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[Illustration: James W. Head]
HISTORY
AND
COMPREHENSIVE DESCRIPTION
OF
LOUDOUN COUNTY
VIRGINIA
BY
JAMES W. HEAD
PARK VIEW PRESS
_Copyright 1908
by JAMES W. HEAD_
Dedication.
* * * * *
TO MY MOTHER,
WHOSE LOVE FOR LOUDOUN IS NOT LESS ARDENT
AND UNDYING THAN MY OWN, THIS VOLUME,
THE SINGLE AMBITION AND FONDEST
ACHIEVEMENT OF MY LIFE,
IS AFFECTIONATELY
DEDICATED.
"Loudoun County exemplifies country life in about the purest and
pleasantest form that I have yet found in the United States. Not that
it is a rural Utopia by any means, but the chief ideals of the life
there are practically identical with those that have made country life
in the English counties world-famous. As a type, this is, in fact, the
real thing. No sham, no artificiality, no suspicion of mushroom
growth, no evidence of exotic forcing are to be found in Loudoun, but
the culmination of a century's development."
* * * * *
"So much, then, to show briefly that Loudoun County life is a little
out of the ordinary, here in America, and hence worth talking about.
There are other communities in Virginia and elsewhere that are worthy
of eulogy, but I know of none that surpasses Loudoun in the dignity,
sincerity, naturalness, completeness and genuine success of its
country life."--WALTER A. DYER, in _Country Life in America_.
Table of Contents.
INTRODUCTION
Descriptive Department.
SITUATION
BOUNDARIES
TOPOGRAPHY
COMPARATIVE ALTITUDES
DRAINAGE
CLIMATE
GEOLOGY
Summary
Granite
Loudoun Formation
Weverton Sandstone
Newark System
Newark Diabase
Catoctin Schist
Rocks of the Piedmont Plain
Lafayette Formation
Metamorphism
MINERAL AND KINDRED DEPOSITS
SOILS
Summary
Loudoun Sandy Loam
Penn Clay
Penn Stony Loam
Iredell Clay Loam
Penn Loam
Cecil Loam
Cecil Clay
Cecil Silt Loam
Cecil Mica Loam
De Kalb Stony Loam
Porters Clay
Meadow
FLORA AND FAUNA
Flora
Fauna
TRANSPORTATION FACILITIES
TOWNS AND VILLAGES
Leesburg
Round Hill
Waterford
Hamilton
Purcellville
Middleburg
Ashburn
Bluemont
Smaller Towns
Statistical Department.
AREA AND FARMING TABULATIONS
POPULATION
INDUSTRIES
FARM VALUES
LIVE STOCK
Values
Animals Sold and Slaughtered
Neat cattle
Dairy Products
Steers
Horses, Mules, etc.
Sheep, Goats, and Swine
Domestic Wool
Poultry and Bees
SOIL PRODUCTS
Values
Corn and Wheat
Oats, Rye, and Buckwheat
Hay and Forage Crops
Miscellaneous Crops, etc.
Orchard Fruits, etc.
Small Fruits, etc.
Flowers, Ornamental Plants, etc.
FARM LABOR AND FERTILIZERS
Labor
Fertilizers
EDUCATION AND RELIGION
Education
Religion
Historical Department.
FORMATION
DERIVATION OF NAME
SETTLEMENT AND PERSONNEL
EARLY HABITS, CUSTOMS, AND DRESS
Habits
Customs
Dress
FRENCH AND INDIAN WAR
REPRESENTATION
Colonial Assemblies
State Conventions
THE REVOLUTION
Loudoun's Loyalty
Resolutions of Loudoun County
Revolutionary Committees
Soldiery
Quaker Non-Participation
Loudoun's Revolutionary Hero
Army Recommendations
Court Orders and Reimbursements
Close of the Struggle
WAR OF 1812
The Compelling Cause
State Archives at Leesburg
THE MASON-MCCARTY DUEL
HOME OF PRESIDENT MONROE
GENERAL LAFAYETTE'S VISIT
MEXICAN WAR
SECESSION AND CIVIL WAR
Loudoun County in the Secession Movement
Loudoun's Participation in the War
The Loudoun Rangers (Federal)
Mosby's Command in its Relationship to Loudoun County
Mosby at Hamilton (Poem)
Battle of Leesburg ("Ball's Bluff")
Munford's Fight at Leesburg
Battle at Aldie
Duffie at Middleburg
The Sacking of Loudoun
Home Life During the War
Pierpont's Pretentious Administration
Emancipation
Close of the War
RECONSTRUCTION
After the Surrender
Conduct of the Freedmen
CONCLUSION
Introduction.
I know not when I first planned this work, so inextricably is the idea
interwoven with a fading recollection of my earliest aims and
ambitions. However, had I not been resolutely determined to conclude
it at any cost--mental, physical, or pecuniary--the difficulties that
I have experienced at every stage might have led to its early
abandonment.
The greatest difficulty lay in procuring material which could not be
supplied by individual research and investigation. For this and other
valid reasons that will follow it may safely be said that more than
one-half the contents of this volume are in the strictest sense
original, the remarks and detail, for the most part, being the
products of my own personal observation and reflection. Correspondence
with individuals and the State and National authorities, though varied
and extensive, elicited not a half dozen important facts. I would
charge no one with discourtesy in this particular, and mention the
circumstance only because it will serve to emphasize what I shall
presently say _anent_ the scarcity of available material.
