J. J. Moorman

“ Within a mile or two of the Sweet, we came to what is called the Red Spring, an old dilapidated building, gray with age, and all its windows shattered.
"Before 12 o'clock we entered the smiling valley of the Sweet Springs. Whoever comes to the mountains, should make a visit to the Sweet Springs, if but for one day. Much of the scenery in the neighbourhood is of the most beautiful and refreshing kind, and the whole place is redolent of life and animation, particularly at a time when thronging with company."
The accommodations at this place are sufficient for about 400 persons. ”

“ The green hills rise on either hand and all around, and give completeness and beauty to the scene; and beyond these appears the gray outline of the more distant mountains, bestowing grandeur to what was supremely beautiful. It is exquisite. It conveys to you the idea of perfect solitude. The hand of man, the foot of man, seem never to have touched that valley. ”

“ I confess, also, that my mind was most forcibly carried to the judgment day; and I could but call the attention of my companions to what would, probably, then be the sublime terror of the scene we now beheld, when the mountains we saw and stood upon, should all be melted down like wax; when the flames should be driving over the immense expanse before us; when the heavens over us should be 'passing away with a great noise;' and when the air beneath and around us should be filled with the very inhabitants now dwelling, and busied in that world beneath us. ”

“ The Red Sulphur Spring is situated in latitude 37° 37', about 20 miles southwest of Union, which is the seat of justice for the county. The approach to the village is beautifully romantic and picturesque. Wending his way around a high mountain, the weary traveller is for a moment charmed out of his fatigue by the sudden view of his resting-place, some hundreds of feet immediately beneath him. ”

“ You go some little distance for this purpose, as in the vicinity of the bridge the rocks are far too precipitous. A hot and brilliant day is, of all others, the time to enjoy this object. To escape from a sun which scorches you, into these verdant and cool bottoms, is a luxury of itself, which disposes you to relish everything else. ”

“ Mark the trees of every variety, but especially the fir, how they diminish as they stand on the margin of its bed; and how they ascend, step by step, on the noble rockwork, till they overshadow you, still preserving such delicacy of form and growth, as if they would not do an injury while they lend a grace. ”

“ The celebrated burning spring is the only one of its natural vents apparent on dry land. This stream of gas, unaccompanied by water, has forced its way from the rocks below, through 70 or 80 feet of alluvial ground, and within 80 yards of the river bank. It is near this burning spring where the principal gas-wells have been found; but, twenty-five years ago, or more, a gas-fountain was struck in a well 200 feet deep, near Charleston, 7 miles below the burning spring. This blew up, by fits, a jet of weak salt water 20 or 30 feet high. ”

“ The effect of this bath on rheumatic and gouty affections, and on old, deep-seated, and chronic complaints, that medicine does not seem to reach, is very beneficial. It restores the surface to a good condition, and promotes the healthy action of the skin; and every person who drinks the water of the various sulphur springs, should afterwards stop here two or three weeks, and try the virtue of the boiler. There are, near the hotel, a hot and a cold spring issuing so near each other, that you can dip the thumb and fore-finger of the same hand into hot and cold water at the same time. ”

“ This table is a solid rock, and presents the form of a man's hat standing on its crown. It is about 4 feet in height and the same in diameter. From the top issues a clear stream of water, which flows over the brim on all sides, and forms a fountain of exquisite beauty. The Hanging Rocks are about 4 miles north of Romney. There the Wappatomka River has cut its way through a mountain of about 500 feet in height. The boldness of the rocks, and the wildness of the scene, excite awe in the beholder. ”

“ There is, perhaps, no Stage Company in the United States prepared to accommodate with so much comfort, safety, and convenience to the traveller, as Farish & Co.'s. Their coaches are new, handsome, and elegantly fitted up; their horses are well broken, and for appearance and speed unsurpassed; their agents are polite and accommodating, and their drivers are experienced, capable, and cautious. They have the means to accommodate the public, and will on no occasion spare them. ”

