Canaan Valley
Encyclopedia
Canaan Valley is an oval, bowl-like upland valley in northeastern Tucker County, West Virginia
, USA. Within it are extensive wetlands and the headwaters of the Blackwater River
which spills out of the valley at Blackwater Falls. It is a well-known and partially undeveloped scenic attraction and tourist draw, associated with the Canaan Valley Resort State Park
and the Blackwater Falls State Park
.
Canaan Valley was designated a National Natural Landmark
in 1974. The National Park Service
citation indicates that the Valley is "a splendid 'museum' of Pleistocene
habitats ... contain[ing] ... an aggregation of these habitats seldom found in the eastern United States. It is unique as a northern boreal
relict
community at this latitude by virtue of its size, elevation and diversity." Since 1994, almost 70% of the Valley has become the Canaan Valley National Wildlife Refuge
, the nation's 500th National Wildlife Refuge
.
The local pronunciation of "Canaan" is kəˈneɪn, rather than the conventional ˈkeɪnən for the Biblical region
from which the area takes its name.
, is about 13 miles (20.9 km) long and 3 miles (4.8 km) to 5 miles (8 km) wide. It is defined by Canaan Mountain to the west and Cabin Mountain to the east. The Valley encompasses approximately 25,000 acres (although the greater Valley ecosystem is sometimes considered to consist of about 36,000 acres). The average valley floor elevation is 3200 feet (975.4 m) above sea level, making it the highest sizable valley east of the Mississippi River. The surrounding mountains extend upward an additional 1000 feet (304.8 m).
The Blackwater River
originates in the southern part of the Valley. The Falls of the Blackwater represent part of a water gap through which the river exits the Valley between Brown and Canaan Mountains before cascading through Blackwater Canyon
.
in Virginia — is a southern "muskeg
" occupying an anticline
valley. The Valley itself is carved into the low dome of sedimentary rock known as the Blackwater Anticline
, exposing the soft shale
s of the Mauch Chunk Formation
. In the Canaan Valley region, the Blackwater River began carving into the underlying sedimentary rock
layers of Mississippian and Pennsylvanian age (345-270 millions years ago) about one million years ago. The hard, erosion-resistant Pottsville Formation
of sandstone
s is the higher layer supporting the mountains surrounding Canaan Valley and also constitutes the sharp rim of the nearby Blackwater Gorge. Tombstone-like outcroppings of Greenbrier Limestone
are also exposed at places along the Valley floor. A relatively high area within the Valley – the Central Pocono Ridge – is composed of the erosion-resistant Pocono Group sandstone.
Summers are cool and humid with high temperatures ranging from the high 60s to low 70s °F. Summer low temperatures average 50-55 °F, although temperatures below freezing have been recorded in every month of the year. Winters are typically cold and snowy. Canaan Valley's elevation and geographic location allows it to receive significant upslope snow (Orographic lift
) regularly during the winter, particularly during prolonged periods of northwesterly winds coming off of the Great Lakes
. Located along the spine of the Central Appalachian Mountains
, the Valley is often near the southwestern extreme of Nor'easter
s, often getting significant snowfall from strong, Atlantic moisture-laiden, easterly winds. Annual snowfall averages 160 inches (4.1 m) with particularly snowy winters easily exceeding 200 inches (5.1 m). The winter of 2009-2010 saw more than 250" (6.35 m) of snow fall in Canaan Valley. Nearly all snowfall occurs from October through April.
red spruce
forest, intermixed with balsam fir
and hardwoods.
The first whites to see Canaan Valley were likely the surveyors of the famous Fairfax Line
who crossed Canaan Mountain in 1746 under conditions of extreme difficulty. According to a local tradition, a German settler named Henry Fansler, who was migrating from the Shenandoah Valley
, viewed Canaan Valley from Cabin Mountain in April 1800 and exclaimed “Besiehe das Land Canaan” [“Behold the Land of Canaan”].:593 Fansler and his family hacked out a living on Freeman Creek in the Valley for three years before the harsh winters and poor farming potential forced them to move to the mouth of the Blackwater a few miles away. Fansler was the first Canaan settler whose name is known, although there is known to have been an earlier abortive homesteader in the 1770s or ‘80s who left descendents elsewhere in the county.:378
The rugged and remote "High Allegheny" region (what is now east-central West Virginia), including the Valley, was bypassed by development for many decades. As large-scale settlement occurred to its north, south and west the region remained relatively wild. In the 19th Century, the Valley was a last refuge for many of the large mammal species that were being exterminated from the eastern United States. In about 1843, for example, three elk
were killed in Canaan Valley by members of the Flanagan and Carr families, local settlers who habitually hunted there. These were likely the last elk found wild in the region that later became West Virginia.
The earliest settler to make a successful and permanent livelihood in the Valley came more than 60 years after Fansler when Solomon W. Cosner began living at Fansler’s old homestead in 1864.:378-379 The country was described at that time as one of “…original forests [which…] is swampy, but, as soon as the timber is removed, the water dries up… Water stands in horse tracks in the woods.” Cosner, a Civil War
veteran known as the “Pioneer of Canaan”, was a noted bear hunter. He and his sons were said to have killed more than 500 bears in Canaan Valley (as well as countless deer, two panthers and a wolf). Other families arrived to settle in the Valley in the 1870s.
In 1883, a Virginia adventurer, former Texas cowboy
and land speculator
named Charles R. Ruffin bought 5000 acres (20.2 km²) of the Valley and organized the “Canaan Valley Blue Grass & Improvement Company”, but his scheme to create a vast and profitable cattle ranch came to nothing.:488-489,:595
made passage through the Valley floor almost impossible until the advent of a logging railroad in 1915. The productivity of the timber stands extracted from the Valley floor between 1888 and 1922 (when the last virgin timber was removed) was twice that of similar stands within the state. Maurice Brooks
described the ensuing environmental damage in his classic book on Appalachian natural history:
By the 1920s, the Babcock Lumber and Boom Company had virtually exhausted its commercial prospects in the Valley. In 1923, the West Virginia Power and Transmission Company (WVPTC, later called Allegheny Power Systems), bought 13230 acres (53.5 km²) in the northern half of the Valley from Babcock with a long-range plan to construct a hydroelectric power plant
that would flood much of the Valley:212 The WVPTC was not, of course, motivated by any preservationist or environmental impulses, but this land purchase was decisive for the fate of the Valley and the power company proved an unwitting guardian of the natural wetlands from development. According to Michael—a wildlife biologist with 30 years experience in the Valley—had this purchase not occurred by a public utility at a time when the scientific and environmental value of wetland was not yet recognized, the northern Valley would undoubtedly have been drained and developed by commercial and private interests in the 1950s and 1960s, as happened in the southern Valley.
