The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1890-09-27
A WONDERFUL SPRING,
A Natural Curiosity in the Sou h
Branch Valley.
LETTER FROM HU MAXWELL.
~ Spring Which Flows Every Fiftcc,
Minutes Cor Two Months IN tho
fcar-llon. George Harmon ut
Mountaineering Relic.
Special Correspondence Of The In,e,iceae,r.


u 'peeial CoreSpohtiencc Of The Iate!iCenccr,
). PETERSBURG, W. Va, Sept. 93.-Th,
country on the upper waters OF tho 70
! tomac river, along tho eastern face Of
'he Atieglany mountains, Is ono OF the
Oldest settled districts in Wes, Virginia,
But, Tor al! this, 1t possesses much, tllpt
. IL Of interest, aside from the agricultural
developments which make 1t a ,naske.
portion oil our State. Agriculture, town.
and factories are not apt to interest mr.
as much as the natural characteristics Of
acountry; and when l 80 into a new
district look more to its geology and
natural history than to tho CHANGE IS
which man has brought about,
| O!das this country is in its history. Il
yet possesses some Gu riosities not wide.
" known, but which deserve 10 be. o.,
the h'sl above the towa OF Petersburg.
not more than two miles away ia spring
OF water which Is a curiosity the like Of
which does not exist anywhere also Ia
the world. The spring ia not entirel,
unknown, rs 1t was noticed in Howe's
History OF Virginia more than thirl,
years ago, and once or twice trayele,
mas gone to see It, and has written a pur
asrapl or two concerning it for some
newspaper. But, aside from this, 1t l,
ankno%n, except to the people OF th,
locality. And to my surprise, found
persons W ho live within IN hours rjdt
1t 1t who have never been there.
THERE ARE NONE LlKE1r.
The spring owes its pcsuliarity, not to
any mineral or medicinal property, bu,
70 its manner OF flowing. 1t flows only
at stated times, and 10 rain and no
drouth ilas any effect on It or works auy
change. IN its peculiar habits. There ar,
many Intermittent springs in diil.ren,
parts OF the world, but none like th;s
This one begins to flow about the mi,ldi.
Jn'y AMI ceases the middle OF Sep
'ember. 1t is active two months and
lry ten months. No matter whether
the country about is ielused with raili
'r parched with drouth. the time OF III.
sprlngs beginning to flow, or the period
tor 1t to cease, is not hastened or DELAYED
4 day.
But this is not all. During the two
Months when the spring is said to be |
'ctlve, it flows only spasmcdically. ri
rue goes to the spring about the middle |
Il July when its time for ACTIVITY hiss
come, the fret indication OF the COMING
OF the flow is deep gursinr sound in
me mountains. For the ten months
1ast not n sound could have been heard
fhe gurgling sound indicates that iii.
opening is about to resume activity after
tts long rest In faw seconds the water
rushes out strong and clear, and family
lmpregnated with alum. 1t flows fifteen
minutes then ceases. In another quar-.
Ter OF an hour there is another eursliuu
sound similar to the one iirst heard and
Ghe water flows again fo- fifteen minutes,
Fhls goes on from day to day. The spring
rests fifteen minutes and flows fifteen |
The same quantity Of water is diacharyed
AZ each flow.
a PECULIAR CHARACTERISTIC,
But, as time passes on, tue periods Of
res! grow longer and longers. The rest
at first was fifteen minutes. After few
days, the period Of rest is twenty min.
utes, thirty minutes, forty minutes.
gradually growing longer and longer
from day to day, until by the tenth OF
September the period between one dis
charge and another is full two hours.
Yet, the time required for the spring to
discharge its water is always the same,
Each How is fifteen minutes. No mat
ter il the time of rest between Oowe ia
quartet OF an hour or two hours. the
time that it is active is always fifteen
minutes. About tho middle OF Septem. |
ter, us said before, the spring becomes |
inactive, and remains 30 for ten months, |
The spring is now dry. But l once
saw it flowing. That was lew wear, |
ago. The time that it was active was
just fifteen minutes, as the people had
told me it would be, and the time OF resi-
was an hour and half. 1t was then
late in August. The water was cool to |
drink and was pleasant to the taste. OK.
cept the slight suggestion Of alum which
could be detected in it.
No care at all is taken of the placa.
I was told that originally the water
cushed out OF a bed Of rocks and was
held in fine natural basin, but during
the war the soldiers who were stationed
at Petersburg dug out tho rocks in their
curiosity to see what was the course OF
the strange phenomenon. They never
discovered anything, but succeeded in
marring the beauty Of the place. In.
stead Of a rocky basin to catch the clear
water as itgushes forth, there is now
puddle OF mud, and one must take a
club and drive the cattle away which
insist on standing there, before the
spring can be approached.
SOME STRANGE THEORIES.
Some Of the people tn the vicinity
have strange theories to account for the
abnormal conduct Of the spring; but the
correct one no doubt is that the creyices
and faults in the strata OF the mountain
form compound ciphon with the two
baslns, the larger one filing in ten
minutes and etnptying in two, and the
smaller one emplyng in fifteen minutes
and filling from the larger one in time
lnversely proportioned to the amount OF
water in the larger one. Thus when the
larger one is full, the smaller one can be
filled in quarter OF an hour; and when
the larger one is nearly empty, the small
one is two hours in filling. It is no
trouble at all to imagine combination
Of ciphons that would bring about the
result which we actually do have in the
conduct OF this spring. But the wonder
is that such combination should have
happened in nature.
WAE RELIC.
On the hill opposite the Flowing
Spring, but on the other side OF Peters.
burg, are the ruins OF old Notifications
thrown up by General Mulligan during
the civil war. At the base OF the hill
awcrhg the Sonth Branch nj tho po,o.