"A little beyond this, I recognised the former residence of a beloved sister, now living in a far distant southern state. It was the same steep hill ascending to the gate, the same grove around the house, as when she lived there, and the same as when I played there in my boyhood. And it was the first time I had seen it since the change of owners. I then saw it from the Peaks of Otter: but it touched a thousand tender chords; and I almost wept when I thought that those I once there loved were far away, and that the scenes of my youthful days could not return.
"Myself and companions had, some time before, gotten on different rocks, that we might not interrupt each other in our contemplations. I could not refrain, however, from saying to one of them, 'What little things we are! how factitious our ideas of what is extensive in territory and distance!' A splendid estate was about the size I could step over; and I could stand and look at the very house whence I used to start in days gone by, and follow with my eye my day's journey to the spot where, wearied and worn, I dismounted with the setting sun. Yet I could look over what seemed so great a space, with a single glance. I could also look away down the Valley of Virginia, and trace the country, and, in imagination, the stage coach, as it slowly wound its way, day and night for successive days, to reach the termination of what I could throw my eye over in a moment. I was impressively reminded of the extreme littleness with which these things of earth would all appear, when the tie of life which binds us here is broken, and we shall all be able to look back and down upon them from another world. The scene and place are well calculated to excite such thoughts.
"It is said that John Randolph once spent the night on these elevated rocks, attended by no one but his servant; and that, when in the morning he had witnessed the sun rising over the majestic scene, he turned to his servant, having no other to whom he could express his thoughts, and charged him, 'Never from that time to believe any who told him there was no God.'
"I confess, also, that my mind was most forcibly carried to the judgment day; and I could but call the attention of my companions to what would, probably, then be the sublime terror of the scene we now beheld, when the mountains we saw and stood upon, should all be melted down like wax; when the flames should be driving over the immense expanse before us; when the heavens over us should be 'passing away with a great noise;' and when the air beneath and around us should be filled with the very inhabitants now dwelling, and busied in that world beneath us."
After the traveller has gratified his curiosity beholding the Peaks of Otter, he may resume the stage at Liberty, and proceed on his route to the springs, via Bufort's, 14 miles; Fincastle, 14 miles; Sweet Springs, 32 miles; Red Sweet, 1 mile; and White Sulphur, 16 miles.
Visiters to the Virginia Springs from the south or west by the Ohio River, generally leave the river at Guyandotte, taking the stage to Charleston, 48 miles. This beautiful town is in the rich valley of the Kanawha, immediately on the banks of the river. About five miles from this place are the Salines, where are to be seen the Gas-Wells. The following interesting account of these is from the Lexington Gazette of 1843:
"These wonderful wells have been so lately discovered, that as yet only a brief and imperfect notice of them has appeared in the newspapers. But they are a phenomenon so very curious and interesting, that a more complete description will doubtless be acceptable to the public.
"They are, in fact, a new thing under the sun; for in all the history of the world, it does not appear that a fountain of strong brine was ever before known to be mingled with a fountain of inflammable gas, sufficient to pump it out in a constant stream, and then by its combustion, to evaporate the whole into salt of the best quality.
"We shall introduce our account of these wells by some remarks on the geological structure of the country at the Kanawha Salt Works, and on the manner in which the salt water is obtained.
"The country is mountainous, and the low grounds along the river are altogether alluvial, the whole space of a mile in width, having been at some time the bed of the river. The rocks are chiefly sandstone of various qualities, lying in beds, or strata, from two inches to several feet in thickness. These strata are nearly horizontal, but dipping a little, as in other parts of the country, towards the northwest. At the Salt Works they have somehow been heaved up into a swell above the line of general direction, so as to raise the deep strata nigher to the surface, and thus to bring those in which the salt water is found within striking distance.
"Among the sand-rocks are found layers of slate and coal; this latter being also, by the same upheaving, made more conveniently accessible than in most other parts of the country.
