Reply #2: The main reason that Appalachia is poor is coal [View All]

The regions great natural resource was coal. The coal operators had a captive labor market and treated the miners like chattel. They hired paid armies to kill the miners to try to keep out the unions. They also fought any efforts from the states to place a severance tax on coal. They owned the state government in WV for years and still do to a great extent. They drove Gov. Marlin out of WV when he proposed a severance tax on coal. Marlin ended up driving a taxi cab in Chicago a few years after being governor of WV.

Had WV placed a severance tax on coal they could have been a very rich state. Today they are one of the poorest. The coal fields are mined out desolate and depressing areas.