[4] The surrounding mountains extend upward an additional 1,250 to 4,450 ft (380 to 1,360 m) at the summit of Weiss Knob on the southeastern rim of the valley.

[5] The Valley itself is carved into the low dome of sedimentary rock known as the Blackwater Anticline, exposing the soft shales of the Mauch Chunk Formation.

The hard, erosion-resistant Pottsville Formation of sandstones is the higher layer supporting the mountains surrounding Canaan Valley and also constitutes the sharp rim of the nearby Blackwater Gorge.

[citation needed] Because of its relatively high elevation of 3,200 feet, Canaan Valley has a cooler, moister climate than surrounding areas at lower altitudes.

Canaan Valley's elevation and geographic location allow 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 western edge of Nor'easters, occasionally getting blizzards from strong, Atlantic moisture-laiden, easterly winds.

Canaan Valley and surrounding areas were strongly impacted by the southward advance of glaciers some 15,000 years ago.

Soon, however, this tundra-like vegetation was largely crowded out by the growth of an extraordinarily dense climax red spruce forest, intermixed with balsam fir and hardwoods.

According to local legend, a German settler named Henry Fansler, who was migrating from the Shenandoah Valley, viewed the valley from Cabin Mountain in April, 1748 and exclaimed "Besiehe das Land Canaan" ["Behold the Land of Canaan"] [12]:593 However, numerous early documented accounts [who?]

of the Valley (as discussed in the previous paragraph above) describe it as being just the opposite, a nightmarish landscape..."gloomy, foreboding", with extremely difficult access in the 1700s.

In fact, the first documented description of the Valley only 2 years prior to Harness's supposed 1748 proclamation stated that it was so wild and forbidding that it was "sufficient to strike terror into any human or creature".

This dark history, along with the Valley's cold, snowy climate and eastern Canadian-like forest and landscapes, have led some [who?]

[citation needed] 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.

[13]: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.

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.

A hundred years ago valley and surrounding ridges were covered by red spruce forest of a density that is hard to imagine today.

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.

A particularly noteworthy one occurred on 5 February 1924 in Canaan Valley when Babcock's Engine #4 wrecked and killed superintendent Fred V.

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.

The proposal involved damming the Blackwater River with consequent flooding of about 8,000 acres (32 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.

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.

In 2002, Allegheny – having kept development of most of the Valley at bay since its 1923 land purchase – finally sold its 12,000 acres (49 km2) to the government to be added to the Refuge.

[19] 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 bogs and conifer forests much further north.

[4] These 8,400 or so acres of shrub swamp and bog represent approximately 40% of the wetland found in the state of West Virginia.

Over 580 plant species have been documented in the Valley, notably various mosses, sedges and heathers, the large cranberry and the Canadian blueberry.

Camping, hiking, fishing (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.