206 



CONDITIONS BY COUNTIES. 



MONONGALIA COUNTY. 



Location and Area. 



Monongalia was formed from the District of West Au- 

 gusta in the year 1776 and is the third oldest county in the 

 State. It lies south of Pennsylvania, west of Preston county, 

 north of Taylor and Marion, and east of Marion and Wetzel 

 counties. Its area is 366.52 square miles or 234,572.8 acres. 



Topography. 



The surface configuaration of the different parts of the 

 county varies greatly. On the east the Cheat river flows at the 

 bottom of a deep canon, in some places cut to a depth of 1,000 

 to 1,500 feet below the mountains on each side, and the whole 

 region is rough and mountainous. The mountains lying on both 

 sides of the Cheat river rise to elevations ranging from 1,500 

 feet up to 2,639 feet. Cheat View, a much visited mountain on 

 the west side of the river, has an elevation of 2,212 feet; and 2 

 miles south of it a mountain rises to 2,290 feet. The smoothest 

 land of the county is found in portions of Grant and Cass dis- 

 tricts and the northern end of Clay district on the west side of 

 the Monongahela, and in some sections of Clinton district on 

 the east side. In Battelle district and also in portions of Clay 

 district, in the western end of the county, the land is rougher. 

 The bottom lands along the streams of the county are narrow 

 except those of Dunkard creek below Pentress and those found 

 in a very few places along the Monongahela river. 



The whole county lies in the drainage basin of the Monon- 

 gahela and Cheat rivers. Battelle and Clay districts and a small 

 area in the northern end of Cass district are drained by the 

 headwaters of Dunkard creek, a western tributary of the Mo- 

 nongahela. Other western tributaries of the IMonongahela are 

 Robinson rui\, Scott run, Dents run, and Indian creek. Its 

 principal eastern tributaries are Cheat river, which empties at 

 Point Marion in the edge of Pennsylvania, and West run, 

 Deckers creek, Cobun creek and Booths creek. The tributa- 



