USA > West Virginia > Monroe County > A history of Monroe county, West Virginia > Part 18
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The petition for removal which we have described is only the first of several. The persons in favor of such step seem to have been a large majority of the people interested. The movement was gaining headway. Yet in 1804 there were 419 petitioners asking that the court remain at Sweet Springs for the reason that its court- house was more commodious than those at Fincastle and Lewisburg.
Since the removal of the court the history of Sweet Springs has been that of a well known summer resort and very small social and commercial center. Next to Berkeley Springs and the resorts of Warm Springs valley, it is the oldest watering place in the Virginias.
The waters of the mineral spring, which undoubtedly became known to the whites through the Indians, are mildly alterative and cathartic, and are serviceable in ailments of the digestive organs and in debility. They are thermal, having a temperature of 73 degrees, or some 20 degrees above the mean atmospheric temperature of the locality. Their properties are similar to those of the famous hot wells of Bristol in England.
The Lewises came to Sweet Springs to live in 1782. The first building at the mineral waters is said to have been a log hut known as the "wigwam." It probably antedates the arrival of Lewis. The hotel, about which there was so much controversy in the papers we have quoted, was built in 1792. Before the close of the century
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A HISTORY OF MONROE COUNTY, WEST VIRGINIA
Sweet Springs had numerous visitors. Washington was a guest in 1797. The biographer of Ann Royall states that during the sun- mer season and the sessions of the district court, the house of Col- onel Royall, which stood about one mile away, was filled with guests. Mrs. Royall herself says in 1824 that "people from nearly every state go to the springs." She remarks that the Northern peo- ple are reserved, the Virginians frank and sociable, and the South Carolinians still more so.
Several of the presidents, including Pierce and Fillmore, were guests at Old Sweet Springs. Henry A. Wise was a frequent vis- itor. It is said to be the spot where Jerome Bonaparte wooed and won Elizabeth Patterson, the American wife whom his despotic brother forced him to put away.
Of the original buildings little or nothing appears to exist. The present main building dates from 1830-33. A second large building and five cottages were erected in 1857.
The original Sweet Springs Company was incorporated January 16, 1836, by John B. Lewis and associates. The capital stock au- thorized was 1000 shares of $100 each, three-fifths of which amount was to be held bona fide by other persons than the proprietors. The stock was to be taken within three years and the water was to be analyzed. Incorporation of the Red Springs Company took place the same year, but that of the White Sulphur Springs Company did not take place until 1845.
In 1852 the property passed out of the hands of the Lewises, and a new company was incorporated by Oliver and Christopher J. Beirne, Allen T. Caperton, and John Echols. The capital stock was not to exceed $500,000. The company might build saw and other mills, but might not acquire more than 4000 acres of land. In 1856 the license paid by the company was $225.
In 1902 the property passed into the hands of Charles C. Lewis and J. D. Logan, the former gentleman representing another branch of the descendants of Colonel John Lewis, the founder of Augusta county.
Though not so numerously frequented as in the palmy days of
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the management under Oliver Beirne, there is still a very fair amount of patronage. The buildings can not be termed modern, but present a good appearance. The great lawn, well shaded and grass- ed, is an inviting spot. Water for general purposes is brought from a mountain spring and distributed from a reservoir. The scenic surroundings are very beautiful in the summer, and the climate of this sheltered valley is very tonic and healthful.
A short mile down Sweet Springs Run, and beyond the interstate boundary, is the sister resort of Sweet Chalybeate Springs. Less than half a mile up the valley, and in full view except as screened by the fine oak grove, is the manor-house of Lynnside. On this spot lived William Lewis, son of the founder of Augusta county, and he has been succeeded by four generations of his posterity. The present brick mansion was built about 1845. Here was kept in 1884 a private boarding school.
Among the tavern-keepers who have dispensed entertainment at Sweet Springs, the earliest names we find in the local records are those of Robert Douthat in 1802 and Jesse Munter in 1803. In 1848 James Shanks paid a license of $60.12. In 1851 Christopher J. Beirne and Thomas J. Johnston paid $70.25, in addition to $10 for their ten-pin alley. In 1857 a tax of $22.22 was levied on each of the three billiard tables.
