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| Cog Railway 2009 |
In the 1850s Sylvester Marsh almost died while hiking on
Mount Washington. While musing about a
better way to reach the summit of the North East’s highest mountain, he thought
about building a railroad. Marsh
designed a unique kind of cog railroad called the “Marsh Rack System”, the
first mountain-climbing cog train in the world. His plan was ridiculed in the state house and
in newspapers, but he persevered.
Sylvester Marsh finally received a charter in 1858 to build
a railroad which opened on 3 July 1869. It has brought a new kind of tourist to
the summit of Mount Washington for the last 150 years. Thousands of people ride the cog railroad
every year, and it is estimated that over 5 million have ridden “The Cog” in
the past 150 years of its existence. One
of the first passengers was President Ulysses S. Grant.
The ownership of the railway has changed hands from Marsh to
the Boston and Maine Railroad, to Henry Teague, to Dartmouth College and then
back again to the Teague family until 1983.
Now it is operated by the Presby family.
You can hike Mount Washington, or you can drive up the auto
road, take the snow coach or snow cat in the winter, or take the cog
railway. At the summit there are many great
views of four states and Canada, and even the Atlantic Ocean and Boston on
clear days. There are several races including a bike race to the summit, an
auto race, and a motorcycle race to the top. The top of the mountain has an observation
deck, the weather observatory, and the granite Tip Top House museum built in
1915.
About 150 people have died attempting to climb Mount
Washington since 1849. You can read all
about these tragedies in Nicholas Howe’s book Not Without Peril,
published in 2000 and republished in 2009.
Our beloved “Cog” remains a favorite, safe, and fun way to reach the 6,288
foot summit, with only two accidents in it’s entire 150 year run. I'll bet your relatives, family members, and ancestors have visited Mount Washington, too.
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| 1955 Mount Washington, with the railway visible. Photo by Jack Wilkinson, my Dad |
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| This image was digitized from a slide purchased at the Cog Railway giftshop in 1969 by Don Wilkinson, my grandfather |
For the truly curious:
Mount Washington Observatory Webcams:
Heather Wilkinson Rojo, "Happy 150th Birthday to the Mount Washington Cog Railway!", Nutfield Genealogy, posted July 13, 2019, ( https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2019/07/happy-150th-birthday-to-mount.html: accessed [acess date]).
Have you read The White Mountain by Dan Szczesny? It tells the stories of people who have interacted with Mount Washington over the years in a very engaging way.
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