Spirit of Jefferson. [volume] (Charles Town, Va. [W. Va.]) 1844-1948, 1897-04-06
NOTES ON THE TOPOGRAPHY OF
ea WEST VIRGINIA.

channels stand its sculptered hills, which
east of the central part of the State, rise
into true mountains composed of folded
layers arranged in parallel ridges ant
separated from each other by both longi
tudinal and transverse valleys.
The surface of the State slopes in thret
directions, tothe East, to the North and
to the Southwest is
The topography of West Virginia has {
vertical range of 4, GOO feet, being1pwest
200 feet above the sea, at atHarper's Ferry
and highest, $500 feet above the sea, al
the top of Spruce Knob, in Pendletor
county.
The average elevation of West Virginia
is greater than that of any other State
east of the Mississippi river. The aver.
age elevation of the Appalachian State.
above the sea level is as follows:
New Hampshire, 1000 feet.
Vermont, 1000 feet.
New York, goo feet.
Pennsylvania, I.1oo feet.
Ohio, $50 feet.
Virginia, $50 feet.
West Virginia, I, 500 feet
From the top of Spruce Mountain the
tributaries of the Potomac descend rapid
ly to the eastward and pass from the
State at Harper's Ferry; the waters of
the Cheat flow to the northward and
within sight of the Pennsylvania line
empty into the Monongahela; the Green
brier and Elk flow to 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 planes are
at the mouth of the Shenandoah, zoo feet
above the sea; the mouth of the Big
Sandy, 500 feet above the sea, and the
mouth of Cheat river, 775 feet above the
sea.
Within these three points the success
sive contour lines become smaller and
smaller until whom the 5000 foot level is
reached, this contour line is no longer
continuous, but is broken into number
of broken circles and ellispes surrounding
the higher knobs and ridges.
3 As 90 per cent of the grain of the United
States is raised below the 900 foot level
and 90 per cent of the grain of the United
States is raised balow the i, 5oofoot level,
it becomes a matter ofvery 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 ex-
tends up the river valleys into the central
counties, in Jefferson and Berkeley coun-
ties 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 to the
mouth of Dry Branch on Tug Fork, in
Mcdowell Co. 1t extends up the Great
Knnawha to Sewell, in Fayette; up the
Gauley to Woods Ferry, and up the Elk
to the Braxton-Webster county line.
On the Little Kanawha the 1000 foot
contour line extends up the river to the
mouth of Glade Greek, in the southern
part of Lewis county. thence it skirts
across the country with many irregular
windings to near the corner of the Penn
sylyania line. 1t extends northward
through the counties of Greene and Wash
ington, and turning eastward and south
enters West Virginia in Mononga1ia
county, 225 feet above the river level.
1t creeps up the narrow canon of Cheat
river to the mouth of Sandy in Preston
county, and up the Tygart's Valley 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 Piedmont to Bloomington
and up the south branch of the Potomac
to the forks of the river above Petersburg,
in Grant county.
The 1900 foot contour line extends up
the Big Sandy river to the mouth of
cucumber Greek in Mcdowell county, up
the Greenbrier river to Lowell Station,
and up New river beyond the Virginia
line to the mouth of East river.
- lAG "
Ferry; up the Elk at Addison. and up the
little Kanawha to the mouth of Right
Fork on the Upshur-Webster line.
This level extends up the Buckhannon
river to the mouth of Grossy Run, in Up
shur county, and up the Cheat river to
St George, in Tucker 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 to the mouth of Deer run.
in Pendleton county.
Although the highest mountain in the
State is in Pendieton county, the county
of the highest general elevation is Poca-
hontas. This county can hardly have an
average elevation of less than three thou
sand feet above the sea.
The Greenbrierriver enters Pocohontas
county on either side of Beech Mountain
at an elevation of 5000 feet above the sea
Cranberry river and Williams river are
5000 feet above the sea at Pocohontas-
Webster line and Elk river passes the
Randolph line at heightof a,5oo feet
Shavers fork cheat river enters Ran
dolph from Pocohontas at height of
=. 700 feet above the sea, so that the high