West Virginia

I

Introduction

West Virginia, one of the eastern states of the United States, bordered on the north by Ohio and Pennsylvania; on the north-east by Maryland; on the east and south by Virginia; and on the west by Kentucky and Ohio. The Potomac River forms part of the north-eastern boundary; the Tug Fork and Big Sandy rivers form almost all of the south-western boundary; and the Ohio River forms the western and north-western boundaries.

West Virginia entered the Union on June 20, 1863, as the 35th state. It was part of Virginia until the American Civil War (1861-1865), when its inhabitants, loyal to the Union, formed a separate state after Virginia became part of the Confederacy. The economy of West Virginia was principally agricultural until the late 19th century, when mining and manufacturing began to grow in importance. In the 1990s the state was a major producer of bituminous coal, primary metals, and chemicals. It is known as the “Mountain State”.

II

Land and Resources

West Virginia has an area of 62,761 sq km (24,232 sq mi) and is roughly oval in shape, with panhandles in the north and north-east; its extreme dimensions are about 425 km (265 mi) from east to west and about 380 km (235 mi) from north to south. Elevations range from 73 m (240 ft), along the Potomac River in the north-east, to 1,482 m (4,863 ft), at the top of Spruce Knob, in the east; the approximate mean elevation is 457 m (1,500 ft), the highest of any state east of the Mississippi River.

A

Physical Geography

All of West Virginia is underlain by folded sedimentary rocks, and the state has only two major physiographic regions: the Ridge and Valley Region and the Allegheny Front. In the relatively small Ridge and Valley Region in the east, the rock is strongly folded, and narrow, crested ridges have developed on sandstone, with valleys on the limestone and shale. The Allegheny Front, the eastern edge of the Appalachian Plateau, rises abruptly to a crest more than 1,219 m (4,000 ft) high. The Appalachian Plateau then slopes gently north-west, so that summit elevations near the Ohio River in the west are only about 305 m (1,000 ft) above sea level. The difference in elevation between hilltops and valley floors is more than 305 m (1,000 ft) near the Allegheny Front, but decreases to less than 152 m (500 ft) near the Ohio River.

Principal rivers include the Ohio, Monongahela, and Kanawha. West Virginia has no large natural bodies of water, but several big lakes have been formed by dams on rivers. These include Bluestone, East Lynn, Summersville, and Tygart lakes.

B

Climate

West Virginia has a humid continental climate, with warm summers and cool to cold winters. Charleston, in the west, has an average January temperature of 1.4° C (34.5° F) and an average July temperature of 23.9° C (75° F); Elkins, in the east, has a mean January temperature of -1.1° C (30° F) and a mean July temperature of 24.1° C (75.3° F). The recorded temperature in the state has ranged from -38.3° C (-37° F), in 1917 at Lewisburg, to 44.4° C (112° F), in 1930 at Moorefield and in 1936 at Martinsburg.