"The salt water is obtained by sinking a tight curb, or gum, at the edge of the river, down about twenty feet, to the rock which underlies the river, and then boring into the rock. At first the borings did not exceed 200 feet in depth, but the upper strata of water being exhausted, the wells were gradually deepened, the water of the lower strata being generally stronger than the upper had ever been. Until 1842, none of the wells exceeded 6 or 700 feet in depth. Mr. Tompkins, an enterprising salt-maker, was the first to extend his borings to a thousand feet, or more. His experiment was attended with a most unexpected result. He had somewhat exceeded a thousand feet, when he struck a crevice in the rock, and forth gushed a powerful stream of mingled gas and salt water. Generally, the salt water in the wells was obtained in rock merely porous, and rose by hydrostatic pressure to the level of the river. To obtain the strong water of the lower strata, unmixed with the weak water above, it is the practice to insert a copper tube into the hole, making it fit tightly below by means of wrapping on the outside, and attaching the upper end to the pump, by which the water is drawn up to the furnaces on the river bank.
"When Mr. Tompkins inserted his tube, the water gushed out so forcibly, that instead of applying the pump, he only lengthened his tube above the well. The stream followed it with undiminished velocity to his water cistern, 60 feet above the level of the river.
"In the next place, he inserted the end of the spout from which the water and gas flowed, into a large hogshead, making a hole in the bottom to let out the water into the cistern. Thus the light gas was caught in the upper part of the hogshead, and thence conducted by pipes to the furnace, where it mingled with the blaze of the coal fire. It so increased the heat as to make very little coal necessary; and if the furnace were adapted to the economical use of this gaseous fuel, it would evaporate all the water of the well, though the quantity is sufficient to make five hundred bushels of salt per day. The same gentleman has since obtained a second gas-well near the former, and in all respects similar to it. Other proprietors of wells have also struck gas-fountains by deep boring. In one of these wells the gas forces the water up violently, but by fits, the gush continuing for some two or three hours, and then ceasing for about the same length of time. In another of these wells there has been very recently struck, a gas-fountain that acts with such prodigious violence as to make the tubing of the well in the usual way impossible; when the copper tube was forced down through the rushing stream of brine and gas, it was immediately flattened by the pressure; and the auger-hole must be enlarged to admit a tube sufficiently strong and capacious to give vent to the stream without being crushed. In another well, a mile and a half from any gas-well, a powerful stream of gas has been recently struck. It forces up the water with great power; but, unfortunately for the proprietor, the water is too weak to be profitably worked. It appears from this fact, that the gas is not inseparably connected with strong brine. When struck before good salt water is reached, it will operate injuriously, for no water obtained below it can rise at all, unless the pressure of the gas be taken off by means of a strong tube extending below it.
"Several wells have been bored to a depth equal to that of the gas-wells, without striking the gas; the source of which seems to lie below, perhaps far below, the depth of the wells. This light elastic substance, wheresoever and howsoever generated, naturally presses upwards for a vent, urging its way through every pore and crevice of the superincumbent rocks; and the well-borer's auger must find it in one of the narrow routes of its upward passage, or penetrate to its native coal-bed before it will burst forth by the artificial vent.
"The opinion just intimated, that the gas originates in deep coal beds, is founded on the fact that it is the same sort of gas that constitutes the dangerousfire-dampof coal-pits, and the same that is manufactured out of bituminous coal for illuminating our cities. It is a mixture of carburetted and sulphuretted hydrogen. Philosophers tell us that bituminous coal becomes anthracite by the conversion of its bitumen and sulphur into this gas, and that water acts a necessary part in the process. Whether the presence of salt water causes a more rapid evolution of the gas, the present writer will not undertake to say; but somehow, the quantity generated in the salt region of Kanawha is most extraordinary.
"It finds in this region innumerable small natural vents. It is seen in many places bubbling up through the sand at the bottom of the river, and probably brings up salt water with it, as in the gas-wells, but in small quantity. The celebrated burning spring is the only one of its natural vents apparent on dry land. This stream of gas, unaccompanied by water, has forced its way from the rocks below, through 70 or 80 feet of alluvial ground, and within 80 yards of the river bank. It is near this burning spring where the principal gas-wells have been found; but, twenty-five years ago, or more, a gas-fountain was struck in a well 200 feet deep, near Charleston, 7 miles below the burning spring. This blew up, by fits, a jet of weak salt water 20 or 30 feet high. On a torch being applied to it one night, brilliant flames played and flashed about the watery column in the most wonderful manner."
