i,\yc^' 
 
 Studies on the Geography 
 of Virginia 
 
 THESIS 
 
 BV 
 
 GEORGE THOMAS SURFACE 
 
 In Partial Fulfilment of the Requirements for the Degree of 
 DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY 
 
 *■ Of TH£ 
 
 UNIVERSITY 
 
 OF - 
 
 UNIVERSITY OP PENNSYLVANIA 
 
 1907 
 
^ 
 
 GEOGRAPHIC INFLUENCE ON THE ECO- 
 NOMIC HISTORY OF VIRGINIA. 
 
 G. T. SURFACE. 
 
 The desire of gain, ambition for personal notoriety, and relief from 
 religious or political oppression are the three important stimuli which 
 have led to the discovery and occupancy of new territory. Each of 
 these figured in the discovery and colonization of America. The 
 commercial prompting predominated, since the great end to be 
 achieved was the discovery of a shorter route to the South Sea, 
 which would make the Indian trade more accessible. Whatever 
 causes may have led to founding the Spanish settlements of the 
 South, and later the Puritan settlements of New England, it is evi- 
 dent that the prospect of financial reward was the chief incentive 
 which led to the settlement of that part of the American continent 
 known as Virginia. 
 
 The expedition of Sir Humphrey Gilbert having proved a failure. 
 Sir Walter Raleigh — his half brother — secured the patent renewed 
 to himself, March 26th, 1584, and sailed April 27th from the west 
 coast of England with two small vessels. He sailed by way of the 
 Canaries, and reached the coast of Florida July 4th, thence north- 
 ward nine days to 34° N. Latitude, and landed on Roanoke Island* 
 at the mouth of Albemarle Sound. He entered possession in the 
 name and right of the ~ Virgin Queen, and planted the first Virginia 
 colony. They found on the island deer, rabbits, and fowls. The 
 natives brought them melons, walnuts, cucumbers, peas and grapes, 
 together with skins, corals and pearls, which they gladly exchanged 
 for knives, hatchets, and toys. The report of the Indians as to the 
 beauty and wealth of the inland country was so favourable that 
 Raleigh returned to England about the middle of September (1584) 
 to make representation to Queen Elizabeth. She promised what- 
 ever assistance might be necessary for promoting and perfecting the 
 
 * According to Hariot''s Treatise and With's map (both men were members of the expedition) they 
 landed first on an island called by the natives Wococon, a small island off the coast between Cape Hat- 
 teras and Cape Fear. After a short sojourn here they set sail up the River Occam and the next evening 
 landed upon Roanoke Island at the mouth of Albemarle Sound. Stith's History ofVirginia, p lo. 
 
 239375 
 
2 Qev^napjij^' IfC:fliiefu:e''On the Economic History of Virginia. . 
 
 Roanoke settlement. A fleet of seven ships and one hundred and 
 eight men was prepared, which set sail June 26th (1585) under com- 
 mand of Sir Richard Grenville. Ralph Lane was sent as Governor, 
 and instructed to make extensive expeditions into the mainland. 
 These were pushed eighty miles southward to the Indian village of 
 Secotan (in the present County of Craven, North Carolina), and 130 
 . miles northward to the Indian village Chesapeake, on the Elizabeth 
 River (near the present site of Norfolk). 
 
 Raleigh arrived in midsummer and found food supplies so abund- 
 ant that he provided inadequately for the next expedition, in con- 
 sequence of which the colonists suffered greatly during the winter. 
 This naturally discouraged them, and so great was their want that 
 foul means were employed for securing food and skins from the 
 Indians. Their enmity once aroused, they continued to harass the 
 whites more and more. The following spring and summer failed to 
 bring tidings or relief from England, all of which combined to make 
 the condition more desperate. The promoters of the colony were 
 utterly ignorant of the climatic conditions, and to this its failure is 
 directly attributable. Sir Francis Drake, at the request of the Queen, 
 visited the colony (August 1586) on his return from his successful 
 expedition against the Spaniards '^ of the South, and so earnest were 
 their entreaties that he took with him to England every surviving 
 member. This for the time dampened the zeal for colonizing Vir- 
 ginia, but Drake's cargo of gold set the English merchantmen 
 aflame with enthusiasm for finding the source of such fabulous 
 wealth. History prepares the way. Raleigh fails to find its source 
 in the South while on his Guiana expedition. The trade with the 
 East Indies had been extended, and the revenues of the country 
 increased. The war with Spain had revolutionized and enlarged 
 commercial relations in general and the defeat of the Armada 
 laid the bed-rock foundation for English colonization. The time 
 was ripe for the exploitation of new schemes and enterprises. Ac- 
 cordingly, in 1604, the merchants of London, Bristol, Exeter, and 
 Plymouth organized two companies, the "London" and "Plymouth," 
 the business of the first to be the establishment of colonies in Vir- 
 ginia between 34°-38° N. Lat., and of the second the establishment 
 of colonies between 41° -45° N. Lat. The fleet of the London Com- 
 
 * The Spanish colonization in the South was primarily for the purpose of obtaining gold, and this 
 they hoarded. The antagonism between England and Spain grew out of the Reformation. Most of 
 the wealth with which Philip II built the Invincible Armada came from his American Colonists. It 
 is estimated that by i6og more than $5,000,000,000 worth of gold and silver had been supplied. As 
 Fiske aptly expresses it : " It was as the storehouse of the enemy's treasure and the chief source of 
 his supplies that America first excited real interest among the English people."— John Fiske, Old Vir- 
 j^inia and Her Neighbors, Vol. i, p. 9. 
 
