The Fremont weekly journal. [volume] (Fremont, Sandusky County, Ohio) 1867-1877, 1871-03-31
The JOURNAL.
VIRGINIA LHTTER
WETTE sULrzER SPRINGS,
y. Ir,-,b "a f2Tl


Va, March Is, 1871.
Eo. JouzsA1. aWs-n / reckon ven have |
a right smart spell Of weather" was The very I
lucid remark made By native at Ch'ris-'sn' a.'
West Va, while We we're entering 9 stage iOi
this place. which our driver told us wa one
hundred and seu miles distant, but which our
vstobaS and s5rs bones sntsequ qusntly INFORMED
=. -. fo,av. to,.ss rids The remark was
s-...l-sSs -. = ls-, uoon "a the sarae day,
49, rain storm, which, with close |
80. md two unwashOd aiteenth amend |
-. ,,sts sisht siat art spell Of Westhsr,"
! vrrv undesi1able kind Of weather indeed |
To those cf us who travel during these lat |
tsr davs by nail, car and steamboat a stage |
ride issOnsthipg Of novelty, SO that when
rsschipg oharlestoa West'Va., received in
ttfpctons to hasten On to the, place I knew
that had new experience in store for me, /
but an experience which fOndly imagined |
from reading "Porte Crayon's" Virginia Ilut-
trRted, would be pleasans ope. -
Staging, at certain seasons, : probably very /
delightful, but should not recommend this
season Of .he year for crossing the mountains
of West Virginia,
Last Thursday morning. AZ three o'clock, |
our stage avirginia" left Charleston, with sew
sral passengers sway billed" to Richmond /
some to White Sulphur, and myself to White |
Sulpher and Washington. A fine cum rise |
was the hrst object of interest, and one which !
% ne pessestsd considerable novelty. Day.
light revealed the beautiful KanGWha Valley, |
with peach trees in bloom, willows in full Leaf, |
and the road sides Aeeked with early and sd-
venturous wild flowers.
AsI had left Northern Ohio but few days /
beiprs, in 4 driving snow storm, the difference
in climate was the moro noticeable. CrawliI &
along, at tbe rate of three or four miles per
. hour, we reached the falls Of the Kanawha at
noon. They are noted as being the best fish
ing grounds, OF waters, IN the state. Our
Landlord informed Us that he had caught sew
sral bass, thso9y previous, Weighing sixteen
pounds each. I'VE imagined that If the riv'
was as iisay as his story, the falls Of the Ka-
nawha deserved their reputation.
few miles further on we hrst met the
lgu Of our late rnPleasautnesA A ferry
ecross the river, near the site Of GaulsY Bridge,
revealed the fact that Wise had destroyed this
bridge when rstreating over eenley Mountain,
to prevent the "Yanks'' f1om following L o
closely, and just here 1 discovered that heard
nothing about Rebels and Unionists, but coz
Sids1abis about gosfederatss and YAnks,
ehanesJ in no1sncIat1rs. probably brOugl {
sbout.bE ths lissste. A faR miles further
on, near the summit Of the mountain, I was
shown the effect Of artillery practice, on the
rocks, where syou Ysnks tried to shell Us
out. But as we were mora anxious to see the
"Hawk's Nest" than these holes in the rock, /
we hurried on, and at sundown reached one
Of the widest spots in the state, It is not
dissimilar 70 its namesake, described by Bret
Hsrts.
Wall, yes, il doesloOk rather risky,
And kinder makes one queer
And dizzy, looking down,
and is ssiuupls 3 precipice, which has hereto
fore been supposed TO be over q thousand feet
in height, but which the Surveying parties or
the hscheaspeAke s. Ohio R. R., have reduced
to 500 by means Of tbeOdOlits and leveling
stick.
sTheasnsation looking down even 500 feet,
is not pleasant onss Especially when ser
ious weakness in the Knees is joined to an al
most uncomfortable impulse 10 fall forward,
over the cliff. The ridiculous appearance
made by jim, one sfOur l5th smendmsnts, 81
he slowly crawIed on his hands and kneesto =
peek over end labouriously crswled back, crab
fashion, rolling his large white eyes and ex-
claiming HOh Jenimi; how weak I is" had q
happy effect IN Strengthening our nerves, and
with as much 'sang froid" as We could mas
Ter, We walked to the edge up the clih to show
the frightened Jim how easy it was. But he
had no desire to initiate Us, and hsstened back
to the stage.
Night found Ms on Gouley Mountains, and
,,5s like some Of the membsrs ofthe society Of
the Stanilaus, "whom the subsequent pro-
ceedings interested no more" In
fact, subsequent proceedings were peculiarly
and our vain efforts to obtain
slesp. would have been rediculous to one not
member of our society. A sudden lurcb,
would equally startle me with the thought
that We might be rolling cf the side of the
mountain, and disgust me by finding Jim in
my lap. But the Imgest nights wiz end, and
at daylight we were at the summit of Big
Swell Mountain, having travelled 20 miles
since dark. Two miles per hour, at 10 cents
per mile as compared with 81 per hour in a
sleeping car, shows the great advantage of
staging over raiiroading as regards economy.
From daylight until eleven o'clock that
night, the ride was tedious and nonOtOnous,
the hours seeming to vie with the miles in
length. We found The country very sparcely
and what few people We did see,
seemed to be getting but poor living from
their mountain farms. The Chesapeake &
Ohio R. B., which viii be in running order
within year, viii probably change the sp-
pearsnce OF things by ensCting them to throw
these valusble coal and timber lands into the
market
But as We drove up 70 White Sulphur, and
caught its peculiar odOr, Iegg merchants are
familiar with it, We forgot our sorrows, and
found it was not alwsys unpleasant to be q
r,r TRAVELLER
Geo. W. Stewart, who was 50 terribly In
grrad nv z r7-nauysu team AZ Davton n fen