electric railways to Holyoke and Hartford. The principal villages are Merrick and West Springfield on the Connecticut river and Mittineague on the Westfield river. West Springfield was originally a part of Springfield. The first settlement was not made, however, until about 1653, and there were few settlers until after King Philip's War (1676). In 1696 West Springfield was organized as a separate parish, and in 1774 was made a separate township. Holyoke was set off from it in 1860, and Agawam in 1855.
WEST VIRGINIA, the north-westernmost of the so-called Southern states of the United States of America, lying between latitudes 37° 10' and 40° 40' N., and longitudes 77° 40' and 82° 40' W. It is bounded on the north-west by Ohio, from which it is separated by the Ohio river, on the north by Pennsylvania and Maryland, the Potomac river dividing it from the latter state; on the east and south-east by Pennsylvania, Maryland and Virginia, the boundary lines in the first two cases being meridians, in the last case a very irregular line following the crest of mountain ridges in places; and on the south-west by Virginia and Kentucky, the Big Sandy river separating it from the latter state. The extreme length of the state from north to south is about 240 m., the extreme breadth from east to west about 265 m. Area, 24,170 sq. m., of which 148 sq. m. is water surface.
Physical Features.—The state is divided into two distinct physiographic provinces; the Alleghany Plateau on the west, comprising perhaps two-thirds of the area of the state, and forming a part of the great Appalachian Plateau Province which extends from New York to Alabama; and the Newer Appalachians or Great Valley Region on the east, being a part of the large province of the same name which extends from Canada to Central Alabama. The Alleghany Plateau consists of nearly horizontal beds of limestone, sandstone and shales, including important seams of coal; inclines slightly toward the north-west, and is intricately dissected by extensively branching streams into a maze of narrow canyons and steep-sided hills. Along the Ohio river, these hills rise to an elevation of 800 to 1000 ft. above sea-level, while toward the south-east the elevation increases until 3500 and 4000 ft. are reached along the south-east margin of the plateau, which is known as the Alleghany Front. The entire plateau area is drained by the Ohio river and its tributaries. Along the flood-plains of the larger rivers are fertile “bottom lands,” but the ruggedness of the plateau country as a whole has retarded the development of the state, much of which is still sparsely populated. The coal beds are of enormous extent, and constitute an important element in the wealth of the state. Petroleum and natural gas also occur in the plateau rocks in great quantities.
In the Newer Appalachian region, the beds which still lie horizontal in the plateau province were long ago thrown into folds and planed off by erosion, alternate belts of hard and soft rock being left exposed. Uplift permitted renewed erosion to wear away the soft belts, leaving mountain ridges of hard rock separated by parallel valleys. Hence the region is variously known as the Ridge and Valley Belt, the Great Valley Region, or the Folded Appalachians. The mountain ridges vary in height up to 4000 ft. and more, the highest point in the state being Spruce Knob (4860 ft.). The parallel valleys are drained by north-east and south-west flowing streams, those in the north-east being tributary to the Potomac, those farther south tributary to the Great Kanawha. Although the valleys between the ridges are not always easy of access, they give broad areas of nearly level agricultural land.
Flora.—The plateau portion of West Virginia is largely covered by hardwood forests, but along the Ohio river and its principal tributaries the valuable timber has been removed and considerable areas have been wholly cleared for farming and pasture lands. Among the most important trees of this area are the white and chestnut oaks, the black walnut, the yellow poplar, and the cherry, the southern portion of the state containing the largest reserve supply. In the area of the Newer Appalachian Mountains, the eastern Panhandle region has a forest similar to that of the plateau district; but between these two areas of hardwood there is a long belt where spruce and white pine cover the mountain ridges. Other trees common in the state are the persimmon, sassafras, and, in the Ohio Valley region, the sycamore. Hickory, chestnut, locust, maple, beech, dogwood, and pawpaw are widely distributed. Among the shrubs and vines are the blackberry, black and red raspberry, gooseberry, huckleberry, hazel and grape. Ginseng is an important medicinal plant. Wild ginger, elder and sumach are common, and in the mountain areas, rhododendrons, mountain laurel and azaleas.