Likewise, a painstaking perusal of more than two hundred volumes
yielded only meagre results, and in most of these illusory references
I found not a single fact worth recording. This comparatively
prodigious number included gazeteers, encyclopedias, geographies,
military histories, general histories, State and National reports,
journals of legislative proceedings, biographies, genealogies,
reminiscences, travels, romances--in short, any and all books that I
had thought calculated to shed even the faintest glimmer of light on
the County's history, topographical features, etc.
But, contrary to my expectations, in many there appeared no manner of
allusion to Loudoun County. By this it will be seen that much time
that might have been more advantageously employed was necessarily
given to this form of fruitless research.
That works of history and geography can be prepared in no other way,
no person at all acquainted with the nature of such writings need be
told. "As well might a traveler presume to claim the fee-simple of all
the country which he has surveyed, as a historian and geographer
expect to preclude those who come after him from making a proper use
of his labors. If the former writers have seen accurately and related
faithfully, the latter ought to have the resemblance of declaring the
same facts, with that variety only which nature has enstamped upon the
distinct elaborations of every individual mind.... As works of this
sort become multiplied, voluminous, and detailed, it becomes a duty to
literature to abstract, abridge, and give, in synoptical views, the
information that is spread through numerous volumes."
Touching the matter gleaned from other books, I claim the sole merit
of being a laborious and faithful compiler. In some instances, where
the thoughts could not be better or more briefly expressed, the words
of the original authors may have been used.
Where this has been done I have, whenever possible, made, in my
footnotes or text, frank and ample avowal of the sources from which I
have obtained the particular information presented. This has not
always been possible for the reason that I could not name, if
disposed, all the sources from which I have sought and obtained
information. Many of the references thus secured have undergone a
process of sifting and, if I may coin the couplet, confirmatory
handling which, at the last, rendered some unrecognizable and their
origin untraceable.
The only publication of a strictly local color unearthed during my
research was Taylor's _Memoir of Loudoun_, a small book, or more
properly a pamphlet, of only 29 pages, dealing principally with the
County's geology, geography, and climate. It was written to accompany
the map of Loudoun County, drawn by Yardley Taylor, surveyor; and was
published by Thomas Reynolds, of Leesburg, in 1853.
I wish to refer specially to the grateful acknowledgment that is due
Arthur Keith's _Geology of the Catoctin Belt_ and Carter's and Lyman's
_Soil Survey of the Leesburg Area_, two Government publications,
published respectively by the United States Geological Survey and
Department of Agriculture, and containing a fund of useful information
relating to the geology, soils, and geography of about two-thirds of
the area of Loudoun. Of course these works have been the sources to
which I have chiefly repaired for information relating to the two
first-named subjects. Without them the cost of this publication would
have been considerably augmented. As it is I have been spared the
expense and labor that would have attended an enforced personal
investigation of the County's soils and geology.
And now a tardy and, perhaps, needless word or two in revealment of
the purpose of this volume.
To rescue a valuable miscellany of facts and occurrences from an
impending oblivion; to gather and fix certain ephemeral incidents
before they had passed out of remembrance; to render some account of
the County's vast resources and capabilities; to trace its geography
and analyze its soils and geology; to follow the tortuous windings of
its numerous streams; to chronicle the multitudinous deeds of
sacrifice and daring performed by her citizens and soldiery--such has
been the purpose of this work, such its object and design.
But the idea as originally evolved contemplated only a chronology of
events from the establishment of the County to the present day. Not
until the work was well under way was the matter appearing under the
several descriptive heads supplemented.
From start to finish this self-appointed task has been prosecuted with
conscientious zeal and persistency of purpose, although with frequent
interruptions, and more often than not amid circumstances least
favorable to literary composition. At the same time my hands have been
filled with laborious avocations of another kind.
What the philosopher Johnson said of his great _Dictionary_ and
himself could as well be said of this humble volume and its author:
"In this work, when it shall be found that much is omitted, let it not
be forgotten that much likewise is performed; and though no book was
ever spared out of tenderness to the author, and the world is little
solicitous to know whence proceeded the faults of that which it
condemns; yet it may gratify curiosity to inform it, that the _English
Dictionary_ was written with little assistance of the learned, and
without any patronage of the great; not in the soft obscurities of
retirement, or under the shelter of academick bowers, but amidst
inconvenience and distraction, in sickness and in sorrow."
If further digression be allowable I might say that in the preparation
of this work I have observed few of the restrictive rules of literary
sequence and have not infrequently gone beyond the prescribed limits
of conventional diction. To these transgressions I make willing
confession. I have striven to present these sketches in the most lucid
and concise form compatible with readableness; to compress the
greatest possible amount of useful information into the smallest
compass. Indeed, had I been competent, I doubt that I would have
attempted a more elaborate rendition, or drawn more freely upon the
language and the coloring of poetry and the imagination. I have
therefore to apprehend that the average reader will find them too
statistical and laconic, too much abbreviated and void of detail.
However, a disinterested historian I have not been, and should such a
charge be preferred I shall look for speedy exculpation from the
discerning mass of my readers.
