WEST VIRGINIA GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 



273 



There is no virgin forest except a few very small areas 

 owned by farmers. 



SUMMERS COUNTY. 



Location and Area. 



Summers county, formed from parts of Mercer, Monroe, 

 Greenbrier, and Fayette counties, lies in the southeastern part 

 of the State and is bounded on the north, east and south by the 

 counties from which it was formed and by Raleigh on the west. 

 Its area is 368 square miles or 235,520 acres. 



Topography. 



The mountainous surface of the county is deeply dissected 

 by the channels of many swift-flowing streams. Wolf Creek 

 mountain, White Oak mountain and Keeney mountain are the 

 highest in the county. The first has an elevation of about 3,000 

 feet and the others rise from 500 to 700 feet higher. Forest 

 Hill and Talcott districts contain the smoothest land and also, 

 with Green Sulphur district, compose the richest agricultural 

 section. Greenbrier, Jumping , Brancli and Pipestem districts 

 are rough, but contain a large acreage of good grazing and tilla- 

 ble land. 



New river courses through the center of the county, enter- 

 ing at its extreme southern corner and flowing out on the north- 

 west. The Greenbrier river, flowing from the northeast, emp- 

 ties into the New at Hinton; and the Bluestone river, entering 

 from Mercer, empties on the opposite side from the Greenbrier 

 and about 4 miles above the latter 's mouth. 



Former Timber Conditions. 



According to Mr. J. C. James, a pioneer lumberman, the 

 county was not as well timbered, originally, as some of the other 

 interior counties of the State. It is fair to state, however, that 

 prior to the beginning of any lumber operations, and before the 

 area was visited by even the pioneer lumbermen, a large per- 

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