WEST VIKGINIA GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. Ill 



Present Forest Conditions. 



Mr. Alexander Clohan, of Martinsburg, gives the following 

 information regarding the present conditions in Berkeley 

 county : 



''The best tract of timber east of North mountain contains 

 about 27 acres and lies a short distance west of Tabler station 

 on the Cumberland Valley railroad. The woodlots belonging 

 to the farmers throughout this section are fairly good but about 

 half of the land owners have none at all. 



''Following down the Opequon we find the pine hill lands 

 lying between Berkeley and Jefferson. IMost of the pine here 

 is "Bull" pine and scrub pine and is not valuable commer- 

 cially except for boxes etc." 



"There is more timber and a much greater percentage of 

 woodland from the middle of the county westward. The west 

 side of North mountain is covered with fairly good timber, con- 

 sisting of hickory, pine, chestnut, chestnut oak, black oak and 

 others. Lower down there are water maples, sycamores and 

 others that usually grow with them. There is probably an 

 area of about 1,000 acres in that section that has not been closely 

 cut over. This is held in rather small tracts by different owners. 

 There are about 10,000 acres of forest land on Back mountain 

 and on Sleepy Creek mountain. The timber on this area is of 

 little value except for staves and cross-ties. 



" GrerardstoAvn and Hedgesville districts are the roughest 

 and most mountainous in the county. The other 5 districts are 

 well improved, Arden and Opequon having perhaps 90 per cent 

 of cleared land. 



"Pine comes up almost spontaneously on abandoned land 

 on the west side of North mountain, and on the east side locusts 

 seem to predominate." 



BOONE COUNTY. 



Location and Area. 



Boone county, formed from parts of Kanawha, CabeU and 

 Logan, in 1847, lies in the southwestern part of the State. Tts 

 area is 512 square miles or 327,680 acres. 