Leaving the Salines, we pass on to the Falls of Kanawha, 30 miles; to Gauley Bridge, 5 miles; and to theHawk's Nest, 8 miles.
Marshall's Pillar, or theHawk's Nest, as it is more generally called, is in Fayette County, on New River, within a few yards of the Kanawha Turnpike. This rocky precipice rises perpendicularly above the river, to the height of about 1000 feet. The following account of this great curiosity, given by a foreign traveller, is from Howe's Sketches of Virginia, to which work we are indebted for most of the matter respecting the curiosities of the state.
"You leave the road by a little by-path, and after pursuing it for a short distance, the whole scene suddenly breaks upon you. But how shall we describe it? The great charm of the whole is connected with the point of sight, which is the finest imaginable. You come suddenly to a spot which is called the Hawk's Nest. It projects on the scene, and is so small as to give standing to only some half dozen persons. It has on its head an old picturesque pine; and it breaks away at your feet, abruptly and in perpendicular lines, to a depth of more than 1000 feet. On this standing, which, by its elevated and detached character, affects you like the monument, the forest rises above and around you. Beneath, and before you, is spread a lovely valley. A peaceful river glides down it, reflecting, like a mirror, all the lights of heaven—washes the foot of the rocks on which you are standing—and then winds away into another valley at your right. The trees of the wood, in all their variety, stand out on the verdant bottoms, with their heads in the sun, and casting their shadows at their feet; but so diminished, as to look more like the pictures of the things than the things themselves. The green hills rise on either hand and all around, and give completeness and beauty to the scene; and beyond these appears the gray outline of the more distant mountains, bestowing grandeur to what was supremely beautiful. It is exquisite. It conveys to you the idea of perfect solitude. The hand of man, the foot of man, seem never to have touched that valley. To you, though placed in the midst of it, it seems altogether inaccessible. You long to stroll along the margin of those sweet waters, and repose under the shadows of those beautiful trees; but it looks impossible. It is solitude, but of a most soothing, not of an appalling character—where sorrow might learn to forget her griefs, and folly begin to be wise and happy."
From the Hawk's Nest, the route is via Locust Lane, 2 miles; Blue Sulphur, 40 miles; Lewisburg, 13 miles; and to the White Sulphur, 9 miles.
BERKELEY SPRINGS.
Having described all the springs, of which we have any information, immediately on the main routes from the city of Washington to the White Sulphur, we will now give an account of all other watering-places within our knowledge. The following account of the Berkeley Springs has been furnished us; and although it is longer than the description of any other watering-place given in this work, we have been induced in consequence of their antiquity to insert the whole.
"Berkeley Springs are situated in the town of Bath, Morgan County, Virginia, 2½ miles from Sir John's Depot, a point on the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, 130 miles west of Baltimore, and 49 miles east of Cumberland, Maryland. A good mountain road connects with the railroad, and during the bathing season, which lasts from the 1st of June until the 1st of October, fine coaches are always in attendance at the depot. Three large springs, and a number of inferior ones, gush out from the foot of the Warm Spring Ridge, all within the distance of 70 or 80 yards, forming a bold and beautiful stream, which in its course down the valley supplies several mills and factories, and empties into the Potomac opposite Hancock, Maryland, 6 miles distant. The water of all these fountains is of the same character, light, sparkling, and tasteless, their temperatures ranging from 72° to 74° Fahrenheit, and their character and volume being in no way affected by variations of the weather or changes of the seasons. The gentlemen's bath-house, a substantial brick building, contains ten large bathing-rooms. The baths are of cement, 12 feet long, 5 feet wide, and 4½ deep, filled from a reservoir by a four inch pipe, and contain about 1600 gallons each. The luxury of these capacious plunges can only be appreciated by those who have tried them. The ladies' bath-house, on the opposite side of the grove, contains nine baths of similar dimensions, and adjoining this is an establishment for shower, spout, and artificial warm baths. The whole is enclosed by a beautiful grove several acres in extent, and handsomely improved.