In this connection and before proceeding further I desire to say that
my right to prosecute this work can not fairly be questioned; that a
familiar treatment of the subject I have regarded as my inalienable
prerogative. I was born in Loudoun County, of parents who in turn
could boast the same distinction, and, if not all, certainly the
happiest days of my life were passed within those sacred precincts. I
have viewed her housetops from every crowning eminence, her acres of
unmatched grain, her Arcadian pastures and browsing herds, her
sun-kissed hills and silvery, serpentine streams. I have known the
broad, ample playgrounds of her stately old Academy, and shared in the
wholesome, health-giving sports their breadth permitted. I have known
certain of her astute schoolmasters and felt the full rigor of their
discipline. Stern tutors they were, at times seemingly cruel, but what
retrospective mind will not now accord them unstinted praise and
gratitude? Something more than the mere awakening and development of
slumbering intellects was their province: raw, untamed spirits were
given into their hands for a brief spell--brief when measured in after
years--and were then sent forth to combat Life's problems with clean
hearts, healthy minds, robust bodies, and characters that might remain
unsullied though beset with every hellish device known to a sordid
world. God bless the dominies of our boyhood--the veteran
schoolmasters of old Loudoun!
But to return to my theme. I have a distinct foresight of the views
which some will entertain and express in reference to this work,
though my least fears of criticism are from those whose experience and
ability best qualify them to judge.
However, to the end that criticism may be disarmed even before
pronouncement, the reader, before condemning any statements made in
these sketches that do not agree with his preconceived opinions, is
requested to examine all the facts in connection therewith. In so
doing it is thought he will find these statements correct in the main.
In such a variety of subjects there must of course be many omissions,
but I shall be greatly disappointed if actual errors are discovered.
In substantiation of its accuracy and thoroughness I need only say
that the compilation of this work cost me three years of nocturnal
application--the three most ambitious and disquieting years of the
average life. During this period the entire book has been at least
three times rewritten.
In the best form of which I am capable the fruits of these protracted
labors are now committed to the candid and, it is hoped, kindly
judgment of the people of Loudoun County.
JAMES W. HEAD.
"ARCADIA,"
BARCROFT, VA., _Feb. 1, 1909_.
Descriptive.
SITUATION.
Loudoun County lies at the northern extremity of "Piedmont
Virginia,"[1] forming the apex of one of the most picturesquely
diversified regions on the American continent. Broad plains, numerous
groups and ranges of hills and forest-clad mountains, deep river
gorges, and valleys of practically every conceivable form are strewn
to the point of prodigality over this vast undulatory area.
[Footnote 1: "Piedmont" means "foot of the mountain." "Piedmont
Virginia," with a length of 250 miles and an average width of about 25
miles, and varying in altitude from 300 to 1,200 feet, lies just east
of the Blue Ridge Mountains, and comprises the counties of _Loudoun_,
Fauquier, Culpeper, Rappahannock, Madison, Greene, Orange, Albemarle,
Nelson, Amherst, Bedford, Franklin, Henry, and Patrick. It is a
portion of the belt that begins in New England and stretches thence
southward to Georgia and Alabama.]
The particular geographic location of Loudoun has been most accurately
reckoned by Yardley Taylor, who in 1853 made a governmental survey of
the county. He placed it "between the latitudes of 38° 52-1/2" and 39°
21" north latitude, making 28-1/2" of latitude, or 33 statute miles,
and between 20" and 53-1/2" of longitude west from Washington, being
33-1/2" of longitude, or very near 35 statute miles."
Loudoun was originally a part of the six million acres which, in 1661,
were granted by Charles II, King of England, to Lord Hopton, Earl of
St. Albans, Lord Culpeper, Lord Berkeley, Sir William Morton, Sir
Dudley Wyatt, and Thomas Culpeper. All the territory lying between the
Rappahannock and Potomac rivers to their sources was included in this
grant, afterwards known as the "Fairfax Patent," and still later as
the "Northern Neck of Virginia."
"The only conditions attached to the conveyance of this domain, the
equivalent of a principality, were that one-fifth of all the gold and
one-tenth of all the silver discovered within its limits should be
reserved for the royal use, and that a nominal rent of a few pounds
sterling should be paid into the treasury at Jamestown each year. In
1669 the letters patent were surrendered by the existing holders and
in their stead new ones were issued.... The terms of these letters
required that the whole area included in this magnificent gift should
be planted and inhabited by the end of twenty-one years, but in 1688
this provision was revoked by the King as imposing an impracticable
condition."[2]
[Footnote 2: Bruce's _Economic History of Virginia_.]
The patentees, some years afterward, sold the grant to the second Lord
Culpeper, to whom it was confirmed by letters patent of King James II,
in 1688. From Culpeper the rights and privileges conferred by the
original grant descended through his daughter, Catherine, to her son,
Lord Thomas Fairfax, Baron of Cameron--a princely heritage for a young
man of 20 years.
BOUNDARIES.
The original boundaries of Loudoun County were changed by the
following act of the General Assembly, passed January 3, 1798, and
entitled "An Act for adding part of the county of Loudoun to the
county of Fairfax, and altering the place of holding courts in Fairfax
County."
