Bacon's Guide to America and the Colonies, for the Capitalist, Tourist, or Emigrant, etc

Preface

. The great popularity of Bacon's "Descriptive Hand book of America," published in 1866, and the increasing desire for information respecting that country and the colonies, has induced the preparation of this work. Since the publication of the former work the Author has made another extended tour through America, and much of the information embraced in this guide has been obtained by personal observation and experience, during seven years of travel throughout the whole United States and Canada. The rapid growth of the countries described has necessi tated access to the very latest sources of information, which has been obtained by great research, by private correspon dence, by direct inform«don from the different governments, and from official reports and documents. The work embraces a wide range of topics, including Physical and Political Geography, Climate, Soil, Manufac tures, Commerce, Agriculture, Railways, Education, Religion, Laws, Institutions, Theory of Government, The Public Lands and how to secure them, The Homestead Laws, and, in short, everything likely to interest the capitalist, tourist, emigrant, or general reader.

PREFACE.

. The question of Emigration being one of such great im portance at the present time, several chapters have been specially devoted to that subject, embracing Cost of Ocean Passages, Cost of Travel and Living, Wages, Where to obtain- Employment, General Hints, How to secure Free Homes, etc. So conflicting are the accounts received from distant sources, that the intending emigrant is unable to judge where to go, or his chances of success or failure. The present object is to overcome this difficulty, not by recommending emigration to any particular State or Colony, but by giving, without prejudice, full and reliable information respecting each, whereby he may compare and judge for himself what locality will best suit his particular circum stances or calling. Facility of reference has been greatly promoted through out the work by the manner in which the first words of each paragraph indicate the subject, and by the copious Alphabetical Index.

G. W. B. 127, Strand, April i, 1870. CONTENTS Chap. I. — Soil — Climate — Agriculture — Manufactures — Commerce — -Minerals — Petroleum — etc. . . I lo 16. Chap II. — Government — National and Sfcte Governments — Government of the Territories .... 17 to 22. Chap. III. — The Public Lands, and how to secure them — The Homestead Bill 23 to 31. Chap. IV. — Description of the New England States, viz., Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut 32 to 36. Chap. V. — Description of the Middle States, viz., New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, and Maryland 37 to 43. Chap. VI. — Description of the Southern States, viz., Virginia, West Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Texas 44 to 51. Chap. VII. — Description of the Western States, viz., Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Michigan, Iowa, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Missouri, Arkansas, and Kansas . : 52 to 72.

Chap. VIII. — Description of the Pacific States, viz., California, Oregon, and Nevada 73 to 80. Chap. IX. — Description of the Territories, viz., Alaska, Arizona, Colorado, Dakota, Idaho, Montana, New Mexico, Utah, Washington, Wyoming, and Indian Territory 81 to 99. Chap. X. — Religion — Education — Population — Naturalization — Suffrage — Marriage Laws — Temperance Laws — Railways — Post Office and United States Currency, 100 to 113. Chap. XI. — Instructions to Emigrants — Cost of Living — Castle Garden — Wages — How to secure a Home — contents. Labour in the West — The Commissioner of Emigration —Official Circular 114 to 122. Chap. XIII. — New York State Immigration Commission — Casde Garden — Number and Nativity of Emigrants — Number assisted by the Commissioners — Disembarking at New York — Scenes among the newly arrived Emigrants — Labour Office — Provision for the Unemployed — Hospital for the Sick, etc 123 to 136.

Chap. XIV. — How to get to America . . . 137 to 142. Chap. XV. — The New Lines of Railway to the Pacific Ocean — The Secret of America's Power over the Continent — Recent Authorities respecting America and Emigration 143 to 154. Chap. XVI. — Canada — The New Dominion Laws — Resources — Climate — Agriculture — Free Grants of Land — Manufactures — Forests and Timber — Fisheries — Education — Religion — Emigration — Wages, etc., 155 to 170. Chap. XVII. — The Australian Colonies, viz., Queensland, Victoria, New South Wales, South Australia, and West Australia; including Geography, Climate, Soil, Pioducts, Resources, Crown Lands, Gold and other Mining 171 to 192. Chap. XVI II. — New Zealand and Tasmania : Soil, Climate, Minerals, Resources, etc., etc. . . 193 to 208. Chap. XIX. — New Brunswick — Novia Scotia — Newfoundland — Hudson's Bay Territory — Central Prairie Land — Red River Settlements — British Columbia and Vancouver's Island: Full details of Resources, Soil, Climate, Emigration, etc 209 to 222.