On Indian Creek where it is yet a small stream, and three miles from the county seat is Salt Sulphur Springs. The fine lawn of eleven acres is a cross-section of the narrow creek bottom, and it lies between lofty bluffs. On this lawn are the two mineral springs, the waters being chalybeate and sweetly sulphurous and containing iodine. The land was once held by a Benson family, and two daughters thereof married William Erskine and Isaac Caruthers. As the firm of Erskine and Caruthers, these men were conducting a summer hostelry in 1823 and they continued many years later. Their li- censes in 1857 amounted to $219.17.
The largest building is of stone, 45 by 206 feet in size, contains 72 rooms, and cost $30,000. It overlooks the lawn, the other build- ings standing along the brink of the stream. For several decades
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prior to the war of 1861 Salt Sulphur Springs was a famous water- ing place, and was numerously frequented by people from the lower South, especially South Carolina. Many Virginians from the tide- water counties also came here. The high water mark was in 1860.
The old time patronage was interrupted by the war, and has never been recovered. Since then the guests are mainly from the lower Kanawha valley and from Ohio. During recent years the attend- ance has been quite small. Extensive repairs, however, were made in 1880. Shortly afterward, the resort became the property of Gen- eral John W. M. Appleton, a native of Boston and a Federal sol- dier. He acted as host until his tragic death by a horse in 1913.
Around the year 1873 Salt Sulphur Springs was a camp meeting resort.
Among the South Carolina visitors of August, 1844, was the famous John C. Calhoun. The circumstance is well remembered by the venerable Baldwin Ballard. Calhoun was accompanied by his wife and an invalid daughter. While the hostlers were mak- ing a change of horses at the Arnot place, the apostle of nullifica- tion asked for a drink of water. Robert Cummings, one of the hostlers, gave him a drink from the horse trough after the manner in which he was accustomed to quench his own thirst. In relating the incident Mr. Ballard speaks of Cummings as inexcusably care- less or lazy. He could have offered the best of water by going to the spring house 70 yards above the trough.
Another reminiscence is related by John B. Cook of Centennial. When a small boy he rode on the Salt Sulphur pike in the same carriage with Henry Clay. The bluegrass statesman was a ready mixer. He took the boy on his knee and amused him by winking his ears and telling stories.
Red Sulphur Springs lies in a deep hollow, near the mouth of a small tributary of Indian Creek and 12 miles from Lowell, its principal though not its nearest railroad point. The elevation is 1600 feet. The waters, which have a temperature of 54 degrees, derive their name from a peculiar sulphur compound which is held on solution. It is separated in the form of a jelly by atmospheric
OLD SWEET SPRINGS
TOWN OF UNION From the Cemetery Hill Looking Westward
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air and also by acids. Mixed with a small quantity of common water and raised to a temperature of 80 degrees, this compound de- composes and gives off a powerful odor. But the spring water itself is colorless and transparent.
These waters have long been known to have a quieting effect on the circulatory and nervous systems, reducing the pulse and pro- moting sleep. In catarrh, diabetes, chronic diarrhea, and other af- fections of the secretory organs, and in functional derangements of the heart and liver, they have been used with great success. But their greatest repute is in the treatment of pulmonary consumption. The water appears to combat the "great white plague" by building up the system and enabling nature to rid itself of the germ that causes the disease.
As a resort Red Sulphur Springs was opened in 1832 by a Har- vey. In the spring of 1837, a company was incorporated, with Wil- liam Burk as proprietor. Next year the Assembly authorized it to increase its capital stock by $50,000. In 1844 the license paid was $35, showing that the patronage was not so large as at Sweet Springs or Salt Sulphur. During the war the buildings were used as a military hospital. The property was finally purchased by Levi P. Morton, of New York, who is still in possession. Mr. Morton paid $10,000 and spent $40,000 in improvements. His representative at the resort was Dr. G. O. Glavis.
During the administration of Governor Dawson, the legislature of West Virginia appropriated $95,000 for a sanatorium for con- sumptive patients. Mr. Morton offered as a free gift to the state the mineral spring and ten acres surrounding it. A committee went through the form of inspecting the offer. The members came in bad winter weather, took a casual look at the place, and went back to make an adverse report. It would look as though such a report was predetermined. Mr. Morton was not even thanked for his proposition. A site was chosen at Terra Alta in Mr. Dawson's home county, and this meant a purchase instead of a gift. The un- savory nature of West Virginia politics lends a suspicious air to the performance.
