604 
The necessity of preliminary topographical work 
needs no proof; for it is a self-evident proposition, 
that without the aid of correct maps, defining the 
mountains and ridges within which are embraced 
the main geological features of the country, the geol- 
ogist, however well versed he may be, is likely to 
be led into error. The more complicated the geo- 
logical structure, the greater the degree of accuracy 
required in the geographical work. 
A glance at any of the existing maps of the United 
States will show that this southern part of West 
Virginia is about as destitute of railroad communica- 
tion as any other district of the same area east of the 
Mississippi River, if not more so. 
The peculiar topography of the Appalachians caused 
engineers to look suspiciously on attempts to cross its 
ridges at right angles to the axes of uplift, and for 
a long time retarded the development of this region. 
Thus unprovided with transportation facilities, the 
country itself was naturally but sparsely populated, 
and of itself unable to construct the means of com- 
munication with the great tides of commerce passing 
to the north and south. Another factor retarding 
the development of the region has its origin in the 
vexatious litigations concerning titles and the owner- 
ship of West-Virginia lands, which are due largely to 
the indefiniteness of former survey-lines, run inde- 
pendently and without connection with each other. 
This state of affairs will, in large part, be remedied 
by the work of the geological survey. 
The completion of the Baltimore and Ohio, and the 
Chesapeake and Ohio railroads demonstrated the pos- 
sibility of practical and feasible routes through the 
supposed barrier of the Alleghanies, and has partially 
developed one of the most valuable coal areas within 
the limits of the United States. It now remains to 
construct lateral branches, and to make a comprehen- 
sive and detailed geological investigation of what 
promises to be one of the most interesting mining and 
manufacturing regions of the country, Mr. Shum- 
way, in 1883, surveyed between four thousand and five 
thousand square miles of this section, comprising the 
counties of Wayne, Boone, Logan, Wyoming, Mercer, 
Raleigh, Lincoln, and portions of Cabell, Fayette, 
Kanawha, and Summers. The office of the completed 
map is to supply the geodetic features for the estab- 
lishment of the true position of the geological forma- 
tions, and to serve as,a basis for a subsequent elabo- 
rate and exhaustive geological study of the included 
region. Like all the older states settled previous to 
the adoption by the government of the present recti- 
linear surveys, West Virginia has been forced to rely, 
for her geological mapping, upon such field-work as 
very meagre state appropriations allowed. The work 
accomplished was consequently of a very fugitive 
nature; and, because of the absence of any connected 
system of land-surveys over the state, the existing 
published maps have no claim to faithfulness in the 
delineation of the geographical features of the coun- 
try, much less to accuracy in the portrayal of the sur- 
face configuration. 
It is true that innumerable land-traverses cross and 
recross the country in a perfect network of lines, 
SCIENCE. 
[Vou. III., No. 67. 
some being run with more or less respectful regard to 
nature, but the greater number being surveyed by 
engineers solely in the interests of the land-owners. 
In the few instances which have a plausible claim to 
accuracy, the variations of the magnetic meridian, 
differing by no inconsiderable amount in contiguous 
tracts of land, and resulting often from the presence 
of iron oxide beneath the surface, precludes the pos- 
sibility of accepting these disjointed meanders as 
furnishing reliable and correct geographical data for 
use as a basis for scientific work. 
The difficulties met with in mapping the area under 
consideration are those common to the work in the 
southern Appalachian Mountains, where dense forests, 
and the absence of a sufficient number of command- 
ing points well situated for triangulation stations, 
offer obstacles to the topographer which make the 
most constant demand on his experience and judg- 
ment, and, at the same time, call for the most ex- 
travagant outlay from his stock of patience and good 
nature. It is doubtful if, within the limits of the 
United States, there exists another section of country 
in geological structure so simple, yet for topographi- 
cal work so replete with obstacles and difficulties, as 
this coal-region of West Virginia. It is simply be- 
stowing credit where it rightfully belongs, to state 
that the forthcoming map is mainly the result of the 
experience and able judgment, in geographical work, 
of Mr. Henry Gannett, the chief geographer of the 
survey, who supervised the work in this area. 
The character of the topography here, as in all re- 
gions, is derived from, and varies with, the nature of 
the geologic formations. The most casual study of 
the stratigraphy of the district evidences the fact 
that the entire country, now underlain by the coal- 
formation, at one time constituted a vast basin or 
geosynclinal. After a long period of oscillations, 
producing a series of emergences and submergences, 
during which the succession of coal-beds and inter- 
stratified sands, clays, etc., were formed, at or near the 
close of paleozoic time, there occurred an epoch of 
disturbance which resulted in the general elevation 
of the Appalachian region, and produced the numer- 
ous ridges, faults, and displacements of the Alle- 
ghanies. As might naturally be inferred, the greater 
the distance from the centre of disturbance, the less 
prominent were the effects, until reaching the axial 
line of the Flat-Top and White-Oak Mountains. We 
find that from here, westward to the Ohio River, the 
entire country seems to have been elevated in one 
mass, hinging on that river, and having a gradual 
slope to the north-west, which is the direction of the 
prevailing dip. The development of faults relieved in 
a large measure the strata lying to the westward; and 
the presence of the massive sandstone in the con- 
glomerate series, also, no doubt, aided in preventing 
the flexures extending to the west. 
This region may therefore be regarded as an eroded — 
plateau, sloping from the east toward the Ohio: so 
that, to the west of the axial line just referred to, — 
a F 
the rocks dip faster than the plane of erosion, and 
we pass necessarily into higher and higher strata of 
the coal-formation; that is, the highest strata in geo- 
