Page:LA2-NSRW-3-0358.jpg

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.
NEW YORK
1332
NEW YORK

the New. Its area is 49,170 square miles, its length being 310 miles and its breadth 320 miles. On the north it is bounded by Lake Ontario, the St. Lawrence and Quebec; on the west by Lake Erie and Niagara River; on the south by Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York Bay and the Atlantic; and on the east by Lake Champlain, Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut and Long Island Sound. On its extreme southwestern corner the lower Hudson separates New York (state and city) from New Jersey. Embraced in the state are such islands as Manhattan, Long Island and Staten Island in the south; smaller ones in New York Bay, Jamaica Bay and East River; and others in Niagara River, the St. Lawrence and Lake Champlain. The population in 1900 was 7,268,894; in 1910 it was 9,113,614. The capital is Albany, 100,253. Other chief cities are New York, 4,766,883; Buffalo 423,715; Rochester 218,149; Syracuse 137,249; Troy 76,813; Utica 74,419; Yonkers 79,803; Binghamton 48,443; Schenectady 72,826; and Auburn 34,668. Of a total of 30,476,800 acres of land contained in the state 22,648,109 acres are in farms. The state contains 61 counties. Of these the ten original counties, namely, Albany, Dutchess, Kings, New York, Orange, Queens, Richmond, Suffolk, Ulster and Westchester were created Nov. 1, 1683, and the latest, Nassau, formed from Queens county, was created Jan. 1, 1899.

Surface and Drainage. The general contour is hilly and undulating, the loftiest regions being among the Adirondacks and the Catskills, with high plateaux here and there, notably on the Taconic Range and along the Highlands of the Hudson, alternated by valleys. These elevated peaks range from 1,500 to over 5,340 feet, the latter being the height of Mount Marcy in the Adirondacks. The state has many attractive lakes, the chief of which are Lakes Seneca, Cayuga, George, Chautauqua, Oneida, Champlain and Canandaigua; while it is broken by rivers in its different sections. The principal river is the Hudson, which rising in the Adirondacks flows south into New York Bay and the Atlantic: it is navigable for 150 miles from its mouth as far as Troy. Its main tributary is the Mohawk, which drains the central part of the state and supplies good waterpower for the industries along its course. The other chief streams are Oswego, Niagara, Genesee and Black Rivers (which find their outlet in the north into the southern waters of Lake Ontario), the Susquehanna, the Oneida, Chemung, Delaware, Saranac, Au Sable, Oswegatchie, Chenango and Charlotte. The great waterway of the St. Lawrence is on its northern borders. The climate naturally varies in different areas, being colder in the northern and warmer in the southern and coastal region. There is an abundant rainfall, denser in the north, where the winters are usually protracted and severe. In the Mohawk and Genesee Valleys the soil is good for farming, though elsewhere it needs fertilizers. The original forests, save in the preserved districts of the Adirondacks, have disappeared, largely as the result of fires and indiscreet waste. This has had its effect upon the climate, while it has limited the area of game preservation.

Natural Resources. Though not notable as a farming state, New York makes a fair showing in the production of cereals, especially oats and Indian corn. In 1910 it raised over 46 million bushels of oats, over 26 million of corn and close upon 10,000,000 of wheat. The yield of hay, potatoes and buckwheat was also large. In dairy products the state also makes a good showing; in 1900 New York producing 62,096,690 eggs; the poultry yield, moreover, was large; while nearly $10,000,000 were the net proceeds from the sales of butter and over $36,000,000 from the sales of milk. A considerable sum is also derived annually from the fruit orchards, especially from the sales of grapes and apples; while the cultivation of flowers, chiefly for the New York City markets, is a profitable industry. Stock-raising also is a large industry, the number of horses in 1910 being close upon 591,000, of cattle 2,423,000, of sheep nearly 1,000,000 and of swine 666,179. The mineral resources consist chiefly of building-stone, including limestone, sandstone, granite and marble; besides slate, iron-ore, clay, bricks, tiles, mineral waters, salt, petroleum and natural gas. The value of fisheries in 1901 was under $4,000,000.

Manufactures. New York leads the Union in volume of manufactured goods, as also in the amount of capital employed. In 1909 the state had 44,935 manufacturing establishments, employing a capital of more than $2,779,000,000, with 1,003,098 wage-earners, and turning out $3,369,490,000 in value. A large volume of this enormous total trade is credited to New York City, the metropolis, where cheap foreign labor is available in such industries as men's and women's factory-made clothing, and that turned out by contract in small workshops and tenements, including men's furnishing goods (shirts, hosiery and knit-wear), women's furs, millinery and lace goods, embracing silk, cotton, woolen and worsted goods; with the output in other branches of trade — boots, shoes, furniture, carpets, rugs, jewelry, confectionery, carriages, wagons, paper, printing, lithographic and publishing output, chemical products, electrical apparatus and supplies, iron-work, foundry and machine products, patent medicines, liquor, tobacco and cigars; besides agricultural implements, timber, lum-