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In the 1800s, Iron, armaments, and salt became significant industries in Western Virginia, as did textiles, boat and brick making, glass making, natural gas and petroleum, and the very early beginning of the Mountain State coal industry. All related to the region's vast natural resources and the innovativeness of early settlers.
Iron making was one of the first industries in Western Virginia because the area had lots of natural resources like iron ore, charcoal, limestone, and water power. It started in 1742 when William Vestal built the first small ironworks, called a bl...
The Harpers Ferry armory was built in 1798 and started making weapons by 1799. It produced guns, ammo, and parts for the U.S. military until 1861, including supplies for the Lewis and Clark Expedition.At first, the armory didn’t help the local eco...
In early America, red pottery with a shiny lead glaze was common because clay was easy to find, but it was fragile and hard to ship. So, local potters sprung up to make everyday items like bowls and jars from nearby clay.In what is now West Virgin...
In early America, salt was hard to get and had to be imported. As settlers moved west, they found natural salt licks to preserve food but needed more, so they started making it. In Western Virginia, salt production began around 1797 and grew quick...
Coal was known to be in Western Virginia since colonial times, but it wasn’t used much until the early 1800s. The first coal mining started near the Kanawha and Ohio rivers, where towns and factories already existed.Salt furnaces in Kanawha County...
In the 1800s, cloth-making grew into a big business in parts of Western Virginia. Small family-run mills began to replace homemade cloth, using machines to make stronger yarn and fabric like blankets, stockings, and linsey-woolsey. Mills were foun...
In 1811, the first inland steamboat, the New Orleans, was launched on the Ohio River in Pittsburgh. More steamboats followed, and by 1816, a better model called the Washington was launched in Wheeling. By the 1830s, over 450 steamboats were runnin...
Western Virginia, especially near New Cumberland, had lots of clay for making bricks. Families like the Porters and Mackeys started brick businesses using local clay and firewood, later switching to gas and coal. Bricks were shipped by river and t...
In the 1800s, Western Virginia was a major center for glassmaking because it had lots of glass sand, cheap fuel, and good railroads. Towns worked to attract factories, and skilled workers from nearby states helped the industry grow.By the mid-1800...
Western Virginia's oil and gas were first discovered in the 1700s in the Kanawha and Little Kanawha river valleys. In the early 1800s, the Ruffner family found oil and gas while drilling for salt near the Kanawha River. Other families, like the Le...
Early European-American Settlers
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