Chap. XX. — Cape Colony and Natal -. Full descriptions of Soil, Climate, Resources, etc 223 to 228. Chap. XXI. — Advice to Emigrants — Who shou'd emigrate, and why 229 to 232. Appendix. — Free and Assisted Passages to the Colonies — Table ot Wages and Cost of Living— List of all British Colonies, date and mode of acquisition, square Miles, and Population 233 to 236. Alphabetical Index 237 to 243.

Chapter I. Soil

— CLIMATE — AGRICULTURE — MANUFACTURES — COMMERCE — MINERALS — fETROLEUM— ETC. The Soil of the United States of America presents al most every variety, from dry sterile plains in the vicinity of the Great Salt Lake, to the rich alluvia of the Mississippi Valley. It may be divided into seven great divisions, indicated by the river systems of the country, viz. : — i. The St. Lawrence basin. 2. The Atlantic slope. 3. The Mississippi valley. 4. The Texas slope. 5. The Pacific slope. 6. The inland basin of Utah 7. The basin of the Red River of the North. 1. The St. Lawrence Basin includes parts of Ver" mont, New York, Pi nnsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Wis" consin, Minnesota, and all of Michigan ; it is an elevated and fertile plain, generally well wooded. 2. The Atlantic Slope includes all New England, except a part of Vermont, all of New Jersey, Delaware, the District of Columbia, South Carolina, and Florida, and por tions of New York, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi.

It may be sub-divided into two regions, a North-East and a South-West section, separated by the Hudson River. The former is hilly, and generally better adapted to grazing than tillage. THE SOIL. The South-West section may be again divided into a coast belt from 30 to 150 miles in width, running from Long Island Sound to the mouth ofthe Mississippi, and including the whole peninsula of Florida ; and an inland slope from the mountains towards this coast belt. The inland slope is one of the finest districts in the United States, the soil con sisting for the most part of alluvium from the mountains, and the decomposed primitive rocks which underlie the surface. 3. The Mississippi Valley occupies almost one half of the area of the Republic, and extends from the Alleghany to the Rocky Mountains, and from the Gulf of Mexico to British North America, including parts of New York, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas, New Mexico, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin, and Minnesota, and all of Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Missouri, Iowa, Nebraska, and Kansas.

The greater portion of it is a prairie country of a fertility unsurpassed anywhere on the globe, except perhaps the valleys of the Amazon and the Nile. At the north-west of the valley there is a desert plateau, ranging from 200 to 400 miles, lying at the foot of the Rocky Mountains, at an elevation of from 2000 to 4000 feet above the sea, the greater portion of which is incapable of cultivation, owing to the deficiency of rain and want of means of irrigation. 4. The Texas Slope embraces the country south-west of the Mississippi valley, drained by rivers which flow into the Gulf of Mexico, and embraces nearly all of Texas, and parts of New Mexico and Louisiana. It may be divided into three regions : a coast belt, wide, low, and very fertile, especially in the river bottoms ; a rich prairie, extending from the coast belt, well suited for grazing; and a lofty tableland in the north-west, perfectly devoid of trees, and almost devoid of grass, and during a portion of the year completely parched with drought.

Almost the only arable land in this last division is found in the valleys of the Rio Grande. 5. The Pacific Slope embraces the greater part of Cali fornia, Oregon, and Washington Territory, and New Mexico and Utah, a great portion of it is sterile, though the valleys between the Coast range, the Cascade range, and Sierra Ne- THE CLIMATE. 3 vada Mountains are very fertile; also a few valleys and slopes among the Wahsatch and Rocky Mountains, though the latter are better adapted to pasturage than to agriculture. 6. The Great Basin of Utah includes all of Utah, parts of New Mexico, California, Oregon, and Washington. This is the most desolate portion of the United States. It abounds in salt lakes, and there are only a few valleys where the soil, by irrigation, is sufficiently fertile for profitable cultivation. 7.

The Red River Basin of the North, which be longs to the United States, is confined to the small tract on the north part of Dacotah and Minnesota. It contains very productive lands, especially in the river bottoms. The Metals are principally found in the crystalline rocks, the exceptions being the copper region of Lake Superior, and some of the western lead and iron mines, frequently in sandstone. In the Atlantic division the metals follow the Appalachian range of mountains. In the Pacific division they follow the Rocky Mountain and Sierra Nevada ranges, the debris trom which, swept down into the tertiary strata, have furnished these with the precious metals in large deposits. The Bituminous Coal lies west of the Appalachian chain, where a vast series of coal-beds stretch from the mountains westwards through Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois, parts of Kentucky, Tennessee, and Alabama, into the State of Mis sissippi, and even as far as 200 miles beyond the Mississippi River.