"The ownership of these springs is vested in a body of trustees, appointed originally by the Legislature of Virginia, and the improvements are made and kept up by means of the revenue derived from the annual visiters. The charges for the use of the baths are as follows:—Single bath, 25 cents; season ticket, $2 50. Children and servants half the above rates. Life ticket, $15 00. A season ticket entitles the purchaser to the use of the bath during the whole bathing season. A life ticket entitles the purchaser and his immediate family to the use of the bath during the life of such purchaser, with the additional fee of 50 cents per annum from each individual to the bath-keeper. Arrangements are making for extending and improving the bathing accommodation, so as to give the public the full benefit of a restorative and luxury so copiously supplied by nature. It has been estimated that these springs furnish water at the rate of 800 or 1000 gallons per minute.
"Bath is the county town of Morgan, has a daily mail, and contains about 250 inhabitants. The scenery in the neighbourhood is wild and picturesque, and the view from Capon Mountain, showing the junction of the Capon and Potomac Rivers, is quite celebrated. There are also, in the immediate vicinity, a number of fine sulphur and chalybeate springs.
"Although these waters possess considerable medicinal virtue when taken internally, yet it is to their external use that they chiefly owe their celebrity; their delightful medium temperature, in connexion with other properties, adapting them to a wide range of diseases, and giving them a decided advantage over most other waters known in this country. They have never been accurately analyzed, but the presence of purgative and diuretic salts has been ascertained, though the impregnation is not strong, and the amount uncertain.
"This water is tasteless, insipid from its warmth, and is so light in its character, that very large quantities may be taken into the stomach without producing oppression or uneasiness. Persons generally become fond of it after a time, and when cooled it is a delightful beverage. It is beneficial in a class of chronic and subacute disorders, such as derangements of the stomach, with impaired appetite and feeble digestion, and chronic diseases of the abdominal viscera not connected with a high degree of organic disease. Their salutary effects in these cases would seem to depend upon the exceedingly light character of the waters, aided by their gentle alkaline properties, neutralizing acidity, and then invigorating and soothing the viscera.
"In the early stages of calculous diseases, attended with irritable bladder, their free use internally and externally is frequently of great benefit.
"Externally used, these waters are beneficial in the whole class of nervous disorders, especially in those irregular anomalous diseases more frequently met with in females when not connected with a full habit orextreme debility. They are useful in all uterine diseases when active inflammation is not present. In cases of relaxed habit and debility, when sufficient power of reaction exists in the system, their tonic and bracing properties are very decided. Persons suffering from a residence in warm, low, and damp climates, and subject to nervous affections, will generally find them a complete restorative. They are very useful in chronic diseases of the mucous membrane, such as leucorrhœa, gonorrhœa, &c., and certain forms of bronchial disease arising from a relaxed condition of the membrane; also in local paralytic affections unconnected with congestion of the brain.
"In chronic rheumatism these baths have been pronounced a specific. Of their mode of action little is known with certainty, but the results are undeniable and admirable. The most obstinate, complicated, and troublesome cases invariably yield to a patient and judicious use of the remedy. The milder cases generally yield in ten days or two weeks, those of longer standing require a longer time for their eradication.
"It is to be regretted that the results of a careful analysis, and a more extended medical notice, cannot now be given to the public; but probably practical experience is after all the best test to which a mineral water can be subjected, and this test Berkeley has stood for more than eighty years with increasing reputation.
"Strother's is the principal hotel in the place. It adjoins the grove, and will accommodate comfortably about 400 persons. It is built of wood, on three sides of a quadrangle, 168 feet front by 197. The front building is four stories high, has a portico 130 feet long by 16 wide; a dining and ball-room 106 feet by 30, three large public parlours, and a bar-room. The wings are respectively two and three stories high. A basement of stone, fire proof, roomy, and well ventilated, contains the kitchen department and wine cellar. The court yard, about 100 feet square, is tastefully ornamented with trees, flowers, and shrubbery. Besides the ordinary single and double chambers, this house contains about thirty suites of apartments, of two, three, and four chambers, for the accommodation of families. The main building, with several out-houses, contains 200 lodging rooms, all neat, well ventilated, and conveniently arranged. In conducting this establishment essential comfort is generally preferred to external appearance, although the latter is by no means neglected. The furniture is neat, new, and simple, while the beds and bedding are costly and of the finest quality. The mattresses are of curled hair, and made by the best upholsterers of Baltimore, the table is admirably served, and the ice-houses capacious and unfailing.
