The following description of a part of Virginia and Maryland, seldom
visited and but little known, may have sufficient interest to deserve a
place in the columns of the Messenger.
The country alluded to, is in the northern part of this state, and
comprehends that corner of Maryland included between the North Branch
of Potomac and a line due north from the Fairfax stone, at the head
spring of that stream, to the Pennsylvania line; and also a portion of
the territory at present in dispute between the two states; Maryland
claiming as her boundaries the South Branch of Potomac and a meridian
thence to Mason and Dixon's line,--while the first mentioned limits
only are acknowledged by Virginia.
A short notice of the origin of these conflicting titles might,
perhaps, be interesting to some readers; but in addition to our lack of
complete information, the limits of this sketch will not permit it.
Between Cheat river, at the fertile bottom called the Horse-shoe, and
the summit of the mountain which divides the Western from the Atlantic
waters, the country is thinly peopled, and only cultivated in the
largest tributary vallies: the long spurs of the Backbone being too
sterile to serve any other purpose than ranges for cattle and animals
of the chase. The approach to the Great Backbone of the Alleghany
region is here, as elsewhere on the western side, characterized by a
broad and gentle acclivity, covered almost entirely with loose rocks of
various sizes, many of them of the species of agglomerated quartz,
familiar to the west under the name of country mill-stone, and valuable
for the domestic molendinary uses of the simple and hardy race
inhabiting those regions.
There is little timber of large size, the growth being chiefly chestnut
oak and small moss-grown white oaks, exhibiting upon their blackened
roots the scathing effects of flames, which, through the negligence of
hunters in firing the dry leaves, have often and fiercely swept down
the mountain side. The more recent inroads of fire are denoted by large
tracts of underwood, black and denuded of leaves, and so stiffened by
scorching as to present vexatious obstacles to progress, independent of
the minor, though, in that place, unimportant annoyance of soiled
clothes and person.
Large pine and birch trees, and a thicker undergrowth--detached blocks
of stratified sandstone, some of them of huge size--and an increasing
wildness and desolation in the aspect of the scenery, inform the
traveller who may have ventured so far, that he is on the confines of
the Alleghany wilderness.
The mountain top, near Lord Fairfax's stone, is crowned with a bold
irregular precipice, which the hunters belonging to the exploring party
of which the writer of this article was a member, termed the
Bear-holeing, from its being the winter abode of great numbers of those
animals,--the numerous cavities of the rocks, and the tangled laurel
thickets, affording them a secure refuge from foes, whether biped or
canine.
We were not without hope of being treated to the novelty of a bear
hunt, our guides being veterans of the rifle, and accompanied by fine
dogs, one of them as his master informed us, having engaged Sir Bruin
more than fifty times.
The perils of this sport may well give a reputation for boldness and
hardihood to our western yeomanry, when we consider that these
encounters always occur in most intricate thickets of stubborn tangled
laurel, in which the bear must have greatly the advantage in
progression,--the sharp form of his head, and its close proximity to
the ground, making it perform, in relation to his huge muscular body,
the office, it might be said, of the coulter to a plough. But few of
them are killed without the sacrifice of one or more of man's zealous
confederates in this dangerous sport; and the rescue of the faithful
brutes, (such is the inexpugnable nature of the foe and his
extraordinary vital energy, which seems often to defy even the rifle,)
obliges the hunter, with a personal daring not inferior to that of the
Roman gladiators, to terminate the conflict with his hunting knife;--he
dies invariably biting the ground or whatever else may be within his
reach; showing to the very last the propensity to combat, which he
exhibits even while a cub.
The range of precipice of which we have spoken, either terminates, or
is interrupted for some distance north of this point--whence, for more
than thirty miles, the country is totally without human inhabitant, and
will probably for a long time, if not always, so remain.
The land may be said to lie in lofty tables, though the vallies are of
great depth--the latter circumstance alone reminding the traveller that
he has descended a mountain,--the seemingly interminable tract of flat
forest land impressing, most forcibly, the idea of a lower situation,
though these are without doubt among the very highest lands in
Virginia. They are called by the hunters and settlers upon their
outskirts, the Alleghany Levels. In them are the principal sources of
all the great waters of Virginia. The North and South Branches of
Potomac, Jackson's river, and the Shenandoah, Greenbrier and Gauley,
Cheat and Tygart's Valley--which flow north, east, west and south,
seeking by long and winding courses, the Ohio or the Atlantic Ocean.