, the first attempt to redress the devastating environmental degradation that the area had suffered during the previous generation. The logging railroads in the Valley were abandoned, then the rails were pulled up in 1925. The outside world intruded again in 1932, however, in the form of West Virginia Route 32 which bisects the southern end of the Valley, connecting Davis to Harman
. This is the only north-south highway in the Valley and it was along this route that the later development of the 20th Century occurred. Electrification came to this part of the Valley in 1938.:221
In the late 1930s, the Civilian Conservation Corps
undertook as one of its projects the reforestation of Canaan Mountain. In areas where there was no soil at all to work with, trucks were run from the Valley continuously bringing dark muck soil to the mountaintop. Spruce seedlings were packed in, each requiring a bushel or two of soil, and by the 1940s a new spruce forest had been established on the slopes overlooking the Valley. In 1943-44, as part of the West Virginia Maneuver Area
, the U.S. Army used the Canaan Valley area as a practice artillery
and mortar
range and maneuver area before troops were sent to European Theater of Operations
to fight in World War II
.
Beginning in 1950, the Ski Club of Washington, DC was developing ski slopes on the Valley side of Bald Knob of Cabin Mountain:595-596 Within the decade, a 3600 feet (1,097.3 m) slope on Cabin Mountain and a 3900 feet (1,188.7 m) slope on Weiss Knob had been developed. Because of its protection from the sun, snow on that side of the mountain often remains until April or later.
In the early 1970s, Canaan Valley Resort State Park
was created at the southern end of the Valley in an attempt to further develop a ski industry in the state. An 18-hole golf course was also constructed there at this time.
with consequent flooding of about 8000 acres (32.4 km²), including all of the wetland — roughly 25% of the Valley floor. Public objections were raised and, in the midst of the furor, the Valley was designated a National Natural Landmark by the U.S. Department of the Interior in December 1974. In 1977, the Federal Power Commission
issued a license to Allegheny for construction of a pumped storage hydroelectric project, formally known as the Davis Power Project. Contentious public hearings ensued and the following year the project was denied a Clean Water Act
permit by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. The Corps' decision cited adverse impacts upon the Valley's wetlands, a relatively new concept at the time. Allegheny appealed the Corps' decision to the U.S. Court of Appeals which ruled that a Clean Water Act permit was in fact required for work to commence. The adverse ruling by the appeals court was itself appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court which in 1988 declined to hear the case. This represented the final nail in the coffin of the Davis Power Project.:221-222
In 1994, about 86 acres (348,030 m²) of the Valley were purchased by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to establish a National Wildlife Refuge
, the nation's 500th. In 2002, Allegheny — having kept development of most of the Valley at bay since its 1923 land purchase — finally sold its 12000 acres (49 km²) to the government to be added to the Refuge. With additional acquisitions, the present Canaan Valley National Wildlife Refuge
is almost 17000 acres (69 km²) in extent.
Canaan Valley shares much of the plant and animal life characteristic of the rest of the state, but its 40 botanical communities also include species otherwise found only in sub-arctic
bog
s and conifer forests much further north. It has been described by ecologists and conservationists as "a bit of Canada gone astray". The Valley includes several habitat types, but particularly noteworthy are its extensive wetlands, which are the largest in the entire central and southern Appalachian region; they form the second largest inland wetland area in the United States
. These 8,400 or so acres of shrub swamp
and bog
represent approximately 40% of the wetland found in the state of West Virginia.
es, sedge
s and heather
s, the large cranberry
and the Canadian blueberry
. Also present are the sundew
, marsh marigold, jack-in-the-pulpit, starflower
and Canadian lily-of-the-valley
. Late August experiences impressive blooms of cotton grass, a sedge otherwise found mostly in Alaska
and Canada
.
Mammals
The Valley and surrounding highlands provide some of the most southern pockets of snowshoe hare
habitat. Other local mammals include beaver
s, muskrat
s, raccoon
s, opposum
s, and grey
and red squirrel
s. Seen far less frequently are black bear
s, bobcat
s, coyote
s, and red fox
es. Of special note are large groups of white-tailed deer
which can often be seen from the main roads. The deer have become so conditioned to human presence that they are no longer frightened; feeding and interacting with the deer is strongly discouraged.
Birds
Birdlife is prolific, especially those species attracted by the Valley's wetlands. These include ducks (wood duck
s, mallards, black duck
s), Canada geese and the great blue heron
. These wetlands are the southernmost nesting site for the American bittern
. Notable migratory songbirds finding seasonal homes in the Valley include the golden-winged warbler
, scarlet tanager
, indigo bunting
, and Canada warbler
. Raptors
include red-tailed hawk
s, goshawks and the occasional peregrine falcon
and bald eagle
.
Fish
Smallmouth bass
and various other sunfish
are found in the upper Blackwater River
. Native brook trout
and introduced rainbow trout
are also found in some of the cold, clean streams of the area.
(trout
, bass
), cross-country and downhill skiing, leaf-peeping, and wildlife viewing are popular outdoor activities. Upland game bird hunting
(woodcock
, ruffed grouse
, common snipe
, wild turkey
) has long been popular in the Valley and is still permitted, even in the NWR, within season.
In addition to the two state parks and one wildlife refuge, the valley is home to two Alpine
ski resorts (Canaan Valley Ski Resort
and Timberline Four Seasons Resort) and one Nordic
ski area (White Grass Touring Center).
Tucker County, West Virginia
As of the census of 2000, there were 7,321 people, 3,052 households, and 2,121 families residing in the county. The population density was 18 people per square mile . There were 4,634 housing units at an average density of 11 per square mile...
, USA. Within it are extensive wetlands and the headwaters of the Blackwater River
Blackwater River (West Virginia)
The Blackwater River is a river in the Allegheny Mountains of eastern West Virginia, USA. Via the Black Fork, it is a principal tributary of the Cheat River. Via the Cheat, the Monongahela and the Ohio rivers, it is part of the watershed of the Mississippi River and drains an area of...
which spills out of the valley at Blackwater Falls. It is a well-known and partially undeveloped scenic attraction and tourist draw, associated with the Canaan Valley Resort State Park
Canaan Valley Resort State Park
Canaan Valley Resort State Park is a state park within Canaan Valley, Tucker County, West Virginia. Located in the highest valley east of the Mississippi River, the park contains the second-largest inland wetland area in the United States...
and the Blackwater Falls State Park
Blackwater Falls State Park
Blackwater Falls State Park is located in the Allegheny Mountains of Tucker County, West Virginia, USA. The centerpiece of the Park is Blackwater Falls, a cascade where the Blackwater River leaves its leisurely course in Canaan Valley and enters rugged Blackwater Canyon...
.
