discontinued about the middle of the 19th century. The most
important coalfields of the state lie in the Appalachian regions in
the S.W. part of the state, though there are also rich deposits in the
counties of Henrico, Chesterfield and Goochland, and in parts of
Powhatan and Amelia counties. In the S.E. portion of the Kanawha
basin, including Tazewell, Russell, Scott, Buchanan, Wise and Lee
counties, occur rich deposits of coal, which are of great value because
of their proximity to vast deposits of iron ores. In Tazewell county
is the famous Pocahontas bed, which produces one of the most
valuable grades of coking and steam coal to be found in the United
States. There are remarkably rich deposits of iron ore in the
Alleghanies, and the W. foothills of the Blue Ridge, from which most
of the iron ore of the state is procured, are lined with brown hematite.
Iron-mining—perhaps the first in the New World—was begun in
Virginia in 1608, when the Virginia Company shipped a quantity of
ore to England; and in 1619 the Company established on Falling
Creek, a tributary of the James river, a colony of about 150 iron-workers
from Warwickshire, Staffordshire and Sussex, who had
established there several ore-reducing plants under the general
management of John Berkeley of Gloucester, England, when on the
22nd of March 1622 the entire colony, excepting a girl and a boy,
were massacred by the Indians. The first blast-furnace in the
colony seems to have been owned by Governor Spotswood, and was
built and operated at the head of the Rappahannock river about
1715 by a colony of German Protestants. Immediately after the
War of Independence Virginia became an important iron-producing
state. The industry waned rapidly toward the middle of the 19th
century, but was renewed upon the discovery of the high-grade ores
in the S.W. part of the state and the development of railway
facilities. The product of iron ore in 1908 was 692,223 long tons,
valued at $1,465,691 The product of pig-iron in 1908 was 320,458
long tons, valued at $4,578,000.
Manganese ore-mining began in Virginia in 1857 in the Shenandoah Valley, and the product increased from about 100 tons in that year to about 5000 tons (mined near Warminster, Nelson county) in 1868 and 1869. Thereafter Virginia and Georgia supplied most of this mineral produced in the United States, and the greater part of it has been shipped to England. Between 1885 and 1891 the average annual production was about 15,000 tons, the greatest output—20,567 tons—being mined in 1886. After 1891 the product declined rapidly, amounting in 1907 to 800 tons valued at $4800.
In the production of pyrite, which is found in Louisa county and is used for the manufacture of sulphuric acid employed in the treatment of wood pulp for paper-making and in the manufacture of super phosphates from phosphate rock, Virginia took first rank in 1902 with an output valued at $501,642, or 64.7% of the total yield of this mineral in the United States; and this rank was maintained in 1908, when the product was 116,340 long tons, valued at $435,522. Limestone is found in the region west of the Blue Ridge, and has been quarried extensively, the product, used chiefly for flux, being valued in 1908 at $645,385.
Virginia was by far the most important state in 1908 in the production of soapstone, nearly the whole product being taken from a long narrow belt running north-east from Nelson county into Albemarle county; more than 90% of the output was sawed into slabs for laundry and laboratory appliances. The product of talc and soapstone in 1908 was 19,616 short tons, valued at $458,252.
The value of mineral waters produced in 1908 was $207,115. The state has many mineral springs occurring in connexion with faults in the Appalachian chain of mountains; in 1908, 46 were reported, making the state third among the states of the United States in number of springs, and of these several have been in high medical repute. At 18 of these resorts are situated, some of which have at times had considerable social vogue. White Sulphur Springs, in Greenbrier county, impregnated with sulphur, with therapeutic application in jaundice, dyspepsia, &c.; Alleghany Springs, in Montgomery county, calcareous and earthy, purgative and diuretic; Rawley Springs in Rockingham county, Sweet Chalybeate Springs in Alleghany county, and Rockbridge Alum Springs in Rockbridge county, classed as iron springs and reputed of value as tonics, and the thermal springs, Healing Springs (88° F.) and Hot Springs (110° F.), both in Bath county are noted medicinal springs.
The value of metals produced in 1908 was as follows: gold (which is found in a belt that extends from the Potomac river to Halifax county and varies from 15 to 25 in. in width), $3600 (174 fine oz. troy); copper, $3312 (25,087 ℔); and lead, $1092 (13 short tons). Minerals produced in small quantities include gypsum, millstones, salt and sandstone, and among those found but not produced (in 1902) in commercial quantities may be mentioned allanite, alum, arsenic, bismuth, carbonate, felspar, kaolin, marble, plumbago, quartz, serpentine and tin. Asbestos was formerly mined in the western and south-western parts of the state. Barytes is mined near Lynchburg; the value of the output in 1907 was $32,833, since which date the output has decreased.
