James River

“ James river is an inland water in any sense which can be given to the term 'inland.' It lies within the body of counties in Virginia. For miles below Richmond and below the obstructions mentioned a person can see from one of its banks what is done on the other. Rivers across which one can thus see are inland waters. It matters not that the tide may ebb and flow miles above their mouths ”

“ A country better adapted to all good purposes of man, nor one more pleasing to the eye, hardly exists on earth; but before it was trodden by armies, it had become little less than desolate. The James River is as navigable as the Hudson, and flows through a region far more fertile, longer settled, more inviting, and of more genial climate; but there are upon the Hudson's banks more cities than there are rotten landings upon the James. ”

“ The road follows the valley of Green-Brier River twenty miles further, to Caldwell, then passes through White Sulphur Springs, and a few minutes later crosses the James River at Clifton Forge, where that romantic stream, drawing its inspiration from the Alleghenies, cuts its way through the Blue Ridge Mountains. ”

“ What a savage chasm the lake-bed must be! Empty the water from it and it is pure and unrelieved desolation. And the sovereign loveliness of the water that fills it is its color. The very savageness of the rent and fissure is made the condition of the purest charm. The Lake does not feed a permanent river. We cannot trace any issue of it to the ocean. It is not, that we know, a well-spring to supply any large district with water for ordinary use. It seems to exist for beauty. ”

“ The James and Jackson River canal extends from the basin at Richmond, to a fall in Goveland county, a distance of thirty and a half miles. There is also a canal seven miles long, around the falls on James river, in Rockland county. Canals have also been constructed to improve the navigation of the Shenandoah. The Dismal Swamp canal is twenty-two and a half miles long, lying partly in Virginia, and partly in North Carolina. It connects the waters of Chesapeak bay with Albemarle sound, extending from Deep creek to Joyce’s creek, at the head of Pasquotank river. ”

“ At last the Colorado River is reached, and we are but two thousand four hundred and thirty-six feet above the sea. El Tovar, above, is six thousand eight hundred and sixty-six feet, and we have thus descended four thousand four hundred and thirty feet, nearly a mile, from rim to river. And what a river it is! No one can form any idea of it, unless he stands on the very brink, almost deafened by the sound of its sullen roar and turbulent rapids. It is hungry, insatiable, murderous, cruel. Many a foolish mortal has had the breath dashed from his body by these powerful waves. ”

“ All the merchants deal in bills of exchange on Europe.
“The falls of James River, which obstructed its navigation from the distance of seven miles above Richmond, heretofore imposed the necessity of employing land carriage for that space. At present a canal, running parallel with the course of the river for those seven miles, connects the communication by water, and opens a navigation which extends without interruption 200 miles above Richmond. I have seen one of the two mills at Richmond. It stands below the falls of the river, receives a great power of water, and turns six pair of stones. ”

“ I look along each gaping gorge, I hear a thousand sounding strokes Like giants rending giant oaks, Or brawny Vulcan at his forge; I see pickaxes flash and shine; Hear great wheels whirling in a mine. Here winds a thick and yellow thread, A moss'd and silver stream instead; And trout that leap'd its riffled tide Have turn'd upon their sides and died.
Below Camino we pass near to Pino Grande, where the great cable railway carries loaded cars of logs across the deep canyon of the American River. ”

“ The civilizers began their work promptly. Even as they sailed up the river looking for a place to found their colony, they robbed the stream of its Indian name, Powhatan, that so befitted the bold, tawny flow, bestowing instead the name of the puerile King of England. That was the first step toward writing in English the story of the James River, the "Greate River," the "King's River."
It was later by three hundred years lacking one when our houseboat came along to gather up that story. ”

“ This is among the first sources of James' River.
On Patowmac River, in Berkley county, above the North mountain, are medicinal springs, much more frequented than those of Augusta. Their powers, however, are less, the waters weakly mineralized, and scarcely warm. They are more visited, because situated in a fertile, plentiful, and populous country, better provided with accomodations, always safe from the Indians, and nearest to the more populous states. ”

“ The only remarkable cascade in this country, is that of the Falling spring in Augusta. It is a water of James river, where it is called Jackson's river, rising in the Warm Spring mountains about twenty miles South West of the Warm spring, and flowing into that valley. About three-quarters of a mile from its source, it falls over a rock 200 feet into the valley below. The sheet of water is broken in its breadth by the rock in two or three places, but not at all in its height. ”

“ Winding through a deep defile of rocks, which cut off the neighbouring view and throw a dark shadow over the river, the stream suddenly turns a projecting point of its shores, and a landscape of unequalled beauty opens on the sight. Rich wooded valleys, with soft green slopy sides, broken with crags, and diversified with hamlets, are seen diverging in every direction, with the Rance winding forward in the midst of them; while high in air, lording it over all around, rises the stately rock on which the town is placed, with wall and battlement and tower hanging over its extreme verge. ”

“ It then crosses Hard-ware, above the mouth of Hudson's creek, James River at the mouth of Rockfish, at the marble quarry before spoken of, probably runs up the river to where it appears again at Ross's iron-works, and so passes off southwestwardly by Flat creek of Otter river. It is never more than one hundred yards wide. From the Blue ridge westwardly, the whole country seems to be founded on a rock of lime-stone, besides infinite quantities on the surface, both loose and fixed. ”

“ If the stream in the chasm turns northward it is bound for just one place—the Albany River, and the Albany River empties into James Bay! The third waterfall, where our treasure in gold is waiting for us, is in the very heart of the wildest and most savage wilderness in North America. It is safe. ”