Canaan Valley was designated a National Natural Landmark
National Natural Landmark
The National Natural Landmark program recognizes and encourages the conservation of outstanding examples of the natural history of the United States. It is the only natural areas program of national scope that identifies and recognizes the best examples of biological and geological features in...
in 1974. The National Park Service
National Park Service
The National Park Service is the U.S. federal agency that manages all national parks, many national monuments, and other conservation and historical properties with various title designations...
citation indicates that the Valley is "a splendid 'museum' of Pleistocene
Pleistocene
The Pleistocene is the epoch from 2,588,000 to 11,700 years BP that spans the world's recent period of repeated glaciations. The name pleistocene is derived from the Greek and ....
habitats ... contain[ing] ... an aggregation of these habitats seldom found in the eastern United States. It is unique as a northern boreal
Boreal ecosystem
The term boreal is usually applied to ecosystems localized in subarctic and subantarctic zones, although Austral is also used for the latter....
relict
Relict
A relict is a surviving remnant of a natural phenomenon.* In biology a relict is an organism that at an earlier time was abundant in a large area but now occurs at only one or a few small areas....
community at this latitude by virtue of its size, elevation and diversity." Since 1994, almost 70% of the Valley has become the Canaan Valley National Wildlife Refuge
Canaan Valley National Wildlife Refuge
The Canaan Valley National Wildlife Refuge in Tucker County, West Virginia is the 500th National Wildlife Refuge to be established in the USA. The refuge preserves a moist valley with unique wetlands and uplands at a relatively high elevation in the Allegheny Mountains. It is administered by the...
, the nation's 500th National Wildlife Refuge
National Wildlife Refuge
National Wildlife Refuge is a designation for certain protected areas of the United States managed by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service. The National Wildlife Refuge System is the world's premiere system of public lands and waters set aside to conserve America's fish, wildlife and plants...
.
The local pronunciation of "Canaan" is kəˈneɪn, rather than the conventional ˈkeɪnən for the Biblical region
Canaan
Canaan is a historical region roughly corresponding to modern-day Israel, Palestine, Lebanon, and the western parts of Jordan...
from which the area takes its name.
Geography
The Valley, nestled among the higher ranges of the Allegheny MountainsAllegheny Mountains
The Allegheny Mountain Range , also spelled Alleghany, Allegany and, informally, the Alleghenies, is part of the vast Appalachian Mountain Range of the eastern United States and Canada...
, is about 13 miles (20.9 km) long and 3 miles (4.8 km) to 5 miles (8 km) wide. It is defined by Canaan Mountain to the west and Cabin Mountain to the east. The Valley encompasses approximately 25,000 acres (although the greater Valley ecosystem is sometimes considered to consist of about 36,000 acres). The average valley floor elevation is 3200 feet (975.4 m) above sea level, making it the highest sizable valley east of the Mississippi River. The surrounding mountains extend upward an additional 1000 feet (304.8 m).
The Blackwater River
Blackwater River (West Virginia)
The Blackwater River is a river in the Allegheny Mountains of eastern West Virginia, USA. Via the Black Fork, it is a principal tributary of the Cheat River. Via the Cheat, the Monongahela and the Ohio rivers, it is part of the watershed of the Mississippi River and drains an area of...
originates in the southern part of the Valley. The Falls of the Blackwater represent part of a water gap through which the river exits the Valley between Brown and Canaan Mountains before cascading through Blackwater Canyon
Blackwater Canyon
Blackwater Canyon is a rugged, heavily-wooded, eight-mile long gorge carved by the Blackwater River in the Allegheny Mountains of eastern West Virginia, USA...
.
Geology
Canaan Valley — like the very similar Burke's GardenBurke's Garden, Virginia
Burke's Garden or Burke Garden is an upland valley and unincorporated community in Tazewell County, Virginia, United States.-Geography:The oval, bowl-like valley is known for its fertile land and was once the bed of an ancient sea...
in Virginia — is a southern "muskeg
Muskeg
Muskeg is an acidic soil type common in Arctic and boreal areas, although it is found in other northern climates as well. Muskeg is approximately synonymous with bogland but muskeg is the standard term in Western Canada and Alaska, while 'bog' is common elsewhere. The term is of Cree origin, maskek...
" occupying an anticline
Anticline
In structural geology, an anticline is a fold that is convex up and has its oldest beds at its core. The term is not to be confused with antiform, which is a purely descriptive term for any fold that is convex up. Therefore if age relationships In structural geology, an anticline is a fold that is...
valley. The Valley itself is carved into the low dome of sedimentary rock known as the Blackwater Anticline
Anticline
In structural geology, an anticline is a fold that is convex up and has its oldest beds at its core. The term is not to be confused with antiform, which is a purely descriptive term for any fold that is convex up. Therefore if age relationships In structural geology, an anticline is a fold that is...
, exposing the soft shale
Shale
Shale is a fine-grained, clastic sedimentary rock composed of mud that is a mix of flakes of clay minerals and tiny fragments of other minerals, especially quartz and calcite. The ratio of clay to other minerals is variable. Shale is characterized by breaks along thin laminae or parallel layering...
s of the Mauch Chunk Formation
Mauch Chunk Formation
The Mississippian Mauch Chunk Formation is a mapped bedrock unit in Pennsylvania, Maryland, and West Virginia. It is named for the borough of Mauch Chunk, now known as Jim Thorpe, Pennsylvania.-Description:...
. In the Canaan Valley region, the Blackwater River began carving into the underlying sedimentary rock
Sedimentary rock
Sedimentary rock are types of rock that are formed by the deposition of material at the Earth's surface and within bodies of water. Sedimentation is the collective name for processes that cause mineral and/or organic particles to settle and accumulate or minerals to precipitate from a solution....
layers of Mississippian and Pennsylvanian age (345-270 millions years ago) about one million years ago. The hard, erosion-resistant Pottsville Formation
Pottsville Formation
The Pennsylvanian Pottsville Formation is a mapped bedrock unit in Pennsylvania, western Maryland, West Virginia, and Ohio. The formation is also recognized in Alabama. It is a major ridge-former In the Ridge-and-Valley Appalachians of the eastern United States...
of sandstone
Sandstone
Sandstone is a sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized minerals or rock grains.Most sandstone is composed of quartz and/or feldspar because these are the most common minerals in the Earth's crust. Like sand, sandstone may be any colour, but the most common colours are tan, brown, yellow,...
s is the higher layer supporting the mountains surrounding Canaan Valley and also constitutes the sharp rim of the nearby Blackwater Gorge. Tombstone-like outcroppings of Greenbrier Limestone
Greenbrier Limestone
The Greenbrier Limestone, also known locally as the "Big Lime", is an extensive limestone unit deposited during the Middle Mississippian Epoch , part of the Carboniferous Period. This rock stratum is present below ground in much of West Virginia and neighboring Kentucky, and extends somewhat into...
are also exposed at places along the Valley floor. A relatively high area within the Valley – the Central Pocono Ridge – is composed of the erosion-resistant Pocono Group sandstone.