Anthracite Coal, or that best suited for manufactures, lies at the northern extremity of this great field, in Penn sylvania, in the western parts of Virginia, in part of Otiio, and in Illinois. The Climate of the United States is exceedingly variable. Its area extends on the south almost to the torrid zone, and on the north to regions where frost lasts five or six months of the year, embracing almost every variety of cli mate. The mean temperature of Maine, at the northern extremity, is 420, and of Cape Sable, at the southern point of Florida, 270. With the exception of the peninsula of Florida, where the proximity of the Atlantic on the east, and of the the climate. Gulf of Mexico on the south and west, produces a comparative uniformity, there are frequent transitions in tempera ture, to the extent of 300 in a few hours, in all seasons, and in all parts of the country.

The summers are noted for their intense heat, the mercury rising sometimes as high as ioo° Fah. ; yet, while equally intense, it is not so continuous in the Northern as in the Southern States; and in the latter, though long continued, it is not so oppressive as the ther mometer would seem to indicate. The Atlantic States have a mean temperature about ioc more severe than the same latitude in western Europe ; while, on the other hand, the climate of the Pacific coast is as mild as that of Italy. The North-Eastern States are subject to chill winds, especially in the spring months, and cold blasts from the ice-fields of British North America sweep over the Northern States upon every great rise in the temperature further south. The northern part of Texas is subject to very sudden cold winds from the mountains, sometimes changing a beautiful spring or summer day to a very cold and unpleasant one in a single hour's time.

The seasons are also distributed with much variety. Phila delphia, for instance, has the summer of Rome and the winter of Vienna. In Florida, Louisiana, and some parts of Georgia, snow is scarcely ever seen. In Pennsylvania snow covers the ground for three months of the year, in Massachusetts it lies four, and in Maine five months. In the two latter States the ice bears loaded waggons, and the sea is sometimes frozen to a considerable distance from the coast. The climate in the basin ofthe Ohio river is the most equable. The following table shows the average temperature of each of the four seasons of the year at various points on the Atlantic and Pacific coasts, and in the interior : — Lat. Spring. Summer. Autumn. Winter. Norfolk, Virginia 37° 56*87° 76*57° 6i"68° 40-45* New York city 4042' 48*74 72*10 54*55 31-38 Eastport, Maine 44 15 40*15 60*50 47-52 23*90 St. Louis, Missouri 3840 54*15 76*19 55*44 32.27 Chicago, Illinois 41 52 44*90 67-33 48*85 25-90 Fort Repley, Minnesota 46 ig 39*33 64*94 42*98 io- 1 San Francisco, California 37 48 54'4i 57'33 56-83 50*86 Astoria, Oregon 46 11 51*16 61*58 53*76 42*43 AGRICULTURE. 5 The atmosphere of the United States, with the exception of some portions of the Pacific States, is remarkably clear, and objects, can be seen at great distances.

From Mount Washington the Atlantic Ocean is perfectly visible at a distance of sixty miles. Another remarkable peculiarity in the air is its dryness. Except in swampy districts, damp ness is almost unknown, moisture being almost immediately absorbed. The rains on the Pacific coast are periodical, occurring, as a rule, in the winter and spring months, and south of lat. 400 in autumn also. In sterile districts, between longitude 1000 and the Cascade range, there is comparatively little rainfall, though violent showers often fall among the mountains. The annual rainfall is estimated at about 3 inches, in the inland basin of Utah 6, in the plain south of Columbia River 10, in the Rocky Mountains desert from 15 to 20 inches. In summer, rain is rarely seen in this section. There are heavy falls of snow in the vicinity of Lake Superior and the Northern district, which does not melt till late in the spring.

South of the Potomac, snow is rarely seen. AGRICULTURE. The unparalleled resources of the United States are not yet fully developed ; the rapid progress in industry and wealth during the last 20 years, however, encourage the most sanguine expectations for the future. Agriculture has always been the chief pursuit, and agricultural products have always constituted the leading articles of export. A large extent of country still remains uncultivated, mostly because it has not yet been occupied. Land is still so plentiful in proportion to the population and capital, that rents have scarcely begun, the farmer being, in almost every instance, proprietor of the land which he cultivates. The science of farming has been so much extended and improved that it is gradually giving to the United States a rank as one of the most carefully tilled countries in the world.

