National Republican., 1879-07-21
BERN ELEY SPRINGS.
A Convenient Watering Place for Washing
tonians-some Points in its History, &o.
special Correspondence for The Rcpubican.l
BERKRL SPRINGS, w. Va,

tOnlahs-SOfut III iisIpFy, Scs
Especial Correspondence for The Republican,
BERKELE SPRINGS, w. Va,
July 81, 1879.
To The Editor Of the National Republican:
SIR: After having enjoyed for several days
tho delicious, invigorating breezes of this sum-
mer resort among the mountains aud bathed
In the clear, crystal waters from its gushing
springs, so healing and refreshing both to body
and spirit, cannot refrain from giving TO your
numerous readers slight taste Of the exhuber-
ance of spirit which etfervesces in one enjoying
these pleasures like champagne when the cork
is Just unlOosed. II takes but four hours to
come from the heat and business of Washing.
ton TO tho cool shades and soothing quiotude of
this balmy retreat, where already some two
hundred fortunate ones have become guests at
the principal hotel, kept by Messrs. Frego Il
Son, larger number than have been here thus
carly In the season for several years. Tho
large number OF watering places that have re.
Gently sprung up in every direction may we'll
distract the attention and make it difficult to
decide which to select; but the ancient renown
of these springs, their well-known curative
properties, and their easy access from Washing.
ton and Baltimore must continue to give them
fair share of patronage, especially by families
whose heads can only leave the cares of busi-
time.
The five principal springs, which bubble up
from tho lower depths within u hundred yards
of each other and fill the swimming pools and
private baths, send forth about 1000 gallons
per minute. The temperature of the water is
7io and does not vary throughout tho year.
| Soda, iron, and magncsla are among its ingIe-
| dients as shown by analysis, and for rheu-
| matte and neuralgic complaints its curative
virtues are well attestcd. The history of this
| region tolls us that eyou before the white man
| ntruded upon its solitude tho Indians used to
| resort to these springs and make OF them a
| sort of hospital for their sick, and even among
hostile tribes this was treated as neutral ground
and there was u truce to war among those seek
| ing its benefits.
| As early as l7iS Washington came here as
member of surveying party for Lord Fairfax,
whose grant from the Crown included this
whole region, and according to Sparks Life, y
| this entry Is found in his journal under date OF
| March Is of that year: We this day called 10
| SEQ tho famous Warm Springs. We campod In
| the field this night"
| At the outbreak of tho revolution Lord Fair
| fax made u grant of these springs aud fifty
| acres of land, which now constitutes tho viii
| ngo of Berkeley, to the State, and in October
| l77G in the very midst of wars alarms" an
act was passed by the General Assembly accept
ing the grant vesting tho title in trustees aud
| in the following year General Washington,
| General Gates, and Charles Carroll of Carroll
| ton, were among the purchasers. Washington
| family spent their summers at these springs
| while no was in command of the armies of the
| country. He built cottage here, and on its
sto now stands the handsome summer resi-.
| denCe of Hon. w. r. Dole Of Washington.
So these wore the earliest of tho Virginia
Springs aud for many years after others were
discovered aud came into notice, maintained q
proud supremacy among them.
| Another interesting historical fact Is that al
| Sir Johns Run, the station on the Baltimore
| aud Ohio Railroad, two and a half miles from
| the springs the first attempt ut navigation by
steam was made by james Rumsey, native o
the region, In 1854. Washington witnessed thu
experiment aud gave a certificate, dated Sep
tembor 7, of that year, containing these pro
| phctic words:
"The discovery Is of vast importance may
| be of the greatest usefulness, in our inlan(
navigation and If it succeeds, Of which hav,
no doubt, tho value Of il is greatly enhanced
by the simplicity Of the work. which, whel
explained, may be executed by the most com
mon mechanic" This primitive steamboat wa
taken down the run into the Potomac, anC
thence TO ShepherdstOwn, whero a moro public
exhibition was made in l776 In search Of pa
trouago Rumsey went to England, failed to re
Ceiye il, but became acquainted with RObur
Fulton, and the two doubtless talked ant
planned together on the scheme which has re
suited IN such marvellous success. They wor
both Americans aud should not tho laurels b.
divided between them2
At this moment Donch's baud strikes up al
air from "Pnalore,' OF which your reader
may have heard, in the grove by the hotel AM
brings my mind back from the historic past T.
the histrionic present, and perceive that an
forgetting the broyity which l bad intended l.
observe in this letter. So will down brakes
and subscribe myself DELTA.