Climate
Because of its relatively high elevation, Canaan Valley has a cooler, moister climate than surrounding areas at lower altitudes.Summers are cool and humid with high temperatures ranging from the high 60s to low 70s °F. Summer low temperatures average 50-55 °F, although temperatures below freezing have been recorded in every month of the year. Winters are typically cold and snowy. Canaan Valley's elevation and geographic location allows it to receive significant upslope snow (Orographic lift
Orographic lift
Orographic lift occurs when an air mass is forced from a low elevation to a higher elevation as it moves over rising terrain. As the air mass gains altitude it quickly cools down adiabatically, which can raise the relative humidity to 100% and create clouds and, under the right conditions,...
) regularly during the winter, particularly during prolonged periods of northwesterly winds coming off of the Great Lakes
Great Lakes
The Great Lakes are a collection of freshwater lakes located in northeastern North America, on the Canada – United States border. Consisting of Lakes Superior, Michigan, Huron, Erie, and Ontario, they form the largest group of freshwater lakes on Earth by total surface, coming in second by volume...
. Located along the spine of the Central Appalachian Mountains
Appalachian Mountains
The Appalachian Mountains #Whether the stressed vowel is or ,#Whether the "ch" is pronounced as a fricative or an affricate , and#Whether the final vowel is the monophthong or the diphthong .), often called the Appalachians, are a system of mountains in eastern North America. The Appalachians...
, the Valley is often near the southwestern extreme of Nor'easter
Nor'easter
A nor'easter is a type of macro-scale storm along the East Coast of the United States and Atlantic Canada, so named because the storm travels to the northeast from the south and the winds come from the northeast, especially in the coastal areas of the Northeastern United States and Atlantic Canada...
s, often getting significant snowfall from strong, Atlantic moisture-laiden, easterly winds. Annual snowfall averages 160 inches (4.1 m) with particularly snowy winters easily exceeding 200 inches (5.1 m). The winter of 2009-2010 saw more than 250" (6.35 m) of snow fall in Canaan Valley. Nearly all snowfall occurs from October through April.
Prehistory and settlement
Canaan Valley and surrounding areas were strongly impacted by the southward advance of glaciers some 75,000 years ago. Although the glaciers themselves did not extend into the area, this climatic change resulted in a very cool, moist environment that was forest-unfriendly. Later, as the ice receded, many cold-adapted plant species remained behind and survived due to the high elevation. Soon, however, this tundra-like vegetation was largely crowded out by the growth of an extraordinarily dense climaxClimax vegetation
Climax vegetation is the vegetation which establishes itself on a given site for given climatic conditions in the absence of anthropic action after a long time ....
red spruce
Red Spruce
Picea rubens is a species of spruce native to eastern North America, ranging from eastern Quebec to Nova Scotia, and from New England south in the Adirondack Mountains and Appalachians to western North Carolina.-Physical description:...
forest, intermixed with balsam fir
Balsam Fir
The balsam fir is a North American fir, native to most of eastern and central Canada and the northeastern United States .-Growth:It is a small to medium-size evergreen tree typically tall, rarely to tall, with a narrow conic crown...
and hardwoods.
The first whites to see Canaan Valley were likely the surveyors of the famous Fairfax Line
Fairfax Line
The Fairfax Line was a surveyor's line run in 1746 to establish the limits of the "Northern Neck land grant" in colonial Virginia....
who crossed Canaan Mountain in 1746 under conditions of extreme difficulty. According to a local tradition, a German settler named Henry Fansler, who was migrating from the Shenandoah Valley
Shenandoah Valley
The Shenandoah Valley is both a geographic valley and cultural region of western Virginia and West Virginia in the United States. The valley is bounded to the east by the Blue Ridge Mountains, to the west by the eastern front of the Ridge-and-Valley Appalachians , to the north by the Potomac River...
, viewed Canaan Valley from Cabin Mountain in April 1800 and exclaimed “Besiehe das Land Canaan” [“Behold the Land of Canaan”].:593 Fansler and his family hacked out a living on Freeman Creek in the Valley for three years before the harsh winters and poor farming potential forced them to move to the mouth of the Blackwater a few miles away. Fansler was the first Canaan settler whose name is known, although there is known to have been an earlier abortive homesteader in the 1770s or ‘80s who left descendents elsewhere in the county.:378
The rugged and remote "High Allegheny" region (what is now east-central West Virginia), including the Valley, was bypassed by development for many decades. As large-scale settlement occurred to its north, south and west the region remained relatively wild. In the 19th Century, the Valley was a last refuge for many of the large mammal species that were being exterminated from the eastern United States. In about 1843, for example, three elk
Elk
The Elk is the large deer, also called Cervus canadensis or wapiti, of North America and eastern Asia.Elk may also refer to:Other antlered mammals:...
were killed in Canaan Valley by members of the Flanagan and Carr families, local settlers who habitually hunted there. These were likely the last elk found wild in the region that later became West Virginia.
The earliest settler to make a successful and permanent livelihood in the Valley came more than 60 years after Fansler when Solomon W. Cosner began living at Fansler’s old homestead in 1864.:378-379 The country was described at that time as one of “…original forests [which…] is swampy, but, as soon as the timber is removed, the water dries up… Water stands in horse tracks in the woods.” Cosner, a Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
veteran known as the “Pioneer of Canaan”, was a noted bear hunter. He and his sons were said to have killed more than 500 bears in Canaan Valley (as well as countless deer, two panthers and a wolf). Other families arrived to settle in the Valley in the 1870s.
