On December 31, 1862 President Abraham Lincoln signed into law a bill approving the creation of the state of West Virginia. The bill declared West Virginia to be a state loyal to the Union, but did not abolish slavery within the state. In signing the bill, Lincoln may have been looking ahead to the election of 1864 and hoping to secure West Virginia’s support. West Virginians fought in equal numbers for the Federal and Confederate armies during America’s Civil War.
Second only to Wyoming in coal production in the United States, West Virginia generates nearly all of its electricity from coal-fired power plants. These plants produce a surplus of electricity and the state is the nation’s top interstate exporter of electricity. Farming in the state is limited by the mountainous terrain, but it does contribute marginally to the state’s $55.6 billion economy.
Roads
Interstate 64: Traveling 184 miles through the state, I-64 passes through the cities of Huntington, Charleston, Beckley, and Lewisburg.
Interstate 68: The section of I-68 that travels through West Virginia includes passage through the rural counties of Preston and Monongalia. From Morgantown to just west of the border with Maryland, I-68 is mountainous and beautiful.
Interstate 70: Spanning the distance from Utah to Baltimore, I-70 was the first Interstate Highway project in America. I-70 crosses the Ohio River at Wheeling and spends its passage through West Virginia entirely within Ohio County.
Interstate 77: I-77 is widely recognized as one of the best north-south routes through the middle Appalachians. Running from Columbia, South Carolina to Cleveland, Ohio, I-77 enters West Virginia from Virginia and soon after becomes concurrent with the West Virginia Turnpike. After traveling past Charleston and heading north toward Ripley and Parkersburg, it departs West Virginia at Williamstown.
Interstate 79: Also known as the Jennings Randolph Expressway after a popular West Virginia politician, I-79 is the principal route through western Pennsylvania and West Virginia and provides access to Charleston, Clarksburg, Fairmont, and Morgantown.
Interstate 81: I-81 is a heavily used trucking route that spans the distance from Tennessee to the Canadian border. A rural route that follows the path of the Appalachians, I-81 only briefly enters West Virginia in the panhandle city of Martinsburg.
Interstate 470: The only auxiliary Interstate in West Virginia, I-470 is a 10.63 mile loop bypassing downtown Wheeling and was recently designated the U.S.S. West Virginia Memorial Highway.