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The report of the committee was a mixture of prejudice and misrepresentation. Red Sulphur Springs is surrounded by a well peopled farming community, and there is a large extent of bottom land on Indian Creek. As a source of country produce it would be as promising as that around Terra Alta. It is true that the spring is in a deep hollow, but the open plateau above, 400 feet higher in elevation, affords a more suitable site for consumptive patients than exists at the other point. On the whole, Terra Alta possesses no advantage over Red Sulphur, except that it is on a trunkline rail- road. As a practical question, Red Sulphur is not too remote, and a small outlay would vastly improve the ease of reaching it. And finally, it possesses that in which Terra Alta is totally deficient; a mineral spring with an indubitable record of its healing power in tuberculosis.
Red Sulphur Springs is practically a closed resort. Since the contagious nature of consumption has become generally understood, the public has grown suspicious of buildings that have had every opportunity of becoming infested with the bacillus that causes the disease. But the water is there, and some way should be found to make this hygienic resource available.
Perhaps it should become the property of the national govern- ment, as in the case of the Hot Springs of Arkansas.
Just outside the springs property William Adair conducted a hostelry before the war and it was largely attended. Another of the same period was that of T. S. and Dunlap Campbell.
Not one of the three historic resorts of Monroe lies even close to a railroad. One is no longer open, another is almost in suspended animation, and the third has but a fraction of its old-time patronage.
A few other mineral springs occur in the county. Gray Sul- phur, a mile east of Peterstown, has not been open for a long while. About midway between it and Sweet Springs is Crimson Spring, which has never developed into a watering place. On Hans Creek is the Larew spring the sulphur waters of which attract summer guests.
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Indian Paths-Early Roads-Overseers and Precincts of 1799-The Turnpike Era-The Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad.
, HE entire Alleghany region was threaded by Indian trials. Some of these were through lines of travel. Others were only of local importance. In some and perhaps many instances these paths were doubtless first opened by the herds of buffalo, as these animals journeyed from one feeding ground to another. When the white man came on the scene he found it very convenient to use the Indian trail as a bridle-path. Here and there it was accepted as a public highway and given into the care of road overseers. Such converted thoroughfares were termed Indian roads. Elsewhere the trail lapsed into disuse, and after a century of tillage it is only now and then, especially in the woods, that it can be recognized.
In Monroe as in other mountain counties, the Indian paths were the ones first used by the early settlers. That the Gap Mills valley and the basin of Indian Creek were favored points of settlement was largely because of the trail that came up Dunlap and down Second and Indian creeks to New River. Near Gap Mills it was joined by a path crossing Peters Mountain. The trail then took the gen- eral direction of Indian Creek to its mouth, passing south of Thorny Hollow and intersecting the present road from Union to Willow Bend near the Alexander farm. From Ellison's Ridge a side-path crossed Indian below Greenville and went up Indian Draft, reach- ing the Greenbrier near Lowell. From the mouth of Indian an- other path came up Stinking Lick to the vicinity of Ballard, and then ran eastward, crossing Peters Mountain at Symms Gap. Near Ballard this path has been traced a considerable distance, while on
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Little Mountain a section of the Dunlap path is still perfectly ob- servable. The last named path was used by the many immigrants from the Cowpasture, Calfpasture, and Bullpasture valleys. Other settlers came direct from the upper James, the Roanoke, and the New by means of the trails crossing Peters Mountain or penetrat- ing the Narrows of New River. Thus in large degree the Monroe area was settled independently of that now covered by Greenbrier, and the two localities came to have divergent views in local mat- ters.
It was not until 1782 that Lewisburg secured a wagon road across the Alleghany to Warm Springs. This road must have been quite good, since loads of 2500 pounds were being hauled over it in 1785. But because of the Greenbrier River it was not of great service to Monroe except in the north.