Geographic Influence on the Economic History of Virginia. 3 
 
 pany, consisting of three vessels, sailed December 20, 1606, tinder the 
 command of Captain Christopher Newport, and arrived at the mouth 
 of Chesapeake Bay, April 26th. They landed on the Cape and built 
 a fort, naming both after Prince Henry. This was only to be used 
 as a camp while selecting a suitable place for the establishment of 
 the colony. The experience of the previous expedition had 
 thoroughly convinced them that the most important essential was 
 the ease and perfection with which the place could be protected 
 from the attacks of the Indians. At the mouth of the largest 
 river which had been sighted from the bay they found an island 
 of sufficient size, connected with the mainland by a small isthmus. 
 On this they landed May 13th, 1607, and planted the first permanent 
 English colony in Virginia, which they named Jamestown. On 
 the 22d of June, Captain Newport sailed for England with a 
 cargo of sassafras and fine wood for wainscoting, the first ship- 
 ment of Virginia products. Edwin I. Wingfield was appointed 
 president, but was deposed, and succeeded^ by John Ratcliffe. 
 The location proved very unhealthy, and many died of malaria. 
 At the end of the first year the supplies were exhausted, and the 
 Indian raids, starvation, and disease had much reduced the dis- 
 heartened ranks. Captain John Smith was the only man in the 
 colony who could inspire the colonists to perseverance. He was 
 equal to the task when present, but his great desire to find a river 
 flowing into the South Sea kept him almost constantly on exploring 
 expeditions. It is stated that he was at Jamestown but three days 
 in three months during the summer of 1608. In September of this 
 year he visited the great Chief Powhatan at Werozvocomoco, a 
 village on the north bank of Pamaunke (York) River, for the pur- 
 pose of delivering presents from the King. In the course of the 
 interview he asked Powhatan about the country beyond the moun- 
 tains, occupied by the powerful Monacans; and especially as to 
 where salt water could be found in that direction. Powhatan de- 
 clared with emphasis that there was no salt water beyond the moun- 
 tains, and drew on the ground a map of that region. We may be- 
 lieve that it was very convincing to Captain Smith, as his further 
 explorations were chiefly confined to the Chesapeake Bay and its 
 shorter tributaries. Smith's map of Virginia was based upon per- 
 sonal observations and the information supplied by Powhatan. By 
 means of pictures he depicted the game resources, which were to the 
 early settlers one of the important economic resources. While 
 Smith was exploring the Tidewater country most of the Colonists 
 at Jamestown were engaged in gathering "gold dust," with which 
 
4 Geographic hifluence on the Economic History of Virginia. 
 
 the return vessels were loaded; but on their arrival in England it 
 proved to be "fool's gold," being nothing more than micaceous earth 
 brought down by the streams from the crystalline rock area of 
 Middle Virginia. The first Colonial attempts at manufacture are 
 set forth in Smith's address to the Royal Council of Virginia sitting 
 in London, which message was sent by Captain Newport in 1608: 
 "In their absence [the boats] I followed the new begun works of 
 pitch and tar, glass, soap ashes and clap-boards."* 
 
 In the same message we have a reflection of the character of the 
 colonists of this period : "When you send again [workmen], I entreat 
 you to send but 30 carpenters, husbandmen, gardiners, fishermen, 
 blacksmiths, masons and diggers of trees ' roots, well provided, 
 
 rather than 1,000 of such as we have These are the causes 
 
 that have kept us in Virginia from laying such a foundation as ere 
 this might have given much better content and satisfaction; but as 
 yet you must not look for any profitable returns. "f 
 
 The colonists found it difficult and dangerous to get an adequate 
 meat supply from the forests, so Gates sent his admiral, George 
 Summers, to the Bermudas in 1609 to capture hogs, which they had 
 seen in abundance while shipwrecked on one of the islands. During 
 the same year sheep, horses, goats, and poultry were introduced from 
 Europe, and the following year cattle were brought from the West 
 Indies. The extended use of meats made salt a much-needed article, 
 and to meet this demand Sir Thomas Dale, deputy governor of the 
 colony, detailed a party in 161 2 from the Jamestown settlement to 
 go to the Kingdom of Accawmacke (Accomac) to manufacture salt 
 by boiling salt water. This first white settlement on the Eastern 
 Shore was named Dale's Gift, and, because of the island's separate- 
 ness from the other colonies, the Kings of England for many years 
 addressed all of their decrees to the ''faithful subjects in ye colonies 
 of Virginia and ye Kingdom of Accazvmacke." . .It was in the same 
 year that John Rolfe (who was married to Pocahontas in 1614) 
 began the cultivation of tobacco. Dale always had a strong faith 
 in the possibilities of the new country. In a letter home in 1610 he 
 said: "Take the four best kingdoms of Europe, and put them all 
 together, and they may no way compare with this country for com- 
 modity and goodness of soil." It was he who abolished the system 
 of industrial communism which had been in vogue since the forma- 
 tion of the colony. Each colonist was now allowed three acres for 
 cultivation, for which he was to pay a yearly rent of 6 bushels of 
 
 ♦Smith's works, pp. 442-445. t Ibid. 
 
