Cliffs of New River. 91 



more than eight hundred feet in height. At the foot of one of the 

 most elevated, called " Marshall's pillar," in honor of the vener- 

 able judge Marshall, who visited the spot and measured its altitude, 

 the river suddenly becomes calm; while all above and below is a 

 sheet of foam, as it struggles and roars amongst the huge fragments 

 of rocks that obstruct its course. The river, at this place, is more 

 than one hundred feet in depth, a line of that length not reaching its 

 bottom. An immense fall, of many hundred feet, was once seen at 

 this spot, whose ceaseless torrent continued, for ages, to excavate 

 this profound abyss. The river is confined to less than one hundred 

 yards, and by cutting and wearing away the rock strata, from the 

 mouth of Gauly in a manner similar to the Niagara river, it has worn 

 itself a passage, more than one thousand feet in depth, and .fifty or 

 sixty miles in length, through the solid sandstone rocks. At the pe- 

 riod of its first efforts to work itself a channel through the mountain 

 ranges, the rocks were, without doubt, much more soft than at pres- 

 ent, and easily gave way to the vast collection of waters, whose vol- 

 ume and rapidity nothing could resist. At the foot of the cliffs on 

 New river, a grey, argillaceous, marly deposit, forms a substratum of 

 many feet in thickness, on which the sandstone rock reposes. The 

 feeble resistance of this stratum would hasten the fall of the superin- 

 cumbent beds, in a manner similar to that of the clay slate, under 

 the lime rocks of Niagara. For a view of this interesting spot, 

 taken from the cliff above Marshall's pillar, see page 32 of the 

 wood cuts. The face of the country in the vicinity of the cliffs 

 of New river rises into broad, lofty ranges of mountains, whose 

 tops afford good farming lands, and are cultivated in many places. 

 The state turnpike passes along, for many miles, near the river, 

 and at occasional turns, we see the foam of the cataracts and hear 

 the roar of the noisy waters. The traveller, in his progress to- 

 wards Lewisburgh, in the valley of the Greenbrier river, passes nu- 

 merous parallel ranges of mountains, trending from the S. W. to the 

 N. E. They bear the names of the " Big and Little Sewell," and 

 the " Meadow mountains." From the tops of the Big Sewell, he 

 has a view of the valley of the Greenbrier, stretched at his feet, 

 dotted with cultivated spots, and broken into masses of low hills ; 

 while beyond, the towering Alleghany lifts its rocky ranges marking 

 the southern boundary of the secondary deposits. The elevated 

 peaks of the Sewell and Meadow mountains are three thousand feet 

 high, and are said to be visible from " the peaks of Otter," across 



