WEST VIRGINIA GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 



27 



''Some of this mileage can scarcely apply to both going np 

 as well as down, but is calculated on the ability of the streams 

 to carry rafts or boats in time of medium flood stages. The 

 Monongahela is considered only from Fairmont to the Pennsyl- 

 vania line ; the Big Sandy, its whole length, and the Ohio along 

 the state border. 



''The Federal Government has spent large sums improving 

 West Virginia rivers or those receiving their principal supply 

 of water from the mountains of West Virginia. The expendi- 

 tures from 1790 to 1907 have been as follows: 



Big Sandy and tributaries 1,445,425 32 



Guyandotte 22,500 00 



Great Kanawha 4,730,108 02 



New 112,000 00 



Gauley 15,000 00 



Elk 35,000 00 



Little Kanawha 488,844 38 



Monongahela, its whole length 6,794,827 40 



Ohio, its whole length 24,485,261 26 



Buckhannon 5,500 00 



Cheat 13,000 00 



Total 38,147,466 39 



' ' The remarkable point in these figures is that approximate- 

 ly one-twelfth of the money spent by the Government, from 

 1790 to 1907, for the improvement of the rivers and the harbors 

 of the whole country, has been spent upon rivers depending in 

 whole or in part upon West Virginia for their water. Cut off 

 or greatly reduce the flow from the West Virginia plateau re- 

 gion and every one of those rivers would immediately feel the 

 effect, and would become nearly or quite dry. Without water 

 from West Virginia, the Ohio river would dwindle to a stream 

 practically worthless for carrying commerce. As a freight car- 

 rier, the Monongahela would be a thing of the past, although it 

 is now one of the largest carriers of freight on the continent. 

 No other territory of five times its size exercises the influence 



