As you know, 94.9 WHOM’s transmitter sits on the summit of New Hampshire’s Mount Washington, the highest peak in the Northeast. At over 6,200 feet of elevation, it’s easy to understand why 94.9 WHOM is “America’s Superstation”-with the largest land coverage of any FM station in North America.
There are several ways to get to the top. One is by hiking on foot. You will never read a blog from ME describing how I accomplished this.
Not a chance.
The Cog Railroad is another way up. A great way to get to the summit.
The oldest-and most popular way—is to drive the Mt. Washington Auto Road. Until you’ve experienced it (and can slap that “This Car Climbed Mt. Washington” bumper sticker on your car), you cannot fully grasp the gravity (get it?) of the journey. Called the country’s first “man made attraction”, the road opened up to horse and carriage traffic in 1861 (those POOR animals!)
It was on this date in 1899, however, that the first automobile made it to the top! Not a gasoline powered car, but a Stanley Steamer—driven by none other than F.O. Stanley himself, one of the twins who founded the company that produced some 11,000 of these steam-powered cars. Deceptively fast, they often beat larger gas-powered cars in races. In fact, a Stanley Steamer would break the world record for speed in 1906 when it reached 127 mph!
Two videos today-one is a nicely produced trip up the Auto Road by foreign tourists. Luckily for us, they typed the narrative in English as well. The other is a short video on Stanley Steamers-both interesting!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XcwXFwm1ebI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0OtFnnmJtSs
Hearing that the Stanley Steamer didn’t possess BRAKES strikes me as a significant detail when thinking about a Mt. Washington climb. Most definitely needed on the way DOWN, the brakes are a nice little feature to have on those hairpin turns during the way UP as well. Clearly, Mr. Stanley survived the trip both up and down.
I’ll be content to take the Jeep, thank you
If you’d like my blog in your box daily, just let me know: tim.moore@citcomm.com
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