Historical Review of the Mount Washington Cog Railway
Journey back to 1866, a time in which travel by rail was limited, and travel by automobile was decades away. Journey back to the wild, untamed regions of the White Mountains of New Hampshire. Imagine if you can, a group of men laboring on the West side of Mount Washington in the most primitive of conditions. Laboring to build a railway up the side of Mount Washington, which just a few decades before was considered a fearful and uninhabitable place. Laboring without the aid of any equipment we would consider necessary to undertake such a project. But labor they did, and build a railway they did. A railway that remains, today, basically unchanged. A railway that was the dream and brainchild of a Chicago meatpacker. The Mount Washington Cog Railway. The Railway to the Moon.
At 6,288feet above sea level, Mount Washington is the highest peak in New England. It is situated in the White Mountains of New Hampshire in the heart of the Presidential Range. Towering above its neighboring peaks, Mount Washington dominates the North country scenery. Snow can and has occurred on every day of the year and can often be seen capped in white for many months of the year. The highest wind ever recorded in the world was recorded on the summit in 1934. The measured wind was 231 miles per hour. Hurricane force winds are a common occurrence. Bright sunny weather can turn into a fierce storm in a very short amount of time. The mountain is said to have the "World's Worst Weather".
The first known ascent of Mount Washington, or Agiocochook, was in 1642 by
Darby Field ( the Marshfield Station at the base of the railway is named for Cog founder
Sylvester Marsh and Darby Field). In 1784 the mountain was named for General George
Washington. Thousands of people now travel to the summit of Mount Washington, some on
foot, some by car, and some by Cog Railway.
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