USA > Washington DC > Washington DC > A new and comprehensive gazetteer of Virginia, and the District of Columbia > Part 49
USA > Virginia > A new and comprehensive gazetteer of Virginia, and the District of Columbia > Part 49
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A greater abundance of water
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would convert this valley into a sin-fas ardent admirers of nature as they gularly wild and beautiful lake, a commonly are of Warm Springs or mirror worthy of the noble objects it other spots, which draw together a number of half sick, half idle people, who lounge away the best part of the year. As an instance, how many Dr. Syntaxes in search of the pictu- resque, of the company at the springs, or the wonders of Weyer's Cave, plunge in the interminable shades of Brown's Gap, which brings so forci- would reflect. But the character of the Potomac is the same here as be- fore its waters are united with those of the Shenandoah. A channel, too extended for the stream, presents eve- ry where its rugged bed, interspersed with thousands of rills and small pools of water. Yet has this deficient
stream, a sublimity of its own; the bly to mind the falsehood of Thom- son's lines.
rugged bed is in unison with the rocks which overhang it, and with the dark and often blasted pines, which clothe them; and if, in awful gran- deur, it cannot be compared with the passage of the Rhone through the Alps, or in beauty, with some of the smaller lakes, so abundant in the northern states of our own country, it is yet a most highly impressive scene. Commanding interest from the praise of one whose praise was celebrity, Harper's Ferry seems often to have disappointed foreigners who expected to find a scene as unique as the Nat- ural Bridge, and as sublime as the falls of Niagara.
Those who form such extravagant expectations will not have them real- ised, but the rational admirers of na- ture will find abundance to admire in the beauty, the grandeur, and the sim- plicity of the spot.
This subject gives us occasion to regret, that the many commanding po- sitions, which our mountains present, should be so little known. The wes- tern part of Virginia abounds in ro- mantic scenery, but the traveller may toil for hours in its immediate vicinity, plunged in a depth of shade, that ex- cludes all idea of the beauty by which he is surrounded; to ascend the moun- tains is difficult, and adds but little to his chance of gratification; the foli- age is nearly as thick there as at their base; but the necessary local know- ledge would be at the command of all, if those, who annually make summer excursions through our country, were completed.
I care not fortune what you me deny, You cannot bar me from fair nature's grace,
You cannot shut the windows of the sky Through which Aurora shews her smil- ing face.
How many unhappy wights per- form this darksome pilgrimage, when they might, a few miles off, from Turk's Gap, have seen the sun rise over a landscape, which exhibits the country, towards tide water, spreading out in an extent of forest as boundless and level as the ocean, to the north and south the long chain of the Blue Ridge, to the west the well cultivated valley watered by the Shenandoah, adorned by detached and picturesque mountains, and bounded by the hazy and unbroken line of the North Mountain.
To return to Harper's Ferry. The exit of the river at the Short Hills ong the Maryland side is called the Point of Rocks; it is here that two rival com- panies contended for the exclusive right to possess a narrow gorge, which now gives passage at once to a river, a canal, and a Rail Road. A handsome, wooden bridge, seven hun- dred and fifty feet from one abutment to the other, and with a space between the piers of more than one hundred and eighty ft., connects the town with the Maryland shore; whilst the funds for a similar structure over the Shen- andoah have already been subscribed."
* This work we believe has since been
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The former bridge is simple and dis -¡ tion, burst the stone asunder, and pro- plays the skill of the engineer; it is ject the pieces forward. The barrel sustained by arches formed of three passing through these cheeks, bears tiers of planks placed edgeways, and against the stone, and is drawn across it with a motion resembling that of a screw. whose joints give shift to each other ; king posts, fanning from the centre, unite these planks and sustain a roof, which, by its diagonal framing, serves to give stability in a lateral direction. The bridge is double. Did not the name of the engineer, by whom this structure was erected, give sufficient guarantee for its excellence, the ob- server might fear that economy had been too much consulted in the mate- rials.
