Natural landmarks One of Monroe County's geological features is Haynes Cave, a former saltpeter mine.[Steelhammer, Rick (2008), "W.Va.'s 'Official' Sloth Fossil on Display near Cheat Lake", Charleston Gazette, Thursday, September 19, 2008. Workers in the mine found strange bones in the cave at the end of the 18th Century, and mailed them to Thomas Jefferson. Jefferson's study of the animal, the Megalonyx jeffersonii was arguably the birth of American paleontology. It is now the official West Virginia state fossil.
Natural landmarks One of Monroe County's geological features is Haynes Cave a former saltpeter mine.[Steelhammer Rick (2008), "W.Va.'s 'Official' Sloth Fossil on Display near Cheat Lake", Charleston Gazette, Thursday, September 19 2008. Workers in the mine found strange bones in the cave at the end of the 18th Century, and mailed them to Thomas Jefferson. Jefferson's study of the animal, the Megalonyx jeffersonii was arguably the birth of American paleontology. It is now the official West Virginia state fossil.