In 1883, a Virginia adventurer, former Texas cowboy
Cowboy
A cowboy is an animal herder who tends cattle on ranches in North America, traditionally on horseback, and often performs a multitude of other ranch-related tasks. The historic American cowboy of the late 19th century arose from the vaquero traditions of northern Mexico and became a figure of...
and land speculator
Speculation
In finance, speculation is a financial action that does not promise safety of the initial investment along with the return on the principal sum...
named Charles R. Ruffin bought 5000 acres (20.2 km²) of the Valley and organized the “Canaan Valley Blue Grass & Improvement Company”, but his scheme to create a vast and profitable cattle ranch came to nothing.:488-489,:595
Logging and wildfires
Logging of the surrounding mountains was extensive in the 1880s and '90s, but impenetrable understories of rhododendronRhododendron maximum
Rhododendron maximum — also called great rhododendron, great laurel, rosebay rhododendron, American rhododendron or big rhododendron — is a species of Rhododendron native to eastern North America, from Nova Scotia south to northern Alabama.-Description:R. maximum is an evergreen shrub growing to 4...
made passage through the Valley floor almost impossible until the advent of a logging railroad in 1915. The productivity of the timber stands extracted from the Valley floor between 1888 and 1922 (when the last virgin timber was removed) was twice that of similar stands within the state. Maurice Brooks
Maurice Brooks
Maurice Graham Brooks was an American educator and naturalist whose name became synonymous with the natural history of Appalachia.-Biography:...
described the ensuing environmental damage in his classic book on Appalachian natural history:
Canaan Valley had a tragic history, and its comeback has been a slow one. A hundred years ago valley and surrounding ridges were covered by red spruce forest of a density that is hard to imagine today. Under such a forest the sun never reached to ground level, humus accumulated through the ages, and fire was not a threat. The lumbermen came, ultimately, and if total and permanent destruction of the entire area had been an aim it could scarcely have been more fully realized. An official of the company boasted that in 100000 acres (404.7 km²) they had not left one stick of timber that would make a two-by-four. Log yields were fantastic; some land on the valley floor scaled 80000 board feet (188.8 m³) to 100000 board feet (236 m³) of lumber…. With all cover removed, organic material at ground level began to dry out; soon it was high-grade fuel, and the inevitable fires got started. There followed such a ground fire as this state has never seen before or since. For months this humus layer smoldered, and neither rains nor snows could stop the fire’s slow advance. The village of Davis was saved by a series of deep trenches around it, these kept filled with water carried from the Blackwater River. When the destruction was complete, all vegetable matter that wasn’t soaked had burned…. Bare rocks remained, and thin mineral soil, this often several feet lower than ground level in the original forest. Canaan and environs had become a desert. I have often wondered if the Pittsburgh company responsible for this has been proud of its job, and if it has enjoyed the resultant wealth.
By the 1920s, the Babcock Lumber and Boom Company had virtually exhausted its commercial prospects in the Valley. In 1923, the West Virginia Power and Transmission Company (WVPTC, later called Allegheny Power Systems), bought 13230 acres (53.5 km²) in the northern half of the Valley from Babcock with a long-range plan to construct a hydroelectric power plant
Hydroelectricity
Hydroelectricity is the term referring to electricity generated by hydropower; the production of electrical power through the use of the gravitational force of falling or flowing water. It is the most widely used form of renewable energy...
that would flood much of the Valley:212 The WVPTC was not, of course, motivated by any preservationist or environmental impulses, but this land purchase was decisive for the fate of the Valley and the power company proved an unwitting guardian of the natural wetlands from development. According to Michael—a wildlife biologist with 30 years experience in the Valley—had this purchase not occurred by a public utility at a time when the scientific and environmental value of wetland was not yet recognized, the northern Valley would undoubtedly have been drained and developed by commercial and private interests in the 1950s and 1960s, as happened in the southern Valley.
Recovery and development
In 1920, the southern third of the Valley was included in the newly established Monongahela National ForestMonongahela National Forest
The Monongahela National Forest is a national forest located in the Allegheny Mountains of eastern West Virginia, USA. It protects over of federally-owned land within a proclamation boundary that includes much of the Potomac Highlands Region and portions of 10 counties.The MNF includes some...
, the first attempt to redress the devastating environmental degradation that the area had suffered during the previous generation. The logging railroads in the Valley were abandoned, then the rails were pulled up in 1925. The outside world intruded again in 1932, however, in the form of West Virginia Route 32 which bisects the southern end of the Valley, connecting Davis to Harman
Harman, West Virginia
Harman is a small town in Randolph County, West Virginia, United States. The population was 126 at the 2000 census.-History:The Day-Vandevander Mill was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1987.-Geography:...
. This is the only north-south highway in the Valley and it was along this route that the later development of the 20th Century occurred. Electrification came to this part of the Valley in 1938.:221
In the late 1930s, the Civilian Conservation Corps
Civilian Conservation Corps
The Civilian Conservation Corps was a public work relief program that operated from 1933 to 1942 in the United States for unemployed, unmarried men from relief families, ages 18–25. A part of the New Deal of President Franklin D...
undertook as one of its projects the reforestation of Canaan Mountain. In areas where there was no soil at all to work with, trucks were run from the Valley continuously bringing dark muck soil to the mountaintop. Spruce seedlings were packed in, each requiring a bushel or two of soil, and by the 1940s a new spruce forest had been established on the slopes overlooking the Valley. In 1943-44, as part of the West Virginia Maneuver Area
West Virginia Maneuver Area
The West Virginia Maneuver Area was a vast, five-county training ground in the Allegheny Mountains of eastern West Virginia used by the U.S. Army during World War II to train soldiers in low-altitude mountain operations...
, the U.S. Army used the Canaan Valley area as a practice artillery
Artillery
Originally applied to any group of infantry primarily armed with projectile weapons, artillery has over time become limited in meaning to refer only to those engines of war that operate by projection of munitions far beyond the range of effect of personal weapons...
and mortar
Mortar (weapon)
A mortar is an indirect fire weapon that fires explosive projectiles known as bombs at low velocities, short ranges, and high-arcing ballistic trajectories. It is typically muzzle-loading and has a barrel length less than 15 times its caliber....
range and maneuver area before troops were sent to European Theater of Operations
European Theater of Operations
The European Theater of Operations, United States Army was a United States Army formation which directed U.S. Army operations in parts of Europe from 1942 to 1945. It referred to Army Ground Forces, United States Army Air Forces, and Army Service Forces operations north of Italy and the...
to fight in World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
.
Beginning in 1950, the Ski Club of Washington, DC was developing ski slopes on the Valley side of Bald Knob of Cabin Mountain:595-596 Within the decade, a 3600 feet (1,097.3 m) slope on Cabin Mountain and a 3900 feet (1,188.7 m) slope on Weiss Knob had been developed. Because of its protection from the sun, snow on that side of the mountain often remains until April or later.
In the early 1970s, Canaan Valley Resort State Park
Canaan Valley Resort State Park
Canaan Valley Resort State Park is a state park within Canaan Valley, Tucker County, West Virginia. Located in the highest valley east of the Mississippi River, the park contains the second-largest inland wetland area in the United States...
was created at the southern end of the Valley in an attempt to further develop a ski industry in the state. An 18-hole golf course was also constructed there at this time.