The national arsenal at Harper's Ferry is an object worthy of attention. Eighty or ninety thousand stand of arms are usually kept there, and as these are sent off to other depositaries their place is supplied from the exten- sive manufactory adjacent. It is in- teresting to observe the facility with which a weapon, so complicated as the, musket, is produced. A bar of iron is forged into a rough tube, the interior of which is formed into a smooth surface by drills turned by the power of water. At first, the barrel, strongly fastened, is moved slowly forward, whilst the drill, a cylindri- cal rod of iron, terminating in a rec- tangular bar, ten or twelve inches long, revolves with rapidity, but with- out progressive motion ; the barrel is surrounded by water, which, though constantly renewed, becomes warm to the touch. The barrel is not made cylindrical by a single drill, a succes- sion is employed, until, in the appli- cation of the finer drills, the barrel, only fastened in the middle, is left free to adapt itself to the motion of the drill.
The outside of the barrel is polish- ed by enormous grindstones, turning with great rapidity. These stones tern against which the guiding wheel are guarded by thick checks of wood, to which is fixed a covering, that les- sens the danger, should the centrifu- gal force, arising from so rapid a mo- this wheel moves longitudinally the
The stocks are shaped by a ma- chine, the idea of which seems to have been borrowed from an admira- ble contrivance in the celebrated Block Machinery of Brunel. The writer was struck immediately with the resemblance, and, on inquiry, found that the inventor, Blanchard, had previously introduced the use of Brunel's machinery in this country.
The reader will readily form a general idea of this machine. Let him imagine tivo wheels, eight or ten inches in diameter, placed one behind the other, and in the same plane ; one of these has a smooth, round edge, the other is furnished with steel cut- ters, which are parallel to the circum- ference. Further let him suppose two turning lathes, placed side by side, in the one an iron stock as a guide or pattern, in the other the wooden stock to be turned. Now let him suppose, that, whilst these two stocks are in a rapid rotatory motion, the plane wheel of which we have spoken is made to traverse the whole length of the iron, and is pressed against it by a strong spring; this wheel, it will be remembered, is con- nected invariably with that which is furnished with cutters : if then the lat- ter be brought into contact with the wooden stock at the moment when the first wheel commences its motion along the pattern, it will perform a similar journey along the wooden stock, and only requires, that it should be kept in a rapid rotatory motion, in order that it may shape, by its cutters, this stock to the form of the iron pat- is pressed. Some contrivance is re- quisite to provide the rotatory motion, spoken of, in the second wheel; as
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strap by which it turns, must have ajand it may obviously be done with like motion; to effect this it is passed, less chance of exposing the rifleman below, round a large cylinder, in lieu of an ordinary drum wheel, and, be- ing confined above by the sides of the drum over which it passes, shifts it- self without difficulty along the cylin- der and remains always vertical. This machine will shape a musket stock in about eight seconds.
The limits of this article will not permit us to describe the operations ;- by which the minute parts of the mus- kets are completed. The whole gives employment when in full work to about two hundred and fifty men, and at such times fourteen hundred mus- kets have been finished in a month. The average cost is about eleven dol- lars for each musket, and a good workman will earn two dollars a day. About a dozen of the workmen are simple and therefore the best which from England, chiefly from the Ar- mory Mills which were worked du- LEE TOWN, P. O. 165 ms. from R. and 71 N. W. by W. of W., situ- ated in the western end of the county, ring the war near Deptford in Kent. The muskets are lighter, and in this respect preferable to the English; the 30 ms. W. of Harper's Ferry, It workmen did not hold the iron, which contains several dwelling houses, 1 mercantile store, 1 manufacturing flour mill, and 1 tavern. Lee Town derived its name from the celebrated GENERAL LEE who resided here. Population 54 whites, and 20 colour- ed. Total 74. is chiefly from Massachusetts, in the same esteem. The establishment is governed by a superintendant who receives fourteen hundred dollars a year, and conducted by a master ar- morer at sixty dollars per month, and four assistants at forty dollars.
We must not quit this part of the subject without mentioning Hall's rifle, which is loaded at the breech, and of which there is a separate man- ufactory here. The barrel is formed of two portions by being cut asunder a few inches from the breech. And, on touching a trigger, placed before the ordinary one, the lower portion is raised out of the stock by a spring, and may be loaded as a pistol. When pressed down again the parts perfectly coincide, and the movable part of the barrel is retained in its place by a catch.