It appears from the returns of the last census, that the ratio of the agriculture. increase of the principal agricultural products of the United States has more than kept pace with the increase of the population. Societies have been established in all the States, and much has been done by the General Government to collect and render available information relative to agriculture, and in Massachusetts a department of the State Legislature has been organized for the superintendence of the agricultural interests of the State. The Western States are more strictly agricultural than any other section, and Chicago and other towns owe their rapid growth entirely to the large trade in Indian corn, wheat, and other farm products of the surrounding country. The farms in the States and Territories contained at the last census in the aggregate 163,261,389 acres improved, and 246,508,244 acres unimproved lands.

The average size of farms is 203 acres. The value of land per acre in New England averages $20,270. ; in the Middle States, $28,070. ; in the Southern States, $5,340.; in the South-Western States, $6,260. ; in the North-Western States, $11.390. ; in California and the organized Territories, $r.89c. ; in Texas, $1,440. In general terms it may be said that the Middle and Western States are most productive in wheat, rye, and oats ; the Southern and Western in Indian corn ; and the Southern in cotton, sugar, tobacco, and rice. Wool and Irish potatoes are raised principally north of lat 340; tobacco between 34° and 410; barley, apples, and pears, north ol 380; hemp, flax, and hops, north of 310; cotton between 310 and 36°; sugar south of 310. The wheat grown in the United States amounts to about 170,000,000 bushels annually- In many States the quantity grown has exceeded the means of ready transportation, or the demands of the market.

The greatest wheat-producing State is Illinois ; next follow Wisconsin, Indiana, Ohio, Virginia, Pennsylvania, New York, Iowa, and Michigan. The prairies yield the largest crops. Barley, oats, rye, buckwheat, and flax, are grown in every part of the United States, but principally in New York. agriculture. 7 Hemp is chiefly raised in New York, Kentucky, and Mis souri. The total product being 83,000 tons of dew-rotted hemp, and about 4000 tons water-rotted annually. Cotton is chiefly a product of eight of the southern States ; the rapidity with which its culture has been developed is truly wonderful. In the beginning of the present century, the an nual exportation was less than 5000 bales, it has since increased to some 5,000,000 bales of 400 pounds each. The civil war led to a temporary cessation of the trade, which, since peace is restored, will doubtless soon regain its activity.

Sugar and Molasses, the product of the sugar-cine, are im portant products, but mostly confined to Louisiana. A large quantity of sugar is also obtained in the north from several species of the maple tree, that yielding the richest juice being known as the " sugar maple." It is found in beautiful groves, called sugar orchards ; and in the months of February and March, when the days grow warm and the nights are frosty, the trees are bored with augers about two feet from the ground, and from the holes thus made the sap exudes, and is collected in wooden troughs, and boiled on the spot. Sorghum, a species of grass, commonly known as Indian millet, which pro duces a saccharine juice, was introduced from China in 1856. In less than four years from its introduction, the plant had become a most important agricultural staple.

It thrives wherever Indian corn will grow. It may be cultivated in the same nanner. When fully grown, it is from 6 to 18 feet high ; the stalks of 1 to 2 inches diameter. The stalks yield on an average about 50 per cent, of their weight in juice, or, to the acre, from 150 to 400 gallons, and about 12 per cent, of sugar. Rum is made from the seeds. Maize, or Indian corn, furnishing at once food for man and food for beast, is cultivated in every State and Territory of the Union, and is everywhere the popular crop, receiving the distinctive name of " corn." It is less liable to failure than any other. At the last census the crop was 830,541,707 bushels, showing an increase of 40 per cent, in ten years. Hops are principally cultivated in New York, though nearly every State and Territory contribute to this crop, which amounts to upwards of 10 millions of pounds annually.

Potatoes are raised in every part ; the Irish potato princiagriculture. pally in the Northern, and the sweet potato chiefly in the Southern States. The annual yield is about no millions of bushels of the former, and 3$ millions of the latter. tVine making, according to the last returns, is greatly on the increase, and it promises to become one of great commercial importance. The wine culture has increased in a number of States, but more particularly in Ohio, California, and Kentucky. These three States make over one million gallons annually. The Orchard products consist principally of apples, pears, and peaches, of which the value is about 20 millions ot dollars annually, and now largely increasing owing to the great attention which is being paid to the introduction and cultivation of improved varieties of fruit, and the processes of preservation by artificial means which is carried on to a great extent for home use and for export.

