History and Comprehensive Description of Loudoun County, Virginia | Page 7

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