Much time is undoubtedly saved in loading a rifle by this contrivance,
to a hostile aim. But no inventions are more uncertain as to ultimate et- fect than those in the art of war. The confusion and violence of warfare for- bid the employment of any but the simplest weapons; and it may be doubted whether these divided por- tions-subject to violence, to rust, to the intrusion of foreign substances between the stock and the lower por- tion-when elevated, will, after much use, coincide with sufficient accuracy to allow the passage of the ball, even though no great accuracy is required for that purpose. An inconvenience does, however, attend the loading of rifles, a weapon of great importance in American warfare, and the expedi- ent we have described seems the most could be devised to remove it."
MIDDLEWAY or SMITHFIELD, P. V. 161 ms. from R. and 86 N. W. by * W. of. W., situated in the western part of the Co., 7 ms. S. W. of Charles- town, and ncar Opequhan creek. It contains 63 dwelling houses, a Me- thodist and a Presbyterian house of worship, 2 common schools, 2 taverns, 3 mercantile stores, 2 saddlers, 2 smith shops, 2 boot and shoe facto- ries, 2 tailors, 2 milliners, 1 watch and clock maker, 2 cabinet makers, 2 tanyards, and 1 saw mill. There are 2 turnpikes lead from this village,- I to Ilarper's Ferry, and the other to" Shepherdstown. Population 500, in- cluding 2 attorneys and 3 regular physicians. 2
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SHEPHERDSTOWN, P. O. 184 ms.Jof about 24 feet diameter, and the oth- from R. and 62 N. W. of W., situatedjers of about 20. There is a small immediately on the west side of the stream of considerable fall which Potomac river, in the north western runs through the town, immediately part of the county. It is a flourish- opposite to which is an inlet lock, to ing village, containing 150 dwelling the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal. houses, 6 mercantile stores, and all|Shepherdstown has 3 houses of public the necessary mechanics for an inland worship, and a population of about town. There are 4 merchant mills, 1000.
one of which has an overshot wheel
KANAWHA.
KANAWHA was created by the Legislature in 1789, from a portion of Greenbrier and Montgomery. It is bounded N. by Wood, -- N. E. by Lewis,-E. by Nicholas,-S. E. by Fayette,-S. and S. W. by Logan,- W. by Cabell,-and N. W. by Mason and Jackson Its mean length is 58 miles-mean breadth 36; and area 2,090 square miles; extending in lat. from 37º 53' to 38º 53' N. and in long. from 3º 55' to 4º 25' W. of W. C. Gauly river unites with New river, to form the Great Kanawha, up- on the eastern border of the county. The Kanawha thien flows through the county in a N. W. direction into Mason; receiving in its passage Elk ri- ver from the N. E.,-Coal river from the S. E., and Pocatalico from the North .- We cannot refrain from giving here a letter from an eminent lite- rary gentleman of this State to his friend in the lower country, which gives agraphic description of the magnificent VALLEY OF THE KANAWHA.
"You have often visited the mountain region of Virginia, and tasted of her various and unrivalled mineral waters. You have mingled with the fashionable throng at the White Sulphur,-regaled your palate upon the fine venison and other dainties of the forest, and bathed in the delicious foun- tain of the Warm Springs. You have never, I believe, however, extended your journey as far West as the Valley of Kanawha. The great state road which commences at Covington, and secures you a safe passage to Lewisburg, passing the gigantic Alleghanies at a grade which is almost level,-pursues its winding yet steady course over ranges of lofty moun- . tains, and through wild and hitherto unbroken depths of wilderness and shade. Now and then it courses along the margin of some rocky and stupendous precipice, often several hundred if not a thousand feet in depth; -and as the mail coach drawn by four spirited steeds, whirls you along the perilous cliff,-you feel an involuntary shuddering at the slender bar- rier which separates you from eternity. The blue mist which hovers along the yawning chasm beneath, and is visible through the variegated foilage which obscures without concealing the view,-impresses the mind with unde- finable images of danger; and indeed it would be well if the terrors which are sometimes inspired were those of imagination only,-for I have been credi- bly informed that in more than one instance, the lives of travellers have been exposed to imminent peril. At one of those narrow defiles, the spot was pointed out where the stage with eight passengers and driver rolled down a steep declivity of fifty feet. Fortunately the nature of the ground arrested its downward course, and still more fortunately, I had almost said
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miraculously, although the luckless vehicle turned two or three somersets and was actually shattered into fragments, neither horse or passenger suf- fered material injury. Notwithstanding these disasters which occasionally await the traveller, this important and convenient highway which unites the east and west, is a noble monument of skill, enterprise and labor. In its vast utility to the country which it intersects, it may justly be compared to the introduction of steam navigation on our western waters. Distance
