section; and limestone and trap rock are important mineral resources.
In 1907 the total value of stone quarried in the state was $1,523,312, of which $995,436 was the value of trap rock, $274,452 of limestone, $177,667 of sandstone and $75,757 of granite. Some roofing slate is produced in Sussex county; in 1907 the output was valued at $8000. The mining of natural fertilizers—white and greensand marls—is a long established industry; the output in 1907 was 14,091 tons, valued at $8429.
Of mineral ores the most important are iron, zinc and copper. The manufacture of iron in New Jersey dates from 1674, when the metal was reduced from its ores near Shrewsbury, Monmouth county. Magnetic ores, found chiefly in Morris, Passaic and Warren counties, form the basis of the present industry. Bog ores were mined until about 1840; since that date they have had no market. The product of the iron mines has fluctuated greatly in quantity, being nearly 1,000,000 tons of ore in 1892, 257,235 tons in 1897, and 549,760 tons in 1907, when the output was valued at $1,815,586, and was about nine-tenths magnetite and one-tenth brown ore. The chief places of production are Hibernia (Morris county) and Mt Pleasant (Hunterdon county); in 1907 four mines in the state produced 316,236 tons. In the production of zinc New Jersey once took a prominent part; in 1907 the only producer was The New Jersey Zinc Company’s mine at Franklin Furnace, Sussex county, with an output of 13,573 short tons, valued at $1,601,614. The chief deposits consist of red oxide, silicate and franklinite, and the average zinc content is 23%. The copper deposits of the state were worked to a small extent in colonial days. One of the brass cannon used at Yorktown was made of copper taken from the Watchung Mountains during the War for Independence. These mountains are still the chief source of copper, but the ores, chiefly cuprite, malachite and chrysocolla, are also found in various parts of the Piedmont region. In the years following 1900 there was renewed interest in copper mining. There are many valuable mineral springs in the state: for 1907 eleven springs (three in Bergen and two each in Morris, Camden and Somerset counties) reported to the U.S. Geological Survey the sale of 982,445 gallons (mostly table water), valued at $103,082. Other minerals, which are not found in commercial quantities, are lead in the form of galena, in Sussex county; graphite, in the crystalline schistose rocks of the Highlands; molybdenum, in the form of a sulphide, in Sussex county; and barytes in Mercer and Sussex counties. In Bergen, Warren, Sussex and Morris counties are numerous bogs containing peat of a good quality.
Manufactures.—After 1850 New Jersey made rapid progress in manufacturing, which soon became its leading industry. In 1850 7·7% of the population were employed as wage-earners in manufacturing establishments; in 1900, 12·8%. The value of the products in 1850 was $39,851,256; in 1890, $354,573,571; in 1900, $611,748,933. Such figures of the census of 1900 as are comparable with those of the special census of 1905, when only the establishments under the factory system were enumerated, show that between 1900 and 1905 the number of factories increased 9·3%; the capital, 49·8%; and the value of the products,[1] 40% (from $353,005,684 to $774,369,025). This rapid development is due to the excellent transportation facilities, and to the proximity of large markets and of great natural resources, such as the clays of New Jersey and the coal and iron of Pennsylvania. The chief manufacturing centres in 1905, as judged by the value of their products, were Newark ($150,055,277), Jersey City ($75,740,934), Bayonne ($60,633,761), Paterson ($54,673,083), Perth Amboy ($34,800,402), Camden ($33,587,273), and Trenton ($32,719,945). In 1905, 67·1% of the factories were in municipalities having a population of at least 8000 in 1900, and their product was 74·1% (in value) of the total. There are indications, however, that industries are slowly shifting to the smaller towns.
The textile industries taken together are the most important of the manufacturing industries, having a greater output (in 1900, $81,910,850; in 1905, $96,060,407), employing more labourers and capital, and paying more wages than any other group. Among the various textiles silk takes the first place, the value of the factory product in 1900 being $39,966,662, and in 1905, $42,862,907. In 1900 the value of the silk output was 48·8% of the total value of the textiles, and silk manufacturing was more important than any other industry (textile or not); in 1905, however, owing to the great progress in other industries, silk had dropped to fourth place, but still contributed 44·6% of the value of the textiles. In 1900 New Jersey furnished 37·3%, and in 1905, 32·2%, of the silk products of the United States, and was surpassed by no other state. The silk industry is centred at Paterson, the chief silk manufacturing city of the United States. West Hoboken and Jersey City are also important producers. A second textile industry in which New Jersey in 1900 and in 1905 took first rank was the manufacture of felt hats; the total value of the product in 1905 was $9,540,433, a gain of 32·3% since 1900, and constituting 26% of the value of the product of the entire United States. Most of the product comes from the cities of Newark and Orange. From 1900 to 1905 the value of the worsted goods increased from $6,823,721 to $11,925,126, or 74·8%, the greatest gain made by any of the textiles. In this industry New Jersey was surpassed only by Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Pennsylvania. During this five-year period there was an increase of 31·2% (from $6,540,289 to $8,518,527) in the value of the cotton goods manufactured in New Jersey; of 12·6% (from $2,168,570 to $2,441,516) in that of linen goods; of 45·3% (from $1,748,148 to $2,539,178) in that of hosiery and knit goods, and of 14·8% (from $1,522,827 to $1,748,831) in that of carpets and rugs. In dyeing and finishing textiles New Jersey was first among the states of the Union in 1900 (value, $10,488,963, being 23·3% of the total for the country) and in 1905 (value, $11,979,947, being 23·6% of the total for the country); Paterson is the centre of this industry in New Jersey.
