The aegis & intelligencer. [volume] (Bel Air, Md.) 1864-1923, 1869-07-16
Correspondence Of fae .Egis S
EnfcSiigel,Cer.
JoRDAN's WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS,
Frederick CO., Va, July 6, 1860.


Frederick Co, Va, July 6, 1860.
Thinking description, imperfect though
it might be, of the route, trip and sojourn at
this delightful watering place would not be
unacceptable to your readers, Lave stolen
an hour for the task. Starting from Balti-
more in the ST A. NJ. train, on the Baltimore
and Ohio r. r., we wound along the banks
of the Patapsco, digniied | believe by geog-
raphers with the affix of River. 1t is a small
stream, although its course is everywhere
marked by the desolation caused by the
great flood of last August. At Ellicott City,
Sykesville and all the prominent points along
its p,rnhE can still be seen the evidences of ruin.
and devastation OF the rushing, mighty tor
rent At Sykesville, where stood large
stone hotel, with its walks snd flower gar
dens everything, even the very soil, has been
swept away, down to the substrata of rock
which underlies all this country. Terrible
indeed must have been the swollen, rushing
current of the then mighty river-now a
simple brook, that would not in our country
be called more than branch-as it bore its
freight of human life and the debris of their
once happy dwellings, down toward the sea.
Standing uncovered amid its scenes impress
ed with the remembrance of its distressing
horrors, one feels his utter insignificance and
nothingness in the presence OF the terrsble
evidences of the majesty and power Of the
Great Omnipotent, WHO holds the eaters IN
the holl0ao of HIS hands,"
Leaving this scene of destruction at Hoods
Mill, we ran on to Mount Airy, which is the
station on the summit We have then down
grade and an open and pretty country to
Harper's Ferry. All along this route the
valleys are musical and the hills resounding
with the song of the reaper gathering the
harvest mot of death, but of sheaves of bread
for the living The scenery at the Point of
Rocks and at Harpers Ferry is picturesque
and grand. Here the lofty range of the
Blue Ridge dips into the Potomac and She
nandoah, but to resume its towering gran
deur on this side, bathed in ethereal blue as
it stretches out towards the. rising sun
Crossing the Potomac, we are on the soil of
the Old Dominion, once the proud mother of
States and statesmen, now the dismembered
and partition province of what ?-of mill
tary despolism
On the hill overlooking the confluence of
the above named rivers, stands Jeferson's
Rock, where he loved to repair TO write his
notes. If the spirits of the just made perfect
are permitted to look down upon the scenes
of their earth life, or if the beautiful theory
be true that they hover as guardian angels
about the loved ones they have left behind,
the valley drained by the beautiful Shenando-
all, made desolate by the curse of Hunter,
Milroy and II Sheridan, the last of whom
was to burn every mill, to destroy all means
of subsistence, and make that land of corn
and wine, of milk and honey, so desolate
that crow could not fly over it without car
rying his subsistence How well he carried
out his tendish commission is evidenced
by the standing chimneys of once happy
homes the RACED foundations of what were
once the granaries and the mills of the in
habitants OF favored land of plenty But
as we travel on through the good old Mother
State, her fields of ripened harvest attest that
her soil was beyond the power of the ravager,
and that there is life in the old land yet
Arriving at Stephensons depot, on the Win
chester Railroad, at which point there has
just been erected a neat and convenient re-
ception house for the travellers to Jordan, We
were met by very nice coach, with good
horses and q careful driver, who soon convey
ed us over good road a distance of one and a
half-miles to the Springs. They are situated
in beautiful ualley, almost at the confluence
OF two streams, one called Jordan River, the
other Hay Creek. The buildings which are
of brick, are large and commodous and
stand upon either side of the Jordan stream,
which is spanned by neat little bridge lead
ing from the main building to the spring, stu
ated in an octagonal pavilion, resting upon
pillars which look as enduring as the hills sur
rounding this bcautifulretreat. Thewatcr is
strongly impregnated with sulphur and con-
tains gases formed in the laboratory of the
earth, and which seem beyond the reach of
chemical analysis but they are life-giving
to the invalid and bring back the rose of
health to the cheeks of the wasted children
of disease who annually renar here for the
"healing Of the qcaterS" The baths, hot and
cold, are very invigorating, and the bracing
air of the distant mountains, as it sweeps
down over hill and dale, is laden with the
glow of heath. Everything here, scenery,
water, air and cheerful society, conspire to
create an appetite which can only be APP
peased by the prodigal hand of mine host
Jordan. W.