Embed Size (px)
Citation preview
APPALACHIA AND THE OZARKS(Chapter 8)
Elizabeth J. Leppman
Introduction• Two parts of one
province– Similar topography– Close association
between topography and human settlement
• Mountains relatively low, but…– Impede transportation – Promote isolation
Appalachians
Ozarks
(page 147)
Appalachia andthe Ozarks
Topography
• Tectonic plate collisions (460 million years ago)
• Physiographic provinces:– Blue Ridge
• Abrupt rise from adjacent Piedmont to the east
• Narrow in north, widens in south
• Natural gaps:– Potomac River– James River at
Roanoke– New River
(western North Carolina)
Topography (continued)
– Ridge and Valley• Easternmost part of sedimentary rock beds of
central North America• Ridges: Resistant shale and sandstone• Valleys: Limestone, good farmland
– Great Valley• Between Blue Ridge and Ridge and Valley• Important historic routeway
Topography (continued)
– Appalachian Plateau• Allegheny Front sharp escarpment on eastern edge• Significant barrier to early westward movement• Formed by stream erosion of uplifted horizontal rock
beds
– Ozarks-Ouachita• Ouachita
– Southern part– Folded parallel ridges
• Ozarks– Separated from Ouachita by Arkansas River valley– Plateau
Topography of Appalachians and Ozarks
(page 148)
Human Geography
(Ethnic Heritage)
• Popular myth of “Hillbilly”• Earliest settlers of Appalachia
– Scots-Irish, English, Germans– Settlement late in colonial era (late 1700s) – Entered Great Valley in southern Pennsylvania, moved south into
Virginia • Post-Independence arrivals
– Adequate flat land for farms (10-20 hectares/ 25-50 acres)– Forests with abundant game
Routes of Settlement and Cultural Diffusion
Pennsylvania culture hearth
Migration routes into Appalachia
Migration routesinto Ozarks
Increasing Isolation• Farmland
– Insufficient flat land, with a few exceptions, for large farms
– Unsuitable for plantations, therefore, few blacks• Bypassed in westward movement
– Unsuitable for mechanization, economies of scale– Far from major crossings of Appalachians– No early rail lines
• Slow urbanization– Southern emphasis on agriculture– Few products to sell
These farms beside the river may lack an abundance of flat crop land, but they are set in a beautiful paradise.
www.rmock.com/trips/appalachians/newriver2.jpg
• Relative immobility– Little in-migration– Little—and reluctant—outmigration until late
20th century• Population
– Predominantly white, Anglo-Saxon, Protestant
– Largest predominantly white low-income region
– Politically and religiously conservative• Similar conditions in Ozarks
Regional Cultures: Southern Appalachia
Poverty
Northern Appalachia
• From Pennsylvania northward
• Less poverty• Immigration
– Pennsylvania, northern West Virginia: East Europeans
– New York: New Yorkers, New Englanders
Northern Appalachia
• Religion– Fewer fundamentalist
churches– Catholic and Orthodox
churches, especially in Pennsylvania
• Transportation– Mountains easier to
cross– Links between eastern
and western parts of Manufacturing Core
Divided States of Appalachia
• West Virginia only state wholly within Appalachia
• Other states– Largest city,
capital outside Appalachia
Divided States of Appalachia
– Civil War• Mountain people opposed to
secession• Plantations foreign to
mountains• Mountain part of Virginia
became West Virginia (1863)– Impact of outside portions of
states• Education• Economic funding• Newspapers, radio, TV• Taxes
Weston, West Virginia
Agriculture
• Low urbanization rate (50% of U.S. average)
• Farms– Primary region of owner-
operated farms– Tenancy rare– Few resources, many farmers
• Rugged topography • Poor soil• Short growing seasons in many
areas – Small farm sizes: 40 hectares
(100 acres)– Many part-time farmers
Agricultural Products
• General farming (no one crop dominant)
• Animal husbandry (best use of steep slopes)
• Valley-area crops– Tobacco (especially burley in
south)– Apples– Tomatoes– Cabbage– Corn—distilled into
moonshine– Marijuana
Specialty Crop Areas
• Shenandoah Valley, Virginia– Once state’s breadbasket, but lost out to Great Plains– Hay– Corn (fodder)– Apples
• Pennsylvania valleys– Dairying– Apples
• Tennessee Valley– Fodder crops– Livestock
Elizabeth J. Leppman
Coal• Allegheny Plateau beds – Collectively world’s
largest– Bituminous – Seams up to 3 meters
(10 feet)• History of exploitation
– Post–Civil War new coke-burning iron and steel furnaces using bituminous coal
– Fueled rise of Pittsburgh “Steel City”
– Electricity for east coast and Manufacturing Core
A mountaintop removal coal mining operation near Blair, West VirginiaPhoto by The National Memorial for the Mountains
Coal (continued)
• Post–World War II– Decline with growth of
petroleum, natural gas– New technology– Rising unemployment, out-
migration– Economic depression in coal-
mining regions• Late 20th century
– Declining demand in steel industry
– Shift to other regions– Fluctuation in exports– Environmental concerns
Primary Home HeatingFuels, 1950-2000
(page 157)
Coal Mining Methods
• Shaft (underground mining)– Earliest and still dominant
method– Huge mobile drills, continuous
mining machines• Surface
– More prevalent in central region– Techniques
• Contour mining• Area mining—flatter terrain• Mountaintop removal—hilly
areas, much smaller scale
Coal (continued)
• Anthracite– Ridge and Valley northern end in Pennsylvania– Harder, lower in moisture content than bituminous– Pre-1900 uses
• Iron and steel manufacture• Home heating
– Disadvantages• Smaller, more broken seams• More expensive to mine
Coal: Consequences
• Economic mainstay• Health and safety issues• Regional unemployment• Low taxes and benefits to
states• Environmental impacts
– Strip mining– Reclamation– Acid mine drainage
(Photo of WV stream contamination by J. Henry Fair)
Mining
• Lead– Ozarks tristate district (Oklahoma, Kansas,
Missouri)– Southeastern Missouri
• Oil– First oil well in Pennsylvania (1859)– High-quality oils and lubricants
• Zinc: Tennessee• Copper: North Carolina–Georgia border
Tennessee Valley Authority
• Rivers – Transportation– Water power– Heavy rain and flooding
• Great Depression program– Navigation: 3-meter (9-foot)
channel to Knoxville– Hydroelectricity– Flood control
Appalachia’s Katrina
After heavy rains in Huntington, WV during much of December 1936 and January 1937, the Ohio River jumped its banks with a vengeance, cresting on January 27 at 69 ft. (Cincinnati, OH, further upriver, was 80 ft under water).