and time are in a great measure overcome, or perceptibly diminished, and a journey which was once performed with insupportable fatigue and de- lay, is now achieved in one fourth of the time, and with comparative ease. Before reaching the valley of the Kanawha, the traveller is feasted by the sublime and picturesque scenery from the cliffs of New river, which is one of the principal tributaries to the Kanawha. One of these cliff's has been long known by the name of the Hawk's Nest -- but more recently called Marshall's Pillar, in honor of the Venerable Chief Justice who as one of the State Commissioners in 1812, stood in person upon its fearful brink and sounded its exact depth to the river margin. Every one has heard of the far famed falls of Niagara-and yet I doubt if the beholder of that wonderful cataract ever experienced more of the true sublime, than the grand and elevating prospect from Marshall's Pillar, is apt to inspire. Imagine yourself standing upon the projecting point of a perpendicular rock, 1200 feet from the valley below. Before you, as you look to the east, the New river is seen at the distance perhaps of several miles, winding or rather rushing, tumbling and foaming through the towering cliffs which environ it. Sweeping by the lofty promontory on which you stand, it sud- denly turns its course in a south west direction, and presents in the whole distance several beautiful cascades, which send to the listening ear the far off, but lulling sound of their waters. The cliffs themselves, judging by the horizontal and corresponding strata of rock on either side, seem to have been originally united, but torn asunder by some strong convulsion of na- ture, in order to give free passage to the narrow but angry torrent which rolls majestically at their feet. The autumnal season gives to this impos- ing picture a magnificent and gorgeous drapery of which no man whose vision has been confined to the lowland scenery has the slightest concep- tion. On one side a dark outline is defined by the shadow from the oppo- site cliff's, which leaving the base of the mountain of a sombre brown, pre- sents its summits shining with the rich and mellow tints of an October sun. In gazing from the dizzy heigth where the spectator is perched amidst sublime and solitary deserts, it requires but little effort of fancy to portray the haggard and inspired bard of Gray, standing
" On a rock whose haughty brow .
Frowns o'er old Conway's foaming flood."
No hostile Edward it is true, is marching through this wilderness with his embattled legions, to victory and slaughter; on the contrary, a profound stillness prevails, which adds interest and solemnity to the scene-a still- ness which is disturbed by nothing save the distant wave which seems, but seems only to murmur at the base of the cliff. So sublime indeed is its elevation, that whilst nothing seems easier than to cast u pebble from its beetling verge into the bed of the stream, the most powerful arm is foiled in the attempt.
" After feasting on the sublime repasts which nature spreads before the
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eye of the tourist on these romantic cliffs, he is better prepared to enjoy by contrast his descent into the fertile and lovely vale of the Kanawha. That beautiful stream is formed by the junction of the Gauley and New rivers, at the base of the Gauley mountains. A short distance only below the point where the waters mingle, the ear of the traveller is saluted by the roar of the Great Falls-a fine cataract of twenty-two feet over a natural dam of rock which spreads irregularly across the Kanawha. I should judge from the sketches of the Great Niagara, by artists and picturesque tourists, that this was its copy in miniature. Certain it is, that on approach- ing the cataract which you can easily do, over the vast masses of naked rock, which rise from the bed of the river-you feel the effect of the spec. tacle in all its sublimity. I will not say as Byron said of the cascade of Velino, that it is "horribly beautiful"-or that
" An Iris sits, midst its infernal surge, Like hope upon a death bed."
There is nothing which awakens infernal images in the cataract of Ka- nawha, but I saw distinctly the rainbow reposing its brilliant arch upon the white foam of the waters. Whatever disappointment, however, the limner might experience in his visit to this interesting spot, the epicure would meet with none at the spacious Hotel which stands opposite the falls. To all lovers of the finny tribe, it is a perfect paradise. Here are fish, which if not unknown, are yet untalked of on the borders of our Atlantic streams. The delicious black perch, the grennel, the blue cat, the fine flavored buffalo, and a species of sturgeon, all abound in profusion, and all present their respective claims to preference. If to these luxuries of the water, be added wild fowl, and forest game, which are found in abun- dance, the most fastidious gourmand might desire no higher fruition than is afforded in this favored region.