1. _Be it enacted by the General Assembly_, That all that
part of the county of Loudoun lying between the lower
boundary thereof, and a line to be drawn from the mouth of
Sugar Land run, to Carter's mill, on Bull run, shall be, and
is hereby added to and made part of the county of Fairfax:
Provided always, That it shall be lawful for the sheriff of
the said county of Loudoun to collect and make distress for
any public dues or officers fees, which shall remain unpaid
by the inhabitants of that part of the said county hereby
added to the county of Fairfax, and shall be accountable for
the same in like manner as if this act had not been made.
2. _And be it further enacted_, That it shall be lawful for
a majority of the acting justices of the peace for the said
county of Fairfax, together with the justices of the county
of Loudoun included within the part thus added to the said
county of Fairfax, and they are hereby required at a court
to be held in the month of April or May next, to fix on a
place for holding courts therein at or as near the center
thereof (having regard to that part of the county of Loudoun
hereby added to the said county of Fairfax) as the situation
and convenience will admit of; and thenceforth proceed to
erect the necessary public buildings at such place, and
until such buildings be completed, to appoint any place for
holding courts as they shall think proper.
3. This act shall commence and be in force from and after
the passing thereof.
As at present bounded, the old channel at the mouth of Sugar Land run,
at Lowe's Island,[3] is "the commencement of the line that separates
Loudoun from Fairfax County and runs directly across the country to a
point on the Bull Run branch of Occoquan River, about three eighths of
a mile above Sudley Springs, in Prince William County." The Bull Run
then forms the boundary between Loudoun and Prince William to its
highest spring head in the Bull Run mountain, just below the Cool
Spring Gap. The line then extends to the summit of the mountain, where
the counties of Fauquier and Prince William corner. From the summit of
this mountain, a direct line to a point[4] on the Blue Ridge, at
Ashby's Gap, marks the boundary between Loudoun and Fauquier counties.
A devious line, which follows in part the crests of the Blue Ridge
until reaching the Potomac below Harpers Ferry, separates Loudoun from
Clarke County, Virginia, and Jefferson County, West Virginia, on her
western border. The Potomac then becomes the dividing line between
Loudoun County, and Frederick and Montgomery counties, Maryland; "and
that State, claiming the whole of the river, exercises jurisdiction
over the islands as well as the river."
[Footnote 3: "What is called Lowe's Island, at the mouth of Sugarland
Run, was formerly an island, and made so by that run separating and
part of it passing into the river by the present channel, while a part
of it entered the river by what is now called the old channel. This
old channel is now partially filled up, and only receives the waters
of Sugarland Run in times of freshets. Occasionally when there is high
water in the river the waters pass up the present channel of the run
to the old channel, and then follow that to the river again. This old
channel enters the river immediately west of the primordial range of
rocks, that impinge so closely upon the river from here to Georgetown,
forming as they do that series of falls known as Seneca Falls, the
Great, and the Little Falls, making altogether a fall of 188 feet in
less than 20 miles."--_Memoir of Loudoun_.]
[Footnote 4: Designated in an old record as a "double-bodied poplar
tree standing in or near the middle of the thoroughfare of Ashby's Gap
on the top of the Blue Ridge." It succumbed to the ravages of time and
fire while this work was in course of preparation.]
This completes an outline of 109 miles, viz: 19 miles in company with
Fairfax, 10 with Prince William, 17 with Fauquier, 26 with Clarke and
Jefferson, and 37 miles along the Potomac.
TOPOGRAPHY.
Loudoun County is preeminently a diversified region; its surface
bearing many marked peculiarities, many grand distinctive features.
The broken ranges of hills and mountains, abounding in Piedmont
Virginia, here present themselves in softly rounded outline, gradually
sinking down into the plains, giving great diversity and
picturesqueness to the landscape. They are remarkable for their
parallelism, regularity, rectilineal direction and evenness of
outline, and constitute what is by far the most conspicuous feature in
the topography of Loudoun. Neither snow-capped nor barren, they are
clothed with vegetation from base to summit and afford fine range and
pasturage for sheep and cattle.
The main valleys are longitudinal and those running transversely few
and comparatively unimportant.
The far-famed Loudoun valley, reposing peacefully between the Blue
Ridge and Catoctin mountains, presents all the many varied topographic
aspects peculiar to a territory abounding in foothills.
The Blue Ridge, the southeasternmost range of the Alleghanies or
Appalachian System presents here that uniformity and general
appearance which characterizes it throughout the State, having gaps
or depressions every eight or ten miles, through which the public
roads pass. The most important of these are the Potomac Gap at 500
feet and Snickers and Ashby's Gap, both at 1,100 feet. The altitude of
this range in Loudoun varies from 1,000 to 1,600 feet above
tide-water, and from 300 to 900 feet above the adjacent country. It
falls from 1,100 to 1,000 feet in 4 miles south of the river, and
then, rising sharply to 1,600 feet, continues at the higher series of
elevations. The Blue Ridge borders the county on the west, its course
being about south southwest, or nearly parallel with the Atlantic
Coast-line, and divides Loudoun from Clarke County, Virginia, and
Jefferson County, West Virginia, the line running along the summit.
