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CONDITIONS BY COUNTIES. 



LEWIS COUNTY. 



Location and Area. 



Lewis county, formed in the year 1816 from part of Harri- 

 son, is situated slightly north of the center of the State. Its area 

 is 414 square miles or 264,960 acres. 



Topography. 



This county lies in what is often termed the high hilly sec- 

 tion, occupying as it does a position intermediate between the 

 Alleghany mountains and the low hilly region of the Ohio river. 

 In nearly all sections the hills are steep and the ridges long and 

 narrow. There are a few sections, as the smooth portions of 

 Hackers Creek and Freemans Creek districts, where there are 

 broad valleys and where the hills are rather rolling than rough. 

 Sand Fork of Little Kanawha river leaves the county at an eleva- 

 tion of 770 feet; the West Fork river leaves at about 970 feet, 

 and Hackers Creek leaves at a little less than 1,000 feet. Buck- 

 hannon mountain, Bald knob, Cochran knob, Pine knob, Rush 

 knob and Sugar knob range in elevation from approximately 

 1,600 feet to 1,800 feet. 



The largest stream of the county is West Fork river which 

 rises in the southern end and flows northward, passing near the 

 center of the county. Its largest right hand tributaries are Hack- 

 ers creek, Stonecoal creek and Sand Fork. The principal left 

 hand branches are Kincheloe creek, flowing between Lewis and 

 Harrison, Freemans creek, Polk creek and Eush run. The head- 

 waters of Oil creek. Sand Fork and Leading creek, tributaries of 

 the Little Kanawha, drain a large territory in the southwest. 



Original Timber Conditions. 



The original forests of Lewis county were essentially hard- 

 wood. Hemlock was never plentiful as in some adjacent counties 

 and other softwoods, such as pitch pine and red cedar, grew only 

 in small scattered clumps. Yellow poplars, oaks, black walnuts, 

 locusts, maples, hickories, beeches, and many other hardwoods 