Geographic Influence on the Economic History of Virginia. 5 
 
 corn. The economic effect was magical; as a result industry and 
 thrift began to prevail among the lawless and thriftless. 
 
 Until 1616 lumber was the only export of the colonies, and this 
 in small quantities, chiefly in the form of clap-boards. During the 
 year Captain Yeardley began the extensive cultivation, of tobacco"*" 
 which was indigenous to the country, and generally used by the 
 Indians. Yeardley's predecessor Dale had enacted a law requiring 
 that the cultivation of corn should take precedence over tobacco ; but 
 Yeardley set this at defiance, and encouraged ' the tobacco industry, 
 to the neglect of all others. So great was the demand in England 
 that, in 1619, the King placed a duty of a shilling per pound on 
 tobacco, when the market price was only five shillings. The charter, 
 however, called for exemption beyond 5 per cent., and settlement 
 was effected by a compromise, in which one of the considerations 
 was that the cultivation be forbidden in the Kingdom. In 1621, a 
 monopolyf of the tobacco trade was granted to certain individuals, 
 at whose request a proclamation was issued, limiting the exportation 
 to 55,000 pounds. The close of the year showed the market to be 
 overstocked, and the King advised the colonists to turn their atten- 
 tion more to the cultivation of corn and the raising of stock. To 
 this end the tobacco crop was limited to 100 pounds per man. The 
 introduction of slavery in 1622 fostered the tobacco industry still 
 more, to the almost entire suppression of all others. The situation 
 was critical, and to meet it the Assembly enacted laws authorizing 
 the following bounties : 2 pounds of tobacco for every pound of 
 flax or hemp ready for the spindle; 3 pounds for every yard of 
 linen cloth a yard wide; 5 pounds for every yard of woollen cloth 
 made in the province; and 10 pounds for every dozen pairs of 
 woollen or worsted stockings. The legislature of 1623 ordered all 
 settlers to plant mulberry trees; and in 1656 an act was passed im- 
 posing a fine on every planter who failed to have one mulberry tree 
 to every 10 acres of land in his possession, but the labour surplus was 
 inadequate for the silk industry even if all other conditions had been 
 favourable. Prior to 1609 Smith had estabHshed three settlements: 
 Jamestown, the seat of the colonial government; Nansemond, about 
 30 miles below Jamestown ; and Powhatan, 6 miles below the James 
 (Powhatan) River Falls. One hundred and twenty men were al- 
 lotted to each, and the industrial operations radiated from these 
 centres. We may feel sure that the early promoters were strongly 
 imbued with the modern "boom" idea from the number of cities 
 
 * Indian name, uppowoc. 
 
 t This was the first tobacco trust organized in the history of the world. 
 
6 Geographic Influence on the Economic History of Virginia. 
 
 which were founded only in name — James City, Elizabeth City, 
 Charles City, City of Henricus (Henricopolis). The agricultural 
 development decreed the conquering of -the wilderness, and the 
 names of the imaginary cities survived as the names of counties, the 
 City of Henricus* being changed to Henrico. A reference to the 
 map will show that each of these counties had a water front on at 
 least two sides. In fact, streams constitute the political boundaries 
 of the counties of Tidewater Virginia to an extent not to be found 
 in any other province in the world. 
 
 By 1624 the colony extended from the mouth of the James River 
 to the James River Falls, with plantations on both sides, and covered 
 most of the peninsula between the James and York Rivers (the lat- 
 ter known as Charles River until 1642). Almost every plantation 
 could be directly reached by boat. Although Captain John Smith 
 left Virginia in 161 4 not to return, he predetermined the sections 
 most favourably situated for successful occupancy by his methodic 
 study and careful observations made during his frequent river expe- 
 ditions. His economic deductions were largely based upon what he 
 saw. The condition of the Indians gave the most reliable evidence 
 as to the resources immediately available. He found the tribes of 
 the Lower Potomacf and Rappahannock comfortable and surpris- 
 ingly peaceable. The tribes were also far more numerous, being 34 
 tribes north of the Rappahannock, and only 9 on the south side, if 
 The superior oyster fisheries of the rivers and the neighbouring 
 Chesapeake Bay waters made possible the friendly social relations 
 by making easy the struggle for existence. Port Royal (Caroline 
 County) was the terminus of the oyster beds. Fishing was not good 
 above that point, and the stony land precluded cultivation with the 
 wooden and stone implements, as a result of which we have no 
 record of an Indian tribe residing permanently in the region. The 
 tribes met with in the neighbourhood of Fredericksburg (Spottsyl- 
 vania County) and Falmouth (Stafford County) were representa- 
 tives of the implacable warriors of the stony interior region ; which 
 affords a striking proof of how much of the treachery and barbarity 
 of primitive peoples is pressed upon them by the severity of the con- 
 flict for existence, in which only the strongest, shrewdest, and most 
 daring can survive. 
 