Of nearly equal height and similar features are the Short Hills,
another range commencing at the Potomac River about four miles below
Harpers Ferry and extending parallel to the Blue Ridge, at a distance
of nearly four miles from summit to summit, for about twelve miles
into the County, where it is broken by a branch of Catoctin Creek.
Beyond this stream it immediately rises again and extends about three
miles further, at which point it abruptly terminates.
A third range, called "Catoctin Mountain," has its inception in
Pennsylvania, traverses Maryland, is interrupted by the Potomac,
reappears in Virginia at the river margin, opposite Point of Rocks,
and extends through Loudoun County for a distance of twenty or more
miles, when it is again interrupted.
Elevations on Catoctin Mountain progressively diminish southward from
the Potomac River to Aldie, although the rocks remain the same, and
the Tertiary drainage, which might be supposed to determine their
elevations, becomes less effective in that direction.
Probably this mountain does not exceed an average of more than 300
feet above the surrounding country, though at some stages it may
attain an altitude of 700 feet. Rising near the Potomac into one of
its highest peaks, in the same range it becomes alternately depressed
and elevated, until reaching the point of its divergence in the
neighborhood of Waterford. There it assumes the appearance of an
elevated and hilly region, deeply indented by the myriad streams that
rise in its bosom.
On reaching the Leesburg and Snicker's Gap Turnpike road, a distance
of twelve miles, it expands to three miles in width and continues much
the same until broken by Goose Creek and its tributary, the North
Fork, when it gradually loses itself in the hills of Goose Creek and
Little River, before reaching the Ashby's Gap Turnpike.
The Catoctin range throughout Loudoun pursues a course parallel to the
Blue Ridge, the two forming an intermediate valley or baselevel
plain, ranging in width from 8 to 12 miles, and in altitude from 350
to 730 feet above sea level. Allusion to the physiography of this
valley--so called only by reason of its relation to the mountains on
either side--has been made elsewhere in this department.
Immediately south of Aldie, on Little River, near the point of
interruption of Catoctin Mountain, another range commences and extends
into Fauquier County. It is known as "Bull Run Mountain," but might
rightly be considered an indirect continuation of the elevation of the
Catoctin, its course and some of its features corresponding very
nearly with that mountain save only that it is higher than any of the
ranges of the latter, excepting the western.
East of the Catoctin the tumultuous continuity of mountains subsides
into gentle undulations, an almost unbroken succession of sloping
elevations and depressions presenting an as yet unimpaired variety and
charm of landscape. However, on the extreme eastern edge of this
section, level stretches of considerable extent are a conspicuous
feature of the topography.
Three or four detached hills, rising to an elevation of 150 or 200
feet above the adjacent country, are the only ones of consequence met
with in this section.
COMPARATIVE ALTITUDES.
The hilly character of Loudoun is clearly shown by the following
exhibit of the elevation of points and places above tide-water. The
variations of altitude noted in this schedule are based upon
conflicting estimates and distinct measurements made at two or more
points within a given circumference and slightly removed one from the
other.
Feet.
Sterling 415
Ashburn 320
Leesburg 321 to 337
Clarke's Gap 578 to 634
Hamilton 454 to 521
Purcellville 546 to 553
Round Hill 558
Bluemont 680 to 730
Snicker's Gap 1,085
Neersville 626
Hillsborough 550
Waterford 360
Mount Gilead 600
Oatlands 270
Little River, near Aldie 299
Middleburg 480
Potomac River, near Seneca Dam 188
Potomac River, at Point of Rocks 200
Potomac River, at Harper's Ferry 246
The whole of the county east of the Catoctin Mountain varies from 200
to 350 feet. The eastern base of the Blue Ridge has an elevation of
about 730 feet, and the highest peak of that range in Loudoun rises
1,600 feet above tide-water.
The Short Hills have an approximate altitude of 1,000 feet, while that
of the Catoctin Mountain varies from 300 to 700 feet. The valley
between the Blue Ridge and Catoctin Mountains varies from 350 to 730
feet in elevation.
From many vantage points along the Blue Ridge may be obtained
magnificent views of both the Loudoun and Shenandoah valleys. The eye
travels entirely across the fertile expanse of the latter to where, in
the far distance, the Alleghany and North Mountains rear their wooded
crests. A few of the summits offer even more extensive prospects. From
some nearly all of Loudoun, with a considerable area of Fairfax and
Fauquier, is in full view. Other more distant areas within visionary
range are portions of Prince William, Rappahannock, and Culpeper
counties, in Virginia, Frederick and Montgomery counties, in Maryland,
and even some of Prince George County, east of Washington City.
Westward, the view embraces Shenandoah, Frederick, Clarke and Warren
counties, in Virginia, Berkeley and Jefferson counties, in West
Virginia, Washington County, in Maryland, and some of the mountain
summits of Pennsylvania.
DRAINAGE.
The drainage of Loudoun can be divided into two provinces. One is the
Potomac province, which is drained by a system of small tributaries of
that stream. Its elevations are quite uniform and are referable to
that master stream, whose grade is largely determined by its great
basin beyond the "Catoctin belt." The second province is the region
drained by smaller streams, chief of which is Goose Creek. In this
province the drainage lines head entirely within the "Catoctin belt,"
and the elevations are variable according to the constitution of the
rocks in the belt itself.
