WEST VIRGINIA GEOLOQICAL SURVEY. 



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feet above tide at the top of a high knob, on the Wetzel-Tyler 

 line, 2 miles northeast of Alvy (Stringtown), in the extreme 

 eastern part of the county, or a total range of 920 feet. Many 

 residents of Tyler think a high knob, called "Owlshead", 2 

 miles northeast of the town of Wick, the highest in the county, 

 but it lacks 75 to 80' of being as high as the knob referred ta 

 above, since the top of it is only about 1415' above tide. 



Tyler has a much smoother topography than Wetzel and 

 is therefore better adapted to farming than the latter. The 

 soil has become exhausted somewhat and the farms have been 

 neglected over a great portion of the county since the develop- 

 ment of the oil and gas industry 15 to 20 years ago. 



The principal stream is the Ohio river along which the 

 county fronts for about 14 miles. The tributaries of the Ohio 

 for this distance are very short, draining a strip which averages 

 not more than a mile in width. To the east of this low water- 

 shed all the streams flow directly away from the Ohio river to 

 Middle Island creek or its larger tributaries. 



Since Tyler county is drained almost entirely by Middle 

 Island creek and its tributaries the following complete descrip- 

 tion of the steam is here given: 



"Middle Island creek is said to be the longest stream not to 

 bear the name river in the United States. The air line distance 

 from its mouth at the Ohio river to its head in southeastern 

 Doddridge county is slightly over 38 miles. The distance meas- 

 ured along the meanders of the stream is over 100 miles. The 

 crookedest portion of the creek lies within Tyler county. The 

 air line distance between the point where the creek enters Tyler 

 county (63 miles above its mouth) is 12.8 miles. The same dis- 

 tance measured along the stream is 46 miles, or the ratio of total 

 distance to air line distance is about 3.6. 



''The entire area of Tyler county with the exception of a 

 narrow belt along the river front, lies within the drainage basin 

 of Middle Island creek. The area of its drainage basin within 

 the limits of Tyler county is 246 square miles. 



*'From Middlebourne to the Ohio river, a distance of 39 

 miles, the total fall is only 60 feet or an average of about 1 foot 

 and a half to the mile. This would indicate that the lower 

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