Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1892-01-13
The Geography and Geology of the
shenandoah Valley.

| In accordance with the announcement made
last week. Maj. Jed Hotchkiss. on last Satur-
| day night, delivered in the auditorium of the
| Y III G. A. building lecture on the geography,
| photography and geology of the Shenandoah
| Valley. For the benefit of those who were not
| present at the lecture of the week preceding.
he explained briefly the classification of the
| strata of the earth's crust, the names of which
and their positions were on the blackboard as
when the lecture of the week before was deliv-
| cred. Then entering upon the subject of his
lecture, he first drew upon the blackboard the
Shenandoah River and its branches. The
| Shenandoah Valley proper is about $50 miles
| in length with width from % to 30 miles. The
| Shenandoah river from Front Royal to Har-
per's Ferry, distance Of about 40 miles, Is q
single stream. At Front Royal 1t Is divided in
to what are called the North and South Forks
the one up the main Shenandoah Valley and
the other up the Page Valiy. The latter (the
south Fork at Port Republic has the forks OF
the South and North Rivers, and few miles
above the forks of the North and Middle Riv-
ers. He drew not only these principal streams,
but also some Of their tributaries. the principal
creeks, showing remarkably accurate and de-
tailed knowledge of them.
He then stated that the Blue Ridge was a
double mountain composed of what he desig-
mated as the Eastern and Western Blue Ridge.
tie then drew them, showing the strata of
rocks of different geological ages which com.
posed them, and how they were constructed.
In passing, he stated that the Allegheny
mountain ended in Monroe county, w. Va,
and that the persons In Southwest Virginia
were wholly wrong In calling the mountains
there the Allegheny mountains.
He then first described the Eastern Blue
md RI I,,sr, aola tIo
mountains on the East were composed of the
primal or granite rocks. and that the long
spurs running from the mountain have been
channeled into beautiful valleys which are
there called coves, as Browns cove In Abe
marie, &C., making Piedmont Virginia one of
the most beautiful piedmont countri es, as well
as one OF the finest fruit belts, in the world
this being particularly the case in Rappahan~
mock county.
East of the main Blue Ridge there are de-
tached mountains, some ofthem higher than
the main mountain.
The West Blue Ridge is composed OF the Pots
dam sandstone. except in few places where
it is capped with an older formation Of the
archaic period.
The iron ore is on the Potsdam sandstone, In
what is known as the OranisKy formation.
He theu drew and described the formation of
the Massanutten mountain. which is located
in the main valley, and which is about 50 miles
IN length 1t is formed in the shape of two
large canoes. with end to end at the gap be-
tween New Market and Luray, with smaller
ones attached. 1t Is composed on its upper
portion and top of the Medina sandstona-No.
IN Rogers ciassifcaiion-which in underlaid
by slate and limestone.
He stated en- PEASANT, that the black slate
valleys were unwholesome and so long as the
Inhabitants of them persisted In using wells
water for drinking purposes. they might ex-
pect to have typhoid fever, and mentioned
Goshen in this connection.
He said it was curious fact that some of our
valleys were the tops of original mountains,
and tnstanced the Warm Springs Valley as one,
and showed how it was formed and why the
water came from such depth as 10 make the
Warm and Hct-Springs. In the folding of the
strata, they were cracked to a great depth, and
through that crack the water from q great
depth where the earth is heated, rises to the
sarface.
Toe lecture was very Interesting one. His
last lecture at least for some time, will be de-
livered next Saturday night.