WEST VIRGINIA GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 7 



southwestern corner of Pendleton county; thence it turns soulh- 

 east across the Potomac basin to the crest of Shenandoah moun- 

 tain, which it follows for some distance northeastward; thence 

 southeast to the crest of North mountain; thence with this 

 mountain and its foothills to the Morgan county Jine ; thenc; by 

 a straight line running southeast across Back creek, Opeqiioo 

 creek, and the Shenandoah river, to the crest of Blue Ridge 

 mountains; thence with this mountain crest to the beginning. 

 The line thus described is about 1,170 miles in length. 



The state is situated between 37 degrees 6 minutes and 40 

 degrees 38 minutes north latitude, and between 40 minutes and 

 5 degrees 35 minutes longitude west from Washington. Ohio 

 and Pennsylvania bound it on the north, Pennsylvania, Mary- 

 land, and Virginia on the east, Virginia and Kentucky on the 

 south, and Kentucky and Ohio on the west. 



The area of West Virginia is usually given at 24,715 square 

 miles. The area, as determined by the original calculations of 

 the United States Geological Survey,— including 135 square 

 miles of water surface — ^is 24,780 square miles. Later and more 

 careful calculations of the areas of several of the counties have 

 reduced these figures to 24,643 square miles, or 15,771,520 

 acres. Exact figures will not be obtainable until the re-survey 

 of the state has been completed. 



The greatest air line distance across the state in any direc- 

 tion is 274 miles from Harpers Perry to Kenova. The distance 

 from the northern extremity of Hancock couutv to the most 

 southern point in the state is 245 miles. 



Topography. 



As the topography of each separate county is described in 

 another part of this report, it will be necessary here to describe 

 , that of the state as a whole, only in a general way and to add 

 .a few interesting facts regarding elevations, etc. 



The greater part of West Virginia lies in tlie Ohio river 

 drainage basin between the Alleghany mountains on the east 

 and the Ohio river on the west. The average elevation of the 

 crest line of the mountains is about 4,000 feet: that of the 

 river is about 600 feet. This large, westward-sloping area is 

 a northeast continuation of the Cumberland plateau, or the 



