WEST VIRGINIA. 79 



spi'ings are, at moderate distances apart, presenting within the same district a 

 variety of medicinal character, for which, in other countries, regions remote 

 from each other reqnire to be visited in succession, phxced at a point equally 

 accessible to the inhabitants of the seaboard and the great valley of the west, 

 and situated in a region of grateful summer temperatwre, of salubrious climate, 

 and of picturesque and diversified natural beauties, they are now rapidly at- 

 taining a celebrity for powerful and varied remedial qualities, as well as for the 

 defined social enjoyments Avhich are annually gathered around thorn, destined 

 ere long to eclipse the older reputation of the famed fountains of the northern 

 States, and to vie even with the long-established character of the most noted of 

 the watering places of the Old World." 



TRAVERTINE. 



In Jefferson county, and in all portions of the valley to a greater or less ex- 

 tent, exists a deposit of marl, in beds of considerable thickness. It is found in 

 the beds of nearly all the streams, being formed by a precipitation of calcareous 

 matter from the limestone waters. It is knoAvn to geologists as travertine. 

 From it a very pure lime is obtained, commanding a high price in the market, 

 and its value to agriculture, from its general diffusion and attainment without 

 the labor of quarrying, is not liable to undue appreciation. Much of it is ob- 

 tained in a state so friable that it may be applied, as it is in Europe, directly to 

 the soil, like marl, obviating the expense of burning. Calcareous manures have 

 proved of incalculable benefit to eastern Virginia, and have been applied with 

 benefit to the calcareous soils of the valley. Each section of country, in all the 

 States, has natural elements of fertility which, with skilled husbandry, in co- 

 operation with the ameliorations resulting from stock-growing, are ample for all 

 the demands of high culture. This chalky deposit is only one of many ele- 

 ments of fertility existing in Virginia. 



LIMESTONE. 



This mineral is generally diffused throughout the State. The valley counties 

 are largely of a limestone formation, interspersed with layers of slate. The 

 mountain pass at Greenbrier exhibits everywhere limestone, interspersed with 

 slates and shales. Throughout the monntain region, and everywhere among 

 the iron and coal deposits, abundance of limestone is found. In the lower 

 Kanawha, below Charleston, arenaceous and argillaceous rocks are presented, 

 with thin layers of limestone of different degrees of purity, in some cases con- 

 taining sufficient alumina to give it a hydraulic character. Interposed between 

 seams of coal, thick beds of limestone occur on the Ohio river at Wheeling and 

 vicinity. Associated with the coals of the Monongahela and Tygart's valley 

 and other branches are beds of limestone and sandstone, both increasing in 

 thickness as the coal diminishes. There is little lack of this material, so 

 valuable to agriculture, iron-working, and the building arts. 



Specimens from Patterson's creek, in Hampshire, are of grayish drab color, 

 compact texture, moderately fine grain, structure slaty, bearing 93 per cent, of 

 carbonate of lime. 



From Muddy Creek mountain, near the blue sulphur spring, of a light gray 

 color and fin^ grain, containing 98 per cent. 



From east side of Laurel Hill, in Monongalia county, of a light yellow and 

 gray color, partially sub-crystalline, 90 per cent. 



From the Cheat river, in Preston county, light gray, with blue stripes, 68 

 per cent. 



From Red creek, in Randolph county, of light gray color and compact tex- 

 ture, 82 per cent. 



I'rom Morgautown, in Monongalia, dovG-colored and sub-crystalline, .and 

 very hydraulic, 57 per cent, carbonate of lime, 19 per cent, magnesia, and 9 

 per cent, alumina. 