The tributaries by which the drainage of the two provinces is effected
are Catoctin Creek, North Fork Catoctin Creek, South Fork Catoctin
Creek, Little River, North Fork Goose Creek, Beaver-dam Creek, Piney
Run, Jeffries Branch, Cromwells Run, Hungry Run, Bull Run, Sycoline
Creek, Tuscarora Creek, Horse Pen Run, Broad Run, Sugarland Run, Elk
Lick, Limestone Branch, and as many lesser streams.
The general slope of the county being to the northeast, the waters,
for the most part, naturally follow the same course, as may be readily
perceived by reference to maps of the section. The streams that rise
in the Blue Ridge mostly flow to the eastward until they approach the
Catoctin Mountain, where they are then deflected more toward either
the north or south to pass that range by the Northwest Fork and Goose
Creek, or by the Catoctin Creek which falls into the Potomac above
Point of Rocks. East of Catoctin Mountain the streams pursue a more or
less direct northern course.
Goose Creek, a right-hand branch of the Potomac River, is a
considerable stream, pursuing a course of about fifty miles from its
source in Fauquier County to its junction with the Potomac four miles
northeast of Leesburg. It once bore the Indian name _Gohongarestaw_,
meaning "River of Swans." Flowing northeastward across Loudoun, it
receives many smaller streams until passing the first range of
Catoctin Mountain, when it claims a larger tributary, the North Fork.
Goose Creek represents subsequent drainage dependent on the syncline
of the Blue Ridge and dating back at least as far as Cretaceous time.
Its length in Loudoun is about thirty miles, and it has a fall of one
hundred feet in the last twenty-two miles of its course. It drains
nearly one-half the county and is about sixty yards wide at its mouth.
Catoctin Creek is very crooked; its basin does not exceed twelve miles
as the crow flies, and includes the whole width of the valley between
the mountains except a small portion in the northeastern angle of the
County. Yet its entire course, measuring its meanders, would exceed
thirty-five miles. It has a fall of one hundred and eighty feet in the
last eighteen miles of its course, and is about twenty yards wide near
its mouth.
The Northwest Fork rises in the Blue Ridge and flows southeastward,
mingling its waters with the Beaver Dam, coming from the southwest,
immediately above Catoctin Mountain, where their united waters pass
through a narrow valley to Goose Creek.
Little River, a small affluent of Goose Creek, rises in Fauquier
County west of Bull Run mountain and enters Loudon a few miles
southwestward of Aldie. It pursues a northern and northeastern course
until it has passed that town, turning then more to the northward and
falling into Goose Creek. Before the Civil War it was rendered
navigable from its mouth to Aldie by means of dams.
Broad Run, the next stream of consequence east of Goose Creek, rises
in Prince William County and pursues a northern course, with some
meanderings through Loudoun. It flows into the Potomac about four
miles below the mouth of Goose Creek.
Sugarland Run, a still smaller stream, rises partly in Loudoun, though
its course is chiefly through Fairfax County, and empties into the
Potomac at the northeastern angle of the County.
In its southeastern angle several streams rise and pursue a southern
and southeastern course, and constitute some of the upper branches of
Occoquan River.
Perhaps no county in the State is better watered for all purposes,
except manufacturing in times of drought. Many of the farms might be
divided into fields of ten acres each and, in ordinary seasons, would
have water in each of them.
There are several mineral springs in the county of the class called
chalybeate, some of which contain valuable medicinal properties, and
other springs and wells that are affected with lime. Indeed, in almost
every part of the County, there is an exhaustless supply of the purest
spring water. This is due, in great part, to the porosity of the soil
which allows the water to pass freely into the earth, and the slaty
character of the rocks which favors its descent into the bowels of the
hills, from whence it finds its way to the surface, at their base, in
numberless small springs. The purity of these waters is borrowed from
the silicious quality of the soil.
The largest spring of any class in the county is Big Spring, a
comparatively broad expanse of water of unsurpassed quality, bordering
the Leesburg and Point of Rocks turnpike, about two miles north of
Leesburg.
The springs, as has been stated, are generally small and very
numerous, and many of them are unfailing, though liable to be affected
by drought. In such cases, by absorption and evaporation, the small
streams are frequently exhausted before uniting and often render the
larger ones too light for manufacturing purposes. Nevertheless, water
power is abundant; the county's diversified elevation giving
considerable fall to its water courses, and many sites are occupied.
CLIMATE.
Because responsible statistical data is usually accorded unqualified
credence, it is without undue hesitation that the following bit of
astonishing information, gleaned from a reliable source, is here set
down as positive proof of the excellence of Loudoun's climate: "It
(Leesburg) is located in a section the healthiest in the world, as
proven by statistics which place the death rate at 8-1/2 per 1,000,
the very lowest in the table of mortality gathered from all parts of
the habitable globe."
The climate of Loudoun, like that of most other localities, is
governed mainly by the direction of the prevailing winds, and, to a
limited extent, is influenced by the county's diversified physical
features.
Though the rainfall is abundant, amounting annually to forty or fifty
inches, ordinarily the air is dry and salubrious. This ample
precipitation is usually well distributed throughout the growing
season and is rarely insufficient or excessive. The summer rainfall
comes largely in the form of local showers, scarcely ever attended by
hail. Loudoun streams for the most part are pure and rapid, and there
appears to be no local cause to generate malaria.