Some mention of the very earliest roads is given in preceding chapters. The first road orders under the Monroe court were in August, 1799. Alexander Montgomery, Owen Neel, and John Louderback were to view a way "from the county line at the turn of the waters" to Ralph Yates'. James Alexander, James Handley, Edward Keenan, Ralph Yates, and William Blanton were to view from Yates' to the courthouse, and Felix Williams, Henry McDan- iel, Jr., and Alexander Hutchinson were to view from the county line at the end of Peters Mountain on New River to Indian Creek. But since nothing was done, Daniel Shumate, Jacob Cook, and James Henderson were added to the committee and Williams was re- moved. James Alexander, John Byrnside and Isaac Estill were to view a route from the courthouse to join the last named road. Michael Erskine, James Gray, Robert Nickell, James Glenn, and James Young were to view from the courthouse to Second Creek on the most direct course to the Saint Lawrence ford on Greenbrier. Wil- liam Graham, Robert Johnson, and James Gwinn, Sr., were to view from the Greenbrier opposite James Graham's to the top of Swope's Knobs, and James Alexander, Zadoc Lowe, and Francis Best from the Knobs to the courthouse. Joseph and George Swope, L. Lowe, John Alford, and Thomas Alderson were to view from Alderson's
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ferry to the dividing waters at Lewis Castle's in a direct course to the courthouse. Matt Farley, Daniel Jarrett, and James Ellison were to view from the mouth of Indian to Jesse Green's. From Green's to Isaac Estill's, the viewers were Jesse Green, James Fitz- patrick, and William Maddy. John Handley, Samuel Clark, and Nimrod Tackett were the viewers from the courthouse to the wagon ford on Second Creek at Robert Knox's.
It will thus appear that the establishing of a county seat, where previously there had not been even a hamlet, made necessary a new network of roads radiating from the courthouse.
The overseers of roads and their precincts, as defined in the sum- mer of 1799, were as follows:
Joseph Swope: from his house to Lewis Cottle's! All male laboring tithables, including those of Moses Hall, down Wolf Creek to Swope's and on both sides of the road to the top of Swope's Knobs were to turn out.
William Brown: from Cottle's to Patrick Boyd's field. All tithables to turn out within three miles on each side of the road from Reuben Leach's to Joseph Miller's.
Matthew Alexander: from Boyd's field to Elkin's mill. All tithables on each side of the road from John Sparr's to Erskine's.
Ralph Gates: from his house to the lower end of Edward Keenan's field.
Michael Counts: from Keenan's field to the courthouse.
Robert Johnson: from the top of Swope's Knobs to Abraham Dixon's place. Tithables from Isaac Skagg's to Hall's old place, including the waters of Wolf, Gartner (Garten?), and Edwards.
William Hinchman, Jr .: from Abraham Dixon's to the Greenbrier ford opposite James Graham's. Tithables from William Johnson's to the mouth of Greenbrier, including the Ballengees, Meadows, Masseys, Esom Leech, William Dixon, and others.
James Roach; from George Dixon's to join the other road opposite James Graham's.
Frederick Lowe: from courthouse to the top of Swope's Knobs.
James Gray: from his house to courthouse, crossing the race tracks, and to intersect the old road to Robert Knox's near Robert Thompson's; John Byrnside: from opposite his house to the mouth of Turkey. Alexander Montgomery: from the turn of the waters to Ralph Gates. Curtis Ballard: of road to be opened from Estill's to Hans Creek. Lively McGee: from William Vawter, Sr., to Hans Creek. Henry McDaniel: from Vawter's to Brush Creek.
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Daniel Shumate: from Brush Creek to Henderson's ferry.
Alexander Montgomery (?): from county line above Adam Bowyer's to Joseph Slater's house.
Owen Neel: from Slater's to Ralph Gates.
In 1800, James Gray, Thomas Garvin, and William Young were di- rected to view from the "fork of old road to Patrick Boyd's near William Leech to where road leads through Boyd's field."
There seems to have been a public ferry at Alderson's at least ten years prior to the organization of Monroe. In the year the county was formed Alexander Stuart petitioned for a public ferry, on the ground that he was living on a road from Union to the Bluestone, and that it there joined a road to Kentucky. He had a ferry boat to use when he wished to visit his lands on the Mont- gomery side.
In 1800 James Graham was licensed to keep a ferry.
Out of the county revenue for 1813, $300 was applied to the completion of the road then being opened down the Greenbrier to New River. The commissioners were Joseph Alderson, David Gra- ham, and William Hinchman.
In 1812 a road authorized from Lynchburg to Sweet Springs by way of Fincastle asked for a connecting road through Union to the mouth of Bluestone, whence a newly built road ran on to the "lower loop" in the Kanawha. Five years before this date certain arrearages of tax in Botetourt were applied toward the portion of the road between Fincastle and Sweet Springs.