In the manufacture of clay products, including brick, tiling, terra cotta and pottery, the state takes high rank: the total value of pottery, terra cotta and fire-clay products increased from $8,940,723. in 1900 to $11,717,103 in 1905; in 1905 the most valuable pottery product was sanitary ware, valued at $3,006,406; and in that year New Jersey furnished 18·2% of the total pottery product of the United States, and was surpassed in this industry only by Ohio. The city of Trenton is one of the two great centres of the American pottery industry, and in 1905 it manufactured more than one-half of the state’s output of pottery, terra cotta and fire-clay products. The pottery products include china, c.c. ware, white granite ware, sanitary ware, belleek and porcelain. Much of the raw material for this industry, such as ball, flint, and spar clays and kaolin, is imported from other states. In 1905 the value of brick and tile manufactured in the state was $1,830,080. Glass is also an important product of New Jersey; the output being valued at $5,093,822 in 1900 and at $6,450,195 in 1905. Since 1880, however, the state had fallen from second to fourth place (in 1905) in this industry.
The leading single industry in the state in 1905, as determined by the value of its products, was the smelting and refining of copper. In 1900 the output was valued at $38,365,131; in 1905, at $62,795,713, an increase of 63·7%; and in 1905 21·6% of the product of the United States came from New Jersey. The raw materials for this industry, however, are imported into New Jersey from other states. In the smelting and refining of platinum, nickel, gold and silver (not from the ore) there was a striking development between 1900 and 1905, the value of the product increasing from $469,224 to $7,034,139. The value in 1905 of gold and silver reduced and refined (not from the ore) was $5,281,805. The values of the other leading manufactures in 1905 were as follows: products of foundry and machine shops, $49,425,385; iron and steel[2] (including products of blast furnaces and rolling mills), $23,667,483; wire (exclusive of copper wire), $11,103,959; petroleum refining, $46,608,984; tanned, curried and finished leather, $21,495,329, (5th in the United States in 1900 and 1905); malt liquors, $17,446,447; slaughter-house products and packed meats, $17,238,076; electrical machinery, supplies and apparatus, $13,803,476 (5th in the United States in 1900 and in 1905); chemicals, $13,023,629; rubber belting and hose, $9,915,742; jewelry, $9,303,646 (4th in the United States in 1900 and in 1905); tobacco, cigars and cigarettes, $8,331,611. Other manufactures valued in 1905 at more than $5,000,000 were: boots and shoes, cars and general railway shop work, illuminating and heating gas, lumber and planing mill products, phonographs, fertilizers, flour and grist mill products, iron and steel ships, refined lard and paper and wood pulp.
Fisheries.—The fisheries of the state are of great commercial value. In 1904 the fisheries and the wholesale fish trade gave employment to 9094 persons. Until 1901 New Jersey’s fisheries were more important than those of any other state in the Middle or South Atlantic groups; but after that date, owing to a decrease in the catch of bluefish, shad, clams and oysters, the annual catch of New York and Virginia became more valuable. The great length of river and sea front, and the easy communication from all parts of the state with the leading urban markets, have brought about the development of this industry. The total catch in 1904 was 90,108,068 ℔, valued at $3,385,415, a decline of 28% in value since 1901. The chief varieties of the product in 1904, with their value, were as follows: oysters, $1,691,953; clams, $430,766; shad, $238,517; squeteague (weak-fish), $253,200; bluefish, $120,085; menhaden, $109,090; sea bass, $97,903; cod, $53,789. Fishing, as a commercial pursuit, is carried on in seventeen counties, and attains its greatest importance in Cumberland county, where the catch in 1904 was valued at $1,090,157, and the oyster catch alone at $1,046,147. In the other counties along the Delaware shad is the chief product, and these counties furnish nearly nine-tenths of the catch. A small amount of shad is taken also in the Hudson river. The value of the shad fisheries has greatly declined since 1901. Along the coast squeteague is the most abundant edible variety taken. Bluefish are very plentiful from 4 to 10 m. off Seabright. The shell fisheries (oysters particularly) are centred in Delaware Bay and at Maurice River Cove, in Cumberland county,
but are important also in Cape May, Atlantic, Ocean and Monmouth- ↑ The following statistics of the products for 1900 and for 1905 are for factory products, those for 1900 differing, therefore, from the statistics which appear in the reports of the census of 1900.
- ↑ This is one of the oldest of the important industries in New Jersey: at Old Boonton, about 1770, was established a rolling and slitting mill, probably the first in the country.
