FARMERS' REGISTER— DESCRIPTION OF VIRGINIA. 



regarded as essentially primitive, and presents nnost 

 of the rocks of this denomination. Two belts of 

 transition and secondary formation have, however, 

 been found resting on the primitive rocks in this 

 distance. One of these is the sandstone and coal 

 formation of the counties of Goochland, Powhatan 

 and Chesterfield, Avliich is supposed to continue 

 through the state in a direction parallel to its 

 mountains ; the other, a narrow seam of limestone, 

 which has been found at the base of the South- 

 west mountain, at various points between the Po- 

 tomac and James rivers, and which yields, in seve- 

 ral places where it has been opened, very beauti- 

 ful marble. In this primitive region, various ores 

 and metals have been discovered; among them, 

 iron ore in layers and masses, black-lead, copper 

 ore and gold. A formation in which this last 

 metal is frequently found, it is now well ascer- 

 tained, extends from near Fredericksburg, on the 

 RappaJiannock, in a south-west direction, through 

 this and the adjoining states. The dip of the rocks 

 in this region is usually about forty-five degrees. 

 West of tlie Blue ridge, the country may be con- 

 sidered as divided by a line sometimes correspond- 

 ing with the Alleghany mountains, but in the 

 northern part of the state passing east of them, 

 and south of the head waters of the Roanoke, 

 stretching along the summits of the Brushy, 

 Clinch and Garden mountains. East of this line, 

 the primitive rocks appear only at the tops of high 

 ridges and mountains, the intervals between, and 

 slopes of the mountain being generally transition, 

 but sometimes secondary formations. Among the 

 rocks of this region are blue and gray limestone, 

 slate, sandstone, conglomerate or pudding-stone, 

 gypsum and bidir-stone. Iron ore, of the best 

 quality, is extensively distributed in this portion 

 of the state, and valuable lead mines are worked 

 in Wythe county, near Austinville. The dip of 

 the rocks in this district, is generally less- than in 

 the primitive, but sometimes rises to forty-five de- 

 grees. West of the line above described lies the 

 great secondary formation of the state. The strati- 

 fication is more or less undulating, but in general 

 nearly horizontal. This portion of the state abounds 

 in mineral wealth. Bituminous coal and iron ore 

 are found almost every where. Beds of limestone 

 are extensively distributed, and the caverns which 

 abound in them furnish large quantities of nitre; 

 and the salt wells of the Great Kenawha and the 

 Holston are rivalled only by those of Onondaga, 

 in New York, in the strength of their brine. — 

 Whenever greater facility of access shall be given 

 to this district of country, it may be confidently 

 predicted that no part of the United States will 

 present larger rewards to enterprise and industry. 

 Mineral JVaters. The hydro-sulphurous springs 

 of Virginia have been long celebrated. In no part 

 of the world, perhaps, are they surpassed for effi- 

 cacy, in most of the cases which result from de- 

 rangement of tlie liver, and want of function of 

 this organ and the stomach. They are known by 

 the appellation of the White, Salt and Red Sul- 

 phur springs, and are situated, the former in the 

 county of Greenbrier, at the foot of the western 

 slope of the Alleghany, and the two last in the 

 county of Monroe. All of them, particularly the 

 White Sulphur, act, when taken in doses of two 

 or three glasses at a time, as an alterative, exer- 

 cising on the system much of the salutary influ- 

 ence, without the evil cffetls, of mercury. Used 



in larger doses, they become actively diuretic and 

 purgative. The White Sulphur is more remarka- 

 ble for the former, the Salt SulfAur for the latter 

 property. Tlie Red Sulphur, besides the proper- 

 ties which it has in common with the other two, 

 is remarkable for its action on the pulse, which it 

 reduces considerably in a short time. It is this 

 property which makes it so highly valuable in 

 pulmonary affections. None of these waters, it is 

 believed, have been accurately analyzed. The 

 Sweet springs are situated on Pott's creek (a 

 branch of James river,) about twenty-two miles 

 east of the Salt Sulphur, and seventeen miles south- 

 east of the White Sulphur spring. They are of 

 the class of waters called acidulous , and are valua- 

 ble as a tonic in cases of debility, and in all the 

 varieties of dyspepsia Avhich are unaccompanied 

 by inflammation. Their temperature is about 

 seventy-three degrees. In the same range of 

 mountains between which the Sweet springs are 

 situated, and from thirty-five to forty miles north- 

 north-east, are the thermal waters, known by the 

 name of the Warm and Hot springs. The bath 

 of the former has a temperature of about ninety- 

 six degrees, the latter about one hundred and twelve 

 degrees. If the hydro-sulphurous waters above 

 described are valuable in hepatic affections and 

 dyspepsia, the Warm and Hot baths are not less 

 so in rheumatic and cutaneous cases. Doctor Bell, 

 in describing these springs, observes : "All that 

 has been performed by the Bristol, Buxton and 

 Bath waters of England, may be safely claimed 

 as of easy fulfilment by the use of the Virginia 

 waters just enumerated. If to these springs, the 

 Sweet, the Warm and the Hot, be added the White 

 Sulphur, the Salt Sulphur and the Red Sulphur, 

 we can safely challenge any district of country of 

 the same extent in the world as that in which these 

 springs are situated, to produce the same number 

 and variety, whether we have regard to their 

 mineral impregnation or temperature; or the use 

 of which shall be attended with more speedy, en- 

 tire and permanent relief from a host of most dis- 

 tressing maladies." Besides the above mineral 

 waters, there are others, of more or less value, in 

 different parts of Virginia. The springs at Bath, 

 in Berkeley county, have similar properties, with 

 a temperature somewhat higher than the Sweet 

 springs. In Botetourt, Montgomery and Augusta, 

 are also hydro-sulphurous waters, similar in cha- 

 racter to the Sulphur springs of Greenbrier and 

 Monroe, but of less efficacy. 



Scenery and Natural Curiosities. Tlie scenery 

 of Virginia is in general highly picturesque. — 

 Without possessing the combination of highland 

 and water prospect, which gives such a charm to 

 the shores of the Hudson, or the soft lake scenery 

 of the interior of New York, she, perhaps, sur- 

 passes even that picturesque state in the beauty of 

 her valleys and the grandeur of her mountains. 

 The James river valley offers, at many points in 

 the bold outline of its hills, and its broad and fer- 

 tile lowlands, images which remind the traveller 

 of the rich scenery of the Loire and the Garonne ; 

 and the mountains of the state are strikingly dis- 

 tinguished, not only by an ever-varying succession 

 of hill and vale, but by the beauty of their cover- 

 ing, their cheerful grov/th of oak, chestnut and 

 lynn, contrasting advantageously with that of the 

 mountainous districts of the Northern and Eastern 

 States. Tlic curiosities of Virginia form, to the 



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