Manufactures.—Virginia’s manufacturing establishments increased very rapidly in number and in the value of their products during the last two decades of the 19th century. The number of all establishments increased from 5710 in 1880 to 8248 in 1900; the capital invested from $26,968,990 to $103,670,988, the average number of wage-earners from 40,184 to 72,702, the total wages from $7,425,261 to $22,445,720, and the value of products from $51,770,992 to $132,172,910. The number of factories[1] increased from 3186 in 1900 to 3187 in 1905, the capital invested from $92,299,589 to $147,989,182, the average number of wage-earners from 66,223 to 80,285, the total wages from $20,269,026 to $27,943,058, and the value of products from $108,644,150 to $148,856,525. The manufacture of all forms of tobacco is the most important industry; the value of its products in 1905 was $16,768,204. Since 1880 there has been a rapid development in textile manufacture, for which the water power of the Piedmont region is used. A peculiar industry is the grading, roasting, cleaning and shelling of peanuts.
Transportation and Commerce.—Four large railway systems practically originate in the state and radiate to the S. and W.: the Southern railway, with its main line traversing the state in the direction of its greatest length leaving Washington to run south-west through Alexandria, Charlottesville, Lynchburg and Danville to the North Carolina line, with connexions to Richmond and a line to Norfolk on the east; the Atlantic Coast line with its main lines running S. from Richmond and Norfolk; the Seaboard Air line, having its main lines also running to the S. from Richmond and Norfolk; the Norfolk & Western crossing the state from east to west in the southern part with Norfolk its eastern terminus, passing through Lynchburg and leaving the state at the south-western corner at Bristol, and the Chesapeake & Ohio crossing the state from east to west farther north than the Norfolk & Western from Newport News on the coast through Richmond to the West Virginia line. Of more recent construction is the Virginian railway, a project of H. H. Rogers, opened for traffic in 1909, which connects the coal region of West Virginia with Norfolk, crossing the southern part of the state from E. to W., and is designed chiefly for heavy freight traffic. The N.W. part of the state is entered by the Baltimore & Ohio, which has a line down the Shenandoah Valley to Lexington. Connexion between Richmond and Washington is by a union line (Richmond, Fredericksburg & Potomac and Washington Southern railways) operated jointly by the Southern, Atlantic Coast line, Seaboard Air line, Chesapeake & Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Baltimore & Ohio railways. In 1850 there were 384 m. of railway in Virginia; in 1880, 1839 m., and in 1890 it had nearly doubled, having increased to 3,359.54 m., a gain coincident with the newly awakened industrial activity of the Southern States and an era of railway building throughout this section. The railway mileage in 1900 was 3,789.58, and in January 1909 it was 4,348.53.
Hampton Roads at the mouth of the James river, which forms the harbour for the leading ports of the state, Norfolk and Newport News, affords one of the best anchorages of the Atlantic coast. It gives shelter not only to vessels plying to its adjoining ports but serves as a harbour of refuge for shipping bound up or down the Atlantic coast, and is frequently used for the assembling of naval fleets. There is a large foreign trade and a regular steamship service to Boston, Providence, New York, Philadelphia and Savannah from Norfolk, and there is a considerable traffic on Chesapeake Bay, the Rappahannock, York, James and Elizabeth rivers. Fredericksburg at the head of navigation on the Rappahannock and West Point on the York have traffic of commercial importance in lumber and timber, oysters and farm produce, cotton and tobacco especially being shipped in coast wise vessels from West Point. Petersburg and Richmond on the James are connected with regular steamship lines with Norfolk, Richmond’s water trade being chiefly in coal, oil, logs and fertilizer. Steamboats plying on Chesapeake Bay connect Alexandria with Norfolk. From the Elizabeth river on which Norfolk is situated lead the Albemarle & Chesapeake Canal and the Dismal Swamp Canal, which connect with the waters of Albemarle Sound. Traffic through these canals consists chiefly of forest products, logs, lumber and shingles.
Population.—The population of Virginia in 1890 was 1,655,980; in 1900, 1,854,184; and in 1910, 2,061,612.[2] Of the total population in 1900, 1,173,787 were native whites, 19,461 were foreign-born, 660,722 (or 35.7% of the total population) were negroes, 354 were Indians, 243 were Chinese and 10 were Japanese. The state was fifth among the states and Territories in the number of negro inhabitants, but showed a marked decrease in the ratio of negroes to the total population in the decade from 1890 to 1900, the percentage of the total population in 1890 having been 38.4.
Of the inhabitants born in the United States 53,235 were natives of North Carolina, 12,504 were natives of Maryland, and 10,273 were natives of Pennsylvania. Of the foreign-born 4504 were
- ↑ Statistics for 1890 represent the value of all manufactures; those for 1900 (from this point) and 1905 show values under the factory system, excluding neighbourhood industries and hand trades.
- ↑ According to previous censuses the population was as follows: (1790), 747,610; (1800), 880,200; (1810), 974,600; (1820), 1,065,366; (1830), 1,211,405; (1840), 1,239,797; (1850), 1,421,661; (1860), 1,596,318; (1870), 1,225,163; (1880), 1,512,565.
