WEST VIRGINIA GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 



161 



Present Forest Conditions. 



About 80 per cent of the county has been cleared and is 

 now in a good state of cultivation. The remainder of the area 

 is in woodlots ranging in size from 1 or 2 acres up to 100 acres 

 or more. Woodland is more plentiful on the western edge of 

 the county than in other sections. Mr. R. T. Lowndes, of Clarks- 

 burg, mentions a broken tract of about 2,000 acres of culled forest 

 lying on Indian run, a tributary of Tenmile creek in the western 

 part of the county. 



JACKSON COUNTY. 



Location and Area. 



Jackson county lies on the Ohio river between Mason on 

 the southwest and Wood on the north. It was formed from 

 parts of Kanawha, Wood and ]\Iason counties in 1831, Area, 

 470.29 square miles or 300,985.6 acres. 



Topography. 



Like other counties lying along the Ohio river Jackson has 

 a surface diversified with hills and valleys. In most parts the 

 hills are low and smooth, admitting of easy cultivation. The 

 steepest and roughest land is found on the hillsides facing the 

 Ohio river at several places, and along some of the streams, par- 

 ticularly the headwaters of the Eight and Left forks of Sandy 

 creek, the several headwaters of Mill creek, and the Middle fork 

 of Pocatalico river. The Ohio river valley averages a mile in 

 width from Millwood northward for about 5 miles and about 

 the same width for nearly 3 miles in the vicinity of Ravenswood. 

 To the north and south of the wdde valleys named, and for a 

 short distance between them, the hills descend abruptly to the 

 water's edge, except that from ^lurrayville southward for about 

 5 miles there is a narrow valley widening at Muses Bottom 

 to nearly half a mile. Both Mill creek and Sandy creek have 

 bottoms of a width varying from a few rods toward their heads 

 to almost a mile at a few points along their lower courses. 

 11 



