United States, Midwest

The midwest region of the United States generally refers to lands that were part of the Northwest Territories during the time of the Articles of Confederation. Midwestern states include Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, West Virginia, and Wisconsin. Much of the region is flat prairie lands, but other land types surround it. The great Mississippi and Ohio Rivers flow through it.

Ohio is bounded by Pennsylvania and West Virginia in the east and southeast, Lake Erie in the north, the Ohio River in the south, and Indiana in the west. If a line were drawn across Ohio from the northeast to the southwest, the area north of the line is in the Central Plains, the area to the south is part of the Appalachian Plateau. The northern half of Ohio is part of the Till Plains and the Great Lakes Plains. The Great Lakes Plains are known for Lake Erie fruits, which include wine grapes and vegetable crops. The Till Plains are part of a great corn-growing belt. The glaciers in the ice ages flattened the land and left it a level plain with rich soils. South-central Ohio has an extension of the Blue Grass Region of Kentucky that extends across the Ohio River. Southern and eastern Ohio, as part of the Appalachian Plateau region, is hilly and rough and remains natural and wild, like West Virginia across the Ohio River.

West Virginia is a mountainous state that is sparsely settled. Its Eastern Panhandle is near Baltimore and the Shenandoah and Potomac Rivers. The Northern Panhandle is a crossroads of rivers and highways and rolling countryside along the Ohio River. Down river near Parkersburg is a region in which oil and gas were extracted in the early days of petroleum pumping. Northern West Virginia is a part of the Appalachian Ridge and Valley Region with valleys between long running ridges. It is forested with many caves and underground streams and covers the eastern sixth of the state. The Allegheny Front is a rugged divide in the Appalachian Plateau Region, which makes up most of the territory of West Virginia. The area is rugged with flattopped plateaus. Coal is mined across the state.

The state of Indiana has an area of 36,420 square miles (94,328 square kilometers). It has a temperate climate and is flat like most of the Midwest region.

Central Indiana is part of a major corn-growing belt. Its flat terrain was formed in the ice age by glaciers; the soil they left behind is the Tipton Till, which is made up of finely ground sand and gravel. While generally flat, Indiana's highest point is in the Tipton Till at 1,257 feet (383 meters) above sea level. In southern Indiana, the Southern Hills and Lowlands extend from the Ohio River to the beginning of the Tipton Till region. It is hilly because it escaped the glaciers. It is an area of caves and bedrock outcroppings of limestone, which is mined in quarries. The confluence of the Wabash and Ohio Rivers is the state's lowest point. It is also an area of coal and petroleum. Northern Indiana is part of the Great Lakes Plains. The regions were scraped flat by the glaciers, but some places were missed and remain high and hilly. The North Lake and Moraine Region in the northeast has beautiful scenery; the moraines form high ridges. The land ends in northern Indiana at Lake Michigan. The area just south of the lake has enormous sand dunes that were deposited as its waters retreated and winds from the lake have continued to build the dunes. Those dunes further south are the oldest and are wooded; those dunes next to the Lake form the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore whose bare piles of sand are like those seen on ocean beaches—sandy, with little vegetation.

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