By an act of 1819, Alexander Kitchen, near the head of Sec- ond Creek, was authorized to put up a tollgate and collect tolls for six years, in order to reimburse himself for the $550 he had paid out of his own funds in building the road. After having maintained the road in what he termed excellent order, but without fully re- couping the sum named, he was granted an extension of time until 1830, but the tolls were reduced one-half. Until the latter date, people journeying between Sweet Springs and Gap Mills were levied upon as follows :
For 20 cattle $ .30 For 20 sheep or hogs .15
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One horse .06
Vehicle with two wheels .20
Wagon with four wheels .50
For each wheel of a cart and for each animal attached to the vehicle .061/4
During the first half of the last century the question of good roads was a very live one in the Appalachian counties. Until after 1850, the lines of railroad were few and short and nearly confined to the lowlands of the Atlantic slope. In 1811 the Virginia As- sembly passed the following resolution :
Whereas, it is a matter of the greatest importance, not only to the good people of this state, but to our brethren of the Western States, that a better and more direct communication should be opened betwixt the eastern and western waters, resolved that Wilson C. Nicholas, James Breckenridge, William Caruthers, Andrew Donally, Jr., and William J. Lewis be ap- pointed commissioners to mark out the most practicable way, if any, from the mouth of Dunlap's Creek for a canal to the Greenbrier River; and to view that river to its mouth, as well as New River to the Great Falls of the Kanawha, and to take the difference of altitude of the mouth of Dun- lap's Creek and that point on the Greenbrier contemplated in this resolu- tion.
It bespeaks a crude idea of civil engineering to assume that it was possible, even at that early day, to build a canal across the Al- leghanies on the route pointed out. The project was futile, yet it shows a determination to secure a better commercial thorough- fare. A more practical plan was the incorporation in 1817 of a turnpike company to build a road from the mouth of Dunlap to the Great Falls of the Kanawha. The citizens of Monroe author- ized to open subscription books were Hugh Caperton, Henry Alex- ander, Andrew Beirne, Alexander Dunlap, John Gray, and Adam Thomas. Mrs. Royall has this to say in criticism of the scheme:
Virginia proposes to take merchandise from Covington to Kanawha Falls by pike and transfer it to steamers. In my opinion it will be long before she furnishes the West as low as the North does. It is the universal practice of West Virginia and Tennessee merchants to buy at Philadelphia, despite the extra distance. Virginia lacks not genius or public spirit, but does lack the genius for commerce.
In 1826 it was ordered that $10,000 be raised by a lottery to
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make and improve a road from the courthouses of Monroe and Logan to the forks of the Big Sandy. At that day funds for church purposes were sometimes raised by the vicious and demoralizing method of the lottery. This fact is one of those which show there is a good deal of humbug in the imagined high standard of hon- esty and virtue in the "good old days."
In 1829 the Jackson's River Turnpike Company was incorpor- ated with an authorized capital of $20,000. This road was to run from Warm Springs to the Kanawha Turnpike at Callahan's. Sub- scription books were to be opened at Union. Two years later com- missioners were appointed to raise by lottery not over $40,000 for the building of a turnpike from Covington to Red Sulphur by way of Sweet Springs and Salt Sulphur. Two years later still a road was authorized from the Monroe line to the crossing of the Guyan- dotte below Isaac Adkins in Logan. The road was to be 25 feet wide with a driveway 12 feet wide.
The White Sulphur and Salt Sulphur Turnpike was incor- porated in 1834. The road was to be 18 feet broad, with grades not to exceed 31/2 degrees. The commissioners appointed at Salt Sul- phur were William Erskine, Isaac Caruthers, and Alexander Calder ; at Union, Hugh Caperton, Andrew Beirne, Sr., and James Hand- ley. The very same day witnessed the incorporation of the Salt Sulphur and Red Sulphur Springs Turnpike, also with a capital of $10,000, and with the same conditions. The above named commis- sioners at Salt Sulphur were to act for this company as well. The Commissioners for Red Sulphur were William Burke, William Vass, and John Vawter. The state was to take 80 shares in each enterprise.
The Newburn and Red Sulphur Turnpike was incorporated in 1836, not required to sand or gravel its roadbed, and was permitted a grade of five degrees. In 1840 it was revived and given two more years. The incorporation of the Red Sulphur and Blue Sulphur Turnpike came also in 1836. The capital was $12,500 in 250 shares. The commissioners for Red Sulphur were James A. Dun- lap, James Harvey, John H. Vawter, William Adair, Jr., and
CHARLES A. KEENAN Merchant of Sweet Springs
LEWIS F. AND CYNTHIA (BYRNSIDE) CLARK Residents of Peterstown
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