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Prior to 1861, the
State of Virginia--the “Old Dominion” --extended from
Chesapeake Bay westward to the
Ohio River.
This broad limit, however, gave her a defective boundary.
The
Alleghany Mountains, running through the very middle of the
State, from northeast to southwest, completely bisected her territory into two divisions somewhat unequal in size, and greatly different in topographical features and character.
East of the mountains, the land rises from a broad, low tide-water belt on the sea-coast, in a tolerably regular gradation of plains and plateaus, first to the
Blue Ridge, then to the main Appalachian chain; west of the dividing crest, the country retains its mountainous characteristics, a succession of ridges and a medley of hills, till it reaches the
Ohio River.
Not alone through earlier settlement, but also by reason of climate, soil, and situation,
East Virginia remained the region of large plantations, heavy slave population, and profitable agriculture, especially in production of tobacco;
West Virginia, on the other hand, became the home of hunters, pioneers, lumbermen, miners, and in latter times the seat of a busy manufacturing industry-developing a diversified agriculture for local consumption, rather than the production of great staples for export.
With preponderant population and wealth,
East Virginia 
