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CONDITIONS BY COUNTIES. 



WEBSTER COUNTY. 



Location and Area. 



Webster county was formed in 1860 from parts of Nicholas, 

 Braxton and Randolph. It is situated slightly southeast of the 

 center of the state. Area 590 square miles or 377,600 acres. 



Topography. 



This county is one of the highest and roughest portions of 

 West Virginia. In the southeastern half of the county the lofty 

 ridges of the Yew mountains rise to elevations ranging from 

 3,000 feet to 4,300 feet. The lowest land is found at the points 

 where the Little Kanawha and the Elk rivers leave the county 

 at an elevation of about 1,000 feet. The Gauley river leaves at 

 2,000 feet elevation and the Cranberry crosses the southwestern 

 line into Nicholas at about 2,200 feet. The smoothest areas are 

 found about the Welch Glades near Cowen, on Strouds creek 

 and Big Ditch run north of Camden-on-Gauley, in the vicinity 

 of Waineville, and at Hackers Valley on the Holly river. In 

 some sections, also, there are high, flat areas on the mountain 

 tops. This is especially true of the mountain separating Elk 

 and Gauley rivers in the region south and southwest of Webster 

 Springs. 



The general course of all the larger streams is toward the 

 northwest. By following the line which bounds the county 

 obliquely on the west, a person would cross the following 

 streams, named in order from north to south: Little Kanawha 

 river. Left and Hight Forks of Holly river. Elk river. Laurel 

 creek, heads of Little and Big Birch rivers, Strouds creek, 

 Gauley river and Cranberry river. The principal tributaries 

 of the Little Kanawha in the county are the Right Fork and 

 Buffalo run ; those of the Back Fork of Holly are Laurel Fork, 

 Hodam creek and Old Lick creek ; and those of the Right Fork 

 of Holly are Grassy creek, Desert Fork and Laurel Fork. Elk 

 river's chief tributaries are Laurel creek, which rises in the 

 Welch Glades; Back Fork, emptying at Webster Springs, and 

 Leatherwood and Bergoo creeks, flowing in from the high moun- 