http://www.appalachianhistory.net/2007/02/appalachias-katrina.html
http://www.appalachianhistory.net/2007/06/appalachias-sunken-city.html
Tennessee Valley Authority
(page 161)
• Over 40 dams, 30 with power generating facilities• Electricity attraction for major industries• Other power-generating facilities (coal, nuclear)• Stimulating regional growth
– Flood control – Water transport– Power generation– Navigation– Flood control
Tennessee Valley Authority Today
Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC)
• Appalachian Redevelopment Act (1965) as extension of Area Redevelopment Act (1961)
• Appalachian Regional Commission– Responsible for an area from New
York to Alabama– Primary objective to improve
highways• Decrease isolation• Attract manufacturers
– Differences from TVA• Requires state-federal
cooperation• Improving public and vocational
education• Regional economic planning
Appalachia(as defined by ARC)
Arkansas River Navigation System
• Constructed 1960s, 1970s, dedicated in 1971
• Established a 3-meter (10-foot) navigation channel up the Arkansas River from the Mississippi River to Cartoosa, Oklahoma (near Tulsa)
• Facilitated an increase in barge traffic
• Increased the availability of hydroelectric power in the region
World's Fair Park - Knoxville,TN
Proclamation Line of 1763 • Created after Britain acquired the French Territory in North
America• The purpose was to establish Britain’s new empire in North
America and to stabilize relations with Native Americans– Was supposed to regulate trade, settlement, and land purchases in
the west• It forbade colonists from the Thirteen Colonies from buying
land west of the Appalachian Mountains– Many colonists already had land west of the Proclamation line– Also established a monopoly on land west of the line by the crown
• This made people mad (Revolutionary War)
Proclamation Line of 1763• Many Native Americans that lived west of the Proclamation Line were not happy
about it either– The French had peaceful relationships with many Native Americans before the British
took over the area– Native Americans resisted being taken over by the British
• Pontiac’s Rebellion• The Line was NEVER intended to be permanent
– The British planned to expand the empire west– They wanted to move the Natives west and settlers west in an orderly manner– They planned to move the line west gradually– Britain firmly believed that all of the land the Native Americans lived on belonged to the
crown• The idea was for Britain to go into the area west of the line and clear the Natives
out either by treaty or by war so that settlers could be brought in.• The government would sell land to settlers, not the Natives.
Proclamation Line of 1763• The Line was NEVER intended to be permanent
– The British planned to expand the empire west– They wanted to move the Natives west and settlers west in an orderly
manner– They planned to move the line west gradually– Britain firmly believed that all of the land the Native Americans lived
on belonged to the crown• The idea was for Britain to go into the area west of the line
and clear the Natives out either by treaty or by war so that settlers could be brought in.
• The government would sell land to settlers, not the Natives.
Proclamation Line
– This was the British plan, but even after the American Revolution, the new American government followed the same policies.
• This was such a large area to control that it did not work out this way for either the British or the American Government.
– Remember Distance Decay? This is another example
• People crossed into territory and settled, then they had conflicts with the Natives and then the army was called in and treaties were written after the fact
Daniel Boone• American pioneer and hunter• One of America’s first folk heroes• Famous for exploring beyond the boundaries of the thirteen colonies• Explored what is now Kentucky in 1767• In 1773, took his family and 50 settlers into Kentucky
– His son and the son of another man were tortured to death by the Shawnee in an attempt to send a message to settlers
• The message was stop coming– The settlement was abandoned
• Established Boonesborough in 1775 with 30 settlers– This was the first city founded in Kentucky
• Boone established what is known as the Wilderness Road– The Wilderness Road crossed the Appalachian Mountains at the Cumberland
Gap– This was how may people from Colonial America left to settle the Western
Frontier
Daniel Boone bringing settlers to the West
