Climbing Jacob’s Ladder
Aided by Peppersass and locomotive #2 “George Stephenson”, the process of building and installing over a thousand individual support structures (called “bents”) necessary to lay the track work above ground level progressed rapidly. By the summer of 1868, work crews had passed the halfway point and were approaching tree line, the region where the heavy forest gives way to a rocky sub arctic-tundra known as the summit cone.
On Mount Washington, tree line occurs at roughly 5000’, quite low compared to mountains in the west where tree lines can be twice as high. This is a consequence of the mountain’s unique geographic location at the juncture of three major weather fronts. The mountain acts as a force multiplier to weather systems coming from the northeast, south and west, giving it a well earned reputation for having some of the most severe conditions in the world.
Marsh’s chosen route closely followed a trail blazed nearly 50 years earlier by a young settler named Ethan Allen Crawford. At 4725’, track crews faced the daunting challenge of building a left-curving high trestle to span a boulder strewn gap. Crawford referred to this part of the mountain as “Jacob’s Ladder”, and the ambitious new structure would become its namesake.
After months of difficult, dangerous work, perhaps the most impressive feat of engineering on the entire railway was complete. At nearly 300’ long, 25’ above the surface of the mountain, and ascending at a 37.41% grade, it would eventually enter the record books as the steepest and second highest railroad trestle in the world, and by far the steepest portion of Marsh’s railway.
To this day, standing watch over it from a nearby knob is a boulder faintly inscribed with the initials EAC, the name Lucy and the year 1820. With it, Ethan Allen Crawford honored both his wife and his own trail blazing accomplishments in the Presidential Range. Completed that year across the ravine, the Crawford Path remains the oldest continuously maintained footpath in the United States. The following year, Crawford went on to blaze the route that would eventually become the Cog Railway.
With that obstacle conquered, Marsh held a formal opening celebration on August 14, 1868. Dignitaries left the train at Jacob’s Ladder and hiked the remaining distance to the Tip Top House for dinner, returning to the train for a sunset descent to Marshfield.
Regular passenger service to the trestle commenced thereafter, while higher up, track work continued toward the summit. The ambitious goal of completing the line before winter seemed within reach.
By mid October, tracks were laid to within a few hundred feet of the finish line, but winter weather forced the cessation of work for the year. The final stretch of track wouldn’t be complete until July 3 of the following year, with little additional fanfare.