The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1859-07-26
Border Letters-No. III.
Correspondence of the Richmond Dispatch.


7'ar PoSsags Of the Potomac through The Sim
Rgase--NF, JefepSoa'S Theory trtia regard ~
a., oSd MS idea tAas great Eake o#es sxfxsed
a5oef ihat PoiHt-~,ls8tySea'S R0cl--1&e "a n,
Jrdm ;Ae NosatotR opposite Raspfr'S Ftyrg Ss
HARrYR's FERRY, July Ia. 1859.
The bold and sublime scenery that is behcl,,
ia every direction from this place was de-
seribed by Mr.. Jefferson, in issi, better than il
has been by any body else since His ssuo;eS >,
have fallen into few hands OF the present gene
raticn, and l am sure. by copying in my letter
what he says Of Hsrper's Ferry, viii place
MS taagnaEe before many who have never read
1t. Mr.. j. iS speaking of the mountain system
Of Virginia He says it is worthy of notice
That onr mountains are not solitary or seal
iered eontusedly over the face of the country.
hut that they commence at about $50 mi.,,s
nom The sel-coast are disposed in ridges onp
hrh'na another, running nearly parallel with
ne sea,coast ihough rather approaching il as
hey advance northeastwartsly In fhc sa,,,c
direction. generally are thc veins of li,nestn,,a
H";ls. ana other numerals hitherto discovered
ana 50 range the falls Of our great rivers R,,t
.te courses OF the great rivers he adds are nj
riSat angles with these. flames and Potovy
mae penetrate through all the ridges OF mcun
jalhs eastward OF the Allegheny That is bro
Ken sy no water-eourse. 1t is. in fact the spine
% Nie country, between the Atlantic on one
side, and the Mississippi ON the other, Then
rs follows: i
The passage of the Potowmac through the
Elue Ridge is perhaps one of the most sta
pen1ons scenes in nature. You stand on n
very high point OF land. On vour rirht come es
mp the Shenandoah, having ranged along the
iSos ION tte northwest si6el Of ihe mountain
IN hundred miles TO seek a vent. On Your
lett approaches the Powtomac in quest of a
passage also. In the moment of their lune tiou
lheS rnSh together against the luoOnta reAd
~ asunder and pass of TO the sen The first
glance Of this seere hurres our senses into the
opinion that this earth has been created in time
;lidt the mountains We're formed first that The
rTs
PsAta particularly they have been damned nm
ny inc Blue Ridge OF mountains and have
!.ihled an ocean Viii Ii filled the whole valley:
maj, continuing to rise, they have at length
broken over this spot. and have torn the monn-
tam down from lts summit to its base The
r.ie> ~ rock on each hand, but particularly on
me shenandoah. the evident marks of their
scripture and ayuIsiOn from their beds ny
-Ae most powerful agents of Nature corrobo-
-ate me impression. But the distant finishing
which nature has given 10 the picture is of n
very different character. It is true contrast
e. ne foreground. 1t is rs placid and delight
tul a> that is wild and tremendous; for tln
mountain being cloyen asundpr. she presents
II The eye, through the cleft, a small catch of
smooth, blue horizon, at an infinite distance
ia me plain country, inviting you, rs it We're,
tTem tde rloi aud tumnlt roaring around. TO
la>> through the breach and participate in the
,Ilm below. Here the eye ultimately ccmnoses
.->|lf; and that way. too, the road happens
.-iulliy 10 lead. lou cross the Potowmac above
-Er junction, pass along Its side through the
tsSt OF the mountain for three miles It's tprri-
blr pretipices hanging in fragments over you.
and within about twenty miles reach Fred
prick3own and the fine country round that
,t1> ScfHf IS t"eTtf royGSs across the Atlantic.
