 feet). $ A two days* drive over the Grimsel 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 always cultivated, and chalets are raised here and there, the goats crossing our track, the cows, with their bells keeping time with the foot* falls 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 achieve such ascents, the fine ecstasy of conquest, the exhilaration of the hardly won far-distant reaches, all are to disappear before mechanism and finance. In about two years any gouty old gentleman and delicate, grayhaired (never old) lady on the summit of the Jungfrau, at 13,«70 feet altitude, can lo6k sympathlzlngly down upon the toilers below. , Mont Blanc, the highest summit of the entire range, is being rapidly harnessed clear to Its 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 comfortable hotel. I have alluded to the exploiting / ot the mountains. The glaciers are being similarly utilized. Air the mountain railways are rut 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 glaciers 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 aple in utilizing, capitalizing the forestlert, but the Swiss are far in the lead, the most highly 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 wpuld pay something if they would not play. Of course, it ended in my paying. A Kursaal tax is levied on tourists, through the landlords. A friend of mine protested that 'her mother, past eighty.

never entered It. The official replied there ii no requiring such payments, but your landlord will have to pay If you do not; she paid it The railroads are practically all owned by the government, and the rates are hlgh; th« mountain rates, very high. Of course, as the? are expensive, and the season is short, thej should charge accordingly; but I have paid 54 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, thes< tunnel-days, has crossed the Passes, anc noted the admirable road-engineering in whlct the Swiss, as well as the Italians, are pas' masters. And they protect their roads; autc mobiles being allowed only on certain roadi and passes, and at certain hours. We migtr ‘ well take lessons from Automobiles like the railroad cars, should have their spe cial roads, and to them. In the season Switzerland Is a mob. TJH extreme tunnel road to Esimeer, only sb nfces 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 Amert cans to time their visit to Switzerland fa June or September, unless they are fond o: "winter sports” and are strong enough to beai them. Every winter sees a decided increase of vis iters who come to slide down hill, skate, anc revel In the snow and ice. Toboggan slidei of three to four miles, run with proper safe guards, are arranged; the retom ascent fa made by railroad or other similar contrivance Artificial Ice ponds, if natural ones are no near, are cleared of snow tor the skater. Switzerland Is to be a* much of a wlntei resort as a summer one—perhaps more. H short, the canny Swiss are likely to co*money out or snow ana ice.