Prospect Heights

“ It rests literally on the summit and hangs down over the mountain sides secure enough whenever and wherever there is a prospect hole with sufficient gold in it to serve the miners a foothold and check their sliding further. The high altitude of the district makes it especially undesirable for women, causing nervous troubles. Even the male population are more or less excitable, and when prospectors think they have made a strike some of them run about like lunatics. ”

“ But the method to which the term " levelling " is always applied is that of the direct determination of the differences of height from the readings of the lines at which graduated staves, held vertically over the points, are cut by the horizontal plane which passes through the eye of the observer. Each method has its own advantages. The former is less accurate,, but best suited for the requirements of a general geographical survey, to obtain the heights of all the more prominent objects on the surface of the ground, whether accessible or not. ”

“ He must not fancy himself in a London mansion, but in an old north-country manor-house, situated in the 'dreary, dreamy moorland,' far from the haunts of civilised men. There is, at all events, keeping in the book: the groups of figures and the scenery are in harmony with each other. There is a touch of Salvator Rosa in all."—Atlas.
"'Wuthering Heights' bears the stamp of a profoundly individual, strong, and passionate mind. ”

“ The Queenstone Heights, to the east of the village, are a lofty ridge of land rising three hundred feet above the level of the country below. They are quite as precipitous as the banks of the river. The railroad winds along the face of this magnificent bank. Gigantic trees tower far above your head, and a beautiful fertile country lies extended at your feet. ”

“ His brightening mind brightened his features, and added spirit and nobility to their aspect: I could hardly fancy it the same individual I had beheld on the day I discovered my little lady at Wuthering Heights, after her expedition to the Crags. ”

“ Wuthering Heights is the name of Mr. Heathcliff’s dwelling. “Wuthering” being a significant provincial adjective, descriptive of the atmospheric tumult to which its station is exposed in stormy weather. Pure, bracing ventilation they must have up there at all times, indeed: one may guess the power of the north wind, blowing over the edge, by the excessive slant of a few stunted firs at the end of the house; and by a range of gaunt thorns all stretching their limbs one way, as if craving alms of the sun. ”

“ It seems that man-height is the least fortunate of all heights from which to study trails. It is better to go up the front of some tall hill, say the spur of Black Mountain, looking back and down across the hollow of the Ceriso. ”

“ From each point marked we draw a line parallel to the base till it reaches the scale. From the point where it touches the line AO, raise perpendicular as a, which gives the height required at that distance, and must be referred back to the figure itself.
Fig. 78.
XXVIII How to Determine the Heights of Figures on a Level Plane First Case.
This is but a repetition of the previous figure, excepting that we have substituted these schoolgirls for the vertical lines. If we wish to make some taller than the others, and some shorter, we can easily do so, as must be evident (see Fig. 79) . ”

“ A hundred square miles round it in the mountains:
And that not dwelt in now by men or women
(It never had been dwelt in, though, by women,
So what is this I make a sorrow of?)
I came as census-taker to the waste
To count the people in it and found none,
None in the hundred miles, none in the house,
Where I came last with some hope, but not much
After hours' overlooking from the cliffs
An emptiness flayed to the very stone.
I found no people that dared show themselves,
None not in hiding from the outward eye. ”

“ But what we are interested in is Banksia Heights, and especially in that part of it where the young man is holding the flag. It is, as you see, in the natural line of growth of what is soon to be a metropolis of the Pacific Coast. Plans are already drawn, and can be inspected in our city office, for all the usual and necessary public improvements. I don't think anybody present has ever seen a fairer outlook, felt against his cheek more salubrious breezes, planted his feet on soil better adapted to the establishment of a home. Now as to this lot. ”

“ CANTO XXXIV.
Close by Mr. Hunt learns the fate of deceptive land agents.
These men who urged poor people to migrate to a barren country under the impression that it was a paradise, and advertised beautiful homes in ideal locations which turned out to be the reverse of the printed descriptions, are lifted high in the car of an observation elevator with promises of a fine view of the surrounding country and choice of cool corner lots. When at a great height a Demon pulls a lever, a trap-door opens and the agent falls into a furnace of brimstone fire. ”

“ For a prospect, we had the hinder part of an ugly meeting-house, which an enterprising neighbor relieved us of by planting a dwelling-house, right before our eyes, (on his own land, and he had a right to,) which relieved us also of all prospect whatever. And the revival spirit of habitation which has come over Concord is clapping up a house between every two in the already crowded town; and the prospect is, it will be soon all buildings. They are constructing, in quite good taste though, small, trim, cottage-like. ”

“ In London or Paris, for instance, ambitious persons are spoken of as climbing, in New York it would be more correct to speak of them as migrating or attempting to migrate from one social field to the next. It is impossible to imagine fields real or metaphorical yielding more different growths under the same sky. ”

“ The average height is rather below four feet, although many full-grown adults may be found who are very much smaller than this. They are a fierce, morose, and intractable people, though capable of forming most devoted friendships when their confidence has once been gained.’ Mark that, Watson. ”

“ People are now flocking in here in considerable numbers, either to settle or to make investments in real estate, in the hope and expectation [Pg 225] of realizing a fortune by the rise in the value of property. We have dally stages from the east and south, and they generally come loaded inside and out to the extent of their capacity. The land-office is crowded both by settlers and speculators eager to enter the choicest lands remaining unsold. ”

“ If an assessment for street improvement is figured by the front foot, it is unfair to the man with a long, shallow lot. If it is levied in accordance with the area of lots, it is unfair to the land with much depth and small frontage. ”