"Attached to the hotel, are a fine band of music, billiard tables, pistol gallery, and ten-pin alleys. Riding horses, buggies, and carriages, are furnished for pleasure excursions.
"O'Ferrall's hotel is conveniently situated, well kept, and will accommodate about 100 persons. Other accommodation for 150 persons may be found in the place."
HISTORICAL SKETCH OF BERKELEY SPRINGS.
"These springs were resorted to by invalids at a very early period, and had great celebrity throughout the colonies. Hundreds annually flocked thither from all quarters, and traditional accounts of the accommodations and amusements of these primitive times are calculated to excite both the mirth and envy of the present age. Rude log huts, board and canvass tents, and even covered wagons, served as lodging-rooms, while every family brought its own substantial provision of flour, meal, and bacon, trusting for lighter articles of diet to the good will of the 'Hill Folk,' or the success of their own foragers.
"A large hollow scooped in the sand, surrounded by a screen of pine boards, was the only bathing-house, and this was used alternately by ladies and gentlemen. The time set apart for the ladies was announced by a blast on a long tin horn, at which signal all of the opposite sex retired to a prescribed distance from the rustic bath-house, and woe to any unlucky wight who might afterward be found within the magic circle. The whole scene is said to have resembled a camp-meeting in appearance, but only in appearance. Here day and night passed in a round of eating, drinking, bathing, fiddling, dancing, and revelling; gaming was carried to great excess, and horse-racing was a daily amusement.
"Dated October, 1776, in the first year of the commonwealth, we find the following in the statute-book of Virginia.
"'An Act for establishing a Town at the Warm Springs, in the County of Berkeley."'Whereas, it hath been represented to the General Assembly, that the laying off fifty acres of land in lots and streets, for a town at the Warm Springs, in the County of Berkeley, will be of great utility, by encouraging the purchasers thereof to build convenient houses for accommodating numbers of infirm, who frequent those springs yearly for the recovery of their health."'Be it therefore enacted by the General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Virginia, that fifty acres of land adjoining the said springs, being part of a larger tract of land the property of the Right Honourable Thomas, Lord Fairfax, or other person or persons holding the same by a grant or conveyance from him, be and the same is hereby invested in Bryan Fairfax, Thomas Bryan Martin, Warner Washington, Rev. Charles M. Thurston, Robert Rutherford, Thomas Rutherford, Alexander White, Philip Pendleton, Samuel Washington, William Elbzey, Van Swearengen, Thomas Hite, James Edmondson, James Nourse, gentlemen trustees, to be by them, or any seven of them, laid out into lots of quarter of an acre each, with convenient streets, which shall be, and the same is, hereby established a town by the name of Bath,' &c., &c., &c.—(See Herring's Statutes at Large.)
"'An Act for establishing a Town at the Warm Springs, in the County of Berkeley.
"'Whereas, it hath been represented to the General Assembly, that the laying off fifty acres of land in lots and streets, for a town at the Warm Springs, in the County of Berkeley, will be of great utility, by encouraging the purchasers thereof to build convenient houses for accommodating numbers of infirm, who frequent those springs yearly for the recovery of their health.
"'Be it therefore enacted by the General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Virginia, that fifty acres of land adjoining the said springs, being part of a larger tract of land the property of the Right Honourable Thomas, Lord Fairfax, or other person or persons holding the same by a grant or conveyance from him, be and the same is hereby invested in Bryan Fairfax, Thomas Bryan Martin, Warner Washington, Rev. Charles M. Thurston, Robert Rutherford, Thomas Rutherford, Alexander White, Philip Pendleton, Samuel Washington, William Elbzey, Van Swearengen, Thomas Hite, James Edmondson, James Nourse, gentlemen trustees, to be by them, or any seven of them, laid out into lots of quarter of an acre each, with convenient streets, which shall be, and the same is, hereby established a town by the name of Bath,' &c., &c., &c.—(See Herring's Statutes at Large.)
"The town was consequently laid off, and a sale of lots made in August, 1777. Among the purchasers were Charles Carroll, of Carrollton, Horatio Gates, Gen. George Washington, and many others of note and distinction.