 * Henricus, founded in 1611, was located on Farrar's Island, as the peninsula was called (near 
 Appomatox, Chesterfield County). 
 
 + The Indian name for the upper Potomac was Cohongoruton. It is so named in the Act of 1738, 
 defining Frederick County, The south branch of the river was called Wappatomake. Lord Fairfax 
 used the name Potomack and Wappatowmack, and Cohongoruton disappeared. 
 
 X Smith's Map of Virginia. 
 
Geographic Influence on the Economic History of Virginia. T 
 
 The Indians of the "Northern Neck" Country being friendly, their 
 presence presented an additional inducement to English settlers, by 
 reason of the profits to be realized from their trade. It "was in this 
 region that the next English settlements were founded. 
 
 If tobacco was "king" in the James River country, the oyster may 
 be aptly designated as queen in the "Northern Neck." 
 
 In the establishment of an industrial system much depends upon 
 the forces and conditions which give rise to the initiative. The ac- 
 quirement of food and clothing constitutes the first essential. This 
 obtained, the most profitable commodity, or means of exchange, is 
 next to receive attention. The Virginia colonists had to meet the 
 first by hunting, fishing, the cultivation of corn, raising of livestock, 
 and bartering with the Indians. All of the conditions precluded a 
 surplus of food stuffs, so that these are ruled out at this stage as 
 possible commodities for exchange. But even if they had been pos- 
 sible, the demand would have been so limited as to make the produc- 
 tion unprofitable. They must produce a surplus of that for which 
 there is a pressing demand in England to realize profitable results. 
 What were the leading EngHsh imports? Iron and steel from 
 Spain; copper from Sweden; wine, salt and canvas from France; 
 silks and velvets from Italy; spices from Asia; and naval supplies, 
 such as tar, pitch, cordage, masts and yards,. from Russia and Poland. 
 The search of the colonists for gold and copper had been futile; in 
 1620, iron mines were opened at the James River Falls, but aban- 
 doned because inferior; the grape was neither adapted to the 
 climate nor soil; great difficulty was experienced in supplying the 
 domestic demand for salt; the silk industry was then, and has ever 
 been impracticable, because of non-adaptability of climate and lack 
 of labour supply; and the great cost of transporting timbers made 
 it impossible to compete with closer markets. Virginia's only hope, 
 therefore, was to create a new demand, of which a surplus could be 
 produced, for the purchase of the numerous supplies necessary to 
 every country in the establishing stage. Fortune crowned the crisis 
 in the introduction of tobacco. It is for this reason that tobacco has 
 been called "king." 
 
 it seems timely here to inquire into the economic foundations of 
 Virginia society, which has always been a type of Southern society, 
 and why it so radically differed from that of New England. The 
 social status of any differentiated society or community is fixed by 
 the elemental habits and characteristics of the individuals compris- 
 ing the group ; and by the environment^the objective forces brought 
 to bear on the subjective individual. Of these forces, the geographic 
 
8 Geographic htfluence on the Economic History of Virginia. 
 
 conditions and the economic relations are by far the most important. 
 Let us first inquire into the nature of the individuals. The early 
 Virginia colonists were essentially of the English gentry on the one 
 hand, and of the free and bond servant classes on the other, with a 
 few who could lay claim to the nobility. This condition existed be- 
 cause the enterprise was. primarily commercial, and, in consequence, 
 appealed to the moneyed interests;" which in turn required labour 
 for carrying out its purposes. The promoters had neither political 
 nor ecclesiastical grievance, and were not bound by the stress of 
 poverty, so they adhered to their old habits, manners, tastes and 
 styles of living, in so far as the new conditions permitted. The 
 same strict adherence to the_Church of England, and largely to the 
 Crown, was also maintained for more than half a century. The 
 plantation owners prospered, and increased in influence in the politi- 
 cal arena to a position which they had found impossible in the mother 
 country. The whole tendency was toward the establishment of 
 ]?:^§?._Jl?i4iPSS. The extreme eastern coast was malarial, while 
 ("further inland the climate was healthful, the soil fertile, and an 
 '^bundance of game, which feature alone was very inviting to the 
 English gentleman. England pushed slave labour into the colony 
 as rapidly as it could be utilized. The dissolution of the Company 
 in 1624 augmented the tendency to large estates, as its policy had 
 been restraining in a measure, by making the landowners of two 
 kinds — the planter, who held grants of land proportionate to his con- 
 tribution of money and emigrants, and the small holder, who re- 
 ceived an allotment as remuneration for working on the Company 
 land during a certain period. On the dissolution no change was 
 made in the tenure, except that the free emigrant had to go out at 
 his own expense, and bound in an agreement to bring the land under 
 cultivation within a certain period or forfeit the right of ownership. 
 Under this regime the yeomanry class did not progress, for the 
 reason that they lacked administrative ability; and having grown 
 accustomed to routine labour and dependence, became easily dis- 
 couraged under the pressure of poverty, responsibility, and the 
 stronger external hand of the landed aristocracy. Becoming poorer, 
 they became free servants. 
 
