Mt. Moosilauke (1915) - Tip Top Cow
". . . We were self-sufficient in one respect. We had a cow that gave us fresh milk and cream. Her name was Dinah. She was white with black spots. She was a big attraction to the guests, and had a write up in the old Boston Post. . . .
There was a fair-sized barn below the north side of the cone where Dinah stayed in bad weather and at night. The stage horses were kept there whenever the stage stayed overnight, and there were some camps that came up on saddle horses occasionally, so the cow often had company.
We had a bell on Dinah, and she would come to the kitchen door and ring that bell until we brought something out for her to eat. She was the only cow I ever saw that ate garbage. She did most of her grazing on the east peak where the sparse growth was stunted, and there were quite a few open areas that were grassy. She was a good cow and ran loose on the mountaintop for the three summers that we were there without once offering to leave. . . ."
Note: Bill Morse lived at the Tip Top House on Moosilauke during the summers of 1915-1917. His 50-page illustrated account contains many stories as well as an excellent history of the mountain's summit house. - RWA
From "Mountain Years" in A Mix of Years by William S. Morse, 1998. Copyright 1998, William S. Morse.
