Fortune Seekers in the Promised Land ― A Tale of Exploitation and Development in the Canaan Valley and Blackwater Region of West Virginia

West Virginia’s Canaan Valley and Blackwater Canyon, being comprised of state parks, national forests, a wildlife refuge and a national wilderness, are a destination to reconnect with nature. Beautiful but it pales to its virgin state. 100 years ago it was a wasteland destroyed by clear-cut logging and aggressive coal mining. Schimpff and Miller detail in words & photographs the region’s origin, discovery by speculators, desecration by developers, and on-going recovery.German immigrants discovered Canaan Valley in 1748 proclaiming “Besiehe das Land Kanaan” (“Behold, the land of Canaan”). Having experienced continuing war in their homeland, they were searching for a “new Canaan” and they believed it found. Huge stands of red spruce and hemlock lined the north facing slopes. This was not just another virgin forest. The height and girth of the trees surpassed any others near and far with average trunk diameters of 4 feet and more. It was truly magnificent in its pristine glory. The timber of Canaan Valley was not to be surpassed. An acre of timber would produce up to 100,000 board feet, surpassing by a factor of more than 4 times any area nearby. And under the land lay vast deposits of coal waiting to be extracted.Short-term economic gains enabled by uncontrolled rapidly advancing technologies laid waste to the land and water. By 1920 the Valley was desolate, the result of fortune seekers in the “promised land” clear cutting all the trees leaving a land devoid of vegetation. Great fires and topsoil runoff ensued. Coal mining activities resulted in acid runoff that still pollutes some of the streams. The once “promised land” seemed to hold little promise.Nearly one hundred years has past and the land struggles to recover. Much of Canaan Valley, nearby Blackwater Canyon and Dolly Sods has been acquired by federal and state agencies with intent for it to be forever protected. Enjoyed by many visitors and permanent residents for its recreational and wildlife beneficial attributes it may never fully recover its past grandeur. Will today’s fortune seekers learn from the experiences of the past, or are we destined to repeat them in some other manner or form? Only time will tell.