WEST VIRGINIA GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 



253 



58,000 acres, are found in several widely scattered areas, some 

 lying on the Cheat river near the Tucker line, some on Brushy 

 and Briery mountains, and others on the heads of Muddy run 

 and on the Cheat near to the Monongalia line. 



Grains, vegetables and fruits are successfully grown in 

 nearly all parts of the county and much of the remaining wood- 

 land will probably be cleared for agricultural purposes. 



PUTNAM COUNTY. 



Location and Area. 



Putnam county, formed in 1848 from parts of Kanawha, 

 Mason and Cabell, lies southwest of the center of the state and 

 is separated from the Ohio river by Cabell and Mason counties. 

 Its area is 355.3 square miles or 227,392 acres. 



Topography. 



The county is hilly throughout except in the broad bottoms 

 of the Great Kanawha river and in the narrower bottoms of 

 some of its tributaries and the tributaries of Mud river. A 

 peculiar depression in the surface, known as Teays Valley, 

 extends westward across the southern end of the county from 

 the Great Kanawha river to the Mud river in Cabell county. 

 This almost level belt of land, which contains from 3,000 to 5,000 

 acres, was doubtless once the channel of the Great Kanawha 

 river. Before the ice age, it is said, the Great Kanawha and the 

 Big Sandy formed a river which flowed northward through the 

 Scioto valley and discharged its waters into the Great Lakes. 



The Great Kanawha river flows northwestward passing 

 not far from the center of the county. Its principal tributaries 

 from the north are Eighteenmile creek, emptying at the Mason 

 county line ; Buffalo creek 4 miles below Winfield ; Guauo creek 

 about 4 miles above Winfield; and Pocatalico river emptying 

 about 4 miles below the Kanawha county line. The southern 

 tributaries of the Kanawha river are Little Hurricane creek 

 and Hurricane creek, emptying about 1^ miles and 3 miles 

 respectively below Winfield; and Twentymile creek emptying 