 The increased prosperity of the planter prompted to a life of 
 ease and independence. In most cases he was not even placed under 
 the necessity of finding a market, or of concerning himself as to the 
 ways and means of securing supplies, since foreign vessels loaded 
 with a variety of merchandise came up to the plantation wharves to 
 exchange their goods for tobacco. So satisfactory were the returns 
 
Geographic Influence on the Economic History of Virginia. 9 
 
 of soil tillage that the manufacturing enterprises were not prose- 
 cuted assiduously, except for those which could be done at home, by 
 way of utilizing the surplus labour. The attitude of the representa- 
 tive planter is vouched for in the words of Thomas Jefferson: 
 ■''Such is our attachment to agriculture, and such our preference for 
 foreign manufactures that, be it wise or unwise, our people will cer- 
 tainly return to the raising of raw materials, and exchange them for 
 finer manufactures than they are able to execute themselves. The 
 political economists of Europe have established it as a principle that 
 every state should endeavor to manufacture for itself, and this prin- 
 ciple, like many others, we transfer to America without calculating 
 the difference of circumstance which should produce a difference of 
 result."* 
 
 I have not heard the opinion expressed, but I believe that slavery 
 exerted a characteristic influence on Virginia society as marked as 
 was its influence on the industrial system. It should be remem- 
 bered that up to this time the great majority of those who had set 
 the pace of a social system so individualistic as to stand out for 
 generations as characteristic of the typical Virginian were slave 
 owners and slave workers, and not slave traders. Most of the 
 slaves of this larger class felt themselves not only a constituent part 
 of the plantation, but an indispensable part ; and so they were under 
 the existing regime. This accorded to the servant a feeling of self- 
 importance, which found its coimterpart in the personality of the 
 master. The rich of every age are very much the same in being 
 caterers to the recognition of the Court, the nobility, and the rich; 
 and we may as truly add, to the humble, joyous — and in some cases 
 worshipful — recognition of those who serve them. The latter 
 existed in the person of the "old-fashioned darkey," as he can never 
 be again. The plantation equipped with a full retinue of servants 
 and slaves felt that it was a sufficiency unto itself, which, to an ex- 
 tent incalculable, fostered the clannish tendency toward seclusion, 
 and intensified the ultra-individualism of the cavalier type. 
 
 Prior to 1688 Virginia adhered strictly to the Church of England, 
 even to legislating against the Puritans, Quakers, and Separatists; 
 and contested vigorously the position of the Presbyterians within 
 her border. But while this ecclesiastical attitude had been main- 
 tained, and its power exercised, the idea of civil liberty was gaining 
 strength in many parts. This had been brought about in part by 
 
 * Jefferson's Notes on Virginia, p. 225 (1781). After the rupture with England, manufacturing 
 ■was much more emphasized than before. The domestic wants were largely supplied by home manu- 
 factures, until the development of factory enterprises in New England, which were not extensive at 
 the time Jefferson wrote his " Notes on Virginia." 
 
10 Geographic Influence on the Economic History of Virginia. 
 
 oppressive taxation, and the indirect connection of the House of 
 Burgesses with the Crown; but in an important sense through the 
 influence of that prosperous, free, easy, isolated, independent life. 
 As the civil attitude changed, the loyalty to the Established Church 
 began to weaken. In 1696 a law was passed fixing the salary of 
 every clergyman at 16,000 pounds of tobacco. The price so fluctu- 
 ated that this made the salary quite variable. In some parishes only 
 "Orinoco" could be raised, which was inferior to "sweet-scented." 
 The books of that time bear frequent reference to a promotion from 
 an "Orinoco parish" to a "sweet-scented parish." Where tobacco 
 was not grown the Established Church was without representation, 
 and it was "in the tobaccoless wilderness voices were heard of the 
 Baptists, Quakers and less definable dissenters, who were directing 
 the pioneer ax to the root of the established tree that protected the 
 throne."* 
 
 The House of Burgesses passed an Act in 1755 enabling debtors 
 to pay their tobacco obligations in money at the rate of i6s. 8d. per 
 hundred pounds. The price of tobacco rose by reason of the 
 drought, and many clergymen demanded payment in tobacco. A 
 number of suits were instituted during the succeeding years, the 
 final one being the appeal of Rev. John Camm to England in 1767. 
 This case was heard before Colonel John Henry, the father of 
 Patrick Henry. Patrick Henry had always been loyal to the Church 
 and the Throne, but he grew so indignant over the controversies 
 that he flamed out in such an arraignment of the clergy as to break 
 the authority of the Established Church, and thus became the darling 
 of the Dissenters, the herald of the people's rights. As a result he 
 was ardently supported when the Stamp Act agitation arose, t 
 
 The mountainous portion of the State was destined to produce a 
 different type of society. We have seen how distinctly different 
 were the characteristics of the Indians of the western part of the 
 State (Monacans) and the eastern tribes. During the first century 
 of Colonial history no attempt was made toward settlements in the 
 mountains. They were not adapted to the use of slave labour, were 
 frequented by the most treacherous Indians, and so remote from 
 
 * Barons of the Potomac and Rappahannock. It was seen in the Chapter on Population that 
 the Scotch-Irish Presbyterians were the leaders in the movement. 
 
 t The American Revolution really began with the resistance of the colonies to the irritating 
 duties and regulations imposed by the Crown on the cultivation of tobacco. 
 
