The new dominion. [volume] (Morgantown, W. Va.) 1876-1904, 1897-03-20
Notes on the Topography Of West Viz
ginia.
BY PROF. S. b. BROWN.
Pro essor of Geology in the W. Va. Uni
versity.


these deep stream channels stand
its sculptured hills which east OF the
central part of the State rise into
true mountains composed of folded
layers arranged in parallel ridges
and separated from each other by
both longitudinal and transverse val
leys.
The surface of the State slopes in
three directions to the East, to the
North and to the South West.
The topography of West Virginia
has vertical range of 4, 900 feet, be-
ing lowest 260 feet above the sea at
Harper's Ferry, and highest, 1890
feet above the sea at the top of
Spruce Knob, in Pendleton County.
The average elevation of West
Virginia is greater than that of any
other Msaate east Of the Mississippi
River. The average elevation of the
Appalachian States above the sea
level is as follows:
New Hampshire, 1000 feet.
Vermont, 1000 feet.
New York, 900 feet.
Pennsylvania, LOO feet.
Ohio, $50 feet.
Virginia, $50 feet.
West Virginia, 1900 feet.
From the top of Spruce Mountain
the tributaries of the Potomac de-
scend rapidly to- the eastward and
pass from the State at Harper's Fer
ry; the waters of Cheat flow to the
northward and within sight of the
Pennsylvania line empty into the
Monongahela; theGreenbrier andEllx
flow Ito the southwest and entering
the Great Kanawha soon Join the
Ohio which. leaves the State at the
mouth of the Big Sandy. So the
lowest points of these three inclined
plains are at the mouth of the Shen-
andoah 260 feet above the sea, the
mouth of the Big Sandy 800 feet
above the sea, and the mouth of
Cheat River 775 feet above the sea.
Within these three points the
successive contour lines become
smaller and smaller, until when the
5000 foot level is reached this con
tour line is no longer continuous, but
is broken into number of separate
circles and ellipses surrounding the
higher knobs and ridges.
AS 500 of the grain of the United
States is raised below the 1000 foot
level, and 90ad of the grain of the
United States is raised below the L.
500 foot level, it becomes a matter of
very great interest to know where
these lines run in our State, and to
know what counties are above and
below them. The 1000 foot level is
far above the general surface of the
more southwestern counties and
Ohio river counties and extends up
the river valleys into the central
counties. In Jefferson and Berke-
ley counties it is almost even With
the SUBMITS of the Blue Ridge and
North Mountain, so that the general
surface of these counties as well as
that Of Morgan and Hampshire is
much below this level. This contour
line creeps up the Big Sandy to the
mouth of Crane Creek on Dry Fork,
and the mouth of Dry Branch on
Tug Fork in Mcdowell county. 1t
extends up she Great Kanswha to
Sewell in Fayette county, up Gauley
to Woods Ferry, and up Elk River
to the Braxton- Webster county line.
On the Little Kanawha the | 900
foot contour line extends up the riy-
er to the mouth of Gladly Creek in
the southern part of Lewis county,
thence it skirts across the country,
with many irregular windings to
near the corner Of the Pennsylvania
line. 1t extends northward through
the counties of Greene and Washing
ton and turning eastward and sonth-
ward again crosses these counties
and enters West Virginia in Monon-
gala county, 225 feet above the riv-
er level. 1t creeps up the narrow
canon of Cheat River to the mouth
of Sandy in Preston county, and up
the Tygart's Valley River to six
miles above Grafton and up the
West Fork River to Weston. The
1000 foot level extends up the North
Branch of the Potomac above Pied
mont to Bloomington and up The
South Branch of the Potomac to the
forks of the river above Petersburg
in Grant county.
The 1,500 foot contour line ex-
tends up the Big Sandy River to the
mouth of Cucumber Creek in Nc
Doweli county, up the Greenbrier
River to Lowell Station, and up the
New River beyond the Virginia line
to the mouth of East River
It extends up the Gauley to
Hughes Ferry, up the Elk to Addi-
son, and up the Little Kanawha to
the mouth of the Right Fork
in the Upshur-W Webster line.
This level extends up the Buck.
harmon River to the mouth of Gras-
sy Run, in Upshur county, up the
Cheat River to St. George, in Tuck
er county. In the eastern counties
this level extends up the North
Branch of the Potomac to the river
bed directly below Elk Garden and
up the South Branch of the Potomac
to the mouth of Deer Run, in Pen
dleton county.
Although the highest mountain in
the State is in Pendleton county. the
county of highest general elevation
is Pocahontas. This county can
hardly have an average elevation OF
less than 5000 feet above the sea.
The Greenbrier River enters Pc
cahontas county on either side Of
Beech Mountain at an elevation Of
5000 feet above the sea and leaves
the county at it's southern extremity
at 2000 feet above the sea. Cranber
ry River and Williams River are
each 5000 feet above the sea at the
Pocahontas Webster line, and Elk
River passes the Pocahontas- Ran
dolph line at height of $500 feet
Shaver's Fork of Cheat enters
Randolph from Pocahontas at q
height of 3700 above the sea, so that
the high uplands of the State are
distributed among the counties o.
Pendleton, Pocahontas and Randolph
The following arc a few of the high
est elevations of that region, al
though many more above 1000 feet
in height might be named
Spruce Knob, Pendleton county
1880 feet.
Panther Knob. Pendleton county