“ As they burn coal here, the city looks nearly black. In the western part of Virginia, they only use wood. The blacks seem to compose the most numerous part of the population of that place. It is here where James river becomes navigable; above the city, navigation is carried on by the above-mentioned canal, which here joins the river, after having gone through a large basin, at whose wharves they were yet working. This canal descends in the city from a considerable height, by means of eight locks; the sides of the canal between the locks are only made of plank. ”

“ By the middle of the 19th century the peninsula on which Jamestown had been situated had become an island, and by 1900 the James River had worn away the shore but had hardly touched the territory of the “New Towne” (1619) , immediately E. of the first settlement; almost the only visible remains, however, were the tower of the brick church and a few gravestones. In 1900 the association for the preservation of Virginia antiquities, to which the site was deeded in 1893, induced the United States government to build a wall to prevent the further encroachment of the river ”

“ Acting on a theory that the swift river current must connect with Lake James at a slightly lower level, the two men went on a tour of inspection. They found the point upstream where the underground river flowed into the larger stream, but not where it later emptied into the lake. ”

“ If they are ever but partially filled, it is easy to see that what, for a great part of the year, is a naked sand beach, then becomes a broad and majestic river. It must flow with a rapid current, and in floods; its waters cannot be otherwise than of an intense red colour. The immediate valley of the river had now become little less than two miles in width; and had, in some places, a fertile soil. This happens wherever there occur spots having little elevation above the bed of the river, and which have not recently been covered with sand. ”

“ We saw the station of the water company, where a man remains through the year to register the river's flow and the snowfall. Then we passed a large lily lake to the left,—a once bold glacial lake now rapidly nearing the filled-up stage ere it becomes a mountain meadow—and were fairly on the Georgetown grade, the sixty mile road that reaches from McKinney's to Georgetown. It is a stern road, that would make the "rocky road to Dublin" look like a "flowery bed of ease," though we followed it only a mile and a half to leave it for the steep trail that reaches Rock Bound Lake. ”

“ Probably more than a hundred affluents of various capacities, deriving their waters from the amphitheater of snow-clad mountains which rise on all sides from 3000 to 4000 feet above its surface, contribute their quota to supply this Lake. The largest of these affluents is the Upper Truckee River, which falls into its southern extremity.
The only outlet to the Lake is the Truckee River, which carries the surplus waters from a point on its northwestern shore out through a magnificent mountain gorge, thence northeast, through the arid plains of Nevada, into Pyramid Lake. ”

“ Aside from this, the extreme insalubrity of the air, occasioned by the vicinity of extensive swamps, stagnant ponds, and lagoons, tends to retard the progress of settlements in this quarter.
At the rapids the river spreads to three hundred yards in width. The banks are thirty feet high, and never overflowed. Here has for many years been a settlement. The soil of the neighbouring country is extremely fertile. [52] A bed of soft sandstone, or indurated clay, crosses the river, causing a fall of ten feet {165} in fifty yards. ”

“ It is a water of James river, and sufficient in the driest seasons to turn a grist-mill, though its fountain is not more than two miles above*.
* Don Ulloa mentions a break, similar to this, in the province of Angaraez, in South-America. It is from 16 to 22 feet wide, 111 feet deep, and of 1.3 miles continuance, English measures. Its breadth at top is not sensibly greater than at bottom. ”

“ As we fell down the river, following the gentle stream of the waters, and discoursing upon those monsters, we heard a great noise of waters, and saw several small pieces of timber, and small floating islands, which were huddled down the river Pekitanoni. The waters of this stream (the Missouri) are so muddy, because of the violence of its stream, that it is impossible to drink of it; and they spoil the clearness of the Mississippi, and make its navigation very dangerous in this place. ”

“ James is the extremity of a ridge of hills of moderate height, (about 300 feet,) forming the left bank of the mouth of the river. It is seen at a great distance; the land on the opposite side of the river is extremely low, and an extensive sand bank stretches out in front of this low land to the distance of several miles. This bank produces a singular effect at the period of ebb tide. As we were sailing along, at some distance from its outer edge, the depth of water being eleven fathoms, we observed the sea towards the land to [295] be of a muddy colour, and its edge quite abrupt and defined. ”

“ A beautiful city is Richmond, seated on the hills that overlook the James River. The dwellings have a pleasant appearance, often standing by themselves in the midst of gardens. In front of several, I saw large magnolias, their dark, glazed leaves glittering in the March sunshine. ”

“ This beautiful river has a course of one thousand and thirty-three miles, through a country surpassed in fertility of soil by none in the United States. Except in high floods, its water is transparent, its current gentle, and nearly uniform. For more than half of its course its banks are high, and its bed gravelly. With the exception of about two miles at the rapids, at Louisville, it has sufficient depth of water, for a part of the year, to float vessels of 300 tons burthen to Cincinnati. The country which it washes may, with propriety, be considered under two divisions. ”

“ One reason why the colonists selected a site for Jamestown some miles up the James River was to develop the Indian trade over an extensive area. During the early years of the colony, trade with the natives was encouraged. It is clear from the early records that the settlers bartered such items as beads, cloth, penny knives, shears, bells, glass toys, whistles, hatchets, pots and pans, brass casting counters, and similar objects in exchange for Indian corn (and other vegetables) , fish, game, fruits and berries, and furs. ”

“ We found the country at a distance from the bed of the [141] river, somewhat elevated and broken, but upon climbing some of the highest hills, we again saw the landscape of the unbounded and unvaried grassy plain spread out before us. All the inequalities of the surface have evidently been produced by the excavating operation of currents of water, and they are consequently most considerable near the channels of the large streams. This remark is applicable to the vallies of all the large rivers in the central portions of the great horizontal formation west of the Alleghanies. ”