University of North Carolina Press
Transforming the Appalachian Countryside: Railroads, Deforestation, and Social Change in West Virginia, 1880-1920
Key Metrics
- Ronald L Lewis
- University of North Carolina Press
- Paperback
- 9780807847060
- 9.28 X 6.46 X 0.87 inches
- 1.18 pounds
- History > United States - State & Local - South (AL,AR,FL,GA,KY,LA,MS,NC,SC,TN,VA,WV)
- English
Secure TransactionBook Description
Virginia provides an ideal site for studying the broader social impact of deforestation in Appalachia, the South, and the eastern United States.
Most of West Virginia was still dominated by a backcountry economy when the industrial transition began. In short order, however, railroads linked remote mountain settlements directly to
national markets, hauling away forest products and returning with manufactured goods and modern ideas. Workers from the countryside and abroad swelled new mill towns, and merchants ventured into
the mountains to fulfill the needs of the growing population. To protect their massive investments, capitalists increasingly extended control over the state's legal and political systems.
Eventually, though, even ardent supporters of industrialization had reason to contemplate the consequences of unregulated exploitation. Once the timber was gone, the mills closed and the railroads pulled up their tracks, leaving behind an environmental disaster and a new class of marginalized rural poor to confront the worst depression in American history.
Author Bio
Upon receiving the PhD in 1974, I began my teaching career at the University of Delaware. With a joint appointment in the Black American Studies Program and the Department of History, I was promoted through the ranks to Professor while at the U of D. During my eleven years there, I taught African American history.
My research focused on the uneasy intersection of race and labor in America. I also became interested in regional studies while at the U of D, and offered a graduate seminar on Appalachian history and culture. When I was hired at WVU in 1985 to teach West Virginia and Appalachian history, the pieces of my second career as a regional historian fell into place. WVU has been good to me and my family, and in retirement we continue to call Morgantown home.
My professional activities have slowed considerably, but I still occupy myself with several research projects.
Education
Ph.D. 1974 and M.A. 1971, University of Akron (American History)
B.A. (1966), Ohio University (Political Science and Economics)
Source: West Virginia University
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