WEST VIRGINIA. 53 



Thus the sections of greatest salubrity are the Allcghanian, northwestern, 

 and Pacific ; yet, in view of the fact that the northwest and Pacific are virgin 

 settlements, filled with a youthful and middle-aged population, while the Alle- 

 ghany region has a homogeneous and home-staying people, we must conclude, 

 if we accept the above per-centages as an accurate basis of calculation, that the 

 highlands of the AUeghanies are of equal, if not superior, salubrity. 



This mountain range extends nine hundred miles, nearly parallel with the 

 sea-coast, consisting of ridges fifty to one hundred miles aj^art, and parallel with 

 each other, watered and Avooded to their summits, with extensive and fertile 

 valleys between. The Blue Ridge, Alleghany, and Cumberland, with many 

 other subdivisions, as North Mountain, Laurel Hill, and Greenbrier, are but 

 parts of the great Alleghany system. That portion of this section embraced in 

 West Virginia abounds in many a plateau, with an elevation just sufiicient to 

 insure a pure and bracing atmosphere, and all conditions essential to vigorous 

 and healthy growth, both in animal and vegetable life. 



SURFACE AND SOIL. 

 THE VALLEY COUNTIES. 



The lower part of the valley of Virginia, from Harper's Ferry west to the 

 summit of the AUeghanies, embracing the counties of Jefferson, Berkeley, 

 Morgan, Hampshire, Hardy, and Pendleton, id included in West Virginia. For 

 the variety and fertility of its soils, fine water-power, central position, salu- 

 brious and delightful climate, beauty and grandeur of scenery in plain and on 

 mountain, it can literally, and with severity of truth, be said to be unsurpassed, 

 if equalled, in the United States, as a farming region in which to make homes 

 of comfort, opulence, and refinement. 



This district is a little more than three thousand seven hundred square miles in 

 extent, and is bounded on the east by the Shenandoah, and on the north and 

 northwest by the Potomac and its north branch. The eastern front ridge of 

 the AUeghanies is near the western boundary ; Hampshire, Hardy, and Pen- 

 dleton are intersected by parallel ridges and valleys of the Alleghany range ; 

 the Branch mountain range extends in a similar direction, and the North 

 mountain forms the eastern boundary of Hardy county. 



Pendleton, the most southerly of these counties, is very mountainous, has a 

 mean elevation of 2,000 feet above the sea level. North mountain is on its 

 southeastern boundary, and Jackson mountain intersects it. The north and 

 south forks of the south branch of the Potomac, and the south branch itself, 

 drain this county, and afford some fine alluvial soil for com and wheat and the 

 most luxuriant pasturage. The mountains are covered with the densest timber. 



Besides the north and south branches, this section is drained by the Caca- 

 pon and the Lost river. The Opequon forms the southeastern boundary of 

 Berkeley county. Lost river is one Of the wonders of nature. After coursing 

 through a fertile valley for twenty-five miles, it breaks through the Lost River 

 mountain and bursts the barriers of Timber ridge, and then encounters a new 

 obstacle in Sandy ridge, which it passes by a curious piece of fluvial strategy, 

 mining its way among the loose rocks of the underlying strata, but loses itself 

 in its subterranean meanderings of three miles, coming to the light again rather in 

 the capacity of strong springs, than as the powerful current of a river which has 

 lost its way, to become anew the sources of a considerable stream — the Cacapon. 



Ice mountain, in Hampshire, 26 miles northwest from Winchester, is another 

 natural curiosity worthy of mention. At the western base of the mountain, 

 which is here some 700 feet high and very precipitous, is an area of 100 yards 

 in length, and a breadth of 30 feet up the mountain side, covered with loose 

 rocks, under which, at all seasons of the year, blocks of ice of several pounds 

 weight may be found. Snakes passing over the rocks stiffen and die, and flies 