"In the schedule to Gen. Washington's will we find this clause,—
"'Bath, or Warm Springs."'Two well-situated and handsome buildings to the amount of £150—$800.'
"'Bath, or Warm Springs.
"'Two well-situated and handsome buildings to the amount of £150—$800.'
"And this note of the property appended to the schedule,—
"'Bath."'The lots in Bath (two adjoining) cost me, to the best of my recollection, between fifty and sixty pounds twenty years ago. Whether property there has increased or decreased in its value, and in what condition the houses are, I am ignorant, but suppose they are not valued too high.'
"'Bath.
"'The lots in Bath (two adjoining) cost me, to the best of my recollection, between fifty and sixty pounds twenty years ago. Whether property there has increased or decreased in its value, and in what condition the houses are, I am ignorant, but suppose they are not valued too high.'
"The sites of these houses are still pointed out. In the Memoirs of the Baroness de Reidesel (wife of the German General who was taken prisoner at the surrender of Burgoyne), she speaks of having passed part of the summer of 1779 at these springs with her invalid husband, and mentions having made the acquaintance of Gen. Washington's family there. She devotes a page or two of her most interesting work to the narration of quaint and pleasant incidents, illustrating their mode of life at the springs, and at the same time illustrating (though unintentionally) the excellent and amiable character of the authoress.
"After the revolutionary war, the accommodations at the springs were greatly improved and extended; but as the States progressed in population and prosperity a host of other bathing-places and mineral springs were discovered and improved. Saratoga at the north, and the great White Sulphur at the south, began to rival Berkeley in the race for public favour; and from the superior spirit and enterprise shown in their improvement soon left her far behind. Her register of thousands was reduced to some five or six hundred per annum, and her hotels and bath-houses seemed destined to decay. In 1844 a fire accomplished in one night what time was doing gradually. Fourteen buildings, including the court-house and half the hotel accommodations, were destroyed. Colonel John Strother, lessee of this property, made immediate preparation for the erection of a hotel on his own ground, and by the next season (1845) the west wing, two stories high, was ready for company. The year following the east wing, three stories high, and part of the front was erected, and in 1848 the whole building was completed. The erection of this hotel, and the completion of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad to Cumberland, have restored Berkeley almost to her former prosperity, and from twelve to fifteen hundred persons annually register their names there, and enjoy the unrivalled luxury of her baths.
"Prior to the year 1772 these springs were called the Frederick Springs, from Frederick County, and frequently the 'Warm Springs;' but after the creation of Berkeley County, in 1772, and the discovery of the Warm Springs in Bath County, they were called the Berkeley Springs. In 1820, Morgan County was created from Berkeley, including the springs, but the post-office still retains the old name, and letters should be directed to Berkeley Springs, Morgan County, Virginia."
FAUQUIER WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS.
This very celebrated watering-place is in Fauquier County, 6 miles southwest of Warrenton. The improvements are very extensive, and the grounds beautifully adorned. The accommodations are perhaps sufficient to entertain as many visiters as almost any other watering-place in the State. Had it been in our power, we should have given a fuller account of these springs, together with an analysis of the water.
Beside these springs, there are numerous others of less note scattered through the State, among which are
GRAYSON WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS,
Formerly in Grayson County, but now within the limits of Carroll.
"They are located immediately on the west side of the Blue Ridge, on the bank of New River, about 20 miles south of Wytheville, in the midst of scenery of a remarkably wild and romantic character, similar to that of Harper's Ferry, in a region perhaps as healthy as any in our country; abounding with fish and a variety of game. The analysis of this water, by Professors Rogers and Aiken, is as follows:
"Carbonate of soda, 4½; carbonate of magnesia, 3; carbonate of lime, 8; sulphate of lime, 2; sulphate of magnesia, 3; chloride of sodium, 2; chloride of calcium, 3; chloride of magnesium, 1¾; sulphate of soda, 4½; sulphuretted hydrogen, carbonic acid gases.
"The waters are said to be efficacious in dyspepsia and rheumatism."
The Hygeian Springs, in Giles County, are highly spoken of.
Botetourt Springs, in Roanoke, 12 miles from Fincastle, were formerly quite popular.
CURIOSITIES.