 It should also be remembered that a long contest in the reign of James I, which began with the 
 discussion of the tobacco question, resulted in largely transferring the power from the Crown to the 
 House of Commons. 
 
Geographic Influence on the Economic History of Virginia. 11 
 
 market and void of transportation facilities as to be wholly imprac- 
 ticable for occupation. 
 
 The competition of slaves was very irritating to the free labour- 
 ers of the East, and it was difficult to obtain small holdings, so 
 dominant and domineering was the influence of the large owners. 
 As a result, the bravest, strongest and most resolute of the free 
 labourers forced their way westward and joined the Scotch-Irish 
 Presbyterians'^, who were coming in large numbers to the Valley 
 as well as to the Piedmont frontier. These were the mountaineers 
 of the eighteenth century, but must not be confused with that class 
 known as "poor whites," either according to present or past accept- 
 ance of that term. It is true many of them were poor in possessions, 
 but rich in valour, and came from the great middle class who had 
 tired of landlord oppression in England, and slavery competition in 
 eastern Virginia. The indolent, thriftless, lower class followed in 
 their wake, but at a safe distance — far enough removed from the old 
 settlements to eke out a bare existence by hunting and little work. 
 On the mountains they remained in preference to subduing the great 
 forests of the fertile intervening valleys, and there they are for the 
 most part to be found to-day. In the middle of the eighteenth cen- 
 tury the life of western Virginia compared with that of Tidewater as 
 does the ranch life of the Rocky Mountains and the Plains with 
 modern New England society life. From the first it was a life-and- 
 death struggle, in which the weaklings were sure to go down. No 
 man could stand alone, and so by ties of mutual sympathy and pro- 
 tection they were united in hearty, unselfish fellowship. As a class 
 they were clannish, and more or less superstitious; loyal in their 
 friendships and inexorable in their hates, but brave, just, generous, 
 and industrious. It was these iron-nerved, steel-sinewed stalwarts 
 who formed a line of mountain outposts between the older settle- 
 ments of the coast and the treacherous Indian tribes of the west. 
 Not only did they drive the savages beyond the mountains but fol- 
 lowed them into the plains, and broke for all time the powerful 
 confederacy. It was also these who, in that memorable battle of 
 King's Mountain, turned the tide of the Revolution. They repre- 
 sent to-day a reserve force in the nation whose vitalizing lines are 
 found to connect with all the throbbing centres of educational, com- 
 mercial, and political activity. 
 
 For the sake of comparison, let us question briefly why the social 
 
 * See Chapter on Population. 
 
12 Geographic Influence on the Economic History of Virginia. 
 
 and industrial life of New England was so different from that of 
 Virginia. 
 
 In 1614 Captain John Smith made a trading expedition to that 
 territory, at which time he changed the name from North Virginia 
 to New England. Although his sojourn was ostensibly for pur- 
 poses of trade, on his return to England he left Captain Thomas 
 Hunt in charge of one vessel, presumably to establish a footing, 
 looking toward a permanent settlement ; but Hunt enticed 2^ Indians 
 on board and sailed with them to Malaga, where he sold them to the 
 Spanish at 20 pounds per head. This so enraged the Indians that 
 they resented every effort toward colonization with great vigour and 
 extreme ferocity. If there is anything which will put a people on 
 their mettle "to do or die," it is an experience of exile for religious 
 convictions; so the Puritans, many of whom had taken refuge in 
 Holland before the intolerable attitude of Queen Elizabeth, were 
 best prepared to drive the wedge. It was a congregation of Inde- 
 pendents or Brownists, the strictest sect of the Puritans, that landed 
 from the Mayflower December nth, 1620, and others followed in 
 rapid succession. The first colonists were as a rule poor, not hav- 
 ing had the opportunity to accumulate, and the wealthier and more 
 tractable Dissenters remained in England until the venture was 
 tested. Those who came sought freedom above everything else, and 
 expected to pay the price in unrelenting toil. The conditions placed 
 upon them a strong community of interest, which had been growing 
 since the foundation of Protestantism. They were thoughtful, 
 sober, and economical. Being parties to a common cause and par- 
 ticipants, in a common lot, they became naturally characterized by 
 unanimity and equipoise. Life to them had been a severe drill in 
 meeting the emergency, which developed the genius of invention, 
 and prepared them in all respects for distinction along the lines 
 which were pursued later so successfully. 
 
