On my last trip to the upper United states I drove up to the near tops of each of these mountains. Being the inquisitive tourist I am, I read the plaques. One or both of them had mentioned that they were constructed during the depression by such and such groups and peoples.
Because these mountains are in such remote (imagine at those times) locations, not near any big cities or towns, where/why/how could they get the people to work on the roads to the summit and buildings atop?
The Mount Washington Auto Road isn’t really all that remote. It’s not too far from Gorham and Berlin, which are good-sized towns. It opened in 1861. For more information on the history of the road, see http://www.mt-washington.com/autoroad/autohistory.html
I don’t know enough about these mountains and their locations to know why they might need to have roads and buildings constructed on them. However, the ‘where’ and ‘how’ of getting the people is answered in your OP. It was the Depression, and many, many people in the United States spent much of the 1930s constantly moving in search of work. The most famous example, of course, is the ‘Okies’ of the dustbowl, who moved west to California, and were immortalised in John Steinbeck’s outstanding novel The Grapes of Wrath. But these were not the only people willing to move in search of work.
Added to this increased mobility brought on by financial hardship, there were in the US during the Depression large public works sponsored by the federal government under the auspices of Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal. These were designed primarily to use government funds to create work for people rendered jobless by the 1929 crash and the subsequent economic downturn. Probably the most famous of the New Deal agencies was the Works Progress Administration, formed by the April 1935 Emergency Relief Appropriation Act (proposed by FDR, passed by congress). According to a new US history textbook:
“The WPA became the nation’s biggest employer, hiring more than 3 million people in its first year, and during its eigt years of operation, it created jobs for 8.5 million Americans at a cost of $11 billion. WPA workers built over 650,000 miles of roads, 125,000 public buildings, 8,000 parks, and hundreds of bridges. The WPA created New York City’s La Guardia Airport, restored the St. Louis, Missouri’s riverfront, excavated Indian burial grounds, and operated the bankrupt city of Key West, Florida.”
from Steven M. Gillon and Cathy D. Matson, The American Experiment: A History of the United States, Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston, 2002, p. 987. (i have an advance copy, if you’re wondering about the date).
This probably explains the structures on the mountains you visited.
michael.
Mt. Washington has always been a tourist destination. In fact, it was probably a bigger tourist draw (percentage-wise) 150 years ago that it was today. Contemplating nature was in vogue, and it was far more accessible than the natural wonders of the West.
Whiteface Mountain wasn’t remote during the Depression either. Lake Placid hosted the Olympics in 1932, so they needed plenty of access back then. The area has long been a big tourist destination for a while – Adirondack Park was established in 1892.
It wasn’t on Mt Washington.
I am an amateur historian of sorts on the history of mountaineering and tourism in New England. There were no public works projects on the summit of Mt Washington, ever. Up until very recently, parcels of land on the summit were privately owned by companies, individuals, and Dartmouth College going back to the 1840’s. When the surrounding areas became part of the White Mountain National Forest, these landowners were given variances to continue their operations. I have in front of me several Depression-era guidebooks. The structures on the summit at that time included:
Summit House - a hotel rebuilt after a 1915 fire. privately-owned.
Tip-Top House - a stone hotel built in 1853, privately-owned
Stage Office - Operated by the Summit Road Company. It was in this building in 1934 that the highest wind gust ever recorded was measured (231 mph). There is a plaque on the building’s exterior memorializing the event. A new structure was built in 1937 for the observers, but it was torn down about 20 years ago, and there is no plaque. It was constructed with private funds.
Camden Cottage - a primitive refuge built for trampers in 1922
The Cog Railway was completed in 1869. private.
The Carriage Road was completed in 1861. private.
There are some plaques on the summit. Most memorialize victims of the summit’s infamous weather. The two prominent plaques include the wind record and recognition of the 10th Mountain Divison. Inside the Sherman Adams building (which is accessible to the public), there are several plaques on the wall commemorating individuals who contributed to various trail systems, scientific research, or club activities. These mostly go unnoticed by tourists in their rush to buy a souvenir postcard. Now that I think of it, I don’t have any good pictures of these.
sources include: Appalachian Mountain Club: White Mountain Guide, 1931, 1940, and 1960.
The Civilian Conservation Corp (CCC) was resposinble for a number of improvement to roads and roadside facilities. Camps sprung up all over the region. I must now quote from the bible of northeastern mountaineering and outdoor adventure, Forest and Crag by Laura and Guy Waterman:
However, the construction of new roads and facilities and repairs to the much older existing networks enabled greater access for the increasingly mobile American public. In very simplistic terms, their work helped contribute to the growth of the weekend tourist and the rise of winter sports, including American alpine skiing.
Back to the OP!
1. Despite the large numbers of tourists who visit the Northeastern forests each year, tourism today is not what it was 100-130 years ago. Rather than spend a weekend or a week, the Victorians would spend whole summers in the resorts of the north. They would often bring the entire extended family and a host of attendants. At the same time, the lumber industry was gradually discovering the large virigin tracts of timber west of Maine. Populations of permanent citizens were much greater at that time to support the service industries, hotels, railroads, and timber barons. Migrant labor from Quebec supplemented any shortages of manpower. Manpower was cheap and plentiful. Any project an entrepreneur envisioned could be completed in short order.
2. The building complexes seen on Mt Washington today took many years to complete. Mt Washington is a jumble of structures that have been built, burnt, demolished, and rebuilt anew. What you see today took 150 years to build.
3. Since the tourism heyday, many of the towns that supported such work have disappeared from the map. Hikers today may travel through the ruins of towns which once supported hundreds of lumberjacks and laborers. I regularly visit the town of Livermore who’s last living resident died in the early 1950’s. All that remains are a few ruined buildings and abandoned rail lines which have been swallowed by the forests. If you travel deeper into the wood, you will ocassionally stumble across old logging camps and their assorted debris.
In short, these mountains are more remote today than they were 100 years ago. In part, due to shifts in leisure time in our society - and the resulting economic consequences, but partly by design. We’re actively trying to make these places less accessible through conservation efforts. I hope that answers your question satisfactorily.
As i said in my response, i wasn’t familiar enough with the areas under discussion to make a specific determination. I was making a more general response based on the fact that such a high percentage of 1930s construction in America was done under the auspices of the New Deal.
sorry.
No offense intended, mhendo. This just happens to be one of those topics on which I can claim to be the authoritative expert. 
No offence taken. As someone studying for a Ph.D. in history (American history, at that) i should be a little more careful where i stick my beak in.