Controversy and preservation
In 1970, Allegheny Power requested permits for the long-anticipated hydroelectric facility in the Valley. This power plant would have supplied electricity to major metropolitan areas of the northeastern United States. The proposal involved damming the Blackwater RiverBlackwater River (West Virginia)
The Blackwater River is a river in the Allegheny Mountains of eastern West Virginia, USA. Via the Black Fork, it is a principal tributary of the Cheat River. Via the Cheat, the Monongahela and the Ohio rivers, it is part of the watershed of the Mississippi River and drains an area of...
with consequent flooding of about 8000 acres (32.4 km²), including all of the wetland — roughly 25% of the Valley floor. Public objections were raised and, in the midst of the furor, the Valley was designated a National Natural Landmark by the U.S. Department of the Interior in December 1974. In 1977, the Federal Power Commission
Federal Power Commission
The Federal Power Commission was an independent commission of the United States government, originally organized on June 23, 1930, with five members nominated by the president and confirmed by the Senate...
issued a license to Allegheny for construction of a pumped storage hydroelectric project, formally known as the Davis Power Project. Contentious public hearings ensued and the following year the project was denied a Clean Water Act
Clean Water Act
The Clean Water Act is the primary federal law in the United States governing water pollution. Commonly abbreviated as the CWA, the act established the goals of eliminating releases of high amounts of toxic substances into water, eliminating additional water pollution by 1985, and ensuring that...
permit by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. The Corps' decision cited adverse impacts upon the Valley's wetlands, a relatively new concept at the time. Allegheny appealed the Corps' decision to the U.S. Court of Appeals which ruled that a Clean Water Act permit was in fact required for work to commence. The adverse ruling by the appeals court was itself appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court which in 1988 declined to hear the case. This represented the final nail in the coffin of the Davis Power Project.:221-222
In 1994, about 86 acres (348,030 m²) of the Valley were purchased by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to establish a National Wildlife Refuge
National Wildlife Refuge
National Wildlife Refuge is a designation for certain protected areas of the United States managed by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service. The National Wildlife Refuge System is the world's premiere system of public lands and waters set aside to conserve America's fish, wildlife and plants...
, the nation's 500th. In 2002, Allegheny — having kept development of most of the Valley at bay since its 1923 land purchase — finally sold its 12000 acres (49 km²) to the government to be added to the Refuge. With additional acquisitions, the present Canaan Valley National Wildlife Refuge
Canaan Valley National Wildlife Refuge
The Canaan Valley National Wildlife Refuge in Tucker County, West Virginia is the 500th National Wildlife Refuge to be established in the USA. The refuge preserves a moist valley with unique wetlands and uplands at a relatively high elevation in the Allegheny Mountains. It is administered by the...
is almost 17000 acres (69 km²) in extent.
Wetlands and boreal plants
Boreal ecosystem
The term boreal is usually applied to ecosystems localized in subarctic and subantarctic zones, although Austral is also used for the latter....
bog
Bog
A bog, quagmire or mire is a wetland that accumulates acidic peat, a deposit of dead plant material—often mosses or, in Arctic climates, lichens....
s and conifer forests much further north. It has been described by ecologists and conservationists as "a bit of Canada gone astray". The Valley includes several habitat types, but particularly noteworthy are its extensive wetlands, which are the largest in the entire central and southern Appalachian region; they form the second largest inland wetland area in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. These 8,400 or so acres of shrub swamp
Shrub swamp
Shrub swamps, also called scrub swamps or buttonbush swamps, are a type of freshwater wetland ecosystem occurring in areas too wet to become hardwood swamps , but too dry or too shallow to become marshes...
and bog
Bog
A bog, quagmire or mire is a wetland that accumulates acidic peat, a deposit of dead plant material—often mosses or, in Arctic climates, lichens....
represent approximately 40% of the wetland found in the state of West Virginia.
Flora
Over 580 plant species have been documented in the Valley, notably various mossMoss
Mosses are small, soft plants that are typically 1–10 cm tall, though some species are much larger. They commonly grow close together in clumps or mats in damp or shady locations. They do not have flowers or seeds, and their simple leaves cover the thin wiry stems...
es, sedge
Cyperaceae
Cyperaceae are a family of monocotyledonous graminoid flowering plants known as sedges, which superficially resemble grasses or rushes. The family is large, with some 5,500 species described in about 109 genera. These species are widely distributed, with the centers of diversity for the group...
s and heather
Erica
Erica ,the heaths or heathers, is a genus of approximately 860 species of flowering plants in the family Ericaceae. The English common names "heath" and "heather" are shared by some closely related genera of similar appearance....
s, the large cranberry
Cranberry
Cranberries are a group of evergreen dwarf shrubs or trailing vines in the subgenus Oxycoccus of the genus Vaccinium. In some methods of classification, Oxycoccus is regarded as a genus in its own right...
and the Canadian blueberry
Canadian blueberry
Canadian Blueberry, Vaccinium myrtilloides , is also called Common Blueberry, Velvetleaf Huckleberry, Velvetleaf Blueberry, and Sourtop Blueberry...
. Also present are the sundew
Sundew
Drosera, commonly known as the sundews, comprise one of the largest genera of carnivorous plants, with at least 194 species. These members of the family Droseraceae lure, capture, and digest insects using stalked mucilaginous glands covering their leaf surface. The insects are used to supplement...
, marsh marigold, jack-in-the-pulpit, starflower
Trientalis borealis
Trientalis borealis is a North American woodland perennial, it is also known as the Starflower. The starflower grows up to 9 inches tall and has one or two white flowers which consist of seven petals that form a star-like shape. The flowers are found on top of stalks which are above the lanceolate...
and Canadian lily-of-the-valley
Maianthemum canadense
Maianthemum canadense Maianthemum canadense Maianthemum canadense (Canadian May-lily, Canada Mayflower, False Lily-of-the-valley, Canadian Lily-of-the-valley, Wild Lily-of-the-valley, Two-leaved Solomonseal; syn. Maianthemum canadense var. interius Fern., Maianthemum canadense var...
. Late August experiences impressive blooms of cotton grass, a sedge otherwise found mostly in Alaska
Alaska
Alaska is the largest state in the United States by area. It is situated in the northwest extremity of the North American continent, with Canada to the east, the Arctic Ocean to the north, and the Pacific Ocean to the west and south, with Russia further west across the Bering Strait...
and Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
.