 The soil was not fertile and slave labour proved unprofitable. 
 The South needed labourers and purchased them. English vessels 
 were monopolizing southern traffic, so New England naturally de- 
 cided to build ships and participate in the profits. As carriers, the 
 opportunity of brokerage presented itself, and they shared in the pro- 
 fits of sale and distribution. New trading enterprises were contagi- 
 ous, and the business expanded with the traffic. The Revolution came, 
 the conclusion of which ruled England out as neither a desirable 
 competitor in transportation nor in the traffic of slaves and mer- 
 chandise. New England stood ready to enter upon her new era of 
 prosperity. It is true that the moral reaction against slave owner- 
 
Geographic Influence on the Economic History of Virginia. IB 
 
 ship had already become strong, but an earnest plea was made for 
 the trade to tide her over the financial stress. This granted, her 
 profits grew into a large surplus. Since the importation of slaves 
 could continue no longer than 1808, the traders of New England 
 were naturally on the lookout for investment opportunities, for the 
 finding of which their extensive transportation and trade relations 
 offered the best opportunity. They studied the methods by which 
 England was growing rich. The manufacture of clothing consti- 
 tuted one of her most profitable industries, and Whitney's discovery 
 of the cotton-giA, which revolutionized the production of cotton in 
 the South, was New England's opportunity for the establishment 
 of the American textile industry on even a more profitable basis than 
 the English system. The manufacturing interests prospered, and 
 the shipping interests suffered no loss, as the South became a large 
 exporter of cotton. We conclude from this brief review that, 
 just as the^ South from the very beginning of her history naturally 
 developed along agricultural lines, so New England, finding herself 
 at a disadvantage in the cultivation of the soil, naturally turned her 
 attention to manufacture, trade and commerce. 
 
or 
 
PHYSIOGRAPHY OF VIRGINIA 
 
 BY 
 
 G. T. SURFACE, M.S. 
 
 The surface features are so closely connected with the geological 
 history, and this in turn is so important in the determination of 
 economic control, that we will discuss the .physiographic phase from 
 the view-point of geologic grouping and sequence. It is our purpose 
 to give the reader a consistent portrayal of the Virginia land-mass 
 at logical intervals during its physiographic evolution. The conclu- 
 sions arrived at are based upon the most accurate information obtain- 
 able, in the absence of a complete topographic or physiographic sur- 
 vey of the State. As viewed from the standpoint of origin the land- 
 mass divides itself into two majo- divisions: L Appalachian Belt; 
 and, IL Coastal Plain Belt. 
 
 Appalachian Belt. — The classification recognized under this 
 division is somewhat arbitrary, but we believe it is entirely in har- 
 mony with the similarity and continuity of geographic control, which 
 centred about the original Atlantic land-mass until towards the 
 close of the Mesozoic era. 
 
 (A). Archaean system of the Archaean period. 
 (B). Taconic system of the Middle Silurian period. 
 (C). Appalachian system of the post-Carboniferous period. 
 (D). Palisade system of the Jurassic period. 
 
 A. The Archaean System. 
 
 This represents the older Appalachian belt, or the Appalachian 
 protaxis, which extends in a narrow peninsular band from Canada 
 to central Georgia. It is continuous through Virginia, and the 
 present exposure varies in, width from lo to 40 miles. It is probable 
 that the materials of the Taconic and Palisade systems were de- 
 posited in valleys and bays which had been carved out of the Arch- 
 aean land-mass, or in synclinal troughs formed therein by elevation 
 and depression. This would indicate that the area extended farther 
 
2 Physiography of Virginia. 
 
 eastward at the close of the period. The enormous amount of ma- 
 terial supplied for the formation of the Appalachian system adds 
 evidence to the same conclusion. We can form no estimate of the 
 height of the land-mass, but all of the conditions lead to the belief 
 that it was thoroughly mountainous in type, and probably varied 
 from 5,cx)0 to 25,000 feet in elevation. Even with this estimate, we 
 must suppose it to have been a region of elevation during a part 
 of the Paleozoic era to account for the immense sedimentary de- 
 posits of the Appalachian system. The region suffered re-elevation 
 during the elevation of the Appalachian system, as shown by the 
 west-northwest overthrust of the crystalline beds on the lower Si- 
 lurian beds, and the intense metamorphism to which the rocks have 
 been subjected. Since the thrust force which produced the newer 
 Appalachians was from the southwest, the effect on the Archaean 
 area must have been to increase the area along the western border 
 and to make the topography more precipitous along the western 
 flank of what might be designated the Piedmont Chain. The Arch- 
 aean area was of sufficient elevation in post- Paleozoic time to effect- 
 ually cut off the new Appalachian region from an eastward drain- 
 age. The region varies in elevation from 300 to 1,200 feet, increas- 
 ing in general as we progress westward. The drainage is entirely 
 into the Atlantic, and has a uniformly southeast direction. The 
 Potomac, Rappahannock, York, James, and Roanoke Rivers are the 
 most important streams. They are transverse, in that they flow at 
 angles to the direction of strike of the intricately folded and foliated 
 structure; and they are antecedent, in that their position was fixed 
 prior to the rejuvenation of the old topography. 
 
 The watersheds between the drainage systems are indistinct, which 
 is characteristic of a region which has reached advanced maturity. 
 
 The valleys are usually narrow but productive, and the interven- 
 ing ridges vary in productivity according to the conditions of pre- 
 vious cultivation, the nature of the underlying rock, and the degree 
 of decomposition. The percentage of iron present is greatest along 
 the western border. 
 
