NATURAL AREAS AND REGIONS 



341 



Tamarack Sphagnum Bog in Pyma- 

 tuning Swamp. (C3.) There are about 

 100 acres that should be preserved at 

 once, for each year sees more of the 

 Tamarack cut off. Here grow pitcher 

 plant (Sarracenia purpurea), Lonicera 

 altissima and many more plants de- 

 scribed by Dachnowski, Alfred, in Peat 

 Deposits of Ohio, 1912: 33. It should be 

 purchased by State Dept. of Forestry. 



About two mi. west of Hartstown. 

 0. E. Jennings. 



*Presque Isle Sand Dunes and Decidu- 

 ous Forest. (B2.) A tract of unknown 

 area is located on Lake Erie. Here is a 

 series of successions on sand in inland 

 lake regions. Part of the island has been 

 turned over to the City of Erie for a 

 water park and still more recently some 

 of it for a state fish hatchery. For the 

 latter purpose, the large inland ponds 

 are being dredged out and connected by 

 artificial canals. The park should be 

 preserved in its natural state by the 

 nation, as it is under control of the War 

 Department, Erie, Pa./. W. H. 



Sheffield (Warren County") Areas. 

 South Sheffield Wood. (C3.) Contains a 

 few scattered large white pines, the larg- 

 est apparently about 140 ft. high or 

 more, and 4 ft. or more in diameter. 

 The wood was largely hemlock with red 

 oaks, maples, some red birch, cherry and 

 tulip trees, quite similar in size and 

 character to that described below. 

 Located south of Sheffield. Willard G. 

 Van Name. 



North Sheffield Wood. (C3.) Large 

 tract of old woods on hills N. and N. E. 

 of town south of 4 mi. creek. Tract 

 begins practically in sight of W. part of 

 town. Very dense stand of hemlock in 

 some places. Usual height of hardwood 

 trees in this tract 80 to 85 ft., some hem- 

 locks 100 ft. or a little over, but majority 

 90 to 95 ft. Almost no pines. Few 

 trees of large diameter. 



Sheffield, Warren Co. Willard G. Van 

 Name. 



8. WEST VIRGINIA 

 BY W. E. RUMSEY 



I. GENERAL CONDITIONS 



The mere mention of the name West 

 Virginia brings to mind a state irregular 

 in outline, uneven in surface, and of 

 great natural resources. At least 85% 

 of its area consists of hills and moun- 

 tains. The only broad valleys are those 

 of the Ohio, the Kanawha, the Potomac, 

 and the Shenandoah rivers. The eleva- 



tion ranges from 260 to 4860 ft. A 

 clearer idea of the general surface 

 features of the state can be conveyed by 

 dividing it into three parts, namely, 

 the Ohio Valley Section, the Mountain 

 Region, and the Potomac Area. The 

 first division includes about half of the 

 State, sloping westward from the Alle- 

 gheny Mountains to the Ohio River and 

 constituting the northeastern continua- 

 tion of the tableland of the Cumberland 

 Mountains. In all places this plateau is 

 dissected by narrow valleys so that it is 

 recognizable as such only in a general 

 view from high elevations. This area 

 varies in altitude from 500 ft. at the 

 mouth of the Big Sandy River, to 1500 

 ft. on the hill tops nearest the moun- 

 tains. The Allegheny Region may be 

 said to begin at the 1500-ft. elevation 

 near the eastern border of Monongalia 

 County at the north and lies east of a 

 line drawn from this place in a south- 

 westerly direction to the eastern ex- 

 tremity of Kentucky. This is but an 

 arbitrary division for the hilly area of 

 the Ohio Valley Section and the Moun- 

 tain Region pass almost imperceptibly 

 into each other. In the eastward rise 

 from the 1500-ft. level there are thou- 

 sands of mountain tops arranged irre- 

 gularly and deeply cleft, followed by 

 long undulating ridge after ridge to the 

 crest of the Alleghenies the highest 

 point of which is Spruce Mountain in 

 Pendleton County, 4860 ft. high. From 

 this summit the portion of the mountain 

 region to the east is of greater unifor- 

 mity. The ranges extend in a north- 

 eastern and southwestern direction with 

 much regularity and each successive 

 eastward ridge is less elevated than the 

 preceding one. The 1500-ft. level, which 

 may be taken as the eastern edge of this 

 area, is reached in Grant County. The 

 remainder of the State constitutes the 

 Potomac section which is commonly 

 known as the Eastern Panhandle. Its 

 elevation runs from 260 ft., at the east- 

 ern border, near Harpers Ferry, to the 

 1500 ft. level mentioned above. 



While there are no natural lakes in 

 West Virginia its many rivers, numer- 