“ The city was emphatically still in the "real-estate" stage. Anybody arriving without profession or training straightway began to sell lots. Nothing lay more openly abundant than land; the town had but to propagate itself automatically over the wide prairies. The wild flowers waved only to welcome the surveyor's gang; and new home-seekers—in the jargon of the trade—were ever hurrying to rasp themselves upon the ragged edges of the outskirts.
One Sunday morning in May, Raymond and I determined on an excursion to the country—or, at all events, to some of the remoter suburbs. ”

“ The value of real estate is enhanced very much yearly; the average rise, for several years, has been about ten per cent per annum. The size of the village and the number of the resident population—now about 9,000—is constantly increasing. Numerous and costly dwellings are being erected on almost every street. The village thrives, and it may be confidently hoped that, with its numerous and peculiar attractions, this beautiful valley will ere long become the center of a vast population. ”

“ While cities contain so large a proportion of degenerate physical types as on the average to fall below the surrounding country in stature, nevertheless they also are found to include an inordinately large number of very tall and well-developed individuals. In other words, compared with the rural districts, where all men are subject to the same conditions of life, we discover in the city that the population has differentiated into the very tall and the very short. ”

“ Strategic Spheres of Vital Importance in the Pacific
[161]
We may compare the intellectual height of men with one another in a manner similar to comparing their physical height, only there is a much greater disparity in the intellectual than there is in the physical. If we take a man six feet high, and stand another man beside him of equal or less height, the height of the two men is no greater than that of the first man. If we add a hundred men of average height, we shall find that the average height of the whole line is considerably less than that of the six-footer with whom we started. ”

“ Jack answered. "But that ought to be equally true of False Hope Point, and yet there it is, that cape running out to the north, and since we can see it——"
"Although it may be true that you can see this peak from False Hope Point, and even from Prospect Hill," Ernest replied, "the first condition for seeing anything is that you should look for it. The probability is that we have never looked carefully enough."
"The general conclusion," Mr. Wolston added, "is that the range, properly speaking, can only be seen from above the Green Valley." ”

“ Value by proximity responds to central growth, diminishing in proportion to distance from various centres, while value from accessibility responds to axial growth, diminishing in proportion to absence of transportation facilities. Change occurs not only at the circumference but throughout the whole area of a city, outward growth being due both to pressure from the centre and to aggregation at the edges. All buildings within a city react upon each other, superior and inferior utilities displacing each other in turn. ”

“ The statement in the News Letter that every outcrop in the country has been examined and that it is not known where one can look for new properties—well, if the whole population of North America agreed in a body to accept the job of prospecting the Rocky Mountains and Sierra Nevada Mountains alone they could hardly perform the job in a lifetime. ”

“ Is not ambition but an endless ladder by which no height is ever climbed till the last unreachable rung is mounted? For height leads on to height, and there is no resting-place upon them, and rung doth grow upon rung, and there is no limit to the number. ”

“ None of these disadvantages may be present in locations close to centers of population, but the prospective settler should give all these factors full consideration. The sales argument frequently advanced that such locations will grow in value due to growth of population may be fallacious.
Many have found that the higher costs of living in these areas often prevent the owner from holding on until the slow growth of population outward makes a worth-while profit possible from his real estate. Furthermore, the growth of cities and towns is definitely slowing down. ”

“ He said no word, but he gave me one look that seemed to read every thought within me, a glance of complete and utter scorn. Some old prospector he was, a man who had spent his life trudging over the barren hillsides, looking for new mines, disappointed a thousand times, seeking fortune and never finding it. Others who followed him had prospered by his discoveries, had found the riches that he could not keep; for the man who prospects is seldom the man who gathers wealth. ”

“ The prospector is the advance agent of progress, civilization, and prosperity. He has spied out the country,—with the aid of his faithful burro,—and has marked every trail, preceded every stage route and railroad, and founded the greater number of towns on the western half of this United States. ”

“ But here, these dark giant masses crowd as it were against you. There is a struggle for the post of elevation. You are highest, no doubt of that; but so jealous all are these proud somber peaks, that every one seems to overlook, though yet actually beneath, the broad ample table-head of the center of the group. Sometimes one is tempted to leap across the narrow dells of separation, and at once master the geology of the district, so near seems every hill-top as almost to be touched. ”

“ Why, a degree of latitude or longitude is less thought of than a furlong by those at home; and, in some of the backwood settlements, neighbours are as far-away from each other as the capital cities of the continent are separated.”
“That is true,” said Mr Rawlings. “The space appears so illimitable that one’s ideas as to measurement expand in a similar way, and the agriculturists calculate by the square mile instead of the acre in all their estimates of the land. ”

“ When this uneven slope of the hill on which the town is situated shall be built up with fine and solid houses, what now looks dreary and desolate will then look very picturesque and smiling; so will it be with the society here; when elements that are now daily accumulating get through their fermentation and become settled, they also will present a smooth and transparent surface to the moral eye of the beholder, but as yet, one needs a little philosophy to bear him through the present that he may lean on the future. ”

“ If we reflect then, upon the great use made of the compass in the settlement of the continent, and the proverbial neglect of the country surveyor of those days to record the local variation, or declination, with his work, we may see a little of the utility and practical purposes to which the results are constantly being applied. Property so little thought of a hundred years ago that a few acres more or less, lost or acquired, in its transfer defined by compass surveys, may suddenly assume a value in these days of progress that every square foot is worth dollars. ”