“ This is a very lofty eminence, in Floyd County, from the top of which the view is sublime. On the north, east, and west, the beholder is amazed at the boundless succession of mountains rising beyond mountains—while far away to the south, the plain seems to stretch to an interminable length. On the east, The Knob is accessible on horseback, being two miles in height from the beginning of the ascent to the highest point; on the west it breaks off precipitately, and presents the shape of the animal whose name it bears. This mountain is seen sixty or eighty miles, towering above all others. ”

“ They are, in fact, a new thing under the sun; for in all the history of the world, it does not appear that a fountain of strong brine was ever before known to be mingled with a fountain of inflammable gas, sufficient to pump it out in a constant stream, and then by its combustion, to evaporate the whole into salt of the best quality. ”

“ The Springs are formed by water percolating through a high slate bank or bluff, and which thus becoming impregnated with its mineral properties, is collected into basins or springs at the base of the rock. These are six in number: three Alum Springs of different degrees of strength, one Magnesia Spring, one Chalybeate, and one Sulphur; sulphate of iron and alum, suiting themselves to most of the chronic diseases to which the human system is subject. ”

“ Other proprietors of wells have also struck gas-fountains by deep boring. In one of these wells the gas forces the water up violently, but by fits, the gush continuing for some two or three hours, and then ceasing for about the same length of time. In another of these wells there has been very recently struck, a gas-fountain that acts with such prodigious violence as to make the tubing of the well in the usual way impossible; when the copper tube was forced down through the rushing stream of brine and gas, it was immediately flattened by the pressure ”

“ This water is tasteless, insipid from its warmth, and is so light in its character, that very large quantities may be taken into the stomach without producing oppression or uneasiness. Persons generally become fond of it after a time, and when cooled it is a delightful beverage. It is beneficial in a class of chronic and subacute disorders, such as derangements of the stomach, with impaired appetite and feeble digestion, and chronic diseases of the abdominal viscera not connected with a high degree of organic disease. ”

“ Through a very narrow passage, a bold and beautiful stream of water rushes, called Passage Creek, which a short distance below works several fine merchant mills. After travelling two or three miles, the valley gradually widens, and for upwards of twenty miles furnishes arable land, and affords settlement for eighty or ninety families, several of whom own very valuable farms. The two mountains run parallel 24 or 25 miles, and are called East and West Fort Mountains, and then are merged into one, anciently Mesinetto, now Masinutton Mountain. ”

“ The Hotel is well kept, which with a number of comfortable cabins affords accommodations for about 175 persons.
From the Hot Springs we proceed to Calahan's, 20 miles, from thence to the White Sulphur, in Greenbrier County, 15 miles. This is the most celebrated watering-place in Virginia. "It is situated on the western declivity of the Alleghany Mountain, some 6 or 8 miles from the summit, and 35 miles southwest of the Hot Springs, in an extensive and beautiful valley. Nature has made this one of the most enchanting spots in the mountains of Virginia. ”

“ The saline contents of one gallon of the water are as follows: muriate of lime, 3.968; sulphate of magnesia, 9.984; carbonate of lime, 4.288; sulphate of lime, 5.466; a trace of soda, no doubt in the state of muriate.
"While the Warm Springs afford the most luxurious bath in the world, they contain neutral salts and various gases, which act as a gentle aperient, diuretic, and sudorific, and give tone and vigour to the human system. It is well ascertained in other countries, that waters of a high temperature tend more to strengthen the digestive organs than those of a low temperature ”

“ They are useful in all uterine diseases when active inflammation is not present. In cases of relaxed habit and debility, when sufficient power of reaction exists in the system, their tonic and bracing properties are very decided. Persons suffering from a residence in warm, low, and damp climates, and subject to nervous affections, will generally find them a complete restorative. They are very useful in chronic diseases of the mucous membrane, such as leucorrhœa, gonorrhœa, &c., and certain forms of bronchial disease arising from a relaxed condition of the membrane ”