The greatest singularity of this country consists in its primeval
appearance: the ground is carpeted throughout with an elastic and
verdant moss; black spruce and hemlock pines, of dark funereal aspect,
tower above the soil like an army of Titans,--the interlacing of their
umbrageous arms converting the noonday into seeming twilight. Under its
mossy covering, the surface of the ground is completely reticulated
with roots of trees--nature seeming to compensate in numbers for the
defective character of her supports, as large trees may be often
observed whose roots do not enter the ground for some feet below the
trunk, being previously contorted and spread out like the arms of a
polypous, and clothed in the same mantle of moss which overspreads
rocks, trees and earth, in this fantastic region.
This moss may be stripped from the soil in sheets of any desirable
size, and, when not previously saturated with rain, affords a most
comfortable substitute for a mattrass, as in our bivouacs we more than
once experienced.
The underwood is mostly streaked maple or elkwood, (the _Acer Striatum_
of Michaux,) diversified with immense tracts of the _Kalmia Latifolia_
and the large rose-bay-tree, (_Rhododendron Maximum_,) more popularly
known as the "little and big laurels." The last named plant, when in
flower, is the ornament of the wilderness. Those who have never seen
it, may have some conception of its appearance, if they imagine tall
bushes, from eight to twenty feet in height, with dark evergreen
leaves, (not unlike in form and color to those of the magnolia
grandiflora,) bearing clusters of full blown peonies, or large double
damask and cinnamon roses, the intensity of the color seeming to vary
with situation.
It is to be feared that this beautiful plant cannot easily be
naturalized in this climate--an attempt made by the writer of this
article, possibly from a too warm or not sufficiently humid exposure,
having failed.
The geographical position of these "laurel beds" is a necessary part of
the hunter's lore. Frequent instances are narrated of persons
bewildered in them many days, and some are said to have perished. A
farmer, born and residing on Stony river, five miles north of this
wild, by whom we were supplied with provisions, accompanied us to the
skirt of the forest, but could by no entreaty be induced to proceed
farther.
These laurel thickets are most frequent in approaching vallies, which
are as before remarked, of great depth; the descent is sudden, in
general by what resembles a rude flight of steps, moss grown and
ruined. To casual observation there would appear to be no water at the
bottom; but a subterraneous rumbling, and occasional flashes through
the interstices of the fragments on which he steps, inform the
passenger that a stream of volume and power is beneath him.
The largest streams however, as in other regions, flow in open
channels, their waters having a dark ferruginous tinge, derived it is
said, from the laurel roots, but more probably from deposites of ore
through which they flow.
The wild animals are no doubt many, as well as various, though the
noise attending our own operations kept them from our sight. We daily
saw tracks of bears, deer and elk; of the latter, a drove of some
threescore is said still to inhabit these almost inaccessible wilds. Of
birds, we saw none living except a few silent and melancholy snow
birds; but our nightly lullaby was the whooping of owls, which here
abound in great numbers.
To the reputed wonders of rattlesnake dens, where these reptiles lie in
monstrous cumuli, refusing to uncoil until the whole mass has been many
times assailed with rifle balls and other missiles, we cannot testify,
having never, though very desirous of so doing, the fortune to find
one.
The soil is a cold argillaceous loam, unsuited to the production of the
nobler grains, but susceptible of becoming, under proper culture, good
grazing land, and no doubt proper for rye, oats and potatoes,--the
invariable products of the whole mountain region.
The botany of the wilderness proper, is confined chiefly to the two
species of pine before mentioned, the hemlock pine (_Pinus
Canadensis_,) and the black spruce (_Pinus Nigra_ of Lambert.) Some
stately specimens of the wild cherry and scattering patches of red
beach complete the list.
On emerging from the wilderness, the customary variety of oak, ash
maple and hickory presents itself, mingled with the cucumber tree
(_Magnolia Acuminata_,) and that invaluable treasure to western
housewives, the sugar tree,--announcing the neighborhood of
cultivation.
This dreary expanse of forest terminates on the summit of the Eastern
Front Ridge, at the head of the North Fork of Patterson's creek, itself
an inconsiderable tributary of Potomac, but deserving celebrity for the
grandeur of its scenery. It appears to have cut its way through three
lofty mountains in succession, affording a more sublime exhibition of
river gap landscapes than I have witnessed in any other part of the
state,--the boasted grandeur of Harper's Ferry fading into
insignificance when compared with it.
At the first farm east of the wilderness,--in the homely but
comfortable dwelling of one of the worthy Dutch farmers, our little
party enjoyed the unwonted luxury of beds, and were able to breakfast
without performing for ourselves the office, which has occasioned our
species to be so properly designated as "cooking animals."