ROUTE TO THE VIRGINIA SPRINGS.
The other route from Washington City to the Virginia Springs is by railroad to Harper's Ferry, 104 miles. Stopping at this place, the traveller has an opportunity of viewing the "Passage of the Potomac through the Blue Ridge," which, says Mr. Jefferson, "is one of the most stupendous scenes in nature. You stand on a very high point of land; on your right up comes the Shenandoah, having ranged along the foot of the mountain a hundred miles to seek a vent. On your left approaches the Potomac, in quest of a passage also; in the moment of their junction they rush together against the mountain, rend it asunder, and pass off to the sea. The first glance of this scene hurries our senses into the opinion that this earth has been created in time; that the mountains were formed first; that the rivers began to flow afterwards; that in this place particularly, they have been dammed up by the Blue Ridge Mountains, and have formed an ocean which filled the whole valley; that, continuing to rise, they have at length broken over at this spot, and have torn the mountain down from its summit to its base. The piles of rock on each hand, particularly on the Shenandoah, the evident marks of their disrupture and avulsion from their beds by the most powerful agents of nature, corroborate the impression. But the distant finishing which Nature has given to the picture is of a very different character; it is a true contrast to the foreground; it is as placid and delightful as that is wild and tremendous; for the mountain being cloven asunder, she presents to your eye, through the clefts, a small catch of smooth blue horizon, at an infinite distance in the plain country, inviting you, as it were, from the riot and tumult warring around, to pass through the breach and participate of the calm below. There the eye ultimately composes itself, and that way, too, the road happens actually to lead. You cross the Potomac above the junction, pass along its side through the base of the mountain for three miles, its terrible precipices hanging in fragments over you, and within about twenty miles reach Fredericktown, and the fine country round that. The scene is worth a voyage across the Atlantic, yet here, as in the neighbourhood of the Natural Bridge, are people who have passed their lives within half a dozen miles, and have never been to survey these monuments of a war between rivers and mountains, which must have shaken the earth itself to its centre.'
"From Harper's Ferry, we take the cars to Charlestown, 10 miles. Leaving the cars at this place, an opportunity is afforded of visiting
SHANNONDALE SPRINGS,
"Another of the celebrated watering-places of Virginia.
"They are in Jefferson County, five miles south from Charlestown, on an eminence of the Shenandoah; in a healthy and delightful region. The reputation of the water is so well established, that it is deemed scarcely necessary to mention its qualities. It is sent for and taken to New York, Charleston, and other distant places. The analysis of the late Dr. De Butts, in 1821, classed the principal fountain with the saline chalybeates,—a combination of the most valuable description in the whole range of mineral waters, and closely resembling those of the celebrated Bedford, in composition, operation, and efficacy. There is also a highly valuable sulphur spring in the vicinity. Apart from the merits of the waters, Shannondale is remarkable for the sublime and beautiful natural scenery, which is said to surpass Bath and Bristol in England, and that of Saratoga and Ballston in New York."
Returning to Charlestown, we again take the cars for Winchester, 22 miles. This is a very flourishing town, and the largest in the valley of Virginia. Here ends railroad travelling on this route. Twenty-two miles west from this place, in Hampshire County, are