156 



CONDITIONS BY COUNTIES. 



ancloah and Frederick counties^ Virginia, on the east, follows 

 North mountain for many miles at an elevation of about 3,000 

 feet. In some places the higher ridges are broken by eastward 

 and westward flowing streams and the foot-hills or, lesser ridges, 

 some of which rise only a few hundred feet above the valleys, 

 are everywhere interrupted in this way. 



The principal rivers of the county are the South Branch 

 of the Potomac, with its South Fork or Moorefield tributary, 

 and the Lost river. The former enters the area from Grant 

 county through the picturesque Petersburg Gap. From the 

 place where it emerges from the gap the river flows through a 

 broad and fertile valley, past Moorefield the countj^ seat, where 

 the volume of water is doubled by its confluence with the Sou4;h 

 Fork. From this place it flows on in the same northeasterly di- 

 rection through a still wider and more fertile valley to the mouth 

 of Mud Lfick run. Here the valley comes to a sudden end, 

 the steep slopes of Mill Creek mountain on the west and those 

 of a lower, narrower ridge on the east descending to the very 

 v/ater's edge and forming for a distance of about 7 miles a deep 

 and symmetrical canon, known as the ' ' Trough. ' ' The Lost river 

 flows several miles northwestward and parallel with the south- 

 eastern line of the county. A short distance above the tovm of 

 Warclensville the river disappears under a hill, reappearing a 

 mile or more below. Below this underground or ''lost" portion 

 of the channel, which gives the upper course of the stream its 

 name, the river is known as Cacapon or Great Cacapon through 

 the counties of Hampshire and Morgan. The North river, a large 

 tributary of the Cacapon, rises in the northern end of Hardy 

 county. 



Original Timber Conditions. 



As a whole, the county was not heavily timbered. The prin- 

 cipal valleys and the rich mountain coves, however, once con- 

 tained a dense stand of oaks, hickories, walnuts, ash, basswood, 

 and many other hardwoods. The timber has been removed from 

 nearly all the bottom lands but a few remaining wgin wood- 

 lots furnish evidence of the superiority of the valley timbers. 

 Up to about 1891 the county contained a considerable quantity 



