358
��Aloosilauke.
��highest mountains of New England. The altitude of the N. peak above tide-water, as estimated b}' Capt. Par- tridge,* from barometrical observia- tions, is 4,63r> feet ; that of the S. peak, 4,536 feet."
But that the true orthography is Moo-she-lock, S. G. Goodrich, iu his Pictorial Geography, Boston, 1841, Vol. II, p. 135, thus clinches it: Be- tween the Merrimack and the Connec- ticut, in the soutli-west part of this state, there extends a ridge from S. to N., called the White Mountain Ridge. The loftiest summits of this are — Monadnock, 3,254 feet high ; Sunapee, Kearsarge, Carr's Mountain, and ' Mooshelock,' called by a corrup- tion Moosehillock."
The spelling of the name, Moose- hil-lock, a corruption according to Goodrich, probably originated about 1803. Dr. Dwight visited Newbury, Vt., several times, and in his book made glowing mention of the moun- tain : ^ Behind the village of Hav- erliill, at a distance of seven or eight miles, Moosehillock, a stupendous elevation, always reminding me of that description of Milton's —
'The mountains huge appear Emergent, and their bmad bare bacl\s upheave luto tlie clouds; their tops ascend the sky,' —
rose to the height of four thousand five hundred feet, covered with snow on the summit, of a dazzling white- ness, but gray and grizzly as the eye descended towards the base. This contrast of summer and winter, of ex- quisite beauty and the most gloomy grandeur, had the appearance of en- chantment, and left an impression which can never be forgotten until
��every image shall fade out of the memory." "D wight's Travels," Vol. II, p. 318.
Morse's American Gazeteer, 1804, spells the name Moose-hil-lock, and gives its origin : " Moosehillock [is] the higliest of the fchain of mountains in New Hampshire, the "White Moun- tains excepted. It takes its name from having been formerly a remark- able range for moose, and lies 70 miles W. of the White Mountains. From its N. W. side proceeds Baker's river, a branch of the Pemigewasset, which is principal branch of Merri- mack. On this mountain snow has been seen from the town of Newbury, Vermont, on the 30th of June and the 31st of August; and on the moun- tains intervening, snow, it is said, lies the whole year."
Morse's Geography, 1804, also spells the nan)e " Moosehillock."
Parish's Geography, 1807, page 36, gives "Moosehillock."
G A. Thompson's Geographical Dictionary of America, London, 1812, and based upon the earlier work by Alcedo, the Spanish author, Vol. Ill, p. 337, says, — "Moosehillock takes its name from its having been formerly a remaikable range for moose."
Carrigain's celebrated map, 1816; Merrill's N. H. Gazeteer, 1817; T. G. Bradford's Comprehensive Atlas, N. Y., 1836 ; Farmers Monthly Visitor, Hon. Isaac Hill, 1839 ; Barstow's His- tory of New Hampshire, 1842 ; Has- kell & Smith's U. S. Gazetteer, 1843 ; Mitchell's World, 1847 ; and McCul- lough's Universal Gazeteer, 1852, — all spell the name Moosehillock.
��*Capt. Alden Partridge, U. S. Army, climbed Moosilauke in August, 1817. lie published an accoun of his ascent and measurements in the American Monthly Magazine and Critical Review, New York, Vol II. No. 1, p. 51.
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