For many miles after leaving the falls, the Kanawha Valley is narrow. -winding-and unprepossessing. Its gigantic and various growth is in- deed interesting to the lowland traveller-and the vast masses of rock: which tower in magnificent pride to the very summit of the mountains --! are objects of curiosity and attention. At the same period in autumn, na- ture was perceptibly not so far in the "sear and yellow leaf," as in the more mountainous and elevated region. Her robe was fresher and greener, but yet there' was not wanting that splendid variety and intermixture of colors which distinguish the western forests. The bright orange or golden yellow of the linn, the sugar tree and hickory were beautifully contrasted with the evergreen laurel, and with the dark and mournful hemlock. Now and then some parasitical creeper could be seen winding its brilliant red among the branches of a lofty tree of different foliage-and the gay and graceful sumach would hang out its crimson drapery to delight the beholder. Unlike the lowland shrub of the same name, the sumach of the west is . admitted into the family of trees; and so I presume it is in England, for otherwise the lines of Moore would not be intelligible.
In the shade of yon sumach, whose red berry dips In the gush of the fountain, how sweet to recline.
Lovers unless they belonged to the race of pigmies, could hardly recline in the shade of one of our dwarfish sumachs in Eastern Virginia.
" It is nearly twenty miles below the falls, before the Kanawha Valley
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widens into something like a plain, and opens its beautiful vista to the eye. The mountains which inclose it on either side become gradually depressed into hills-and for the first time the dense dark volumes of smoke which ascend from the salt furnaces, announce the busy and bustling scene which enlivens the highway to the village of Charleston. What a scene of ani- mation indeed, contrasted with the deep solitudes from which the traveller has but just emerged .- Here he is feasted with a continued succession of green meadows and cultivated fields teeming with flocks and herds, and adorned by commodious and even elegant mansions. The chimniesof the salt manufactories pour forth at short intervals of space their curling masses of black vapor, whilst swarms of laborers and others connected with these establishments, are continually passing to and fro,-presenting a pleasing coup d'ail of incessant activity and industry .- Nature indeed seems to have been prodigal in her bounties to this interesting region. The con- tiguous forests having been almost stripped to supply fuel to the salt fur- naces,-the precious mineral so necessary to human comfort, must have remained forever useless but for the discovery of inexhaustible beds of coal, so convenient of access, as to make the cost of procuring it scarcely worth considering. Sometimes, by suitable platforms and inclined culverts, it is thrown from the mountain side immediately to the door of the manufactory, and when more remote from the place of consumption, it is transported with equal ease in wagons or cars over rail roads constructed for the pur- pose. ",
. ; The whole product of the salt district, is estimated at 1,200,000 bushels annually-and this product must continue to swell with the increasing de- mand, and with the employment of additional capital. It is a curious fact, and worthy of philosophical inquiry, that whilst the salt water is obtained by boring at a depth of from 3 to 500 feet below the bed of the Kanawha," it invariably rises to a level with the river. When the latter is swollen by rains, or the redundant waters of its tributaries,-the saline fluid enclosed in suitable gums on the shore, ascends like the mercury in its tube,-and only falls, when the river is restored to its wonted channel. . How this mys- terious correspondence is produced, is a problem which remains to be solved. Theories and speculation, I have heard on the subject, but none seem to me to be precisely consonant with the principles of science.
Immediately on the road and a short distance from the bank of the river, the celebrated Burning Spring, attracts the curiosity of the traveller. . A cavity in the earth of a few feet in diameter, presents at its bottom several. small orifices from which an odorous, gas, or strong bituminous vapor is constantly exhaled. When ignited by a lighted candle, which is easily done, the whole becomes a sheet of flame, and is only extinguished by the plentiful application of water. Filling the cavity with water previously to ignition, does not diminish the brightness or fierceness of the blaze. In- flammable gasses undoubtedly abound in many portions of the valley. An anecdote illustrating the fact, was frequently related in iny hearing, which I cannot forbear to repeat. A very respectable gentleman somewhat ec- centric and a little profane, had been boring for salt to the depth of 600 feet, when his friends endeavored to dissuade him from the costly experiment. "Salt I will have". he exclaimed, "if I bore for it to the infernal regions !" Accordingly he pressed on in pursuit of his object -- with renewed perse- verance and ardor-und his boring apparatus having penetrated one of those subterraneous recesses, where nature generates her mysterious and
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