Transcript Regions - West Virginia Geography Awareness

The Four Regions of
West Virginia
Human and Environmental Interaction
►
HEI – The way we use,
affect, and are affected by
our environment.
►
Animals eliminated from
WV because of human
interaction
 wolf, bison, elk
Railroad helped the
industries in WV boom
►
Human and Environmental Interaction
►
3 major industries that are
examples of
human/environmental
interaction
 Mining
 Lumber
 Chemical
►
Surface mining=strip mining
►
Chemical industry great site
in WV because of the
available elements
 Kanawha Valley “the Chemical
Valley of the World”
Surface Mining
Surface Mining
Human and Environmental Interaction
►
Lumbering
 Early settlers saw that the
entire state was covered with
forest. They cut down the
trees and used them for two
purposes:
To provide building materials for
houses
► Fuel
► (later used to build boats)
►
 Lumbering brought other jobs,
such as:
Sawmills
Pulp mills-converts wood chips or
other plant fiber source into a thick
fiber board which can be shipped
to a paper mill for further
processing
► Tanneries-workplace where skins
and hides are tanned
►
►
Movement
►
Movement-the way we are
linked through exploration,
trade routes, settlement,
migration, and invasion
►
WV was first settled in the
Potomac region
►
Early settlers searched for
food, water, and safety.
►
Settlers traveled the least
restrictive way, by valleys
and following rivers.
Regions
(an area that is bound by common characteristics)
Geographic regions are defined by:
Common Climate
Common Landform
Economic
Recreational activities
West Virginia has 4 Regions:
Potomac Section
Allegheny Highlands
Allegheny Plateau
Ohio River Valley
►
Geography:
The Potomac Section
 In the Eastern Panhandle
 Gently rolling farmland
(Rural)
 Potomac River is its
northern border (the river
gives the region its name)
 Contains lowest point in WV
(Harpers Ferry 247 feet
above sea level)
►
A place where urban
(city or town) workers
flock to the region from
Washington D.C.
The Potomac Section
►
History:
 It was the first region
settled by Europeans
 In 1912 US Supreme Court
ruled that the Fairfax Stone
would be the starting point of
the boundary between WV and
MD
►
Industries
 Livestock (sheep and cattle)
because of excellent grass
 Peach & Apple orchards
because of great soil
►
►
Apple Butter Festival
Mountain State Apple Harvest
Festival
The Potomac Section
►
Natural Features
 (Warm springs) Berkeley Springs
►
Spa (health resort)
 Whitewater rafting on the Shenandoah River
 Potomac Eagle (The Trough)
 State Parks- Cacapon and Berkeley Springs
►
Harper’s Ferry
(picture on front of text)
The Allegheny Highlands
►
Geography:
 Mountainous Region - Forms
the dividing line between
eastern and western WV
 Contains Highest Point in WV
- Spruce Knob 4862 feet
above sea level
►
The Allegheny Highlands
is the region that gave
WV its nickname the
“Mountain State”
The Allegheny Highlands
►
History
 Immigrants (ones who moves into a
new country to settle)
► Swiss and Germans settled much
of the region in the 1740s and
early 1800s
 Helvetia (Latin for “Switzerland”)
settled in 1869
►
►
Southern and Eastern Europeans
came into the region in the late
1800’s and earl 1900’s (due to coal
and timber industries)
Industries
 Tourism!
 Sparsely populated (largest city:
Beckley)
The Allegheny Highlands
(Helvetia)
The Allegheny Highlands
►
Natural Features
 Premier Skiing
Facilities – Snowshoe,
Winterplace, Silver Creek
Ski Area and others
 Hiking, rock climbing,
spelunking, mountain
bicycling
►
►
►
►
►
Peter’s Mountain
Seneca Rocks
Smoke Hole
Seneca, and Lost World
Caverns
Dolly Sods
The Allegheny Plateau
►
Geography
 Plateau (an elevated tract of more
or less level land)
 Rivers cut gorges and canyons
across the plateau
New River Gorge
► New River – second oldest
river in the world
►
 The largest city is located in this
region: Charleston (State Capital)
The Allegheny Plateau
►
History
 The influence of Native
Americans is evident in the
region
Kanawha (river of evil spirits)
► Logan County was named
after a Mingo chief whose
family was killed by a band of
white men
► Mingo County named after
tribe of Indians
►
 The Region is rich in ethnic
diversity
Italians, Belgians, Czechs,
Greeks, Irish, and Spaniards.