In common with the rest of Virginia the climate of Loudoun corresponds
very nearly with that of Cashmere and the best parts of China. The
mean annual temperature is 50° to 55°.
Loudoun winters are not of long duration and are seldom marked by
protracted severity. Snow does not cover the ground for any
considerable period and the number of bright sunny days during these
seasons is unusually large. In their extremes of cold they are less
rigorous than the average winters of sections farther north or even of
western localities of the same latitude. Consequently the growing
season here is much more extended than in either of those sections.
The prevailing winds in winter are from the north and west, and from
these the mountains afford partial protection.
The seasons are somewhat earlier even than in the Shenandoah Valley,
just over the western border of Loudoun, and the farmers here plant
and harvest their crops from one week to ten days earlier than the
farmers of that region.
Loudoun summers, as a rule, are long and agreeably cool, while
occasional periods of extreme heat are not more oppressive than in
many portions of the North. The mountains of Loudoun have a delightful
summer climate coupled with inspiring scenery, and are well known as
the resort of hundreds seeking rest, recreation, or the restoration of
health. This region, owing to its low humidity, has little dew at
night, and accordingly has been found especially beneficial for
consumptives and those afflicted with pulmonary diseases. The genial
southwest trade winds, blowing through the long parallel valleys,
impart to them and the enclosing mountains moisture borne from the far
away Gulf of Mexico.
GEOLOGY.
The geology of more than half the area of Loudoun County has received
thorough and intelligent treatment at the hands of Arthur Keith in his
most excellent work entitled "_Geology of the Catoctin Belt_,"
authorized and published by the United States Geological Survey.[5]
[Footnote 5: Credit for many important disclosures and much of the
detail appearing in this department is unreservedly accorded Mr. Keith
and his assistants.]
Mr. Keith's analysis covered the whole of Bull Run Mountain, the
Catoctin in its course through Virginia and Maryland to its
termination in southern Pennsylvania, the Blue Ridge and South
Mountain for a corresponding distance, all intermediate ridges and
valleys and contiguous territory lying outside this zone and
paralleling the two flanking ranges.[6]
[Footnote 6: The name "Catoctin Belt" is applied to this region
because it is separated by Catoctin Mountain from the Piedmont plain
as a geographic unit more distinctly than in any other area, and
because its geological unity is completed by Catoctin more fully and
compactly than elsewhere.]
In this important work the Catoctin Belt is shown to be an epitome of
the leading events of geologic history in the Appalachian region. It
contains the earliest formations whose original character can be
certified; it contains almost the latest known formations; and the
record is unusually full, with the exception of the later Paleozoic
rocks. Its structures embrace nearly every known type of deformation.
It furnishes examples of every process of erosion, of topography
derived from rocks of nearly every variety of composition, and of
topography derived from all types of structure except the flat plateau
type. In the recurrence of its main geographic features from
pre-Cambrian time till the present day it furnishes a remarkable and
unique example of the permanence of continental form.
With certain qualifications, a summary of the leading events that have
left their impress on the region is as follows:
1. Surface eruption of diabase.
2. Injection of granite.
3. Erosion.
4. Surface eruption of quartz-porphyry, rhyolite, and andesite.
5. Surface eruption of diabase.
6. Erosion.
7. Submergence, deposition of Cambrian formations; slight oscillations
during their deposition; reduction of land to baselevel.
8. Eastward tilting and deposition of Martinsburg shale; oscillations
during later Paleozoic time.
9. Uplift, post-Carboniferous deformation and erosion.
10. Depression and Newark deposition; diabase intrusion.
11. Uplift, Newark deformation; and erosion to Catoctin baselevel.
12. Depression and deposition of Potomac, Magothy, and Severn.
13. Uplift southwestward and erosion to baselevel.
14. Uplift, warping and degradation to Tertiary baselevel; deposition
of Pamunkey and Chesapeake.
15. Depression and deposition of Lafayette.
16. Uplift and erosion to lower Tertiary baselevel.
17. Uplift, warping and erosion to Pleistocene baselevel; deposition
of high-level Columbia.
18. Uplift and erosion to lower Pleistocene baselevel; deposition of
low-level Columbia.
19. Uplift and present erosion.
Along the Coastal plain reduction to baselevel was followed by
depression and deposition of Lafayette gravels; elevation followed and
erosion of minor baselevels; second depression followed and deposition
of Columbia gravels; again comes elevation and excavation of narrow
valleys; then depression and deposition of low-level Columbia; last,
elevation and channeling, which is proceeding at present. Along the
Catoctin Belt denudation to baselevel was followed by depression and
deposition of gravels; elevation followed and erosion of minor
baselevels among the softer rocks; second depression followed, with
possible gravel deposits; elevation came next with excavation of broad
bottoms; last, elevation and channeling, at present in progress.
The general structure of the Catoctin Belt is anticlinal. On its core
appear the oldest rocks; on its borders, those of medium age; and in
adjacent provinces the younger rocks. In the location of its system of
faulting, also, it faithfully follows the Appalachian law that faults
lie upon the steep side of anticlines.
