Hello everyone, I have another WW2 effects, today I will tell you about West Virginia. Like most of the states East of Kansas, I know very little about the state, so this was a good learning experience for me. I hope you all enjoy and learn something new!! West Virginia Pre-WW2 West Virginia was admitted to the union in 1863, right smack in the middle of the ensuing Civil War engulfing the country. The state's turbulent beginning's made it difficult for the state to get on it's feet, but within a few decades, West Virginia was well on it's way . From the state's very beginning's, a single natural resource was the state's main economic asset, it's lifeblood, coal. West Virginia lies on the world's largest deposit of Coal, the Marcellus Shale deposit. It covers roughly 97% of West Virginia, and parts of 6 other state's. In 1870, 3/4ths of the state's 400,000 residents worked in some capacity with the coal industry, the other percentage was made up of Farmers. Known as the Mountain State, West Virginia is almost entirely mountainous and rugged terrain being a part of the Appalachian Mountain range, with only a small portion in the Southwest being suitable for farming. Like many state's at the time, West Virginia was reliant upon one soul industry and export, Coal mining, with a limited farming capacity, and a even more limited population, the state was in a unique situation. With the United States becoming a modern, electrical nation, Coal was called upon in a massive way, and this allowed West Virginia to have one of the most stable economies, and lowest unemployment rates in the country, even through the Depression. The demand for coal dipped only slightly during the Depression, allowing for most of the miners and workers to keep their jobs, with only a few thousand being layed off. West Virginia outpaced California in growth during the Depression with it's population growing to 1.7 million in 1930, a 20% increase from 1920. In a time on National crisis, West Virginia was doing better than almost all of the other 48 states at that time, even it's governor William G. Conley stated in 1932, "Jobs are as plentiful here as the Coal!" (Encyclopedia of West Virginia). While mostly focusing on Coal, and Farming, West Virginia had also been growing it's industrial sector since the beginning of the 20th century, with the capitol Charleston, Huntington, and Morgantown leading the way. Every Mountaineer, and company would be called upon to help out in the conflict just over the horizon....... West Virginia WW2 With WW2 raging in Europe, Africa, and Asia in 1940, the U.S, and West Virginia prepared for the worst. West Virginia's first, and only Military base was built in Greenbrier, acting as an airfield and Army center. Some of the factories throughout West Virginia were converted and upgraded to take on the role of a wartime factory with new production levels and deadlines. By the time the war began for West Virginia, the coal and industrial industries were in full swing. The demand for coal rose significantly, as did war materials, and food. Within a few months, West Virginia went from a 7% unemployment rate, to a 2% rate, the lowest in the state's history to date. The Coal industry saw it's biggest leap in production since WW1, and by 1945, 43% of the state's 1.9 million were working in the coal industry. By war's end, West Virginia had exported around 650 million tonnes of Coal across the U.S, and the world. Across West Virginians homes, families were growing "victory" gardens to sustain themselves as part of the war effort, so more food could be sent to troops overseas, West Virginians were ranked only behind California in self-sustainability during the war, with close to 60% of the population having their own "victory" garden, or growing some of their own food. West Virginia also played a pivotal role in the rubber industry. When the rubber rich Dutch East Indies fell to the Japanese, the U.S Rubber company was tasked to find a way to make synthetic rubber, which they successfully did. A Synthetic rubber plant was constructed in the Kanawha Valley near Charleston, and throughout the war, it supplied Millions of tonnes of desperately needed rubber to the Allies. That's not all the Valley supplied, "The valley also housed the world’s largest producer of steel used for battleships, tanks, and other military equipment. The U.S. Naval Ordnance Plant in Kanawha County supplied gun barrels for ships and tanks, while West Virginians built patrol boats and other ocean-going vessels on the Mason County shores of the Ohio River..." (Encyclopedia of West Virginia). In the Greenbrier military facility, Soldiers who received wounds in Europe, Italy, and Africa were tended to and stayed for rehabilitation, with about 20,000 going through the facility during the war. In the Grant and Tucker counties, Soldiers were trained in Mountain fighting and survival techniques. During the War, 218,000 West Virginians joined the military or government to help with the war effort, putting West Virginia in the top 5 states for percentage of citizens in the military, with more than 10%. 