► Mining Industry attracted
many immigrants to the region
►
The Allegheny Plateau
►
Natural Features
 Contains a variety of natural
resources
►
Limestone, sandstone, shale,
coal, oil, natural gas and salt
 Whitewater rafting
►
(Gauley River and New River)
 Windsurfing, boating, scuba
diving, water skiing, fishing
►
(Summersville Lake)
 New River Gorge Bridge
(Construction completed in
October of 1977)
► Bridge Day (3rd Saturday of Oct)
►
The Ohio River Valley
►
Geography
 Lies next to Ohio River, the
river dominates this region
 Many cities located in this areaHuntington, Parkersburg, Point
Pleasant, Wheeling
 Islands are found in the Ohio
river with unique flora and
fauna
(Ohio River Island National
Wildlife Refuge)
► Blennerhassett Island
►
The Ohio River Valley
►
History
 Area was inhabited for
thousands of years by Indians
 First settled by French in mid
1700s. French called the Ohio
La Belle Riviere “The
Beautiful River”
 1763 French surrendered
Ohio Valley to Britain after
French and Indian War
 The historic Blennerhassett
Island
 West Virginia’s “floating
capitol”
The Ohio River Valley
(Blennerhasset Island)
►
Aaron Burr Conspiracy (1805 – 1807)
 Aaron Burr - Former Vice President under
Thomas Jefferson; orchestrated a plot to
create a new government opposed to
America in the Southwest
 Harman Blennerhasset – Wealthy Irish
born lawyer that owned an island on the
Ohio River where Burr and his conspirators
plotted; also financed Burr’s conspiracy
 Edward Tiffin, governor of Ohio, brought
militia to Blennerhasset Island, raided it
and stopped the conspiracy
 Burr and Blennerhasset were accused of
treason (the crime of trying to overthrow
the government of one’s state or country)
The Ohio River Valley
(West Virginia's “Floating Capitol”)
►
When West Virginia became a state in
1863, the Capitol building was at the Linsly
Institute in Wheeling.
►
In 1870, the State Legislature designated
Charleston as the Capital city.
►
In 1875, the Legislature voted to return
the Capital to Wheeling. This was appealed
by the citizens of Charleston and finally
settled by the West Virginia Supreme Court
of Appeals on September 13 in favor of
Wheeling.
►
The Legislature struck once more in 1877
and ordered an election to be held on
August 7 for the citizens of West Virginia to
select a permanent location for the Capital.
The vote was between Charleston,
Martinsburg and Clarksburg. Thirty days
after the election, Henry M. Mathews
proclaimed that after eight years,
Charleston would be the government's
permanent seat
VS
The Ohio River Valley
► The
new Capitol opened on May 1, 1885,
and served for 36 years until its destruction
by fire on January 3, 1921
► Luckily,
the Legislature had authorized the
construction of the present Capitol on the
north bank of the Kanawha River in 1921.
This building was completed in 1932 at a
cost of $10 million
The Ohio River Valley
► Major
manufacturing:
 Steel
 Glass
 Textiles
Review
►
7 River Basins in WV
►
The climate of WV is Humid Continental
►
The New river has 4 tributaries
The Kanawha river has the greatest number of tributaries
The county that is often referred to as the birthplace of rivers is
Pocahontas
WV has one natural lake
WV location can be described as relative and absolute
WV boundaries- natural and man-made
Fairfax Stone- WV and Maryland
Mason-Dixon Line- WV and Pennsylvania
►
►
►
►
►
►
►
Refernces
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Image:Helvetia_WVShield_Sign.jpg
► http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Valley/6192/
► http://www.freebase.com/view/wikipedia/images/common
s_id/556019
► http://www.newriverwv.com/
► http://www.wvbridgeday.com/
► http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charleston,_West_Virginia
► http://www.blennerhassettislandstatepark.com/
► http://www.electricearl.com/parkersburg/island.html
► http://www.blenkoglass.com/
► http://www.wvtourism.com/spec.aspx?pgID=80
►