“ Berkeley Springs are situated in the town of Bath, Morgan County, Virginia, 21⁄2 miles from Sir John's Depot, a point on the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, 130 miles west of Baltimore, and 49 miles east of Cumberland, Maryland. A good mountain road connects with the railroad, and during the bathing season, which lasts from the 1st of June until the 1st of October, fine coaches are always in attendance at the depot. ”

“ He had somewhat exceeded a thousand feet, when he struck a crevice in the rock, and forth gushed a powerful stream of mingled gas and salt water. Generally, the salt water in the wells was obtained in rock merely porous, and rose by hydrostatic pressure to the level of the river. To obtain the strong water of the lower strata, unmixed with the weak water above, it is the practice to insert a copper tube into the hole, making it fit tightly below by means of wrapping on the outside, and attaching the upper end to the pump, by which the water is drawn up to the furnaces on the river bank. ”

“ The observer, standing on the brink of the stream, at the distance of about one hundred yards below the debouchure of the Natural Tunnel, has, in front, a view of its arched entrance, rising seventy or eighty feet above the water, and surmounted by horizontal stratifications of yellowish, white, and gray rocks, in depth nearly twice the height of the arch. ”

“ This water has been considered peculiarly adapted to the cure of pulmonary diseases, and it is true that it has a most beneficial influence in most cases of this disease; but its good effects equally extend to all cases of subacute inflammation, whether seated in the stomach, liver, spleen, intestines, kidneys, or bladder, and most particularly in the mucous membrane. In fact, nature never yet gave to man a remedy capable of more extensive application, nor better calculated to relieve a larger class of diseases. ”

“ It forces up the water with great power; but, unfortunately for the proprietor, the water is too weak to be profitably worked. It appears from this fact, that the gas is not inseparably connected with strong brine. When struck before good salt water is reached, it will operate injuriously, for no water obtained below it can rise at all, unless the pressure of the gas be taken off by means of a strong tube extending below it.
"Several wells have been bored to a depth equal to that of the gas-wells, without striking the gas ”

“ In the use of them for such diseases, if the disease of the skin appears to be irritated at first, or if the ulcers become more inflamed, and discharge more freely, let not this circumstance alarm any one, or deter him from persevering in their use. These are the evidences of the good effects of the waters, in expelling the vitiated humours from the blood to the surface, and, until the blood is purified, such diseases cannot be cured. In scrofulous ulcers, the use of these waters invariably causes them to discharge more freely, and in a short time of a more healthy appearance. ”

“ The gentlemen's bath-house, a substantial brick building, contains ten large bathing-rooms. The baths are of cement, 12 feet long, 5 feet wide, and 41⁄2 deep, filled from a reservoir by a four inch pipe, and contain about 1600 gallons each. The luxury of these capacious plunges can only be appreciated by those who have tried them. The ladies' bath-house, on the opposite side of the grove, contains nine baths of similar dimensions, and adjoining this is an establishment for shower, spout, and artificial warm baths. ”

“ The Salt Sulphur is hemmed in on every side by mountains. To the south and east, in full view, and about 10 miles distant, is Peters Mountain; due north, and about 14 miles distant, is a low spur of the Alleghany; and west, it is bounded by Swope's Mountain, at or near the base of which, are the two principal springs. ”

“ The west side of the mountain, for about a quarter of a mile, is covered with a mass of loose stone, of light colour, which reaches down to the bank of the river. By removing the loose stone, pure crystal ice can always be found in the warmest days of summer. ”

“ For all derangements of the stomach, liver, and kidneys, chronic diarrhœa, chronic thrush, and for delicate females, these waters enjoy a wide and rapidly-growing reputation; while for diseases of the skin, or cutaneous affections of whatever sort, they are invaluable, and perhaps not surpassed by any mineral waters known. ”