After the initial location of the folds along these lines, compression
and deformation continued. Yielding took place in the different rocks
according to their constitution.
Into this system of folds the drainage lines carved their way. On the
anticlines were developed the chief streams, and the synclines were
left till the last. The initial tendency to synclinal ridges was
obviated in places by the weakness of the rocks situated in the
synclines, but even then the tendency to retain elevation is apt to
cause low ridges. The drainage of the belt as a whole is anticlinal to
a marked degree, for the three main synclinal lines are lines of great
elevation, and the anticlines are invariably valleys.
In order of solubility the rocks of the Catoctin Belt, within the
limits of Loudoun County, to which section all subsequent geologic
data will be confined, stand as follows:
1. Newark limestone conglomerate; calcareous.
2. Newark sandstone and shale; calcareous and feldspathic.
3. Newark diabase; feldspathic.
4. Granite; feldspathic.
5. Loudoun formation; feldspathic.
6. Granite and schist; feldspathic.
7. Catoctin schist; epidotic and feldspathic.
8. Weverton sandstone; siliceous.
All of these formations are in places reduced to baselevel. The first
three invariably are, unless protected by a harder rock; the next
three usually are; the Catoctin schist only in small parts of its
area; the Weverton only along a small part of Catoctin Mountain.
The Catoctin Belt itself may be described as a broad area of igneous
rocks bordered by two lines of Lower Cambrian sandstones and slates.
Over the surface of the igneous rocks are scattered occasional
outliers of the Lower Cambrian slate; but far the greater part of the
surface of the belt is covered by the igneous rocks. The belt as a
whole may be regarded as an anticline, the igneous rocks constituting
the core, the Lower Cambrian the flanks, and the Silurian and Newark
the adjoining zones. The outcrops of the Lower Cambrian rocks are in
synclines, as a rule, and are complicated by many faults. The igneous
rocks have also been much folded and crumpled, but on account of their
lack of distinctive beds the details of folds can not well be traced
among them.
They are the oldest rocks in the Catoctin Belt and occupy most of its
area. They are also prominent from their unusual character and rarity.
An important class of rocks occurring in the Catoctin Belt is the
sedimentary series. It is all included in the Cambrian period and
consists of limestone, shale, sandstone and conglomerate. The two
border zones of the Catoctin Belt, however, contain also rocks of the
Silurian and Juratrias periods. In general, the sediments are sandy
and calcareous in the Juratrias area, and sandy in the Catoctin Belt.
They have been the theme of considerable literature, owing to their
great extent and prominence in the topography.
_Granite._
The granite in the southern portion of the County is very important in
point of extent, almost as much so as the diabase in the same section.
The areas of granite are, as a rule, long narrow belts, and vary
greatly in width.
The mineralogical composition of the granite is quite constant over
large areas. Six varieties can be distinguished, however, each with a
considerable areal extent. The essential constituents are quartz,
orthoclase and plagioclase, and by the addition to these of biotite,
garnet, epidote, blue quartz, and hornblende, five types are formed.
All these types are holocrystalline, and range in texture from coarse
granite with augen an inch long down to a fine epidote granite with
scarcely visible crystals.
_Loudoun Formation._
Among the various Cambrian formations of the Catoctin Belt there are
wide differences in uniformity and composition. In none is it more
manifest than in the first or Loudoun formation. This was
theoretically to be expected, for first deposits upon a crystalline
foundation represent great changes and transition periods of
adjustment among new currents and sources of supply. The Loudoun
formation, indeed, runs the whole gamut of sedimentary possibilities,
and that within very short geographical limits. Five miles northwest
of Aldie the Loudoun formation comprises limestone, slate, sandy
slate, sandstone, and conglomerate with pebbles as large as hickory
nuts. These amount in thickness to fully 800 feet, while less than
three miles to the east the entire formation is represented by eight
or ten feet of black slate.
The name of the Loudoun formation is given on account of the frequent
occurrence of all its variations in Loudoun County. Throughout the
entire extent of the Catoctin Belt, and especially through its central
portions, the Loudoun formation has frequent beds of sandstone,
conglomerate, and limestone. The limestones occur as lenses along two
lines; one immediately west of Catoctin Mountain, the other three or
four miles east of the Blue Ridge. Along the western range the
limestone lenses extend only to the Potomac. There they are shown on
both sides of the river, and have been worked in either place for
agricultural lime. Only the refuse of the limestone now remains, but
the outcrops have been extant until recent years. Along the eastern
line the limestone lenses extend across the Potomac and into Maryland
for about one mile, and it is along this belt that they are the most
persistent and valuable. As a rule they are altered from limestone
into marble, and at one point they have been worked for commercial
purposes. Nearly every outcrop has been opened, however, for
agricultural lime. Where Goose Creek crosses this belt a quarry has
been opened and good marble taken out, but want of transportation
facilities has prevented any considerable development. The relation
between marble and schist is very perfectly shown at an old quarry
west of Leesburg. The marble occupies two beds in schist, and between
the two rocks there is gradation of composition. In none of the
western belts are the calcareous beds recrystallized into marbles,
but all retain their original character of blue and dove-colored
limestone. None of them, however, is of great thickness and none of
great linear extent.