Climate.—Inasmuch as the state has a range of over 4000 ft. in altitude, the climate varies greatly in different districts. The mean annual temperatures for typical sections arc as follows: Ohio Valley north of the thirty-ninth parallel, 53° F.; south-western part of state, 56°; central plateau district, 52°; mountainous belt along south-eastern boundary of state, 48° to 50°. Wellsburg, in the northern Panhandle, has a mean winter temperature of 27°, a summer mean of 70°. Parkersburg, farther down the Ohio Valley, has a winter mean of 34° and a summer mean of 74°. Martinsburg, in the eastern Panhandle, has nearly the same means, 32° and 74°. Terra Alta, in the north-eastern mountains, has a winter mean of 26°, a summer mean of only 67°. The first killing frosts generally occur about the middle of October in the Ohio Valley region, and about the first of October in the higher plateau and mountain region; the average dates for the last killing frosts in the same localities are the middle and last of April respectively. In the Ohio Valley and eastern Panhandle the summer mean temperature is 74°, the winter mean 31° to 34°. The highest recorded temperature for the state is 107°, the lowest -35°. Temperatures above 100° and below -15° are rare. Precipitation is greatest in the mountains, over 50 in.; and least over the Ohio Valley, the eastern Panhandle and the extreme south-east, 35 to 40 in. Snows are frequent during the winter, and sometimes deep in the higher plateau and mountain districts. The prevailing winds are from south to west.
Agriculture.—The state is primarily agricultural. In general the richer western part is devoted to crops, and the eastern part to raising live-stock. The crop of Indian corn in 1909 was 27,632,000 bushels, and the acreage 880,000. The wheat crop was 4,810,000 bushels, and the acreage 370,000. The crop of buckwheat was 499,000 bushels (grown on 22,000 acres). The rye crop was 148,000 bushels, and the acreage 11,000. The production of oats was 2,156,000 bushels (grown on 98,000 acres). In 1909 the acreage of hay alone was 675,000 acres, and the crop was 844,000 tons, valued at $11,225,000. Tobacco is grown throughout the state; in 1909 on 12,000 acres was grown a crop of 12,000,000 ℔, valued at $1,663,200.
Stock-raising is an important industry, especially in the eastern part of the state.
Mines and Quarries.—The state's great mineral wealth is in coals of various kinds, petroleum, and natural gas.
The coal deposits underlie about 17,000 sq. m. (more than 70% of the total) of the state's area, and bituminous coal has been found in 51 of the 55 counties; this is one of the largest continuous coal fields in the world. The principal districts are the Fairmont (or Upper Monongahela) and the Elk Garden (or Upper Potomac) in the northern, and the Pocahontas (or Flat Top) and the New and Kanawha rivers districts in the southern part of the state. The total output of the state was 44,648 tons in 1863, when the first shipments outside the state were made; and 41,897,843 tons (valued at $40,009,054) in 1908, when the output of West Virginia was third in quantity and in value among the states of the Union, being exceeded only by that of Pennsylvania and of Illinois. The seams are principally above water levels and in many cases have been laid bare by erosion; and the supply is varied—besides a “fat coking, gassy bituminous,” there are an excellent grade of splint coal (first mined in 1864 at Coalburg, Kanawha county) and (except that in Kentucky) the only important supply of cannel coal in the United States. Most of the mines are operated under “non-union” rules. The bituminous coal of West Virginia is a particularly good coking coal, and in 1905, 1906, 1907 and 1908 West Virginia ranked second (to Pennsylvania) among the states of the Union in the amount of coke manufactured; the Flat Top district is the principal coke-making region.
Petroleum ranks second to coal among the state's mineral resources. In 1771 Thomas Jefferson described a “burning spring” in the Kanawha Valley, and when wells were drilled for salt brine near Charleston petroleum and natural gas were found here before there was any drilling for oil in Pennsylvania. Immediately before the Civil War, petroleum was discovered in shallow wells near Parkersburg, and there was a great rush of prospectors and speculators to the Little Kanawha Valley. But the Civil War interrupted development. After the war, wells were drilled at Burning Springs, Oil Rock, California House, Volcano, Sandhill and Horseneck, and in the years 1865-1876 3,000,000 bbls. of oil, valued at $20,000,000, were taken out of these districts. A successful well in Marion county, near Mannington, far from the region of the earlier wells, was drilled in 1889, and the output of the state increased from 119,448 bbls. in 1888 to 544,113 in 1889, and to 2,406,218 in 1891; in 1893 it was first more than 8,000,000 bbls.; and in 1900 it was 16,195,675. After 1900 it gradually decreased—although new pools in Wetzel county were found in 1902—and in 1908 it was 9,523,176 bbls. (valued at $16,911,865).
Natural gas, like petroleum, was first heard of in West Virginia in connexion with a burning spring on the Kanawha, and there were gas springs on the Big Sandy and the Little Kanawha. In 1841 natural gas was found with salt brine in a well on the Kanawha, and was used as a fuel to evaporate the salt water. The production was not large until after 1895; it was valued at $1,334,023 in 1898, at $3,954,472 in 1901, at $10,075,804 in 1905, at $16,670,962 in 1907, and at $14,837,130 in 1908, when (as since 1904, when it first was greater than that of Indiana) it was second only in value to that of Pennsylvania. The principal field is in Wetzel county, but there are important supplies in Lewis, Harrison, Marion, Monongahela,
