26 BULLETIN OF THE LABORATORIES 



At Catlettsburg the Ohio receives a large tributary from the south, 

 the Big Sandy. The Ohio valley is perceptibly wider below the mouth 

 of the Big Sandy than above it. 



At Huntington the Ohio Valley is about one and three quarters 

 miles wide. Here also enters from the north through a narrow deep 

 valley the considerable stream of Symmes' Creek. 



At Guyandotte the Guandotte river joins the Ohio and at this point 

 also the Teazes valley meets the Ohio. For descriptions of the Teazes 

 valley the reader is referred to Bulletin Geological Survey, No. 58, 

 page 86, Prof. G. F. Wright, Ice Age of North America, page 339, 

 same author. 



Passing further up the river the valley rapidly grows narrower. 

 The characters of the valley resemble those noted below Vanceburg 

 and above Portsmouth. There seems to be nothing in the stratigraphy 

 which would produce this narrowing of the valley and the presence of 

 the bold cliffs of carboniferous rocks. Several miles above Guyandotte 

 the width of the valley was estimated at less than a mile. Observations 

 were not extended farther up the river. 



The tributary valleys of the Ohio to which attention is especially 

 directed are : The Teazes valley of West Virginia and the Flat Woods 

 valley back of Ashland, Kentuckey, both of which have been de- 

 scribed by other writers ; The Big Sandy ; The California valley and 

 Symmes' Creek. 



3. THE BIG SANDY VALLEY. 



Our examination of the valley of the Big Sandy did not extend 

 above five miles from Catlettsburg and the results of the study will be 

 briefly stated. The general direction of the valley conforms to that of 

 the Ohio from Sciotoville to Catlettsburg. A cross section would show 

 very clearly that the present channel has been eroded out of a more 

 elevated valley floor. The rock platforms left on both sides of the val- 

 ley show the old drainage level to be [by aneroid] about 150 feet 

 above the present level of the Ohio. The old gradation plain is in 

 many places very prominent. The characters of this high level valley 

 resemble those of the Teazes, Flat Woods, and California valleys. 

 There is no doubt in the mind of the writer that the gradient of the 

 Big Sandy has been recently increased thus producing rapid cutting in 

 the old gradient plain. 



