The Jacob's Ladder of Montenegro. Leading from the city of Cattaro to Cettinje is the great stone highway that winds its way up the mountain side making 27 turns before reaching the summit overlooking the bay. The distance direct is a mile, but by the road it is ten. It is over this highway that the American Red Cross hauls all its supplies from its bases at Teodo and Cattaro for interior points of Montenegro and Albania. The route is very dangerous at many points as the rustling hulks of trucks and cars at the bottom of the cliffs will testify

Transportation Difficulties in Balkans. A series of three pictures showing how American Red Cross supplies are handled in Montenegro. No. 12986: Climbing Jacobs Ladder into Montenegro. No. 12987: The Road of a Thousand Thrills. No. 12988: The Air Express from Cattaro. The Road of a Thousand Thrills. Tying itself into a score of knowt, unwinding, coiling & dipping crazily down the sheer side of a mountain 3,000 feet high runs the road that gives Montenegro its only outlet to the sea. But American trucks loaded with American supplies are negotiating this highway that was formerly considered safe for burros, mountain goats and ox carts. Every week a convoy of American motor cars laden with Red Cross relief material for the starving and destitute people on the other side of this natural Chinese wall makes its way over this road. The picture gives a good idea of the agricultural resources of Montenegro. The little crazy quilt patches are spaces of tilled ground that have been wrested from the rocks after decades of toil and are coaxed into producing all the vegetables that are raised with a radiius of ten miles. It is this way all over the Black Mountain country

The Black Mountain Country. Giving an idea of the Dalmatian coast country. There are few good harbors and fewer still with access to the hinterland. This shows the bay of Cattaro with a view of the town of Teodo now an American supply base for the Red Cross. The great mountain towering above the town had to be crossed by the Red Cross in getting supplies to Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina and the hinterland of Montenegro. Ox carts and mountain burros were the transport means used

The Roadway into Montenegro, presents tremendous difficulties to the successful transportation of supplies during the winter months. The narrow roadway is cut from the sheer face of the mountain and rises to the height of over 4000 feet. While many accidents have occurred along this road, and the rocks beneath it are covered with the wrecks of Austrian army cars, the American Red Cross has had a remarkable record, never having lost a single truck on this "Jacob's Ladder" road in the past year and a half

Carrying On In Montenegro. The American Red Cross gave this royal palace in Montenegro a thorough renovating and installed an up to date hospital for the sick of Podgoritza, Montenegro. Before the war ex-Prince Mirko lived here. On the palace steps are Lieut. Col. H.R. Fairclough (center), of Palo Alto, Cal. Director of the Albanain unit, and his medical and nursing staff. On the balcony are native hospital aides. Many of the hospital patients are Montenegrin men who have been wounded in the numerous mountains vendettas of feuds which are the bane of this troubled Balkan kingdom

Swinging from peak to peak. Aerial tramways have proved to be the most efficient means of transportation in many parts of Montenegro. This shows an aerial tramway rebuilt under American direction after its distinction by the Austrians. It was used by the American Red Cross to transport its relief supplies from the bay of Cattare into the hinterland. At one point this cable tram reaches a height of 3,000 feet. Below can be seen an American Red Cross car making the ascent up Jacob's Ladder, the only road across the mountains, covering a distance of ten miles to reach a height of 3,000 feet

In the Black Mountain Country. A typical view of Montenegro, picturesque but desolate and barren. It is known as the "Black Mountain" country because of the appearance of its rocky hills. Barren of all vegetation the peaks tower one above the other into the dim distance. Small mountain streams flow lazily through the valleys and ravines. Never able to raise more than is enough got their barest needs, the people were left destitute by the war and the occupation of the country by the enemy. Thousands were saved by the action of the American Red Cross in shipping hundreds of tons of relief supplies into the country. This picture was taken at the lower end of Lake Scutari, the most productive part of the country

The Jacob's Ladder of Montenegro. Leading from the city of Cattaro to Cettinje is the great stone highway that winds its way up the mountain side making 27 turns before reaching the summit overlooking the bay. The distance direct is a mile, but by the road it is ten. It is over this highway that the American Red Cross hauls all its supplies from its bases at Teodo and Cattaro for interior points of Montenegro and Albania. The route is very dangerous at many points as the rustling hulks of trucks and cars at the bottom of the cliffs will testify

description

Summary

Title, date and notes from Red Cross caption card.
Photographer name or source of original from caption card or negative sleeve: Paris Office.
Group title: Montenegro.
Used in: Sat. Evening Post.
Gift; American National Red Cross 1944 and 1952.
General information about the American National Red Cross photograph collection is available at http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/pp.anrc
Temp note: Batch 11

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