WEST VIRGINIA GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 



267 



companies, however, own a sufficient quantity of timber to keep 

 them operating a few years longer than that. According to in- 

 formation obtained from the lumber companies listed above 

 only 5 of them will be operating in the county 10 years hence 

 and these will be nearing the completion of their work. Almost 

 every acre of virgin forest in the county is in the hands of op- 

 erators or is likely to be within a very short time. 



It is gratifying to note that at least one lumber company — 

 the West Virginia Pulp and Paper Company — is making ex- 

 tensive plantations of spruce trees on its cut-over lands near the 

 head of Shavers Fork of Cheat river. 



RITCHIE COUNTY. 



Location and Area. 



Ritchie county, formed in the year 1843 from parts of 

 "Wood, Harrison and Lewis, lies northwest of the center of the 

 State in the second tier of counties back from the Ohio river. 

 Its area is 457 square miles or 292,480 acres. 



Topography. 



There are no high mountains and no broad valleys in the 

 county. The whole area is uniformly hilly, the slopes being 

 rough and steep in many places and in others smooth and less 

 abrupt. At the point where Hughes river leaves the county on 

 the southwest the elevation is 630 feet. King knob, 6 miles 

 due south of Harrisville, rises to 1,200 feet. 



Every acre of the county is drained by the North and South 

 Forks of Hughes river and by Goose creek a tributary also of 

 Hughes river. The North Fork rises in the extreme northern 

 comer and flows southwestward through the county for about 

 50 miles. The larger of its 40 or more important creeks and 

 runs, named from mouth to source, are Gillespie run, Addis run, 

 Big run. Bonds creek, Rockcamp run, Lynneamp run and Bun- 

 dle run. The South Fork of Hughes river enters the county 

 from Doddridge and flows almost due west joining the North 

 Fork near the southwestern comer of the county. Its principal 



