Article September 20, 1900 Issue

The World's Mountain Observatories

Boston Herald

Mountain observations, for the purpose of studying astronomical, meteorological, and physiological questions at high levels, have been established in almost all civilized countries. It is a well-known fact that the ascent of high mountains is, in most instances, connected with many risks and disadvantages. It must also be borne in mind that observatories on high mountains must either be abandoned altogether during the winter season or, if occupied, the observer must be subjected to extremely trying conditions and to some danger from terrific storms of wind, snow, hail, from lightning, etc. The discomfort and monotony of such a life, subjected to very low temperatures and surrounded by clouds and snow for long periods, will unfit an ordinary individual for making the best use of the few clear days which an alpine winter presents. Telephone and telegraph lines cannot be maintained in working order under such conditions without taking extraordinary precautions, and there must be days and weeks together when travel between the summit and the valley is shut off. Even on Mt. Hamilton, explorers have been without any communication with the valley for a week, and without stage communication for three weeks, and Mt. Hamilton winters are a bagatelle to the summers of Mt. Blanc in Switzerland.

Some of the material hindrances in the case of mountain stations are:—

1. The great expense of erecting suitable and safe buildings at such sites. The cost building M. Vallot's observatory on the flanks of Mt. Blanc was $74 per cubic metre.

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Twentieth-Century Religion