sheet of water and is a noted resort. The central portion of the State has an extensive lake system, containing Seneca, Cayuga, Oneida, Keuka, and Canandaigua lakes. The Adirondack region is full of lakes, including Long, Schroon, Upper and Lower Saranac, Placid, and Raquette. Chautauqua, in the S. W., and Saratoga and Otsego in the E. are among the many pleasure resorts. The waterfalls in the State are numerous, and include Niagara Falls, Trenton Falls, Genesee Falls, Portage, Taghkanie, and those near Ithaca, and in Watkins Glen. There are many large islands, Manhattan, containing the greater part of New York City, Long Island, Staten Island, Coney Island, and Fire Island are on the S. Shore; and the St. Lawrence river contains over 700 small islands belonging to New York. The entire State is noted for its scenery; the Palisades, Highlands, and Catskills on the Hudson, Lake George, and Lake Champlain, the islands in the St. Lawrence, numerous waterfalls, chasms, inland lakes, and glens, all abound in historical traditions and are of great interest to the tourist. The chief harbors are New York, on New York Bay; Dunkirk and Buffalo on Lake Erie; Tonawanda and Lewiston, on Niagara river; Genesee, Sodus, Oswego, Sacketts Harbor, and Cape Vincent on Lake Ontario; Ogdensburg on the St. Lawrence; Rouse's Point, Plattsburg, and Whitehall, on Lake Champlain; and Sag Harbor on the E. end of Long Island.
Geology.—Nearly all the geological
formations are present in New York.
The Archæan is represented in the
Adirondacks and the Highlands on the
Hudson by gneisses and granites. The
Palæozoic constitutes four-fifths the
area of the State and is represented by
schists, slates, and metamorphosed rocks
in the E. and by massive sandstones in
the Catskills. The Palæozoic is
represented by the Cambrian, Silurian and
Devonian periods. The Triassic and
Jurassic are represented by Newark
sandstones and shales, in Rockland
county; and the Pleistocene, by glacial
drift, and lacustrinea and estuarine
clays covering a great part of the State.
The Pleistocene ice sheet covered the
entire State and is responsible for many
of the details of topography.
Soil and Productions.—About one-half the area of the State is adapted to cultivation. The principal forest trees are the maple, oak, pine, elm, hickory, beech, birch, ash, hemlock, spruce, cedar, poplar, willow, whitewood, chestnut, basswood, butternut, sycamore, locust, ailantus, black walnut, yew, and sumach. Agriculture is carried on to a large extent. New York being one of the leading agricultural States in the Union. The chief agricultural crops in 1919 were as follows: corn, 35,260,000 bushels, valued at $58,532,000; oats, 29,580,000 bushels, valued at $24,551,000; wheat, 11,178,000 bushels, valued at $24,32,000; hay, 6,539,000 tons, valued at $134,870,000; beans, 1,450,000 bushels, valued at $7,105,000; potatoes, 39,567,000 bushels, valued at $57,372,000. Much attention is paid to dairy and market farming, and the State ranks first in the production of buttre and milk.
Mineral Production.—New York ranks among the first of the States in the production of iron ore. In 1918 there were shipped from the iron mines of the State 889,970 long tons of iron ore, valued at $5,802,807. The value of the clay products amounts to over $12,000,000 annually. Salt is an important mineral product. Over 2,000,000 tons are produced annually with a value of about $6,000,000. The value of the cement products is about $7,000,000 annually. Other important mineral products are aluminum, ferro alloys, petroleum, sand and gravel. The total value of the mineral production of the State in 1917 was $52,123,552.
Manufactures.—The river systems with their extensive water power, the proximity of the Pennsylvania coal fields, and the facilities for transportation make New York one of the most prominent manufacturing States. The following figures relate to the census of 1914. Number of establishments, 48,203; wage earners, 1,057,857; capital invested, $3,334,278,000; amount paid for materials, $2,108,607,000; value of products, $3,814,661,000. Niagara Falls gives enormous power which is turned into electricity and used in the manufacture of aluminum, carborundum, and machinery. Schenectady is famous for its locomotives and electrical apparatus, Balston Spa for its paper mills, Elmira for its car shops, Oswego for flour mills, Kingston for hydraulic cement, Haverstraw for bricks, Rochester for optical goods, Syracuse for salt, and Brooklyn, New York City, Buffalo, Utica, Albany, Troy, Binghamton, Yonkers, and Long Island City for general manufactures. The principal articles of manufacture include cotton, woolen, and silk goods, boots and shoes, clothing, tobacco, liquors, foundry and machine shop products, paper, flour and grist, locomotives, electrical goods, machinery, furniture, household and agricultural implements, toys and novelties, leather goods, and glass.