Fauna
More than 280 animal species have been recorded in the Valley.Mammals
The Valley and surrounding highlands provide some of the most southern pockets of snowshoe hare
Snowshoe Hare
The Snowshoe Hare , also called the Varying Hare, or Snowshoe Rabbit, is a species of hare found in North America. It has the name "snowshoe" because of the large size of its hind feet and the marks its tail leaves. The animal's feet prevent it from sinking into the snow when it hops and walks...
habitat. Other local mammals include beaver
Beaver
The beaver is a primarily nocturnal, large, semi-aquatic rodent. Castor includes two extant species, North American Beaver and Eurasian Beaver . Beavers are known for building dams, canals, and lodges . They are the second-largest rodent in the world...
s, muskrat
Muskrat
The muskrat , the only species in genus Ondatra, is a medium-sized semi-aquatic rodent native to North America, and introduced in parts of Europe, Asia, and South America. The muskrat is found in wetlands and is a very successful animal over a wide range of climates and habitats...
s, raccoon
Raccoon
Procyon is a genus of nocturnal mammals, comprising three species commonly known as raccoons, in the family Procyonidae. The most familiar species, the common raccoon , is often known simply as "the" raccoon, as the two other raccoon species in the genus are native only to the tropics and are...
s, opposum
Didelphimorphia
Opossums make up the largest order of marsupials in the Western Hemisphere, including 103 or more species in 19 genera. They are also commonly called possums, though that term technically refers to Australian fauna of the suborder Phalangeriformes. The Virginia opossum was the first animal to be...
s, and grey
Eastern Gray Squirrel
The eastern gray squirrel is a tree squirrel in the genus Sciurus native to the eastern and midwestern United States, and to the southerly portions of the eastern provinces of Canada...
and red squirrel
Red Squirrel
The red squirrel or Eurasian red squirrel is a species of tree squirrel in the genus Sciurus common throughout Eurasia...
s. Seen far less frequently are black bear
American black bear
The American black bear is a medium-sized bear native to North America. It is the continent's smallest and most common bear species. Black bears are omnivores, with their diets varying greatly depending on season and location. They typically live in largely forested areas, but do leave forests in...
s, bobcat
Bobcat
The bobcat is a North American mammal of the cat family Felidae, appearing during the Irvingtonian stage of around 1.8 million years ago . With twelve recognized subspecies, it ranges from southern Canada to northern Mexico, including most of the continental United States...
s, coyote
Coyote
The coyote , also known as the American jackal or the prairie wolf, is a species of canine found throughout North and Central America, ranging from Panama in the south, north through Mexico, the United States and Canada...
s, and red fox
Red Fox
The red fox is the largest of the true foxes, as well as being the most geographically spread member of the Carnivora, being distributed across the entire northern hemisphere from the Arctic Circle to North Africa, Central America, and the steppes of Asia...
es. Of special note are large groups of white-tailed deer
White-tailed Deer
The white-tailed deer , also known as the Virginia deer or simply as the whitetail, is a medium-sized deer native to the United States , Canada, Mexico, Central America, and South America as far south as Peru...
which can often be seen from the main roads. The deer have become so conditioned to human presence that they are no longer frightened; feeding and interacting with the deer is strongly discouraged.
Birds
Birdlife is prolific, especially those species attracted by the Valley's wetlands. These include ducks (wood duck
Wood Duck
The Wood Duck or Carolina Duck is a species of duck found in North America. It is one of the most colourful of North American waterfowl.-Description:...
s, mallards, black duck
American Black Duck
The American Black Duck is a large dabbling duck. American Black Ducks are similar to Mallards in size, and resemble the female Mallard in coloration, although the Black Duck's plumage is darker...
s), Canada geese and the great blue heron
Great Blue Heron
The Great Blue Heron is a large wading bird in the heron family Ardeidae, common near the shores of open water and in wetlands over most of North and Central America as well as the West Indies and the Galápagos Islands. It is a rare vagrant to Europe, with records from Spain, the Azores and England...
. These wetlands are the southernmost nesting site for the American bittern
American Bittern
The American Bittern is a wading bird of the heron family Ardeidae. New evidence has led the American Ornithologists' Union to move the heron family into the order Pelecaniformes .-Description:...
. Notable migratory songbirds finding seasonal homes in the Valley include the golden-winged warbler
Golden-winged Warbler
The Golden-winged Warbler, Vermivora chrysoptera, is a New World warbler, 11.6 cm long and weighing 8.5 g. It breeds in eastern North America, southeastern Canada and the eastern USA...
, scarlet tanager
Scarlet Tanager
The Scarlet Tanager is a medium-sized American songbird. Formerly placed in the tanager family , it and other members of its genus are now classified in the cardinal family . The species's plumage and vocalizations are similar to other members of the cardinal family.-Description:Adults have pale...
, indigo bunting
Indigo Bunting
The Indigo Bunting, Passerina cyanea, is a small seed-eating bird in the family Cardinalidae. It is migratory, ranging from southern Canada to northern Florida during the breeding season, and from southern Florida to northern South America during the winter. It often migrates by night, using the...
, and Canada warbler
Canada Warbler
The Canada Warbler is a small 13 cm long songbird of the New World warbler family.These birds have yellow underparts, blue-grey upperparts and pink legs; they also have yellow eye-rings and thin, pointed bills. Adult males have black foreheads and black necklaces...
. Raptors
Bird of prey
Birds of prey are birds that hunt for food primarily on the wing, using their keen senses, especially vision. They are defined as birds that primarily hunt vertebrates, including other birds. Their talons and beaks tend to be relatively large, powerful and adapted for tearing and/or piercing flesh....
include red-tailed hawk
Red-tailed Hawk
The Red-tailed Hawk is a bird of prey, one of three species colloquially known in the United States as the "chickenhawk," though it rarely preys on standard sized chickens. It breeds throughout most of North America, from western Alaska and northern Canada to as far south as Panama and the West...
s, goshawks and the occasional peregrine falcon
Peregrine Falcon
The Peregrine Falcon , also known as the Peregrine, and historically as the Duck Hawk in North America, is a widespread bird of prey in the family Falconidae. A large, crow-sized falcon, it has a blue-gray back, barred white underparts, and a black head and "moustache"...
and bald eagle
Bald Eagle
The Bald Eagle is a bird of prey found in North America. It is the national bird and symbol of the United States of America. This sea eagle has two known sub-species and forms a species pair with the White-tailed Eagle...
.
Fish
Smallmouth bass
Smallmouth bass
The smallmouth bass is a species of freshwater fish in the sunfish family of the order Perciformes. It is the type species of its genus...
and various other sunfish
Centrarchidae
The sunfishes are a family of freshwater ray-finned fish belonging to the order Perciformes. The type genus is Centrarchus . The family's 27 species includes many fishes familiar to North Americans, including the rock bass, largemouth bass, bluegill, pumpkinseed, and crappies...
are found in the upper Blackwater River
Blackwater River (West Virginia)
The Blackwater River is a river in the Allegheny Mountains of eastern West Virginia, USA. Via the Black Fork, it is a principal tributary of the Cheat River. Via the Cheat, the Monongahela and the Ohio rivers, it is part of the watershed of the Mississippi River and drains an area of...
