558 



FARMERS' REGISTER 



[No. 9 



blend with the table lands that are bounded by 

 the carboniferous beds of the Cumberland Moun- 

 tains, in the state of Tennessee. Many of the 

 valleys between these ridges are intersected by 

 numerous knobs, outliers and spurs, which, at in- 

 ferior elevations, are connected with the main 

 ridge. The White Sulphur Springs, in the coun- 

 ty of Greenbrier, rise at the western foot of the 

 main ridge, usually passing under the designations 

 of Alleghany and Backbone mountain, on account 

 of its being a watershed for the heads of various 

 important streams, which empty into the Ohio 

 river at the west, and into the Atlantic at the 

 east. 



In passing from the White Sulphur to the Sweet 

 Springs, a distance of about 18 miles, the direct 

 course would be nearly south, but there is a good 

 main road, which passes somewhat obliquely 

 through numerous romantic dells and defiles of the 

 Backbone Ridge alluded to, into a broad valley, 

 bounded by an inferior ridge, here called Peter's 

 Mountain, at the foot ol" which the Sweet Springs 

 rise. This is the same ridge which, 50 miles to 

 the north, is called Warm Springs Mountain, the 

 Hot and Warm Springs of Bath county bursting 

 out at its western foot. 



This valley, like many of the others, is agreea- 

 bly diversified by hummocks, spurs and knobs, all 

 well wooded, and interspersed with numerous se- 

 questered coves, and wild looking little vales, 

 which separate them. 



I had an opportunity during the past, summer of 

 examining this part of the country, and found 

 some important beds of anthracite coal on the 

 eastern edge of the main Alleghany ridge, about 

 eight miles south ol* the White Sulphur Springs, 

 and lying off two or three miles from the main 

 road. About 14 miles from the White Sulphur, 

 the elevations recede, the country begins to open, 

 and a very rich bottom of land presents itself, 

 through which the waters of the Sweet Springs 

 flow after they have left their source. The soil 

 here is extremely fertile, bearing luxuriant crops 

 of corn, and indeed nothing can be more beautiful 

 than this valley opening as the traveller advances, 

 and bounded by Peter's Mountain. 



At the foot of a graceful knoll which extends 

 about three quarters of a mile to this mountain, 

 the Sweet Springs break out very copiously. Be- 

 fore they have left the spring 100 yards, they be- 

 gin to deposite carbonate of lime, which has 

 formed a regular travertin on the sides of a brook 

 running near the enclosure of the establishment. 

 This brook gives a stream, which, as I have be- 

 fore observed, runs through the rich bottom land. 

 The stream runs for near two miles from the 

 Sweet Springs, until it reaches a fall of about 75 

 yards, where there is a saw mill. This fall is 

 about 550 yards across the valley, and the people 

 of the vicinity call it the Beaver Dam, supposing 

 it to have been constructed by the beavers, as 

 many logs are lying on the slope, which, without 

 reflection, may be thought to be the remains of an 

 ancient structure erected by these animals. On 

 examining this fall,and its broad slope, now entire- 

 ly grown up with bushes and brakes, I was sur- 

 prised to find that the whole slope consisted of 

 calcareous matter of the same character as that 

 I had observed at the Sweet Springs. It was evi- 

 dent, therefore, that the stream, now only a few 

 yards broad, had once covered the whole surface 



of the valley; that the rich bottom had once been 

 a pond dammed up, and that the water had been 

 discharged as in ordinary dams, over the whole 

 breadth of 550 yards. If this were so, it struck 

 me that the flat land at the bottom of the slope 

 must have been also covered by this calcareous 

 stream. On examining it, I found it to be the 

 case, and following it up for near three quarters of 

 a mile over the travertin, I came at last to a cas- 

 cade 42 feet high and about six feet broad. The 

 stream was here projected in a very beautiful 

 sheet upon the lower grauwacke slate, which in 

 many places had a stalagmitic floor of travertin 

 upon it of a foot thick. Having scrambled down 

 to the slate, I had a front view of the cascade, 

 with the whole ledge of travertin it was projected 

 from, together with the infinite variety of stalac? 

 titic rods and pilasters depending from it. I ob- 

 served a hemlock tree, Jlbies Canadensis, about 

 forty years old, in full life, incrusted, all its rools 

 and about seven feet of the stem, with calcareous 

 matter. 



Near the foot of this wall of travertin, more 

 than 40 feet high, were the entrances to various 

 caverns, similar to some spacious ones I had en- 

 tered in the calcareous dam 1 have spoken of", with 

 depending stalactites, in some instances resem- 

 bling filagree work and petrified mosses, the fret- 

 ted appearance of which is caused by the spray 

 of the cascade. And here I would remark, that 

 mineral waters of this character deposite their 

 solid contents most rapidly when they are in 

 quick motion and at shallow depths, the water bo- 

 Lng then more completely submitted to the action 

 of the sun, and rendered less capable of holding 

 the calcareous matter in solution. This I suppose 

 to be the cause of the broad calcareous slope 

 which has been attributed to the ingenuity of the 

 beavers. When these valleys of denudation 

 were scooped out, and a deep ravine formed where 

 this rich valley bottom now is, the stream at this 

 place probably passed over a rapid, that breaking 

 the water produced the deposite in question, which 

 constantly rose in height until the aqueous volume 

 diminished to its present size, by the filling up of 

 the ravine with calcareous and vegetable alluvial 

 matter, converting the bare slaty bed of the ra- 

 vine into a fertile valley, capable of producing 

 10,000 bushels of Indian corn annually; a singu- 

 lar instance of the benificent manner in which na- 

 ture operates in favor of man. For here we see 

 the springs of life not only issuing from the depths 

 of the wilderness to restore the enfeebled constitu- 

 tion of the suffering southerner, but that portion 

 of them not directly applicable to his wants, me- 

 chanically engaged, by a most happy process, in 

 producing the means of sustaining those who 

 here seek relief, and of embellishing every thing 

 around them. These are amongst the charming 

 lessons we receive from nature, and which dispose 

 our hearts to see a divine care for us in every 

 thing. 



I was one day returning to my cabin, with some 

 specimens of this travertin, when I met Mr. Ro- 

 gers, the landlord of the establishment at the 

 Sweet Springs, an old inhabitant of this part of 

 the country, and a very intelligent and worthy 

 person. He assured me that, some, years ago, 

 when hunting doer in the hills, he had seen some 

 rocks exactly resembling them. As he is a man 

 of very good judgement, I proposed to him to ac- 



