The daily exchange. [volume] (Baltimore, Md.) 1858-1861, 1859-08-17

vinced that the public will appreciate the impor-
tance OF the undertaking. and that they will give il
their best support and, the excavations proceed
and become more and more interesting, l cannot
but hope the day will come when the Government
will think right not to withhold from this English
PompeI the favor which it has at times bestowed
on the digging at Carthage and other ancient sites
abroad.
Mp. WILLIS ON THE "BALTIMORE AND
OHIO"
IDLEwILD, August, 1859.
DEAR MORRIS To get back tc the halfway
house between Baltimore and Wheeling
After the delicious late breakfast upon trout and
venlson, at Oakland, were introduced almost i'm
medlately to the beautiful river upon which are
strung the pearls of their local poetry and assoca
tion-the Youghiogheny-a a difficult name. which
L only remember because it rhymes with mahogany,
and that chances to be the color of the water in the
next stream beyond. One of the unexplained natu-
raj curlosltles of Virginia. you know, is the trans
lucent mahogany tint of the Cheat river-not salts
lactorily accounted for, should think by the usual
theory, that hemlocks black spruce and laurel are
the prevailing growths where it rises. In case of
any future American mythology, l foresee that
this Cheat river, Of tint unexplainable, will be the
shrine OF the deity of the dyed boards now so numer
ous-"B bachelors Hairdye," of course, in that case,
taking the more poetic name Of holy water of the
! Cheat. Or, (as it is the color of many bright
! brown cheek perhaps the mulato population may
take 1t Tor their sympathizing Jordan. 1t is inter
estIng, in new country, to what is likely to be
| traditional!
As close INTERVIEWING of mechanic marves with
picturesque scenery suppose the next twenty
mile stretch Of Runs and Rivers better worth a
pedestrian excursion than any equal distance in the
world. Wonders follow upon wonders beauties
upon beauties, till, in the bewiderment of accumu-
lated sights, feels that the eye-appetite has its
| limit 1t Is a surieit of human marveIs of cOntri-
! vance and of bewitching surprises of Nature For
a month of Epicurean endowment | should saw
there could be few better plans than to take KNAPP
sackln your baggage and make Oakland a centre
! OF excursion, rambling the valleys and taking the
tram over the intermediate country. 1t is so enjoy
| able to scenery from lettering walk-though
Tor me, it would be still better if there were horse
under me to do the walking Alas for the cum
brouSncss of stable and fodder! Improvements in
| pockctpistois, | am sorry to see, show no keli-
hood of pocket cot, portable and producible at
! pleasure.
But the parts Of our trip which most wondered
at are after ALL the most difficult of descriptiun.-
The mere measurements in figures. to those who
have some of the achievements of the roads
poetry enough. TO describe in words the viaduct
OF Tray Run, for instance is like striving to picture
the elect OF great anthem by musical notes writ
| ten on paper. My friend Prescott Smith has more
hardIhood than Though in reading his audaciOus
attempt (Which believe | will quote,) pray do
hlm the justice to ponder well the subIimities of his
arithmetic. Thus dscourses the handsome fellow,
when recording the trip of the Foreign Ministers
and magnates, over the same route year more
ago.,
"The engineering difficulties overcome in the part
VI iIe fOdu NIllQ tIe IrSJ lew miles west OF Ineat
River bridge, must have been apalling but for us
the rough places had been made smooth as the
prairie levels. After crossing the river itself at
R0wlesburg, the next point to ascend along its
banks the Cheat River Hill. The ravine of Kyer's
Run, mile from the bridge, seventy-six feet deep,
was crossed by a solid embankment. Then after
bold cutting along the steep, rocky hillside, we
reached Buckeye Hollow, which is one hundred and
eight feet below the road level, and finally came to
Tray Run, which crossed at height of hut-
tired and ftty feet ADORE its original bed By splendid
ciad"ct, air hundred feet long, founded a massive
base of masonry piled upon the solid rock below
These viaducts Of ron-designed by Mr.. Al
bert Fink, one of Mr.. LatrObe's assstants-and are
exceedingly graceful as well very substantial
| structures. When reached the west end of the
great Tray Run Eiaduct the cars halted, and the
company alighted for better view of the works.
a walk of few feet brought us to the brow of the
PreciPice overlooking the river, nearly three hun
dred feet below.
