Iowa have the largest dairy-industries. The leading states in the raising of poultry are Iowa, Illinois, Missouri, Ohio and Indiana. Among the grazing states Texas leads in the raising of cattle, Montana in that of sheep. In 1911 the wool-clip was 318,547,900 pounds, the United States ranking only fourth among the wool-producing countries of the world. (See Dairy-Factory, Gardening, Grazing, Poultry, Ranching, Stock-Raising and Wool.)
Mining. This stands third among the groups of industries of the United States. The total quantity of ores, minerals and metals produced can not be given, because the measures for the different products differ, but in 1910 their value was $2,003,744,869. (See Mining and articles on such subjects, in alphabetical order, as Aluminum, Mica or Zinc.) Gold is produced mainly in Colorado, California and Nevada; silver in Colorado, Montana, Utah and Idaho; sapphires in Montana, North Carolina and Idaho; and turquoises in Arizona and New Mexico. Agates, amethysts, beryls, diamonds, garnets, pearls, rubies, quartz crystals and tourmaline are also found. (See articles under these titles.) Since 1902 about $1,500,000 of precious stones (q. v.) have been mined.
Lumbering. This industry ranks fourth among those of the country, the manufacturing, agricultural and mining groups of industries preceding it, as do also the single industries of steel and iron, textiles and slaughtering and meat-packing. Two-thirds of the woodland are in the east and south, less than a third being on the Pacific slope and the Rockies. The merchantable forests cover 500,000 square miles. Of the 320,000 square miles of these forests in the east, the lake states and the south, 175,000 are soft wood and the rest hard wood. The white pine is in Michigan, Minnesota and Wisconsin, the yellow in the southern states. In 1909 there were 40,671 lumbering establishments with a capital of $1,176,675,000. They used $508,118,000 of raw material. The finished product, excluding fuel, minor products, naval stores and woodpulp, was worth $1,156,129,000. The value of the sawn lumber was $435,708,084. Four fifths of the cut come from the conifers. (See Forest, Lumbering, Pine and articles on such states as California, Georgia, Maine, Michigan, Oregon, Washington and Wisconsin.)
Fishing. In the extent and value of its fisheries the United States leads the world. The industry employs 6,931 vessels and 219,139 men; has a capital of $93,874,269; and produces to the value of $59,977,339. (The statistics include Alaska and sealing.) The Atlantic states produce about 75% of the output, the Pacific states 15, the Great Lakes and the Gulf five each (about 50,000 tons each annually.) The total fish-catch is over 1,000,000 tons a year, the aggregate catch from waters not included in the enumeration being considerable. Alaska, Oregon and Washington put up salmon; Massachusetts cures cod, herring and mackerel; and Maine tins sardines. Fish-canning and fish-preserving establishments in 1908 numbered 690, and employed 15,251 wage-earners, who were paid $4,247,000 The capital was $24,124,000 and the value of the output was $28,401,000. (See articles under titles above and Bering Sea, Furs and Seals.)
Commerce
This is both domestic and foreign. The first is larger than that of any other country, and greatly surpasses that with outside nations. As shipments of interstate commerce are not entered at custom-houses, no statement as to the amount of domestic commerce can be made. But in foreign commerce, though America is only third among nations, our exports in 1911-12 were $2,204,322,000 and the imports $1,653,265,000. The best customers of the United States are the United Kingdom, Canada, and Germany, the next in order being France and Netherlands, as buyers, and as sellers, the United Kingdom and Germany leading, with France, Brazil, Cuba, and Canada following in the order named. Nearly $1,342,000,000 of our exports in 1911-12 (excluding gold and silver) went to Europe, while nearly $517,000,000 went to North America outside of the United States. Asia and Oceania took $189,400,000; South America $132,310,000; and Africa $24,000,000. From Europe we imported $819,585,000 worth of products; from North American countries $334,072,000; from Asia and Oceania $262,000,000; from South America $215,089,000 and from Africa $22,586,000. Our chief exports in 1912 consist of cotton, $565,849,000; iron, steel and their products, $268,154,000; meat and dairy products, $156,261,000; and breadstuffs, $123,980,000. Agricultural products form not quite one-half of the exports, manufactures about the same proportion. The leading imports in 1911-12 were coffee, $117,826,000; sugar, $115,515,000; india rubber and gutta-percha, crude, $102,942,000; hides and skins, $102,476,000; chemicals, drugs, and dyes, $92,030,000; raw silk, $69,542,000; and cotton goods $65,153,000. Raw materials formed 34% of the imports; manufactures for further use in manufacturing, 18; manufactures ready for consumption, 22; and animals and foods 26. The Atlantic slope transacts nearly two-thirds of the foreign commerce of the United States.
Communication
Transportation in the United States is effected by means of waterways, roads, steam railroads and electric railways.
