572 WEST TROY WEST VIRGINIA delegate in congress. To secure admission, candidates must be well versed in arithmetic, reading, and writing, including orthography, and must have a knowledge of the elements of English grammar, of descriptive geography, particularly of their own country, and of the history of the United States. The pay of a cadet is $500 a year and one ration, against which are charged his board, clothing, books, stationery, and other items of expense. The course of instruction occupies four years. The academic duties begin on Sept. 1, and continue till about June 20. From this time until the last days in August the cadets live in tents, and devote their time to military duties, riding, sword exercise, pyrotechny, practical military engineering, signalling, telegraphy, &c. On graduation, the cadet is commissioned in the engineers, ordnance, artillery, infantry, or cav- alry, according to the duties he may be judged competent to perform. The total number of graduates from 1802 to 1876 was 2,613, less than half of those who entered the institution during that time. See " Biographical Register of the Officers und Graduates of the United States Military Academy at West Point, N. Y.," by Gen. George W. Cullum (2 vols. 8vo, 2d ed., New York, 1868). WEST TROY, a village in the town of Water- vliet, Albany co., New York, on the W. bank of Hudson river, opposite Troy, and 6 m. N. of Albany ; pop. in 1860, 8,820 ; in 1870, 10,- C93 ; in 1875, about 14,000. It is connected with Albany by steamboat, rail, and horse cars, and with Troy by two bridges and three ferries. An arm of the Mohawk river here enters the Hudson, which is also connected at West Troy with the Erie and Champlain canals. There is an extensive trade in lumber. The Water- vliet national arsenal occupies 105 acres in the centre of the village, and manufactures large quantities of army equipments. The chief pri- vate manufactories are three furnaces, employ- ing about 50 hands each; a chair factory, 100 hands; a manufactory of woollen shawls and one of butts and hinges, employing together 500 hands ; a car factory, 50 hands ; a manu- factory of railroad car journal boxes, Menee- ly's bell foundery, and two planing mills. There are a national bank, four public schools, a weekly newspaper, and nine churches, viz. : Baptist, Episcopal, Methodist (2), Presbyterian, Reformed (2), and Roman Catholic (2). The village was incorporated in 1836. WEST VIRGINIA, a state of the American Union, organized from a part of Virginia in 1863, lying between lat. 37 W and 40 38' N., and Ion. 77 40' and 82 40' W. It is bounded N. by Pennsylvania and Maryland, E., S. E., and S. by Virginia, and W. by Ken- tucky, from which it is divided by the Big Sandy river, and Ohio, from which it is sepa- rated by the Ohio river. Its greatest length N. and S. is nearly 240 m. ; greatest breadth, Bute Seal of West Virginia. 160 ra. ; area, according to the United States census, 23,000 sq. m. The body of the state lies below lat. 39 43' N. ; but a narrow strip, known as the '* Pan-handle," extends nearly a degree further north, between Pennsylvania and the Ohio river. The state contains 54 counties, viz. : Barbour, Berkeley, Boone, Braxton, Brooke, Cabell, Calhoun, Clay, Dod- dridge, Fayette, Gilmer, Grant, Greenbrier, Hampshire, Hancock, Hardy, Harrison, Jack- son, Jefferson, Kanawha, Lewis, Lincoln, Lo- gan, Marion, Marshall, Mason, McDowell, Mer- cer, Mineral, Monongalia, Monroe, Morgan, Nicholas, Ohio, Pendleton, Pleasants, Poca- hontas, Preston, Putnam, Raleigh, Randolph, Ritchie, Roane, Summers, Taylor, Tucker, Tyler, Upshur, Wayne, Webster, Wetzel, Wirt, Wood, and Wyoming. The capital and largest city is Wheeling, which in 1870 had 19,280 in- habitants. The other most important cities and towns, with their population in 1870, are: Charleston (the former capital), 3,162; Clarksburg, 2,900; Grafton, 1,987; Martins- burg, 4,863; Parkersburg, 5,546; Piedmont, 1,366; South Wheeling, 8,158. The popula- tion of the state in 1870, and of the terri- tory now forming West Virginia prior to that time, was as follows :
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