WEST mGINIA GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 



193 



MASON COUNTY. 



Location and Area. 



Mason county lies on the Ohio river south and west of Jack- 

 son and north of Cahell. It was formed in 1804 from part of 

 Kanawha county. Its area is 449.27 square miles or 287,532.8 

 acres. 



Topography. 



The hills of the county are low and the slopes gentle, es- 

 pecially in the region embraced in the northwest by the Ohio and 

 the G^reat Kanawha rivers. In the territory farthest back from 

 the rivers the hills rise in some places to an elevation of a little 

 more than 1,000 feet and the slopes are rough and steep. The 

 bottoms of the Ohio and Great Kanawha rivers are wide in near- 

 ly all places in the county and comprise an area of over 50,000 

 acres. 



The county is well drained by the Ohio and Great Kanawha 

 rivers, the former separating it from Ohio on the north and west, 

 and the latter flowing in a northwest course and emptying into 

 the Ohio at Point Pleasant. The principal tributaries of the 

 Ohio south of Point Pleasant are Guyan creek, Eighteenmile 

 creek, Sixteenmile creek and Crab creek; those north of Point 

 Pleasant are Oldtown creek, Mill creek, Tenmile creek, Sliding 

 Hill creek, Broad creek and West creek. The principal tribu- 

 taries of the Great Kanawha, named from its mouth to the 

 Putnam county line, are Crooked creek, Threemile creek. Five- 

 mile creek, Ninemile creek, Tenmile creek, Thirteenmile creek, 

 Little Sixteenmile creek and Sixteenmile creek. 



Original Timber Conditions. 



The tree growth in the rich valleys of the two large rivers 

 of the county, and the growth of all manner of plant life, was 

 exceedingly luxuriant. According to Mr. John McCuUoch, of 

 Point Pleasant, grape vines often grew to such enormous size 

 that some of them were split into rails for fencing; and the 

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