The Jug

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title: "The Jug" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["river-islands-of-west-virginia", "wildlife-management-areas-of-west-virginia", "protected-areas-of-tyler-county,-west-virginia", "islands-of-tyler-county,-west-virginia", "iucn-category-v", "middle-island-creek"] description: "Island in West Virginia, United States" topic_path: "general/river-islands-of-west-virginia" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Jug" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Island in West Virginia, United States ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox protected area"]

Field	Value
name	The Jug Wildlife Management Area
iucn_category	V
iucn_ref
map	USA West Virginia
map_caption	Location of The Jug Wildlife Management Area in West Virginia
relief	1
location	Tyler, West Virginia, United States
coordinates
area_acre	2848
area_ref
elevation	900 ft
website	WVDNR District 6 Wildlife Management Areas
::

| name = The Jug Wildlife Management Area | iucn_category = V | iucn_ref = | photo = | photo_caption = | map = USA West Virginia | map_image = | map_size = | map_caption = Location of The Jug Wildlife Management Area in West Virginia | relief = 1 | location = Tyler, West Virginia, United States | nearest_city = | nearest_town = | coordinates = | coords_ref = | length = | length_mi = | length_km = | width = | width_mi = | width_km = | area_acre = 2848 | area_ref = | elevation = 900 ft | elevation_avg = | elevation_min = | elevation_max = | dimensions = | designation = | authorized = | created = | designated = | established = | named_for = | visitation_num = | visitation_year = | visitation_ref = | governing_body = | administrator = | operator = | owner = | website = WVDNR District 6 Wildlife Management Areas | embedded =

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

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 white 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 into 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. |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.

References

References

1. "The Jug Wildlife Management Area". IUCN.
2. [http://www.wvdnr.gov/Hunting/D6WMAareas.shtm WVDNR District 6 Wildlife Management Areas, Accessed March 29, 2008]
3. Morrison, Scott (March 1997), "Middle Island Creek"; In: ''Wonderful West Virginia''; West Virginia Division of Natural Resources, 61 (1): 14–15.
4. Ratliff, Gerald S., "[http://www.wvencyclopedia.org/articles/1083 Jug of Middle Island Creek]" (2006); In: ''The West Virginia Encyclopedia''; Ken Sullivan, editor, Charleston, WV: West Virginia Humanities Council; {{ISBN. 0-9778498-0-5.
5. West Virginia Division of Natural Resources. "West Virginia Wildlife Management Areas".

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