The view from this spot, both of the scenery
and the grand structure which so splenddly
spanned the immense mountain ravpc, was truly
inspiring. From our great elevation the stream
appeared to be almost beneath our feet, an illusion
promptly dispelled when the strongest and longest
armed among us failed to throw stone far enough
to drop it in its bed. With the entire train full of
guests the band also aghted here, and, taking
position near the cliff, struck up the popular air of
Love Not, in sweet harmony with the emotions
inspired by the scene The sun had Just retired
behind the distant mountain top at the head of the
valley, casting heightened shadow over the place.
ana leaving us quite alone IN the grand and stu
pendOus solitude, all things combining to impress
us deeply with the influence ofthe solemn poetry of
Nature, whose SdnctUm SunctOruTn seemed to have
invaded. The shrill note of the steam-whistle re-
called us to the realities of our position, and re-
luctantly resumed our seats to be whirled along
our westward Journey"
must go back fifteen or twenty miles, however
to a spot not so remarkable in itself in the
thought which there meets you. 1t is the western
edge of the summit-level of the Alleghanies-down-
hill from hence to the Mississppi-the arreaching
elevation, standing upon which, lit has seemed to
you, as you approached it from the Atlantic side,
you might hang your hat the evening star
But, suspend your admiration for moment What
Is the name Of this grand threshold Of the West >
To think of pausing on so sublime spot, and, as
you remember that
Westward the course of empire takes its way
lnqulrlng, with the suppressed breath of reveren-
tial awe how they have amed it, and being told
Cranberry Summit Cranberry Summit IA name
commemoratng, not that this is the starting point
OF the weath-aden waters of a grand halfconti-
nent but that here the children of the early squat
ters found sour berries and got their first ingenious
stomach-achel Tell US, oh Taste of the nation !!
should not Congress give Committee of Nomen-
clature, for the correcting of such mislabengs of
Nature?
Under the widest OF mountains, 4 little beyond
the immortaZed crauberries, to the
blasted hole which cost million of dollars-a hole
principally blasted out with powder, that is to say,
for that enterprisng sum. This marvel of labor,
which, would think, might surprise even a
mountain with the inevitableness of human penetra-
tion, is called "kingwood Tunnel" aud exclusive
of its approach cuts is four thousand hundred
feet in length For myself cannot get famiiarized
to the "internal Improvement of coming to a high
hill and going straight through it, instead of the
odashioned way of up one side and down the other.
As the children say, sit feels pokerish' h'-particu-
lary if you sit the platform of the rear car and
see the daylight fade rapidly on the faces of your
companions, while you leave the sunshine behind
and hurry into the depths of the resoundng a5vss.
1t is little too like ones early Imagination of what
might he the ':taciL descensas AUerni."
Two miles west of this ''terribIe bore" is an.
other called ''Murray's Tunnel" two hundred and
fifty feet long, blasted through solid rock in the
same way, but hoored with vein of coal which
chances TO follow the same direction. There are
fourteen such tunnels on this one railway between
Baltimore and Ohio. Think what necklace it i:
fourteen mountains strung on single railroad,
like a string OF pearls for Goddess of Liberty
To quote from Brantz Mayer again:
{ "The bridging and tunnelling alone along the
whole route, amount to about five and quarter
, miles; the aborers and employees form almost five
= regiments in number; and, when take into
consideration the depots tanks engines, rails, sta
tionhOuseS, and innumerable cars for freight anC
travel, as well as the two lines Of telegraphic wires
be onging exclusively to the company, which keeI
r ! every portion in communication and successful
q operation throughout the line, no longer won
: ders that twenty-five millions were expended OF
the structure, but is only surprised that the peOp
OF small, single State could accomplish colossa
o an enterprise"
But there is a marvellous overcoming of time Il
grO,oth, we'll of speed, obstacle and distance
a on this route. A full grown man only six year
e old, would hardly be more of a wonder than th
: town of Grafton-a well-built, thriving and hanC
y some village with eight hundred inhabitants
h which six years ago, only the spot fora sing
L og-hut in the wilderness! There stands the 10.
: hut in the middle of the town, at this moment,
: fthe childs pinafore, in the hurry of his growtl
had been left tied, forgotten under the chin of IL
e fullgrown man. We are fortunate in the invei
II tion of the photograph, which can verify sue
n strange facts for history!
% And what PITY had thought, as we visite
Fort Cumberland, farther back on the route )-th,
Is the photograph was not there, a century ago,
m record for us how looked the young George Was
it ington in his first uniform Just twenty-five an
0, getting ready for that "first fight" when he d