University of Virginia Library

ALUM SPRINGS.

These Springs are situated in Rockbridge
County, on the main road from Lexington to
the Warm Springs, about 17 miles from the
former, and 20 miles from the latter. The location
is a narrow valley, between the North
Mountain on the east, and the Mill Mountain
on the west. You descend into it, from the
high-road, by a steep and narrow road, and
you think you are then fairly within the south
pole, for if you desire to emerge again, you
must come out through the same hole by
which you entered. The cleared space, including
a meadow to the north of the buildings,
is fifteen acres; so, it will be perceived,
there is not much room for circumambulation,
unless, indeed, you are as fond of climbing as
the caprine race.

The buildings for the accommodation of
visiters are a frame house of two stories, containing
a dining-room, a parlour, dancing-hall,
and several lodging-rooms, and at either end

are six cabins, containing each two rooms.
The centre building immediately fronts the
Springs, and is about sixty yards distant.
There is a broad walk from one to the other,
and a circular road or walk for carriages to approach
the door; but, with these exceptions,
the grounds are pretty much as they came
from the hands of nature. The hill, at the
base of which are the Springs, forms a graceful
curve of almost mathematical regularity,
and is about 100 feet high. It was so nearly
perpendicular at some former time as to have
produced an avalanche of the soil, which denuded
a stratum of slate-rock some sixty feet
in height, with a north-eastern dip. At the
bottom, three basins have been picked out,
and into these, inaptly called Springs, oozes
the water through the interstices of the rock.

In dry weather, the supply is very scanty.
A hundred persons might drink them dry; but
in wet weather they afford an abundance, and,
contrary to all other waters, are then strongest;
for the rain water acts as a solvent of
the mineral which seems incorporated with
the whole formation. The water is in demand
from a distance, and is sold by the proprietors

at $4 per bbl. Some take selected
pieces of the rock, which they pound and put
into rain water. By this process, it is said, a
water equally efficient is prepared, and we
doubt not such is the fact. Pills are also made
of the residuum after boiling, which seem to
possess most of the virtues of the water.
They dissolve slowly in the mouth, and it appears
to us this would be a more judicious
mode of using them than swallowing them
entire. No analysis has yet appeared of this
water. Besides alum, it certainly contains
copperas, and is supposed also to contain
magnesia. Many wonderful tales are told
of cases of scrofula cured by the water. Making
due allowance for exaggeration, (and
we imagine there has been a good deal of it
in this case,) there must have been several
well-authenticated cases of relief, if not of
cure; and to persons afflicted with that unmanageable
disease, it is certainly worthy of a
trial. We met there an able physician of the
U. S. Navy, who expressed confidence in its
powers. We also saw a friend who has visited
the place annually, for several years, with
his family, members of whom had derived
great benefit. We can readily believe that it
would be a useful remedy in cutaneous eruptions,
and in some forms of diarrhœa; but it
is now recommended for liver complaints, and
all other complaints, from the beginning to the
end of the catalogue. So far from being general
in its application, we should consider it as
the water least capable of being profitably employed
in any variety of diseases, of all the
waters in the mountains. Here we found
persons who were drinking twenty or more
glasses a day of an agent confessedly very
powerful for good or for evil. Surely this is an
abuse, and can result in no advantage.

The establishment, which is calculated to
accommodate about eighty persons, (though
the number has exceeded a hundred,) is owned
by a family of the name of Campbell. Two
brothers leased the ground for a term of
years, at the expiration of which it reverts,
with all the improvements, to the heirs, of
whom we learn there are eight. It is not probable
that the improvements will ever be much
more extensive than they are at present; indeed,
the character of the locality, the want
of arable or pasture land, and the difficulty of

procuring supplies, will prevent its growth.
The Mill Mountain, eight miles on one side
without a habitation, and the North Mountain
on the other, have to be crossed in order to
hunt up supplies for the company that now
frequents it. The fare is wholesome, but plain,
and indifferently served. It is the old style of
mountain cooking; well enough for a hungry
hearty man, but not very inviting to an invalid.
The private cook of a plain farmer in
the mountains of Virginia cannot be supposed
competent to cook for 100 persons, who have
been accustomed to neat and comfortable living.
We would therefore urge upon the
Messrs. Campbell the importance of making a
change in this department of their household;
and we hope they will not take it amiss, when
we advise a little more care in helping their
guests. No matter how good the meat may
be, nor how well cooked, if you cut it as you
would for a dog, you get no credit for its quality;
indeed, we noticed this to be a very general
fault at the Springs we visited, and we
desire to be understood as throwing out the
hint for all such as are careless in this particular.
They have fallen on another plan, too,
of helping a man so scantily that a very moderate
eater can dispose of the whole in one
morsel: this is ridiculous and annoying. A
man dislikes to be sending his plate repeatedly
away, and is justly irritated.

We found the Messrs. Campbell sufficiently
obliging, and their sister, who attended to the
female department, seemed a kind, motherly
woman. The plan on which the establishment
seems to be conducted is to do all they can
within themselves. It is the true plan, and the
only one by which money can be saved; but
yet, there are certain things indispensable, and
if they cannot be supplied from within, they
should be sought for abroad. We have very
little doubt that this place has made more
clear money than places of much greater pretension.
If these gentlemen keep a neat, comfortable
house, we are sure they will do a
profitable business.