The Dairy products are large^ Considerable quantities are shipped yearly to Great Britain. The quantity of butter produced annually is over 430,000,000 pounds, and the production of cheese reaches over 100,000,000 pounds annually. Tobacco is raised more or less in every State and Territory, the principal coming from Virginia, Kentucky, and Maryland, where it has been the leading staple since their first settlement ; and it is also extensively grown in Kentucky, Ohio, Missouri. Besides the quantities required for domestic use, large amounts are exported. Several of the Northern States are showing a considerable increase in the growth of this staple. The total annual product is over 400,000,000 pounds. There are upwards of 15,000 plantations, on each of which 3000 pounds or more are raised. The Hay crop is about 20,000,000 tons annually.

This crop is mainly confined to the Northern States. In the Southern States, the weather being so mild as to allow cattle to graze during the greater portion of the year, a hay harvest is less necessary. Rice is cultivated principally in South Carolina and Georgia. The annual product is about 190 millions of pounds. The number of acres devoted to the different crops according to the last census were : — manufactures. 9 Acres. Hay and Pasturage 33,000,000 Indian corn .... 31,000,000 Wheat 11,000,000 Oats 7,500,000 Cotton . . y 5,000,000 Rye 1,200,000 Peas and Beans. . 1,000,000 Irish Potatoes .. 1,000,000 Sweet Potatoes . . 750,000 Buckwheat 600,000 Acres. Tobacco 400,000 Sugar 400,000 Barley 300,000 Rice 175,000 Hemp r 10,000 Flax 100,000 Orchards 500,000 Gardens 500,000 Vineyards 250,000 Miscellaneous 1,000,000 According to the last census, out of the whole population there were more than 3,000,000 of men engaged in tilling the soil.

Live stock and domestic animals form an important item in the statistics of the country. The total value of. the live stock at the last census was over one billion dollars. The horses numbered 6,115,458; asses and mules, 1,129,553; working oxen, 2,240,075 ; milch cows, 8,728,862 ; other cattle, 14,761,400 ; swine, 32,^^,36"]. The number of sheep returned in last census was 23,317,756, and the amount of wool 60,511,343 pounds. MANUFACTURES. In Manufactures the United States cannot yet fully compete with the more densely populated countries of Western Europe ; but the advance in this respect is steady, and has of late years been wonderfully rapid. The essential materials required for the development of manufactures, coal and iron, are inexhaustible, and the unceasing energy that is displayed in every department of industry bids fair to place the country ere long in the first rank of manufacturing nations.

Mr. Kennedy, in his report of the last census, says: — "The returns of Manufactures exhibit a most gratifying increase, and present at the same time an imposing view of the magnitude to which this branch of the national industry has attained within the last ten years. The total value of domestic manufactures (including fisheries and the products of the mines) reached an aggregate value of $1,900,000,000 (^380,000,000). This result exhibits an increase of more manufactures. than 86 per cent, in ten years. The growth of this branch of American labour appears, therefore, to have been in much greater ratio than that of the population. Its increase has been 123 per cent, greater than that even of the white popu lation, by which it was principally produced." New England and the Middle States are the chief manu facturing sections.

The most celebrated products are heavy cotton and woollen goods, ironware, machinery, boots, shoes, and agricultural tools. In the extent of the cotton and iron manufactures this country surpasses all others, except Eng land. Pennsylvania and New York surpass all the other States, Ohio and Massachusetts come next in order. Flourisa mostimportant Manufacture: Thevalue of this ma nufacture was at the last census $223,144,369 (^44,628,873); of this amount the export for the year was $15,448,507 (.£'3,089,701). The largest mill in the Union is in Oswego, New York, which in 1860 produced 300,000 barrels of flour, valued at about $1,500,000. The Western States take the lead in the Flour manufacture ; the Middle, Southern, New England, and Pacific States following in order. Iron Manufacture is pursued to a greater extent than any other throughout the Union.