Among some of the natural curiosities, not immediately on the route to the Springs, we find in Hampshire County, within reach of visiters to the Capon Springs, the "Ice Mountain."
"It rises from the eastern bank of the North River, a branch of the Capon, and is 26 miles southwest from Winchester, and 16 miles east of Romney. It is about 400 or 500 feet high.
"The west side of the mountain, for about a quarter of a mile, is covered with a mass of loose stone, of light colour, which reaches down to the bank of the river. By removing the loose stone, pure crystal ice can always be found in the warmest days of summer. It has been discovered even as late as the 15th of September; but never in October, although it may exist through the entire year, and be found, if the rocks were excavated to a sufficient depth. The body of rocks where ice is found is subject to the full rays of the sun from nine o'clock in the morning until sunset. The sun does not have the effect of melting the ice as much as continual rains. At the base of the mountain is a spring of water, colder by many degrees than spring water generally is." There are several other natural curiosities in this county.
"Caudy's Castle, the fragment of a mountain in the shape of a half cone, with a very narrow base, which rises from the banks of the Capon to the height of about 500 feet, presents a sublime and majestic appearance. The 'Tea Table' is about 10 miles below Caudy's Castle, in a deep ragged glen, 3 or 4 miles east of the Capon. This table is a solid rock, and presents the form of a man's hat standing on its crown. It is about 4 feet in height and the same in diameter. From the top issues a clear stream of water, which flows over the brim on all sides, and forms a fountain of exquisite beauty. TheHanging Rocksare about 4 miles north of Romney. There the Wappatomka River has cut its way through a mountain of about 500 feet in height. The boldness of the rocks, and the wildness of the scene, excite awe in the beholder."
THE NATURAL TUNNEL.
This great curiosity is in Scott County, about 12 miles west of Estillville, the county seat. The following description of it is from the "American Journal of Geology."
"To form an adequate idea of this remarkable and truly sublime object, we have only to imagine the creek, to which it gives a passage, meandering through a deep narrow valley, here and there bounded on both sides by walls or revêtements, rising to the height of two or three hundred feet above the stream; and that a portion of one of these chasms, instead of presenting an open thorough cut from the summit to the base of the high grounds, is intercepted by a continuous, unbroken ridge, more than three hundred feet high, extending entirely across the valley, and perforated transversely at its base, after the manner of an artificial tunnel, and thus affording a spacious subterranean channel for the passage of the stream.
"The entrance to the Natural Tunnel, on the upper side of the ridge, is imposing and picturesque, in a high degree; but on the lower side, the grandeur of the scene is greatly heightened by the superior magnitude of the cliffs, which exceed in loftiness, and which rise perpendicularly—and in some instances in an impending manner—more than three hundred feet; and by which the entrance on this side is almost environed, as it were, by an amphitheatre of rude and frightful precipices.
"The observer, standing on the brink of the stream, at the distance of about one hundred yards below the debouchure of the Natural Tunnel, has, in front, a view of its arched entrance, rising seventy or eighty feet above the water, and surmounted by horizontal stratifications of yellowish, white, and gray rocks, in depth nearly twice the height of the arch. On his left, a view of the same mural precipice, deflected from the springing of the arch in a manner to pass in a continuous curve quite to his rear, and towering in a very impressive manner above his head. On his right, a sapling growth of buckeye, poplar, lindens, &c., skirting the margin of the creek, and extending obliquely to the right, and upwards through a narrow, abrupt ravine, to the summit of the ridge, which is here, and elsewhere, crowned with a timber-growth of pines, cedar, oaks, and shrubbery of various kinds. On his extreme right is a gigantic cliff, lifting itself up perpendicularly from the water's edge, to the height of about three hundred feet, and accompanied by an insulated cliff, called The Chimney, of about the same altitude, rising in the form of a turret, at least sixty feet above its basement, which is a portion of the imposing cliff just before mentioned."
THE BUFFALO KNOB.