. Native brook trout
Brook trout
The brook trout, Salvelinus fontinalis, is a species of fish in the salmon family of order Salmoniformes. In many parts of its range, it is known as the speckled trout or squaretail. A potamodromous population in Lake Superior are known as coaster trout or, simply, as coasters...
and introduced rainbow trout
Rainbow trout
The rainbow trout is a species of salmonid native to tributaries of the Pacific Ocean in Asia and North America. The steelhead is a sea run rainbow trout usually returning to freshwater to spawn after 2 to 3 years at sea. In other words, rainbow trout and steelhead trout are the same species....
are also found in some of the cold, clean streams of the area.
Tourism and recreation
The Valley's unique climatic and natural features attract a steady flow of outdoor recreationalists. Camping, hiking, fishingFishing
Fishing is the activity of trying to catch wild fish. Fish are normally caught in the wild. Techniques for catching fish include hand gathering, spearing, netting, angling and trapping....
(trout
Trout
Trout is the name for a number of species of freshwater and saltwater fish belonging to the Salmoninae subfamily of the family Salmonidae. Salmon belong to the same family as trout. Most salmon species spend almost all their lives in salt water...
, bass
Bass (fish)
Bass is a name shared by many different species of popular gamefish. The term encompasses both freshwater and marine species. All belong to the large order Perciformes, or perch-like fishes, and in fact the word bass comes from Middle English bars, meaning "perch."-Types of basses:*The temperate...
), cross-country and downhill skiing, leaf-peeping, and wildlife viewing are popular outdoor activities. Upland game bird hunting
Upland hunting
Upland Hunting is an American term for a form of bird hunting in which the hunter pursues upland birds including quail, pheasant, grouse, prairie chicken, chukar, grey partridge, and others...
(woodcock
Woodcock
The woodcocks are a group of seven or eight very similar living species of wading birds in the genus Scolopax. Only two woodcocks are widespread, the others being localized island endemics. Most are found in the Northern Hemisphere but a few range into Wallacea...
, ruffed grouse
Ruffed Grouse
The Ruffed Grouse is a medium-sized grouse occurring in forests from the Appalachian Mountains across Canada to Alaska. It is non-migratory.The Ruffed Grouse is frequently referred to as a "partridge"...
, common snipe
Common Snipe
The Common Snipe is a small, stocky wader native to the Old World. The breeding habitat is marshes, bogs, tundra and wet meadows throughout northern Europe and northern Asia...
, wild turkey
Wild Turkey
The Wild Turkey is native to North America and is the heaviest member of the Galliformes. It is the same species as the domestic turkey, which derives from the South Mexican subspecies of wild turkey .Adult wild turkeys have long reddish-yellow to grayish-green...
) has long been popular in the Valley and is still permitted, even in the NWR, within season.
In addition to the two state parks and one wildlife refuge, the valley is home to two Alpine
Alpine skiing
Alpine skiing is the sport of sliding down snow-covered hills on skis with fixed-heel bindings. Alpine skiing can be contrasted with skiing using free-heel bindings: Ski mountaineering and nordic skiing – such as cross-country; ski jumping; and Telemark. In competitive alpine skiing races four...
ski resorts (Canaan Valley Ski Resort
Canaan Valley Resort State Park
Canaan Valley Resort State Park is a state park within Canaan Valley, Tucker County, West Virginia. Located in the highest valley east of the Mississippi River, the park contains the second-largest inland wetland area in the United States...
and Timberline Four Seasons Resort) and one Nordic
Nordic skiing
Nordic skiing is a winter sport that encompasses all types of skiing where the heel of the boot cannot be fixed to the ski, as opposed to Alpine skiing....
ski area (White Grass Touring Center).
See also
Other sources
- Allard, H.A. and E.C. Leonard (1952), "Canaan and Stony River Valleys of West Virginia, Their Former Magnificent Spruce Forests, Their Vegetation and Floristics Today,", Castanea 17:1-60.
- Kennedy, Philip Pendleton (1853), The Blackwater Chronicle, A Narrative of an Expedition into the Land of Canaan in Randolph County, Virginia, Redfield, New YorkRedfield, New YorkRedfield is a town in Oswego County, New York, USA. The population was 607 at the 2000 census.The Town of Redfield was incorporated from part of the Town of Mexico in 1800...
. - Strother, David HunterDavid Hunter StrotherDavid Hunter Strother was a successful 19th century American magazine illustrator and writer, popularly known by his pseudonym, "Porte Crayon" .-Early life:...
(1855), The Virginia Canaan, Harper's MagazineHarper's MagazineHarper's Magazine is a monthly magazine of literature, politics, culture, finance, and the arts, with a generally left-wing perspective. It is the second-oldest continuously published monthly magazine in the U.S. . The current editor is Ellen Rosenbush, who replaced Roger Hodge in January 2010...
, 8:18-36. - Fortney, Ronald H. (1993), “Canaan Valley – An Area of Special Interest within the Upland Forest Region”, Chapter 4 in: Upland Forests of West Virginia, Stephen L. Stephenson, editor; Parsons, West VirginiaParsons, West VirginiaThe town of Parsons is the county seat of Tucker County, West Virginia, in the United States. The population was 1,463 at the 2000 census. The mayor of Parsons is Dorothy Judy and the city administrator is Jason Myers...
: McClain Printing CompanyMcClain Printing CompanyThe McClain Printing Company is a printing company specializing in books of West Virginia history and lore. The company was incorporated in 1958 in Parsons, West Virginia as an outgrowth of the local weekly newspaper, the Parsons Advocate.-History:...
. - Preble, Jack (1971), Land of Canaan, Plain Tales from the Mountains of West Virginia, Parsons, West VirginiaParsons, West VirginiaThe town of Parsons is the county seat of Tucker County, West Virginia, in the United States. The population was 1,463 at the 2000 census. The mayor of Parsons is Dorothy Judy and the city administrator is Jason Myers...
: McClain Printing CompanyMcClain Printing CompanyThe McClain Printing Company is a printing company specializing in books of West Virginia history and lore. The company was incorporated in 1958 in Parsons, West Virginia as an outgrowth of the local weekly newspaper, the Parsons Advocate.-History:...
, 1st ed., 1960; 2nd ed., 1965, 3rd ed., 1971. - Freshwater Institute and West Virginia Audubon Council (n.d. [but 1980s]), The Canaan Valley: A National Treasure, 12 minute educational film.
- Ludlum, J.C., and Arkle, Jr., T. (1971), Blackwater Falls State Park and Canaan Valley State Park: Resources, Geology and Recreation, West Virginia Geological and Economic Survey, State Park Series Bulletin 6, 60 p.
- Matchen, D.L., Fedorko, N., and Blake, Jr., B.M. (1998), Geology of Canaan Valley, 1:24,000 scale (Map, with explanation text).
- Venable, Norma Jean (1990), Canaan Valley, West Virginia University Extension Service, Morgantown, West Virginia.
