Tygarfs Valley. 57 



confined in a cavity and kept in perpetual motion by the current of 

 falling waters. A few miles below, is a succession of rapids, called 

 " Vickwire's falls," and at twenty five or thirty miles below " the 

 valley," are seated the " Great falls," where the river has a perpen- 

 dicular pitch of thirty feet, with several smaller cascades, making 

 the whole falls, fifty one feet in the distance of a few rods. These 

 numerous descents and rapids, afford an immense amount of water 

 power, equal to any other in the United States, and which, at some 

 future day, when this region shall be traversed with turnpikes, rail 

 roads and canals, will be occupied with villages and manufactories, 

 teeming with a dense population. The annexed sketch, (fig. 7 p. 

 55,) will assist the reader, to understand this interesting region, es- 

 pecially that of " Tygart's valley." It takes its name from one of 

 its earUest settlers. 



A branch of Cheat river, called Shaver's fork, runs for the dis- 

 tance of forty or fifty miles, in a narrow glade, on the top of one of 

 the mountain ranges. On each side of this table land, are cliffs of 

 a height, from one hundred to one hundred and fifty feet, composed 

 of very coarse conglomerate. Near the river is a thin bed of coal, 

 under the sand rock. The trees in this elevated spot, which is at 

 least twenty eight hundred feet above the ocean, are spruce, hem- 

 lock, birch and laurel. All the head branches of Cheat, rise in 

 these ranges ; and taking a north easterly course, through a moun- 

 tainous region of wilderness, covered with thickets of hemlock 

 and dark evergreens, presents one of the most gloomy and deso- 

 late tracts to be found in all the ranges of the Alleghany. The wa- 

 ter, from this elevated district has a descent of at least two thousand 

 feet to the settlements of " Dankard's Bottom," a few miles above 

 Kingwood, on the route from Clarksburgh to Cumberland. The wa-, 

 ters of the Cheat river are noted for their dark, sombre color, sup- 

 posed to arise from the hemlock roots and leaves over which the 

 water passes. It takes it name from the numerous accidents that 

 have happened to travellers in fording it. The current is, at all 

 times rapid, even to near its junction with the Monongahela ; add- 

 ed to which the round boulders and pebbles that fill its bed and are 

 in constant motion, render it a very dangerous stream to horsemen, 

 especially, when swollen with rains — many serious accidents have 

 occurred on its waters. These pebbles are doubtless supplied from 

 the decomposing conglomerate, that is found so abundantly in the 

 mountains, and which not only fills its bed, but covers the sides of 



Vol. XXIX.— No. 1. 8 



