The Mountain House Park has a valley frontage of over three miles in extent, and consists of 2,780 acres of magnificent forest and farming lands, traversed in all directions by many miles of carriage roads and paths, leading to various noted places of interest.  The Crest, Newman’s Ledge, Bear’s Den, Prospect Rock on North Mountain, and Eagle Rock and Palenville Overlook on South Mountain, from which the grandest views of the region are obtained, are contained in the property.  It also includes within its boundaries North and South Lakes, both plentifully stocked with various kind of fish and well supplied with boats and canoes.  The atmosphere is delightful, invigorating and pure; the great elevation and surrounding forest render it free from malaria.  The temperature is fifteen to twenty degrees lower than at Catskill Village, New York City or Philadelphia.

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    Cooper’s “Leatherstocking” is the one melodious synopsis
    of man and nature.

    Thomas Carlyle.

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The =_Otis Elevating Railway_=, made possible by the enterprise of the late Commodore Van Santvoord, extends from Otis Junction on the Catskill Mountain Railway to Otis Summit, a noble altitude of the Catskill Range.  The incline railway, 7,000 feet in length, ascends 1,600 feet and attains an elevation of 2,200 feet above the Hudson River.  “In length, elevation, overcome and carrying capacity it exceeds any other incline railway in the world.  It is operated by powerful stationary engines and huge steel wire cables, and the method employed is similar to that used by the Otis Elevator Company for elevators in buildings.  Every safeguard has been provided, so that an accident of any kind is practically impossible.  Should the machinery break, the cables snap or track spread, an ingenious automatic device would stop the cars at once.  A passenger car and baggage car are attached to each end of double cables which pass around immense drums located at the top of the incline.  While one train rises the other descends, passing each other midway.  By this arrangement trains carrying from seventy-five to one hundred passengers can be run in each direction every fifteen minutes when necessary, the time required for a trip being only ten minutes.  This is a vast improvement over the old way of making the ascent of the mountains by stage, as it reduces the time fully one and a half hours, besides adding greatly to the pleasure of the trip.  The ride up the mountains on the incline railway is a novel and delightful experience, and is alone worth a visit to the Catskills.  As the train ascends, the magnificent panorama of the valley of the Hudson, extending for miles and miles, is gradually unfolded; while the river itself, like a ribbon of silver glistening in the sun, and the Berkshire Hills in the distance seem to rise to the view of the passenger.  At the summit of the incline passengers for the Laurel House, Haines Corners, Ontiora, Sunset, Twilight, Santa Cruz, Elka Park, and Tannersville, take the trains of the Kaaterskill Railroad, which connect with the Otis Elevating Railway.”