The Jug

The Jug Wildlife Management Area
West Virginia Wildlife Management Area
Country	United States
State	West Virginia
County	Tyler
Elevation	900 ft (274.3 m)
Coordinates
Area	2,848 acres (1,152.5 ha)
Owner	West Virginia Division of Natural Resources, Wildlife Resources Section
IUCN category	IV - Habitat/Species government Area
Nearest city	Middlebourne, West Virginia
Location of The Jug Wildlife Management Area in West Virginia
Website: WVDNR District 6 Wildlife Management Areas

The Jug — formerly known as the Jug Handle — is a jug-shaped island formed by a horseshoe bend on Middle Island Creek near Middlebourne in Tyler County, West Virginia, USA. It is maintained by the state of West Virginia as The Jug Wildlife Management Area (2,848 acres, including the Jug and much land south of it).

History

File:Middle Island Creek raceway.jpg

The remains of the 18th-19th century cut across the peninsula of the Jug, as viewed in 2006. The creek is partially prevented from flowing here by the dam effect of the low water bridge visible at left (see photograph below); the creek is slightly visible at right, having emerged from a 3.3 mile (5.3 km) meander.

File:Middle Island Creek Jug bridge.jpg

A 1947 low water bridge maintains the partial flow of Middle Island Creek (left) around the Jug. The creek emerges from the bend just to the right of the frame of the photograph.

Middle Island Creek's most extreme meander forms a peninsula known as "the Jug," located upstream of Middlebourne. The creek rounds a 3.3 mile (5.3 km) bend only to return to within 100 feet (30 m) of itself. Sometime prior to 1800, an early European settler named George Gregg had a raceway (mill race) carved across the narrow point of the peninsula and harnessed the resulting hydropower of the stream's 13-foot (4 m) fall for a gristmill and sawmill at the site. These mills were destroyed by a flood in 1852; four more mills were subsequently built and respectively washed away by flooding in the later 19th century. Flooding had the effect of widening the raceway across the peninsula such that it became the main channel of the stream, inhibiting the flow of water through the longer loop and transforming the peninsula to an island. In 1947 the West Virginia Conservation Commission constructed a low water bridge which substantially dammed the cut-through and restored a steady flow to the bend of the creek. The low water bridge is known to be frequently impassable due to flooding. The land encircled by the creek's loop is operated as a Wildlife Management Area by the state of West Virginia.

See also

• List of islands of West Virginia

External links

• WVDNR District 6 Wildlife Management Areas
• WVDNR map of The Jug Wildlife Management Area