Old Whiteface:

The Adirondacks Illustrated, Seneca Ray Stoddard, 1874

Cut off from it's kindred on the south by Wilmington Notch, and on the north by one almost a deep, pyramidal in form. although somewhat the longest north and south, it's naked granite head among the clouds "Old Whiteface" stands one of the finest mountain peaks in the Adirondacks. Seventy years ago an avalanche of loose stones and the gathered moss and vegetable deposit of ages went down the western slope of this mountain and the exposed surface, whiter than the rest, is said to have given it the name; but there is a more reasonable theory, as the line can hardly be noticed unless covered with snow, that the old giant's naked brow, for so long a period covered with snow, suggested the name of "Old Whiteface." On the topmost point, firmly attached to the rock, we found the card of the chief of the Adirondack Survey, a metallic disk with this inscription: "Whiteface Mountain, Station No. 2. Verplanck Colvin, S.N.Y Adirondack Survey, 1872. All around the surface of the rock was scarred and chiseled with the names of former visitors while on one, cut deep and clear, were the words, "Thanks be to God for the mountain!" and every heart joined with that grand old mountain peak in saying, "thanks be to God for the mountains." A great dark, lichen-covered, chaotic mass of broken rock forms the summit; to the north and south the ascent is gradual, but on either side it is almost perpendicular for many feet, then curves outward and is covered by the dark evergreens.

We gazed down from the dizzy height. "We heard the troubled flow Of the dark olive depths of pines,
resounding A thousand feet below."