296 



VIRGINIA. 



Salt springs occur on the Holslon, Sandy, Guyandotte, Great and Little Kanawha, on the 

 New River, the Greenbriar, and the Monongahela. But the most important works are on the 

 Great and Little Kanawha. On the Holston, the salt-wells are from 200 to 300 feet deep, and 

 yield at the rate of 1 gallon of salt to 10 or 16 gallons of brine. On the Great Kanawha, the 

 borings are from 300 to 500 feet deep, and extend along the river on both of its banks, for the 

 distance of about 12 miles. The water is raised by steam-engines, and boiled in cast-iron pans, 

 about 25 feet long by 6| wide, the furnace being from 80 to 100 feet long. On being boiled, 

 the water turns red, and is drawn ofl' Into the brine-troughs to cool and settle ; it is next returned 

 to the "grainers," in which it is boiled down into salt, and then lifted out upon a platform for 

 the purpose of draining oft' the bitter water, or muriate of lime. The manufacture of alum-salt, 

 as the coarse salt is here called, has but lately been introduced ; the brine, in this case, is car- 

 ried into large, shallou', wooden vats, and kept at a moderate temperature by steam, instead of 

 being boiled. The quantity of salt at present made in this part of Virginia, is about 3,000,000 

 busliels annually, 70 gallons of brine yielding, on an average, a bushel of salt. 



Gold is at present the most important of the metallic minerals of Virginia. It occurs through- 

 out a belt on the western side of the primary district, stretching iVom beyond the Rappahan- 

 nock to the Appomattox. Scientific processes of mining and separating the metal, have been 

 only very recently and partially introduced. Most of the gold hitherto obtained, has been pro- 

 cured by washings from the deposit mines; but several veins have yielded rich returns. The 

 material of the veins is a variegated quartz, sometimes translucent, at others opaque. It is 

 generally of a cellular structure, and fractures without much difficulty. The cavities are often 

 filled with yellow ochre, which generally contains gold in a state of minute division. Sulphuret 

 of iron (pyrites) is another accompanying mineral, which in many mines occurs in considerabh^ 

 quantities. Silver is occasionally found in connexion with the gold, and the sulphurets of cop- 

 per and lead have been discovered in a few instances in the auriferous rock. The rocks form- 

 ing the boundaries of the auriferous veins vary ; talcose and chlorite slates are the most usual. 

 They are -fcommonly of a soft texture, yielding readily to the blast, and even to the pick or 

 spade. The rocks adjacent to the quartz are otten auriferous, and in some instances have been 

 found as productive as the quartz itself. 



10. JMineral Springs. Mineral springs are numerous. The tract west of the Blue Ridge 

 contains an unrivaled profusion of mineral waters of the inost varied virtues, comprising thermal 

 waters impregnated with free carbonic acid and nitrogen gasses, and holding also in combination 

 a large amount of carbonic acid, chalybeate waters, and sulphuretted springs, abounding in sul- 

 phuretted hydrogen gas and various sulphates ; many of these fountains have acquired celebrity 

 for their curative powers, and the freshness and salubrity of the air, and the alternate beauty and 

 grandeur of scenery, add to the attractions of this region as a summer resort. The Botetourt, 

 Augusta, Rawley, Shannondale, Yellow, and Alum springs, break forth from a pyritous slate, 

 and are chalybeates or sulphuretted waters, according to the prevalence of the sulphuric acid or 

 the iron. Further west, thermal springs issue from calcareous rocks, as in the Warm Spring 

 and Sweet Spring Valleys ; the Hot Springs of the former, have a temperature of 106° ; the 

 Warm Springs, of the same valley, of 9S° ; and the Healing Springs, within a few miles of 

 Hot Springs, are also of a high temperature. In the Sweet Spring Valley, the Sweet Springs 

 have a temperature of 73°, and, with the Red Springs of the same quarter, hold in combina- 

 tion so large a proportion of carbonic acid, as to have a decided acidulous character. The 

 celebrated group of sulphur wells, which have their distinctive names from the color of the va- 

 rious organic matters mixed with sulphur, which they deposit round their reservoirs, or in the 

 channels of the issuing streams, lies beyond the Alleghany range, within a compass of about 30 

 miles ; these are the White and Blue Sulphur of Greenbriar, and the Red and Gray, with the 

 Salt Sulphur of Monroe ; among which, the White Sulphur is the only thermal water, being 

 of the temperature of 64°. 



POLITICAL GEOGRAPHY. 



1. Divisions. This State is divided into 116 counties,* comprised within two districts, the 

 Eastern and Western. 



' Easum Dis.ict. A.eHa^ Bu^dr^ha.n Charlotte 



Accoinao Bedford Caroline Culpeper 



Albemarle Brunswick Charles City Cnmberlnnd 



