Karen Bass: “4 days ago New Hampshire lost an old friend. It went unnoticed probably between 2 a.m. in the morning on Saturday. The…”

“4 days ago New Hampshire lost an old friend. It went unnoticed probably between 2 a.m. in the morning on Saturday. The Old Man of the Mountain collapsed and fell a thousand feet off the face of Canon Mountain, and I know New Hampshire mourns the loss of this great icon as if it were a friend. We all got to know the Old Man of the Mountain very well. We take it and took it very seriously. I remember as a child driving up through Franconia Notch and always stopping to see the Old Man because it was really an extraordinary landmark. As recently as a month and a half ago, I drove down through Franconia Notch with my two children, ages nine and eleven, and we stopped for a moment just to take a look at it and get a quick photograph. Indeed, it was an extraordinary symbol of our State. I have to say, however, that its loss was not totally unexpected. As long ago as 1880, people began to notice that there was some cracking and slipping beginning on this face, and it has continued to deteriorate over the years, and there have been organizations and groups who formed over the years to try to preserve it, but ultimately the day came when this 10,000-year-old rock formation which consists of over seven different ledges together to create this allusion of a face finally perished.”