184 



CONDITIONS BY COUNTIES. 



strip which borders the Tug Fork of Big Sandy river and its 

 larger tributaries in the western part of the county. This low 

 land enters from the west at an elevation of about 850 feet and 

 extends up the main stream as far as Clear Fork, up Dry Fork 

 tp the mouth of Crane creek, up Panther and Bull creeks for a 

 distance of about 2 miles and for shorter distances up the small 

 tributaries that empty into the river below the mouth of Clear 

 Fork, It is thus seen that almost the whole surface of the county 

 lies above 1,000 feet. The elevation increases rapidly toward the 

 east and large areas lie above 2,000 and 2,500 feet. At a point 

 where the county's southern boundary line crosses the northern 

 end of Sandj^ Eidge the elevation rises to 3,170 feet. The highest 

 land is found, however, on the Great Flat Top mountain which 

 rises to 3,300 feet in the extreme eastern part of the county. 



The drainage basin of the upper Tug Fork of Big Sandy 

 river, with Panther creek, Dry Fork, Clear Fork and Elkhorn 

 creek as its principal tributaries, lies chiefly within McDowell 

 county, a small part only extending into Tazewell county, Vir- 

 ginia. Elkhorn creek which rises in the eastern part of the county 

 and Tug Fork, from the mouth of Elkhorn at Welch, to the Min- 

 go line, both flow almost directly west and at a distance of from 

 2 to 6 miles south of Indian ridge. From this high ridge, which 

 forms the natural boundary between ]\IcDowell and Wyoming 

 counties, numerous short streams flow rapidly into Tug Fork and 

 the Elkhorn. The southern tributaries of the river are longer 

 and flow with a less rapid current. 



Former Forest Conditions. 



All sections of McDowell county once contained a large 

 quantity of valuable timber except the very steep river blaffs and 

 the more or less narrow strips of land lying on the sandy ridges. 

 It may be said that yellow poplar and white oak were the pre- 

 dominant valuable hardwoods and that hemlock was the only 

 softwood worthy of mention. There were many other hardwoods, 

 however, that grew in merchantable quantities. Some of these 

 were basswood, cucumber, vdiite ash, black walnut, sugar maple, 

 red oak, chestnut oak, black oak, chestnut, hickory, beech, locust 

 and sweet buckeye. Percentages of the principal timber trees 