In Pennsylvania, New York, Ohio, and Massachusetts it forms one of the most valuable branches of industry, and in Pennsylvania nearly one-tenth of the population derive from it their subsistence. The Pig-iron returned by the last census table amounted to 884,474 tons of bar, and other rolled iron 406,298 tons, the aggregate value of which was nearly $42,000,000 (^8,500,000). Of this amount, Pennsylvania contributed over $34,000,000 (.^6,800,000). The Agricultural Implements manufactured are of the an nual value of over $17,000,000.- This branch of industry has increased in a most extraordinary manner during the last fifteen years, especially in the Western States. Machinery for the purposes of the engineer and manufac turer is extensively made. Nearly every section of the country, particularly the Atlantic slope, possesses abundance of water-power ; and to appropriate and adapt it to manufac turing purposes has given a great impetus to the construction of hydraulic machinery.

The demand for rapid locomotion, manufactures. 11 and for the various kinds of machinery used in mills, mines, factories, etc., as well as for building and engineering, has caused the more rapid growth of this branch of industry. Probably nothing shows more the progress of a country in all operative branches than the increase in the statistics of this department. The annual product ofthe machinists' and millwrights' department is valued at about $47,000,000 (,§£9,400,000) — an increase of over $19,000,000 (or nearly s£4,ooo,ooo) in ten years. This is exclusive of sewing machines, the annual value of which is over $5,000,000. Besides the above, the value of the production of the iron foundries is $27,970,193 (,se?5,554>°38)- Cotton Manufacture is most extensively carried on in Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Connecticut, and New York ; and to a less extent in all the States of the Union, excepting seven.

The total annual value of the cotton manufactures at the last census was $115,237,926 (.£23,047,585). The number of hands employed was 45,315 males, and 73,605 females. The number of spindles returned was 5,035,798. Woollen Manufactures are carried on in twenty-five out of the thirty-seven States, Massachusetts again ranking first in order of importance, New York second, Connecticut third, Pennsylvania fourth, and Kentucky fifth. The Leather Manufacture at the last census amounted in value to $63,091,051 (.£12,619,210). The largest pro ducers are New York, Pennsylvania, and Massachusetts. Boots and Shoes employ a larger number of hands than any other single branch of industry in their manufacture. The total number of establishments was returned as 11,864; the capital invested over $24,000,000 (.£4,800,000); number of hands employed, 96,287 males, and 31,140 females ; and the value of the whole manufacture was $89,549,907 £1 7,909,980).

Massachusetts ranks first, and New York next. Sawed and Plained Timber is a most important branch of manufacture, and the United States stand altogether unrivalled, as well for the extent and perfection of the mechanism em ployed, as for the annual amount ofthe product. This reaches the value of $95,912,286 (.£19,182,457); New York and Pennsylvania contributing the largest share of this amount. petroleum. 12 Spiritous Liquors are the most largely manufactured in ihe Middle and Western States. The total number of distilleries is put down at 1138, besides a large number of rectifying establishments. The annual product of the former was over 88,000,000 gallons. Malt Liquors employ 969 breweries, and the total amount of all kinds of beer was 3,235,545 barrels, of the value of $17,977,135 .£3,595.427)- Massachusetts, Ohio, Illinois, Missouri, and Wisconsin are the largest producers.

Making and Refining Salt employs 340 establishments, and the annual value of their production is $2,177,945. New York, Virginia, Ohio, and Pennsylvania, in the order named, are the principal. Texas, Kentucky, Massachusetts, and California, are also salt-producing States. PETROLEUM. A description of America would be incomplete without a special mention of one of its most remarkable productions and articles of commerce. The discovery of oil-springs in America has led to the de velopment of one of the most important natural resources of the country, as well as a most valuable addition to its ex ports. This oil is called petroleum, or rock oil ; from petra, a rock, and oleum, oil. Its presence in large quantities is not limited to the United States ; it is also found in Canada and Mexico. In 1845 l^e &TSt important spring was struck, at Tarentum, thirty-five miles above Pittsburg, on the Alle ghany river.

In 1857 operations were commenced at Titus villa, and in 1859 a fountain was reached by boring, at the depth of seventy-one feet, which yielded 400 gallons daily. The springs are found principally in the bituminous coal areas of the United States, which extend upwards of 62,000 square miles, in eight of the Middle, Southern, and Western States. Its appearance in different localities is generally attended with the same phenomena. In almost all cases its existence is accompanied by the presence of salt springs, and of jets PETROLEUM. 13 of carburetted hydrogen gas. The fissures of the oil-bearing rocks seem filled with this gas, which is always indicative of oil. The oil comes to the surface in springs, or spreads its prismatic beauty across running streams, and may be brought by underground currents of water from great dis tances.