The aegis & intelligencer. [volume] (Bel Air, Md.) 1864-1923, 1870-05-20

Washington is about the size of Hartford
that is 10 say, It has on area of about 500
square miles, with population of from 10
to $4,000, all told. 1t is drained by three
streams which we denominate rivers, run
ming from east to west, each larger than
your Deer Greek, and can scarcely tell
you how many we have a size or two small
err, running at right angles with, and flow
ing into, the three larger. These three are
the several forks of the Holston, which,
canning together in Tennessee, some five
miles west of the State line, form the Hol-
ston, which, after the confluence of other
streams, loses its name and takes that of
Tennessee" and becomes, as you know, a
broad and beautiful river before its waters
mingle with those of the Ohio at Paducah,
Ky.
Washington county is beted from east
to west by succession of ridges and val
leys. For instance, its southern border is
Iron Mountain, and its northern Clinch
Mountain. These are 20 miles apart, and
between them are six regular ranges of hills,
with as many valleys. The middle range,
or back bone, is called Walkers Mountain,
at the southern base of which is the broad
est and richest valley, that in which Alb
ingdon is located, and along which the
Virginia and Tennessee Railroad winds
its serpentine way. Walkers Mountain
divides the waters, those rising on the
north side flowing into the North Fork of
Holston, and those on the south side into
the Middle and South Forks. f....
| | have said above that all the smaller
streams flow at right angles with the three
larger, and hence transversely with all the
s1f n
that not one of them flows along the val
leys or parallel with the ridges, but dash
straight across, seeming to have worn gaps
for themselves through interposing barriers
Their name is legion, and think l could
count at least fifty as large as your Bynum's
Run. You may take it for granted, there
fore, that this county is most beautifully
watercd, and I scarcely know of farm
without spring or a running stream of
some sort, and am acquainted with one
of 600 acres within five miles of Abingdon,
that has upon it sirty, hoe pure, bold, never
failing springs.
Do not understand, Messrs. Editors be-
cause the country is scanned and beltcd by
so many ridges, that it is not arabic. On
the contrary, a very large proportion of it is
arabic, the virgin soil of the hills being
equal to that of the valleys, and either of
them equal to your Deer Creek hills and
bottoms. Many of the hills are of course
too steep to till conveniently, but as grass
springs spontaneously wherever the under
growth is removed, they are among our
most valuable grazing lands.
| Another popularity of the country is
that we have no gullies or old-tield pines,
and you might as well look for kangaroo
or mastodon, as for tick or musquito,
though Dr. Franklin said when he travelled
through portion of the State in its earlier
settlement, that he saw little else than
"hoga, dogs, tleas and democrats" and
they are still indigenous to the SOIL and
abundant.
Nature has done a great deal for South
western Virginia, and art and enterprise
but very little Although iron ore abounds
in every part of it, | know of but one gem
tleman who has ever made the manufacture
of it a success. Want of capital, perhaps,
at least in part, may have been. the want
of success. There can be no reason, surely,
with our redundancy Of timber, coal, wa
ter-power and cheap labor, why the iron
business should no make millionaires and
nabobs in Virginia as well as in Pennsyl-
vana and Maryland. The present decade,
| imagine, will witness many start in that
| direction. | understood while in Hartford
that Mr.. Rogers, who owns the La Grange
iron works in that county, had purchased
q large boundary of iron land in Pulaski
county, some rs miles east of here, and if
So and if what learned of his means and
energy be true, | will underwrite that he
will have q mint that will mould dollars
nearly as fast as he can count them. |
know the estate wcll-Gov. Floyd was
raised upon it-and it is magnificent
| one.
But the pleasantest and quictest way to
live we'll and gradually accumulate in this
country is, 10y farming and grazing
| Sparsely populated as it is, even small farm
ranges, and most Of them, with this aid,
can feed greater number of cattle than
casual observer would imagine. mention
this for the benefit ofyouug farmers in your
county who have not land of their own or
the means to get it, and | am sure it will
not require an elaborate calculation to de-
monstrate that it would be far more sensi-
BILE to come here and purchase improved
lands at from $40 to $25 per acre. than to
pay from $50 10 500 for lands no better in
Hartford and perhaps not half as good
This proposition needs no argument, and l
trust some of them will give the subject a
serious Thought while lands are cheap and
ON the market. If there should be such
among you, | can confidently refer them to
my friends, Messrs. Page & Jones, at this
| place, who will take pleasure in giving any
information that may be desired in regard
| to the matter.
In my next, if l can manage to keep my
mind tied down to the subject, l propose
to give you partial insight into the char
acter of the soils in this county, their lead
ing productions, and the manner ofcultiva-
ton, both ancient and modern. And now,
Messrs. Editors, believing that this letter
is little longer than you would have it
if you had the shaping of it, 1 will put you
in good humor by bidding you
Good night,
|