4,865 of those 218,000 died during the war, and about 200 died at home due to mining and factory accidents. West Virginia Post WW2 West Virginia carried it's success and progress into the late 40's and 50's, where the state's population peaked at 2 million. Unfortunately, that success was not sustainable, or long lived after that. Thousands of soldiers returning home who might have initially worked in the coal industry, didn't rejoin the effort. With the new generation of baby boomers coming of age in the 60's and 70's, the idea of becoming a coal miner, or joining the coal industry became even more unattractive. During the 70's, scientists and activists alike told of the harmful and dangerous effects coal mining had on the miners, the environment, and the economy. In a state with a balanced and diverse economy, this would be a setback, but not a fatal blow, for West Virginia, this was the beginning of the end of economic prosperity for about 30 years. With the industry being scaled back in the 50's, farming becoming increasingly scarce, and mining becoming a thing of the past, West Virginia became stuck. Going from 2 million in 1950, to 1.7 in 1970, West Virginia and it's people were losing hope. West Virginia is the only state in the U.S today that has a smaller population now, than it did 80 years ago, a sad reality for a state that could have been among the nations best post war. While things have improved since 2000, things still aren't great, unemployment is one of the highest in the nation at 6%, and besides a few minor additions to the economic picture, West Virginia is still struggling to make ends meet. As for the Coal industry, the end is in sight, Coal is no longer the fuel of the future, and it has lost favor with the public, and government, compared to greener options. Things aren't looking good for West Virginia at the moment, but if the right steps and moves are taken, the state can hopefully return to it's former glory some day.... Coal miners in the Huntington mine, 1941 The Marcellus Shale in all it's glory A happy African-American family whose father is a coal miner, 1938 Greenbrier AAF in 1947 Troops training in the Appalachian mountains of West Virginia, 1943 One of the Synthetic Rubber plants in Kanawha Valley, 1944 Victory Garden Propaganda during the War Protester's standing in front of a coal mining company, 2011 Brier Canyon today West Virginia in the fall, outside Morgantown today West Virginia University mascot...."the Mountaineer" WVU football today I'm a big John Denver fan, and this is one of my favorites, probably the only popular song to mention West Virginia ever
I think J Denver did more to put it on the map more than anything/anyone...tourism looks like a strong possibility, not just internationally either, plenty of Americans in busy cities would love a break in a place like Virginia...Maybe the Governer should visit Australia to learn how to "spruik" a place...especially for eco tourism. Many Welsh were "imported" in huge numbers to America as they are the best miners in the world...(The word "buddy" is a welsh mining word - never go into the mine without a buddy) - I wonder how many made it to Virginia...Are people from Virginia called Virgins?
You're probably right about what John Denver did for West Virginia, WV is a beautiful place I'd love to visit some day, mining has unfortunately scarred much of the land. I didn't know that about the Welsh.....or the term buddy. And no Virginians aren't called virgins
Native born and proud of it.Coal is coming back,Medicine and pharmaceuticals play a big part in the economy. Dad had to move us out to Illinois in the early 60's.No good work. He was working 3 jobs just to make it.They said we were poor but I never knew it. Visit often,no place like it."Almost Heaven" Dad was a WW2 vet.3rd Army.Married my mother in France.(war bride).
The Welsh and Irish did a lot of the coal mining in West Virginia and Pennsylvania. The didn't always get along. For dramatizations see a movie titled The Molly McGuires. The Molly Maguires (1970) - IMDb There's also a pretty decent song about it but I can't remember the name of it now. Does concentrate more on Pennsylvania than W Virginia in any case. More details here: Molly Maguires - Wikipedia Some don't realize the impact of coal on the labor movement in the US but it was one of the more significant industries in that regard. Not sure how active those in West Virginia were though.
It's great to have a native here!! You obviously know more about the state than probably anyone else here, is coal really making a comeback, or is it a momentary spike?
JJ, All depends on the steel industry come back and the tariff thing. Coal for electric production will probably not happen,but natural gas will grow and WVa has plenty of that.
That does makes sense, but that's natural gas, not coal. Every article I read regarding the Coal industry today say that the industry will almost certainly be defunct in 15 years, which means about 50,000 people will lose their jobs. Is the Natural gas industry big enough to take on those who will eventually lose their jobs?
Time will tell.The one thing that is certain,Mountaineers will find a way. The opioide epidemic is the dark horse in the race. If not controlled, it will destroy most gains in moving the state and its people forward.
Absolutely, West Virginians are tough people, they have the pioneering and Mountainmen blood in them. I did not know they had such a problem with opioid, what you said is true of all state's, drugs don't do anything but destroy lives, families, communities, states, and nations.
Darwin has a natural gas project... A Japanese company has constructed this facility at Bladen Point...Plenty of construction jobs, but its designed to be as automated as possible, meaning many less jobs one might expect. It will process billions of dollars of LNG over its 40 odd year life span...Most going to Japan.
I'm sure that will give Australia's economy a little boost, and provide some jobs, two very good things.
Yeah...we get a lot of companies that want to mine or pull something out of the Territory. The locals know better, we've heard the whole "economic prosperity for generations to come" spiel...we then see the "actual" result. Which is not as much money as we thought...FIFO (fly in-fly out) workers...The Territory gets the money for this (not Australia directly) - Its our backyard they are messing with so we get the compensation. It does give Darwin energy protection though...