"This is a very lofty eminence, in Floyd County, from the top of which the view is sublime. On the north, east, and west, the beholder is amazed at the boundless succession of mountains rising beyond mountains—while far away to the south, the plain seems to stretch to an interminable length. On the east, The Knob is accessible on horseback, being two miles in height from the beginning of the ascent to the highest point; on the west it breaks off precipitately, and presents the shape of the animal whose name it bears. This mountain is seen sixty or eighty miles, towering above all others. On the highest point is a space of about thirty acres, which is so elevated that not any trees grow there; and in the warmest days of summer, the visitor requires thick clothing to protect him from the cold. The spot is covered with fine grass, strawberry-vines, and gooseberry and currant-bushes. The fruit upon them is of superior flavour, but it does not ripen until two or three months later than upon the low-lands."
THE MAMMOTH MOUND.
This curiosity is in Marshall County, about a quarter of a mile from the Ohio; it is 69 feet high, and 900 feet in circumference at the base, and has a flat top about 50 feet in diameter.
"A few years since a white oak, of about 70 feet in height, stood on the summit of the mound, which appeared to die of age. On carefully cutting the trunk transversely, the number of concentric circles showed that it was about 500 years old."
CAVES.
Besides Weyer's, there are other caves in the State, which are great curiosities, two of which are said to be nearly equal to Weyer's. One of them is in Page County, about a mile west of Luray, and the other in Warren County, about three miles south of Front Royal.
POWELL'S FORT VALLEY.
This curiosity is in Page County; and Kercheval gives the following account of it:
"The grandeur and sublimity of this extraordinary work of nature, consists in its tremendous height and singular formation. On entering the mouth of the fort, we are struck with the awful height of the mountains on each side, probably not less than a thousand feet. Through a very narrow passage, a bold and beautiful stream of water rushes, called Passage Creek, which a short distance below works several fine merchant mills. After travelling two or three miles, the valley gradually widens, and for upwards of twenty miles furnishes arable land, and affords settlement for eighty or ninety families, several of whom own very valuable farms. The two mountains run parallel 24 or 25 miles, and are called East and West Fort Mountains, and then are merged into one, anciently Mesinetto, now Masinutton Mountain. The Masinutton Mountain continues its course about 35 or 36 miles southerly, and abruptly terminates opposite Keisletown, in the County of Rockingham. This range of mountains divides the two branches of the Shenandoah River, called the South and North Forks. This mountain, upon the whole, presents to the eye something of the shape of the letter Y, or perhaps more the shape of the hounds and tongue of a wagon.
"A few miles above Luray, on the west side of the river, there are three largeIndian Graves, ranged nearly side by side, 30 or 40 feet in length, 12 or 14 feet wide, and 5 or 6 feet high. Around them, in a circular form, are a number of single graves. The whole covers an area of little less than a quarter of an acre. They present to the eye a very ancient appearance, and are covered over with pine and other forest growth. The excavation of the ground around them is plainly to be seen. The three first-mentioned graves are in oblong form; probably contain many hundreds of human bodies, and were doubtless the work of ages.
PEAK KNOB, AND THE GLASS WINDOWS.
These two curiosities, in Pulaski County, are thus described by Howe:
"Peak Knob, 4 miles south of Newbern, is a prominent projection in Draper's Mountain, rising about 1,000 feet, and presenting from its summit a delightful and extensive landscape. Iron ore exists in abundance in this mountain, and also coal of a good quality. In its vicinity are mineral springs, supposed to possess valuable medicinal qualities.
"On the north bank of New River, near Newbern, there is a bluff calledThe Glass Windows, consisting of vertical rocks nearly 500 feet high, and forming the immediate bank of the stream for a distance of four miles. They are considered a great curiosity. The face of these rocks is perforated by a vast number of cavities, which no doubt lead to caves or cells within the mountain. Some of the cells have been explored, and found to contain saltpetre, stalactites, and other concretions."
Howe tells us, that in Washington County, "westerly from Abingdon, between Three Springs and the North Fork of Holston, on Abram's Creek, in a narrow, gloomy ravine, bounded by a high perpendicular ledge, is a large waterfall, which in one single leap descends perpendicularly 60 feet, and then falls about 40 feet more ere it reaches the bottom. The stream is about 20 feet wide."
DISTANCES.
FROM WASHINGTON CITY TO THE VIRGINIA SPRINGS.
Route No. 1.
Route No.2.
Route No.3.
RICHMOND VIA CENTRAL RAILROAD.