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CONDITIONS BY COUNTIES. 



WIRT COUNTY. 



Location and Area. 



Wirt county, formed in 1848 from parts of Wood and J ack- 

 son, lies near the center of the second tier of counties back 

 from the Ohio river. Its area is 230.9 square miles or 147,776 

 acres. 



Topography. 



The surface of the county is uneven with valleys and low 

 hills. The principal valley is that of the Little Kanawha river 

 which lies at an elevation varying from 650 feet at its upper 

 end to about 600 feet at all points below the town of Palestine, 

 The only other valley of importance is that of the Hughes river 

 in the northwestern part of the county. Small areas on tops of 

 the hills, some distance back from the principal streams, are 

 over 1,000 feet in elevation. A few^hills in the southeastern and 

 eastern parts rise to 1,200 feet and the summit of a single knob 

 on the divide between Little Kanawha river and Standingstone 

 creek has an elevation of 1,325 feet. 



The drainage of this territory is effected by the Little 

 Kanawha river which traverses the county from southeast to 

 northwest. Its principal tributary is Hughes river. Other 

 smaller tributaries are Lee creek, Eeedy creek, Standingstone 

 creek, Tucker creek, Spring creek and Straight creek. The 

 West Fork of Little Kanawha flows through the eastern part of 

 the county for a short distance emptying into the main river at 

 Creston near the Calhoun county line. 



The Original Timber Conditions. 



Wirt county, especially that part north of the Little Ka- 

 nawha river, was originally well timbered. The growth con- 

 sisted largely of the species named below and approximately in 

 the proportion indicated: 



