FRANCONIA, N.H.(AP) – The Old Man of the Mountain, the stern granite profile that symbolized the state’s independence and stubbornness, is gone, likely the victim of the same natural forces that created it thousands of years ago.
A state park trails crew reported at about 7:30 Saturday that the 40-foot tall face was gone from Cannon Mountain. The mountain was obscured by clouds on Thursday and Friday, so it is uncertain when it fell.
On Saturday, a handful of cables and epoxy on the rocky mountainside remained where the craggy face once gazed. Fresh scrapes on the slope were likely caused by the rock fall. No fallen parts of the face were distinguishable from the other boulders on the slope.
Gov. Craig Benson said the face should be “revitalized.”
“This closes a very long chapter in New Hampshire history, but we’ll begin a new chapter immediately,” he said. “The old man is counting on us not to forget his legacy, and we won’t let him down.”
Asked whether he envisions installing a replica of the Old Man, Benson said it’s too early to say. He will meet with state officials to discuss the idea and form a fund for people to donate money for the project.
“I’m not envisioning. I’m just saying we’re going to revitalize the old man some way, somehow,” he said.
David Nielsen, whose father was the profile’s official caretaker for decades before passing the job on to his son a few a years ago, had tears in his eyes as he looked at the mountainside.
“The oldest person in my family just died,” he said.
The Old Man hovered about 1,200 feet above Interstate 93, about 65 miles north of Concord. The profile appears on the New Hampshire license plate, quarter, on state road signs and on countless souvenirs and tourist brochures. Since the early 1800s, millions of tourists have traveled through Franconia Notch to view it.
“I’ve just lost my number one attraction,” said Dick Hamilton, president of White Mountain Attractions, a tourism group.
Hamilton has commuted through the notch every day for more than 30 years.
“I say goodnight to him every night when I go by,” he said. On Friday night, he couldn’t see the profile because of the clouds.
“I went by and said, ‘Good night, boss, wherever you are.”‘
For almost a century, the state had used cables and epoxy to try to keep the face from collapsing from erosion and the natural freeze-and-thaw cycle.
Those who did the work warned that a collapse was inevitable, but few thought they would live to see it.
“There’s only so much you can do,” said Mike Pelchat, a state park official who on Saturday hiked up to where the profile once stood.
“With heavy rains and high winds and freezing temperatures, the combination was just right to loosen him up. We always thought it was the hand of God holding him up, and he let go.”
Pelchat said he hiked up, in part, to see if there were any signs of foul play. He said he didn’t see any.
Niels Nielsen, the state highway worker who began taking care of the profile in 1960, told an interviewer in 1999 he thought the Old Man would outlive him by many years.
“My gut feeling is that any baby that’s born on this date, today, will not see the Old Man come down,” he said.
After his death in 2001, Nielsen’s ashes were buried on the mountain.
“We buried his ashes in the Old Man’s left eye because one of his wishes was to be part of the old man,” David Nielsen said. “And he is.”
Daniel Webster, a 19th century New Hampshire statesman, once wrote, referring to the Old Man,
“Men hang out their signs indicative of their respective trades; shoemakers hang out a gigantic shoe; jewelers a monster watch, and the dentist hangs out a gold tooth; but in the mountains of New Hampshire, God Almighty has hung out a sign to show that there He makes men.”
Lorraine Holt of Montreal, Canada, and her husband were driving home Saturday when they heard about the Old Man and stopped to look.
“We just happened to hit a radio station that said this tragedy had happened,” she said. “So we had to stop and say goodbye.”
Paul Hayward’s family has operated an inn in nearby Sugar Hill since 1780. He said he was devastated by the loss.
“I’m glad my grandmother didn’t live to see this,” Hayward said.
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On the Net:
Franconia State Park:
http://www.nhparks.state.nh.us/ParksPages/franconianotch/oldman.html
AP-ES-05-03-03 1555EDT
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