The Baltimore County union. [volume] (Towsontown, Md.) 1865-1909, 1903-01-03
THE NATURAL BRIDGE, VIRGINIA.

| Prior to the division of Virgini;
during the Civil War, Rockbridg,
county was one of the central coun
ties of the State. 1t received its name
from the famous bridge within it:
confines. Beyond we'll cultivated
fields, the great natural curiosity il
contains is its principal attraction.
From the middle of the eighteenth
century the Natural Bridge has divi.
ded, with Niagara Falls, the wonder
and admiration of travellers from Eu-
rope, who have come to view the sub
lime creations of Nature in the West
ern World.
Itspans Cedar creek, small stream
nearly dry in summer, which flows
into the James river, and it is appar-
emily solid rock in the form of an
arch. The height of the bridge is
two hundred and forty feet, and the
chasm crossed by it is nearly ninety
feet wide.
The physical causes that combined
to form this marvellous structure have
been the subject of great discussion
among scientific men. The Marquis
de Chastellux, a distinguished French
man, who visited the bridge in 1881,
described it as follows:
"It is at the foot of the rocks, on
the edge of the stream which flows
under. this immense arch, that we
must judge of its astonishing struc-
ture. There we discover its immense
spurs, its backbending, and those pro-
files which architects might have Civ
en- it. The arch is not complete
the eastern part of it not being so
large as the western, because the
mountain is more elevated on this
than on the opposite side. 1t is very
extraordinary that at the bottom Of
the the fRtgEfagq Bf the -focK ara nave leIr
the upper part alone subsisting tor
that is the only hypothesis that can
account for such a prodigy. We can
have no possible recourse to volcano
or deluge, no trace of a sudden con-
hagration or of a slow and tedious
undermining by the water"
From the descriptions of the Baron
de Turpin, a distinguished French
engineer, who made the bridge an OBJ
iect Of special study, and who has
written much on the subject, the fol-
lowing is culled:
"The mass of rock and stone which
loads this arch is forty-nine feet solid
on the key of the great centre and
thirty-seven on that of the small one,
and as we find about the same differ
ence in taking the level of the hill,
it may be supposed that the roof IS
on level the entire length OF the
key. tits proper to observe that the
live rock continues along the whole
thickness of the arch, and that on the
opposite side it is only twenty five
feet wide in its greatest breadth, and
becomes gradually narrower.
"The whole arch seems to be torm-
ed of one and the same stone, for the
joints which one remarks are the eff
feet of lightning, which struck thi:
part i'll 1910. The other head has
not the smallest vein, and the wall il
so smooth that the martins which tiJ
around it in great numbers canno
fasten on it. The abutments, which
have a gentle slope, have all the pol
ish which a current of water woul'
give to unhewn stone in a certain
time. The four rocks adjacent to tn
abutments seem to be homogeneous
and to have very trifing slope. Th
two rocks on the right bank OF tn
rivulet are two hundred feet hlg
above the surface of the water, tn
intrados of the arch a hundred an
fifty feet, and the two rocks on th
left bank hundred and eighty"
Being of a calcareous nature, tt
rocks exclude the thought of volc'
no having done the work. Moreove
the form of the bridge and the adj
cent parts deny the acceptance of Il
, theory.
The bridge first became know
= generally in consequence of the e.
5 thusiastic admiration expressed
| President Jefferson. By far the fine
view of the bridge is from its bas
: Standing there and looking up at
: rough sides, one has an opportuni
q to estimate its real magnitude.
g Cedar creek flows along SO quiet
n that even the suspicion that 1t W
? once a roaring torrent with force ST
: fcient to cut its way through the II
2 mense rock that now hangs above
d appears as being absurd. The distan
: makes the overhanging trees at t
! top resemble small bushes, while t
! shrubs that grow from the ledges a
II clefts look almost like grass and m'
Is where they are thick and visib
Ie The view from the top to the ere
" below is almost painful, so great
o the height, and few can gaze do
as without becoming dizzy.
or A story is told of an English offl
at who. in 1862, attempted to scale
of bridge. He had visited the pl
to with a party of friends. and, notwi
ne standing their warnings, persisted
IN the desire to venture. Removing
yk hat and coat, and gaily bidding
companions to meet him at the tol
the bridge, he began the ascent.
lv the aid of the bushes and the cleft
.ly the rocks he succeeded in climbing
re, a ledge one hundred and eighty
from, the hase Here his cOur