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 slope on Cabin Mountain and a 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. 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 River with consequent flooding of about , 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