| Cheat Mountain | |
| Mountain | |
 View of US 33 crossing Cheat Mountain (in distance).
|
|
| Country |  United States |
|---|---|
| State |  West Virginia |
| Counties | Pocahontas, Randolph, Tucker |
| Range | Allegheny Mountains |
| Summit | Hutton Knob in Randolph County, WV |
| - elevation | 4,236 ft (1,291.1 m) [1] |
| - coordinates | 38°38′28″N 79°54′47″W / 38.64111°N 79.91306°W |
| Highest point | Thorny Flat |
| - location | Pocahontas County, WV |
| - elevation | 4,848 ft (1,477.7 m) [2] |
| - coordinates | 38°23′37″N 79°59′02″W / 38.39361°N 79.98389°W |
| Length | 50 mi (80 km) approximately |
| Topo maps | USGS Snyder Knob, Mingo, Cass, Mill Creek, Wildell, Beverly East, Elkins, Montrose |
| Nearest city | Elkins, West Virginia |
  Location of Hutton Knob in West Virginia
|
|
| Website: Nature Conservancy: Cheat Mountain | |
Cheat Mountain, is an exceptionally high and rugged ridge situated in the Allegheny Mountains of eastern West Virginia, USA. It is about 50 miles (80 km) long (north to south) and more than five miles (8 km) wide at its widest. Its highest point is at its southernmost end at Thorny Flat, which has an elevation of 4,848 feet (1,478 m). Several other knobs rise above 4,000 feet (1,200 m) along its length.
The mountain was once home to the largest red spruce forest south of Maine and a large portion of it now lies within the Monongahela National Forest.
Contents |
Geography
Cheat Mountain traverses the entire length of central Randolph County, West Virginia, from (in the north) a point just west of Parsons to (in the south) a point, about 5.5 miles (8.9 km) south of the Randolph/Pocahontas County line, near the community of Stony Bottom, where it impinges upon Back Allegheny Mountain. All but the northernmost 4 miles (6.4 km) and the southernmost 5.5 miles (8.9 km) are within Randolph County. The western flank of Cheat Mountain is skirted by U.S. Route 219 which connects a string of communities in the Tygart River Valley (notably, from north to south, Montrose, Kerens, Elkins, Beverly, Huttonsville and Valley Head). The eastern flank, overlooking the valley of Shavers Fork, is more remote. However, all but the northernmost 15 miles (24 km) or so of it is skirted by the Western Maryland Railroad, connecting (from north to south) the communities of Bowden, Bemis and Cheat Bridge. Cheat Mountain is crossed (east/west) by two federal highways: U.S. Route 33 in its northern third and U.S. Route 250 in its southern third.
The Cheat River, a tributary of the Monongahela, is formed at Parsons, just east of the northern tip of Cheat Mountain, by the confluence of Shavers Fork and Black Fork.
History
Cheat Mountain has a rich and often tumultuous history. An engagement of the American Civil War -- the Battle of Cheat Mountain -- took place here on September 12–15, 1861.[3]
The West Virginia timber industry grew rapidly towards the turn of the 19th Century. In the early 1900s, Cheat was extensively timbered by the West Virginia Pulp and Paper Company and their Cass operation, West Virginia Spruce Lumber Company. By 1905, the summit had been reached by loggers and by 1960 the mountain was virtually barren. The timbering of Cheat has been chronicled in many books, including Of Men and A Mighty Mountain[4][5], which details how difficult life was on the mountain for the mostly immigrant workers of the lumber operation.
Cass Railroad and Snowshoe
A state park and tourist service, Cass Scenic Railroad State Park, opened in 1960 and takes visitors up the side of Cheat Mountain to Bald Knob via the same route the logging railroad used in the 1900s. (Contrary to popular belief, Cass Railroad does not take visitors to the summit of Cheat Mountain, but rather the summit of the connected Back Allegheny Mountain.)
In 1974, Snowshoe Mountain ski resort opened on the southern tip of the mountain near Thorny Flat.
See also
References
- ^ "Hutton Knob". Geographic Names Information System. U.S. Geological Survey. http://geonames.usgs.gov/pls/gnispublic/f?p=gnispq:3:::NO::P3_FID:1551536. Retrieved on 2008-06-04
- ^ "West Virginia Summits". PeakList.org. Archived from the original on 2009-01-16. http://www.webcitation.org/5dsdeIkpq. Retrieved on 2008-06-04.
- ^ Zinn, Jack (1974), R. E. Lee's Cheat Mountain Campaign; Parsons, West Virginia; McClain Printing Company.
- ^ Blackhurst, W. E. (1965), Of Men and a Mighty Mountain, Parsons, West Virginia; McClain Printing Company.
- ^ Clarkson, Roy B. (1964), Tumult on the Mountains: Lumbering in West Virginia 1770-1920; Line drawings by William A. Lunk; Parsons, West Virginia; McClain Printing Company.
External links
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||
This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)
