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NATURALIST'S GUIDE TO THE AMERICAS 



ous ever-flowing smaller streams, and 

 thousands of never-failing springe place 

 it among the best watered states. The 

 entire drainage of the State, except a 

 small area in the eastern part of Monroe 

 County, is through two river systems — 

 the Ohio and the Potomac. Thirty- 

 three of the 3S principal rivers in West 

 Virginia have their sources within the 

 borders of the State and many of these 

 rise near each other in the Allegheny 

 Mountains. There are many rapids, 

 cascades, and waterfalls in practically 

 all these streams until they reach the 

 lower levels in the Ohio or Potomac 

 regions. 



II. PRESENT AND ORIGINAL BIOTA 



Among the original timber trees that 

 are rapidly being removed from the 

 forests of West Virginia are the white 

 pine, red spruce, and tulip or yellow 

 polar, all of which were at one time 

 abundant in certain sections of the State. 

 The white pine was formerly common in 

 parts of Greenbrier, Mercer, Pendleton, 

 Pocahontas, Raleigh, and Tucker coun- 

 ties; and sparsely distributed in all 

 the counties east of the Allegheny Moun- 

 tains. West of the mountains it is 

 found in Doddridge, Gilmer, Jackson, 

 Monongalia, Preston, Ritchie, Taylor, 

 Wetzel, and Wirt Counties. White pine 

 is at present too scarce in the State to 

 attract the attention of lumbermen. 

 The red spruce is confined to the high 

 elevations of the Allegheny Mountains 

 and plateaus where it once formed the 

 greater part of vast forests. Now only 

 comparatively small areas of virgin 

 spruce timber remain owing to lumber- 

 ing and the forest fires that follow in its 

 wake. The tulip tree is rapidly being 

 converted into lumber as well as the 

 virgin stands of white pine and spruce. 

 At one time the tulip was abundant 

 throughout the western and central 

 portions of the State below the spruce 

 belt, but rare in the eastern section. 

 Some of the other trees and plants are 

 discussed in the account of natural areas 

 given elsewhere in this article. 



When the sound of the settler's ax 



began to ring in the forests of what is 

 now West Virginia many big game and 

 carnivorous animals roamed through 

 this region, but with the advent of civi- 

 lization practically all of these have 

 disappeared from the confines of the 

 State. History records that large herds 

 of bison were found in the Ohio and the 

 Great Kanawha valleys. While going 

 down the Ohio River by boat in 1765 

 Colonel Crogan saw a vast herd of these 

 animals crossing the river at the point 

 where the village of Letart, Mason 

 County, now stands. The last bison 

 killed in the State, as far as known, was 

 at Valley Head, Randolph County, in 

 1825. The elk is another of the big game 

 animals that formerly thrived in the 

 higher mountain regions. There is an 

 account of 3 elk having been killed in 

 the Canaan Valley (Tucker County) 

 about 1843 and the last record of these 

 animals was in 1845 when a herd of seven 

 was observed near Durbin, Pocahontas 

 County. In an effort to re-establish 

 the elk in the wilds of the Allegheny 

 mountains of West Virginia, the Alle- 

 gheny and Cheat Mountain Clubs in- 

 troduced 65 of these animals into Poca- 

 hontas County — 15 from Iowa in 1912 

 and 50 from the Yellowstone National 

 Park in 1913. These elk were placed in 

 a fenced area of 100 acres composed of 

 forest and pasture lands. Subsequently 

 about half of the animals escaped and 

 formed a wild herd which later divided 

 into two groups, one of which is still 

 in the wilds of Pocohontas County while 

 the other one has moved north into 

 Pendleton County. It is not definitely 

 known to what extent these two wild 

 herds have increased or diminished since 

 their escape from the inclosure. The 

 future of these animals depends upon 

 the continuation of condition^ suited to 

 their habits and needs, and upon their 

 protection through the enforcement of 

 our game laws. The beaver at one time 

 constructed dams and built homes in 

 West Virginia, but until a few months 

 ago it was supposed to have been ex- 

 terminated here by civilization and 

 trappers as none of its work had been 