Yet here. aS in the neigh borhood of the Natural
Bridge. are people vino have passed their lives
wtl.n half dozen miles, and have never
hasn 70 survey these monuments OF a war be-
tween rivers and mountains which must have
shaken he earth 10 its centre"
Mr Jefferson quotes Herodotus who. after
saving that Thessaly is n plain surrounded by
10 tiSS
through which the Peneus flows. and that. ac-
cnrdiuS, 10 ancient tradition. il had been once
an entire lake, supposes that fiSsure TO have
treL made by an earthquake rendiug the
mountain asunder. 1u note in the aDnpEdix
10 MS original notes-which appears in RAN
doIph's edition Of the work-Mr. J. makes the
following remarks:
The reflections I was led into on viewing
tnls passage OF The Potowmac through the Blue
Ridge, were that this country must have SUIT
:-red some violent convulsion and that the
lace OF 1t must have been changed from what
J. probably was some centuries ago; that the
broken and ragged faces of the mountain on
each side of the river; the tremendous rocks
which are left with one end fixed in the pTeci-
rIc- and the other luttlng out and seemingly
ready 10 fail ior want of support the bed of
the river for several miles below. obstructed
AID filled with the loose stones carried from
this mound; III short, everything which
Nou east your eye evidently demonstrates a
disruption and breach i'll the mountain and
that before this happened what is now n fruit-
fui vale was formerly great lake or collec-
ton OF water, which, possibly, might have
here formed a mighty cascade, or had its Vent
10 the ocean 10y the Susquehanna " here the
Blue Ridge seems to terminate
The fast conjecture is rather extravagant.-
The elevations 10 the north of the Potomac
and the distance intervening between that and
the Susq quehdnna, are unfayOrable to il, and
We cannot bear the idea that our PotoWmac
ran Oft in thar diTsotjoH We prefer the cascade
and the final wearing and rolling away of the
rocks TO the present bed of the two rivers
Whether sudden tfr n4h tf
that the water alone. by its weight and force.
gradually cut its way, are questions not easi-
iy lrcided-but the latter would seem the most
probable. Most of the rocks are slaty and
tTiable They are easily split, as seen in the
duarries OF The vicinity. aud it is likely that
The waters found The wall more easily broken
through at this point than any other; and
waters, like men, prefer attacking the weakest
point in a wall!
The process by which water wearsl lway and
removes the solid rock, deepening its channel.
gradually reducing its bed above a fall 10
something approXimating its bed below it, is
now illus lrated in the Grandest style at Niaga-
IA There too we have the lake, eighteen miles
above il, which is in time, probably, to be
drained by this process. 1t is clear that the
fall was once much lower down the river than
it is now and that it is gradually receding up
the river In our day it is known that vast
amount Of rock has fallen from time to time,
and il is impossible that the force of the great
volume incessantly pouring over the preci-
pce can fail 70 make steady inroads upon il.
If an over ruling Providence permits this fall
of earth 10 90 on long enough in its present
way the conclusion that the fall Will be grad
ually worn away to Lake Erie itself, is most
rational and when that lake is drained, there
VIII be room for greet many such counties as
Jefferson, and Frederick, and Berkeley, where
IL now stands.
Mr. Jefferson il said TO have written his
original notes the locality at the great
boulder called JefieTson's Rock which
stands on the side OF the high elevation
behind the town of Harpers Ferry. This
rock is nearly twelve feet square. and rests
upon Il boulder of much larger dimensions,
sustained, however, 10y two pieces of slate
rock which lie between the two great stones,
that are so small as barely To permit the boul-
der 10 remain poised. One OF these support
ers il nearly crumbled away, and the time
cannot be remote when the cap-stoDe viii 90
topping down the precipice below. 1t may
carry with il the great slab ut the bottom Of
the pile which has been broken off from its
parent rock and moved several feet nearer
tile precipce. beyond the edge of which part
of ii now projects. This great slab was no
doubt broken and moved at the time Jefler-
sons Rock was forced down, by some means
or other, upon il. So that these large bodies,
50 sendcrly sustained, must at some day.
probably not remote, give way, and arouse
the quiet villagers by n conclusion when, II
IL does not s'shake the earth 10 its centre, )"
viii likely create no little commotion in Har-
pers Ferry. IL is said that on the cap-stone
of the present pile stood yet another
rock ON which Mr. Jefferson cut his name,
but that it was hurled from its place during
the political excitement OF 1879, by order OF
Capt Henry, who commanded a body OF Uni
ted States troops then stationed here.
Mr. Jefferson followed the road doteF tie ~
eer 10 Frederick, Md, and there saw nagnih-
cent country; but he might have seen a liner one
IN has OWN State had he gone up the shenandoah