Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1877-03-02
NOTES BY THE WAY-SIDE.

The MOUNTAINs-NEw HOTEL AT THE
WITHHOLD CAMP OF ECHOLs BRI-
GADE-IRON NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS.
FEMALE ACADEMY-PERSONAL, &C.
Correspondence of the Staunton vINDIcAToR.]
LEwIsBURa, WEST VIRGINIA,
Februara 81, 1871
On my way to this good old town 1 tar
rled a while at several points along the
road and noted a few items of some inter-
est.
At Buffalo Gap, there are signs of re-
sumption of work. A force of hands are
at work night and day getting out ore.
They have sunk a new shaft on the side
of the mountain opposite to the old mine,
struck a new deposit last week and are
getting out some very rich ore and run
ming it down to the foot of the mountain
on the incline. The car carrying the load
down draws up an empty car to be filled in
its turn at the top. The ore being dumped
at the loot of the mountain, is hauled over
a tramway by a mule to the furnace, which
is in perfect repair, furnished with a large
new elevator, and having a capacity of Is
tOuS pol udy. lH6 pISSluoIC. MI. IL. W..
Howell, of New York, is now on the
ground, giving matters his personal atten-
tion. Maj. Henry Rogers, who is a rela-
tive of our ~well-knoWn tOwnsman, Mr..
Hugh McIlhaney, is the secretary of the
company.
As | was walking along at the foot of the
mountain with the company S agent, Capt.
McCorkle, an old confedel ate officer, he
directed my attention to some
NEWLY DISCOVERED CONFEDERATE
GRAVES,
which had been pointed out to him a few
days ago by a gentleman who had seen the
soldiers buried there. There are twelve of
them in all, overgrown with weeds and
bushes, tramped and picked over by the
hogs a. d cattle that run at large in the
mountain, and entirely neglected.
1t will be recollected that there was a
small hospital at Buffalo Gap and these
unhonored, but not dishonored graves, are
filled with the bones OF some poor fellows
of Gen. Ed. johnson S cOmmand, who were
wounded at the battle of Mcdowell and
died here, some OF them are known to have
belonged to the 18th Ga. regiment. Mr..
Dinkle, who lives in the neighborhood,
thinks that some ladies of his family who
nursed them CAN furnish the names of the
dead. Capt. McCorkle has obtained the
permission of Mr.. Howell, the president, to
have the graves enclosed. But will not
Col. Skinner take the matter in hand
and have these remains taken up and re-
inferred in our soldiers cemetery at Staun-
ton.
AS we steamed along through the noun
tains, we notice that the snow drifts are
not I'll gone yet. Pretty formidable they
must have been to have stood the suns OF
two month
Reaching Goshen in the night, the
mountains around present a magnificent
spectacle, being in flames from their base
to their summit. but leaving next morning
ea1lY, there is not time to a k any notes,
W ich [ defer till my return. Instead, l
take a bountiful and excellent breakfast
wife mine host of the McCurdy house at
Covin2ton, and rush along to the familiar
precincts of the White Sulphur, and the
train draws up within the new enclosure
which surrounds the front of the new hotel.
That prince OF landlords, Mr.. L.. L. Pey-
ton. is standing on the broad platform
with a warm welcome and uShers us into
that
GEM OF A HOTEL.
the Peyton house. It is a pretty and taste
full structure five stories in height just
finished and furnished il elegant style, and
supplied with all the modern appliances for
coulfoi t, convenience and luxurious ease.
~russels carpets, elegant mirrors, fine
marble, tasteful furniture, pretty chan
deIiers, and the softest and %springiest of
beds meet the eye at every turn as we go
from room to room, and it is evident that
no expense has been spared in the arrang-
ing, flushing and furnishing OF this de-
iightful ~retrrat. On the first floor is the re-
ception room, hotel office, telegraph and
express offices, and bar-room. The parior5.
and dining-room and kitchen, are on the
second floor the two last SO arranged that
the well prepared yiands cone nice and
isot right from the cooking range to the
table Of the hungry guest.
There ara fifty rooms in the building,
aud Altl,o' the ascent to the upper stories
IS by the easiest and most carefully graded
stairways,
THE MORE MODERN ELEVATOR
is no. wanting to those whose inclination
or inability would lead them to prefer Il
more luxurious mode IF "getting up
stairs" In fact, everything that m y con-
duce to the comfort OF his guest has been
anticipated by the proprietor, an office his
large experiences has SO wel-fitted him to
fill. The house is ready for occupancy, and
letters and kilograms of inquiry are al
ready coming in, 80, that before the last of
March 1T is expected some of the guests
will be ON hand.
AT the end of my next stage | find my
self at Caldwell's tation near Greer. brier
bridge, and the old quarters of the
ECHoLs BRIGADE,
where the writer spent the well-remember-
ed win ter of '62 3, showed up in his log
hut in Monroe Draft through that long
severe winter when the old 1st kept guard
on the frontier.
But to come down to the practical pre-
sent. The land around here from the river
to our Old camp, and from our old camp to
the very top of the mountain is all in one
tract, and some of it is the finest mineral
land in the country. THE rich iron ore in
many places crvrrs the ground in large
boulders, and there are unmiStakehle indi-
cations of rich deposits beneath thesurface.
1t is the property of Mr.. Jas. Caldwell,
whom every one knows who has Travelled
this road in the last twenty years.
Cross the river. on the long new bridge.
(which has replaced the one beth burnt
when Crook chased him out of Lewisburg-
all lack-a-dayD ascend the hills for three
miles and we are at Lewisburg
There are some changes here since the
war, some vacant lots have been built up,
some burnt sites are occupied by slightly
buildings, some old houses nave been re-
placed by new ones and many more old
houses ought To be in the same fix. At any
rate, III ~ eVluenC Illdt Cne peoPie VI 1Io"lo-
burg have not been asleep during these
twelve years past.
Chief among the recent improvements is
the female academy, under the charge Of
IRIS TIPPING, OF STANTON.
1t is a large, comely and well arranged
building, erected during the past year by
the Iiberality of some Of the enterprising
citizens at Il cost of six or seven thousand
dollars, and for a new enterprise IL IN Il
very flourishipg conditi n. There are now
about sixty scholars in attendance, with
continual aecessions to the number. Our
late townswomah has rapidly won upon the
confidence of her patrons and the esteem OF