The Daily state journal. [volume] (Alexandria, Va.) 1868-1874, 1871-04-07
OF Loudoun county, va.
MoNRoE's COUNTRY SEAT OF OAK HALL
NEW NORTHERN sETTLERs-PRicE OF
LAND-THE QUARRIEs-Llsr OF
LARGE ESTATES, ETC.

rcorrsspondence of The Capitol
crave space for communication on
tho subiect of Loudoun county, Virginia.
TIE COUNTY OUTLINED. s.
The ignorance of one OF the most peau-
tiful regions of the United States IS attri-
butable, doubtless, to the fact that until
very recently the only means OF commune
cation with it was by the Georgetown and
Winchester turnpike, over which, "aior de
war;" the products OF the county ioun9
their way to market in the oid-iasnloned
covered wagons drawn by six stout horses
with their "jangling BELLS"
The county is now reached, however, by
the Washington and Ohio railroad, which
is completed and in active operation from
Alexandria into the center of Loudoun
county, distance of forty-five miles, and
which road, under the energetic manage
ment of my friend Lewis Mckenzie, is to
be soon pushed forward to the Ohio river,
and will constitute another grand trunk
line, and the shortest Of them all from the
West to the Atlantic seaboard. My own
attention was first attracted TO this region
by an article on Virginia written by San1
James, Esq and published in the agricul.
tural report of 1864, and to which beg
leave to refer your readers
Loudoun county ia 1860 stood at the
head of agricultural counties in the State,
and embraced an area Of 220,2 1866 acres OF
land improved in farms, and 70, S76 acres
unimproved, and the cash valuation there
of was $10,508,2l1. 1t had total pop
ulation of 2l,774, of which there were,
whites, 15,o21; free colored, 1,252 I; slaves,
5,50l.
The agricultural productions were the
cereals, grasses, live stock, and butter;
showing that the lands have never been
worn out, as in many other sections OF the
State, by tobacco or other exhanstlpg
crops. The latitude is far enough south
to give short, mild winters, and stock can
be pastured virtually the whole year, while
framework is never interrupted for more
than couple of months. Lying east of
the principal mountain ranges, the tenn
perature Of summer is modified by the sea
breezes, and it consequently escapes the
excessive heat of the more western valleys.
1t is beyond question the best watered
county in the United States, being threaded
With crystal streams fed from the purest
of never-failing springs. Its general
salubrity is indispensable, and there are
no chiIls or fevers.
RESOURCES.
Loudoun county is divided by two par
allel ridges into three agricultural sections
running in general direction from the Po-
tomac, which separates it from Maryland,
to the line of Fauquier county; and buried
in these ridges are nearly every kind of
mineral wealth, such as hematite, magnet
ic and specular iron ore, copper, lead, ba-
rytes, sulphur, gold, silver, soapstone,l
limestone, sandstone, granite and marble.
A company of Washington gentlemen
have recently opened a quarry upon the
banks of Goose creek, about ten miles from
Leesburg, which discloses three inexhaust-
ible veins of red, white, and blue marble
showing concusively that there is some
patriotism u,sder the soil at least. Speci-
mems of the white marble from this quarry
have been pronounced by competent
judges to rival the famed Carrara in white
ness and to excel it in fineness of grain
and closeness of texture. Active opera
tions are being inaugurated to bring it
speedily into market, and it is expected
that the good taste of our people will COM
pei its use in the-erection of the new State
Department and other public buildings
which are to adorn the Washington of the
ty, durability, and cheapness by granite,
red sandstone, or any other building ma
terial at present in use.
The first agricultural district approached
on the railroad is that lying east or south
east of what is known by the classic appel
lation of "Nggerhead Mountain" This
district is very slightly undulating the
soil is CONF aratiyely light red shade, con-
siderably worn out by bad farming, and
very destitute of good Improvements up to
the close of the war; since which time it
has been largely occupied by Northern
men, whose superior skill and energy are
already very apparent in the improvement
of the lands and the erection of comforta-
BILE dwellings,, stores aud other buildings,
particularly about the stations of Herndon,
Guilford, and Farmvlle. Lands in this
section range in price from ten to thirty
dollars per acre.
The next district to the west lies between
the Niggerhead and Kittoctin mountains,
in the centre of which is located the coun-
ty seat, Leesburg, one of the Oldest towns
in the State. With present population
of about 1900 inhabitants, and improving
rapidly since the war, it contains one of
finest court-houses in the State, an excel
lent academy, bank recently organized,
a new agricultural machine shop, and
many fine private residences. The streets
are paved, and the town supplied with
pure hydrant water from spring in the
Immediate vicinity. The surface of this
district is slightly undulating, the soil is
principally limestone and red shalc, and
seems to defy all efforts of bad farming to
impoverish it. On many farms in this
section corn has been grown upon the
same fields for ten successive years with
out perceptibly diminishing its productive
power.
Throughout this valley is to be found
cropping out almost everywhere the pud-
ding stone or calico marble, similar to the
pillars which adorn the old hall of the
House of Representatives West of this
district, lying between the Kittoctin noun
tain on the east and the Blue Ridge on the
west, is another agricultural region OF
equal fertility, known as Loudoun Valley,
in which are settled a large Quaker popu-