day one Our WV Coal Tour

We left Huntington at 1:00pm headed for Thomas WV in Tucker County inpp theep northern part of the state just below the v formed on the map by the connection of the eastern panhandle.  Before reaching Thomas we passed through Parsons home of the windmills located here because of the Allegheny Front which is the eastern conintental divide.  This high mountain escarpment allows the windmills to face the prevailing winds unobstructed allowing for maxium power generation.
    Of course, most electric produced in WV comes from coal burning power plants, but coal was first used to power the industrial revolutoion in the US.  Our next stop Thomas in Tucker County was founded by Henry Gassaway Davis taking advantage of the timber and coal  reserves of the area, Davis built R R's to haul these resources to the markets of the Atlantic coast.  He had tremendous influnce on the political economic and cultural development of WV.  But he was also culpable in the environmental distruction caused by these practices across the state.