Page:The Living Flora of West Virginia and The Fossil Flora of West Virginia.pdf/25



The State of West Virginia comprises about 24,170 square miles of territory lying between 37°3o' and 40°3o' north latitude, and 0°45' and 5°3o' west longitude from Washington. Its outline of varied boundaries has become a synonym for irregularity, as a glance at the accompanying map will show ; it might also comprise the topography, suggesting as it does an immense field over which a gigantic plow has left a confused maze of deep and irregular furrows. This topographical condition is mainly due to the great number of mountain ranges and a vast network of rapid streams, that, rising in the higher altitudes of the eastern and southern borders, pass in varied and tortuous courses through the State, to augment the Ohio on the west and northwest, and the Potomac on the northeast.

Along the low, as well as the lofty mountain ranges, there is comparatively little tableland, and in the wedge-like valleys there is a like absence of extensive bottoms, except along Tygart's Valley River in Randolph County, the Great Kanawha and the Ohio. Although there are many mountain glades, some nearly dry and others swampy, plainly indicating their late occupancy by small lakes, there is today neither pond nor lake within the limits of the State, and very little if any stagnant water.

As the major portion of the State lies west of the Alleghanies, the climate is much like that of western Pennsylvania, partaking little indeed of that southern atmosphere that we are wont to associate with the name Virginia.

The prevailing soil of the hills and valleys is stiff clay, and sandy and clayey alluvium, over which there is in general but