TOPOGRAPHY. The surface of West Virginia is, as a whole. uneven. and in the east mountainous. The main range of the Alleghanies crosses the northeastern section, and farther south forms the State boundary toward Virginia. The greater part of the mountain region, occupying more than one-third of the State, belongs to the Alleghany Plateau, though the mountains in the extreme southern section may be considered as a northern extension of the Cumberland Plateau. The mountains of the northeast are chiefly in the form of parallel ridges with a southwest and northeast trend. but the southern part of the plateau is irregularly dissected by river valleys, presenting broad domes, with spurs running in all directions, and hut fety definite ridges. The eleva tion of the valleys is about 2000 feet, and the elevation of the ridges is from 3000 to over 4000 feet. The highest point is Spruce Knob, with an altitude of 4860 feet. West of the mountains there is a belt of broad, flat hills from 1000 to 2000 feet in elevation, followed by a more gently rolling country which slopes toward the banks of the Ohio Liver, where the altitude ranges be tween 500 and 650 feet.
With the exception of the northeastern sec tion, the whole State belongs to the Ohio basin, and is draimal by a number of streams }lowing from the mountain belt northwestward to the main river on the boundary. The largest of these tributaries are the Big Sandy, which forms the southwestern boundary of the State, the Guyandotte, Great Kanawha, Little Kanawha, and :Monongahela ; the last flows northward into Pennsylvania, but its two main headstreams are within West Virginia. The Potomac forms most of the boundary on the side of Maryland, and its largest headstream, the South Branch, drains most of the northeastern section of the State. All of these streams furnish abundant water power, and several of them are navigable.