West Virginia Code Chapter 34. Estrays, Drift and Derelict Property § 34-1-3. Effect of failure of owner to claim

If the owner of such property shall not have appeared within thirty days after such copy has been so posted, and the valuation thereof be under fifteen dollars, or if such valuation be as much as fifteen dollars, and the owner shall not have appeared after such certificate has been published as aforesaid, and also three times in some newspaper such as is mentioned in section one of this article, it shall belong in either case to the owner of the land on which it was so taken, if an estray, or to the person taking it up, in the case of a boat or vessel.