Westminister is the center of the great lumbering and salmon-canning industries. Its agricultural advantages are unexcelled in the province, heavy crops of grain, hay and roots being the rule, and fruit growing to perfection and in profusion. A great deal of the land in Fraser Valley has been reclaimed by dyking.
Westpha′lia, a province in western Prussia, bordering on Holland. It is 110 miles long and 124 wide, covering 7,803 square miles. The Lippe, Ruhr, Ems and Weser are the principal rivers, the Weser crossing Weser Hills by a pass called the Westphalian Gate. The Lippe divides the country into two parts, the northern portion flat like Holland and the southern portion having hills and valleys. The farming is carried on by small farmers with old methods, the most important crops being hemp and flax. Cattle, goats and hogs are raised, the latter yielding the well-known Westphalian hams. Mineral resources give great prosperity. There are large coal-fields in the north, and it produces more iron-ore than any other province of Prussia except Silesia. It also is rich in copper, zinc, sulphur and salt. The leading manufactures are linen-weaving and iron-working. Westphalia was the name of the western part of the duchy of Saxony. It was divided when Henry the Lion's Saxon domains were distributed by Emperor Maximilian, the archbishops of Cologne receiving a part, with the title of dukes of Westphalia. Napoleon formed the kingdom of Westphalia for Jerome, his brother, which was abolished after the battle of Leipsic. The congress of Vienna (1815) finally gave Westphalia to Prussia. The peace of Westphalia at Osnabrück and Münster, in 1648, ended the Thirty Years' War. Population 3,618,090.
West Point, N. Y., the seat of the United States Military Academy, is a village of Orange County on Hudson River, 52 miles north of New York City. It is a promontory about 180 feet above the river, commanding the fine scenery of the Highlands and surrounded by hills reaching from 500 to 1,500 feet in height. The military school was founded in 1802, and provides free education for 300 cadets, who are bound to serve in the army (q. v.) for eight years. Each congressional district can send one cadet and ten are appointed by the president. The course of training lasts four years, and the graduates have the rank of second lieutenant in the regular army. The buildings include several batteries, besides the library, stone barracks and buildings for instruction, and contain many war relics and portraits of military heroes. West Point was guarded during the Revolutionary War by two forts and a chain across the river, which were taken by the British in 1777, but abandoned by them after Burgoyne's surrender. The point was afterwards strengthened by forts and other works, which Benedict Arnold, the commander, was bargaining to betray to the British, when the arrest of Major André (q. v.) defeated the plot. See Military Schools.
West Spring′field, Mass., a town consisting of a cluster of villages on Connecticut River, in Hampden County, opposite Springfield and on the Boston and Albany Railroad. Settled about the middle of the 17th century as part of Springfield, it was separately incorporated in 1774, and has become an attractive place of residence for the people of Springfield. It owns its own waterworks, and here are the repair-shops of the Boston and Maine Railroad; here also is a well-equipped public library, besides good schools and churches. Its industries include the manufacture of paper, cotton-cloth and cigars. Population 9,224.
West Virgin′ia, one of the central states of the Union, lies mostly between Virginia and Ohio River, with the narrow strip, called the Panhandle, running for 60 miles between Ohio and Pennsylvania.
Area and Surface. It covers 24,645 square miles, nearly all of it being mountainous or hilly, which has given it the name of the Switzerland of America. The Alleghany Mountains are on the eastern border, and in the western part of the state are Laurel Hill, Greenbrier, Gauley and Rich Mountains, a continuation of the Cumberland range. The Potomac forms 100 miles of the northern boundary and the Ohio 300 miles of the western border, with the Monongahela, Great and Little Kanawhas and the Big Sandy flowing into it. The Kanawha is 450 miles long and is navigable for 100 miles. Nearly all the lower hill-country can be cultivated, and in the mountainous regions are broad, fertile valleys.
Resources. There still are a few large tracts of timber, though these are rapidly disappearing by reason of the extensive production of lumber and numerous woodworking industries. The coal-fields cover 16,000 square miles, a larger extent of country than Great Britain's and give the state the fourth place in the coal-states, while it is second in producing coal and coke. Petroleum, natural gas, iron-ore, salt, bromine, sandstone, marble, alum and copper are other minerals found very abundantly. The mineral springs, as Greenbrier, White Sulphur Springs (used by the Shawnee Indians and early white settlers), Berkeley Springs, Red Sulphur Springs, Old Sweet and Capon Springs, are famous summer-resorts. Corn is the largest crop, followed by wheat, oats and tobacco. The raising of horses, sheep and cattle is a large industry; the great lumber business, with tanneries and wood-pulp mills in connection with it, and coal-mining are other industries. The manufactures are those of leather, iron, steel, glass and pottery.
