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UNITED STATES : — WEST VIRGINIA
animals were 197,000 horses, 12,000 mules, 247,000 milk cows, 511,000 oilier cattle, 709,000 sheep, and 338,000 swine. In 1911, the avooI elip from 600,000 sheep produced 3,450,000 ponnds of wool valued at 897,345 dollars.
The wooded area of West Virginia is estimated at 18,400 square miles (11,776,000 acres), or 73 per cent, of the area of the State. Most of this area is occupied by timber of merchantable size and quality, and the lumber industry is the most important in the State. There are about 10 J million acres of virgin soil not yet brought into cultivation.
West Virginia has extensive mining and quarrying industries, besides great resources in petroleum and natural gas. The coal area extends over 17,280 square miles, and about 50,960 men are employed in coal mines. The output of coal in the State in 1911 amounted to 59,831,580 short tons, valued at 53,670,515 dollars. The output of crude petroleum amounted to 9,795,464 barrels (of 42 gallons), valued at 12,767,293 dollars. Of natural gas produced, the value amounted to 28,451,907 dollars. In the State there are iron-mines, but their output is not separately distinguished. In 1910, 174,661 long tons of pig-iron (2,619,915 dollars) were produced from 4 blast furnaces in the State. The quarries yielded sandstone and limestone to the value of 1,106,012 dollars. The output of salt was 183,379 barrels (78,805 dollars). The value of the output of the clay- working industries was 4,333,420 dollars. The total mineral produce was valued at 101,948,248 dollars for 1911.
In the State there are important leather industries. According to the census of manufactures of 1910, there were in West Virginia 2,586 manu- facturing establishments with an aggregate capital of 150,923,000 dollars, employing 4,971 salaried officials, and 63,893 wage-earners, wages in the'year amounted to 33,000,000 dollars. The cost of the raw material used was 92,878,000 dollars, and the value of the output was 161,950,000 dollars. The following are statistics of the more important industries in 1910 : —
Industries
Capital
Leather . Lumber . Iron and steel Coke . Railway cars
Dollars 18,164,000 30,333,000 16,276,000 12,821,000
2,117,000
Wage- earners
Number 1,571 18,643 5,060 4,426 5,652
Cost of material
Dollars 10,383,000
8,670,000 15,89t),000
5,012.000
3,063,000
Value of output
Dollars
12,451,000
28,758,000
24,435,000
7,563,000
6,733,000
In 1910, there were within the State 3,600 miles of railway (main line and branches), besides 350 miles of electric railway track. The more important railway systems are the Pennsylvania, the Baltimore and Ohio, the Chesapeake and Ohio, the Norfolk and Western, and the West Virginian Central and Pittsburg. The coal-fields in the west are well opened up by the Ohio and its tributaries, which provide some of the cheapest means of cc^al carriage in the world.
There are within the State 170 State banks having deposits in 1907 amounting to 52,217,945 dollars. There are also 88 National Banks with aggregate capital of 7,646,000 dollars ; surplus 3,720,000 dollars ; deposits 35,912,449 dollars.
Books of Reference.
West Virginia: Its Histoiy, Natural Resources, Industrial Enterpi-ise.s, and Institu- tions. Compiled for the Louisiana Purchase Exposition [contains a copious bibliography of the State]. Charleston, W. Va.