 Large beds of iron ore occur in the Archaean series. The rocks con- 
 sist chiefly of granites, gneisses, syenites, diorites,gabbros, and various 
 schists, and cover most of the region known as the Piedmont Plateau, 
 which extends from the Fall Line (where the rivers emerge from the 
 harder rocks of the inland on to the Coastal Plain) to the slope and 
 crest of the Blue Ridge. These crystalline and metamorphosed 
 rocks are believed to represent a part of the original crust of the 
 earth, and to have been first elevated by the unequal contraction of 
 
Physiography of Virginia. 3 
 
 the outer cooling crust on the inner molten mass. Most of the rocks 
 weather easily by the decomposition of the iron, alkalis and phos- 
 phates, which, when entirely removed, leave a light sterile micaceous 
 or sandy soil. The percentage of these elements left largely de- 
 termines the productivity of the residual soils, which makes a chem- 
 ical study of them very necessary for the intelligent application of 
 fertilizers. 
 
 The present Piedmont topography is that of a dissected plateau 
 upland, the seaward remnant of a broad, gently rolling surface, 
 which once extended westward beyond the Alleghany Front, north- 
 ward along the Appalachians into New York and New England, and 
 southward across the Cumberland Plateau of Tennessee to an un- 
 known distance. This peneplain condition of the Jurassic period 
 was first described and studied by Professor W. M. Davis in Penn- 
 sylvania and New Jersey, and was named by him the Schooley 
 Peneplain.^ Professor Davis describes the Piedmont Plateau in 
 its present dissected stage as illustrative of the peneplain. "It is a 
 peneplain, not monotonously smooth, but undulating in graceful 
 swells, between gentle depressions." — (Davis.) Mr. Willis, of the 
 United States Geological Survey, in his physiographic study of the 
 Northern Appalachians, gave the name of Kittatinny Plain to this 
 older base-level stage, f 
 
 B. Taconic System. (Middle Silurian.) 
 
 We will see under the discussion of the Appalachian System that 
 at the beginning of the Paleozoic era there was being formed a great 
 geosyncline along the western border of the Archaean land-mass. 
 There was another geosyncline being formed at the same time along 
 the eastern border. The indications are that there was a chain of 
 these depressions, some of which were probably troughs of embayed 
 synclinal valleys within the crystalline area. They were closely 
 parallel to the Archaean protaxis and the Appalachian geosyncline, 
 and extended from the region which marks the boundary between 
 Canada, New England and New York, through Pennsylvania, Mary- 
 land and Virginia, and south-westward. These deposits thickened 
 in the gradually sinking trough through the Cambrian and Ordo- 
 vician periods, and at the close of the latter period were elevated 
 into what has been called the Taconic System. The upturning re- 
 sulted in great flexures and faults, and extreme metamorphism. The 
 rocks present the same general characteristics as the Cambrian anr- 
 
 * Davis, W. M., "The Rivers of Northern New Jersey." National Geographic Magazine, 1890, 
 vol. II., pp. 81-110. 
 
 t Bailey Willis— Physiography of the United States, p. 189. 
 
4 Physiography of Virginia. 
 
 Ordovician rocks of the Appalachian system, with the addition that 
 the shales, sandstones and limestones are highly metamorphosed. 
 The shales of Buckingham County have been definitely identified as 
 belonging to theTrenton and Hudson epochs, and are a part of the 
 Taconic series. The beautiful mottled brown and reddish brown 
 marbles of east Tennessee belong to the same series (Hawkins and 
 Knox counties). It continued a region of elevation, and therefore 
 of denudation, through the Upper Silurian, Devonian, Carboniferous, 
 Triassic and Jurassic periods, for no beds with marine fossils have 
 been found over the area. 
 
 The series has suffered greatly from decomposition and erosion, 
 which were facilitated by the crushing and disruption of the beds 
 as caused by the violent crustal movements. 
 
 Great changes must have been wrought in the structure and sur- 
 face features of the Taconic area by the forces which raised the 
 Appalachian geosyncline into the towering Appalachian Chain. 
 
 The residual soils from the metamorphosed limestones are the 
 most productive which occur in this belt. The shales and. slates 
 give rise to soils that are responsive to fertilizers and improved 
 cultivation. 
 
 The streams cut across the strata as in the case of the crystalline 
 series of the Archaean system. 
 
 C. Appalachian System. 
 
 Throughout the long Paleozoic era the material for the construc- 
 tion of the Appalachian system was in process of formation, at the 
 expense of the surrounding crystalline area. These sediments were 
 deposited in a great geosynclinal trough, in which the rate of sub- 
 sidence was so nearly equal to the rate of deposition that almost the 
 entire thickness was accumulated in shallow water. At the close 
 of the era the crustal movements began, through which the strata 
 were elevated and compressed into a series of parallel, inclined or 
 overturned folds, with an elevation of 20,000 to 40,000 feet. In 
 some places the overturned folds pass into overthrust faults. One 
 of these in the southern Appalachians of Virginia represents a dis- 
 location of 5,000 to 10,000 feet, by which the Lower Silurian lime- 
 stone is brought in juxtaposition with the Lower Carboniferous sand- 
 stone. This fault so weakened the strata through crushing and dis- 
 ruption as to invite maximum erosion and decomposition, result- 
 ing in the removal of all the strata above the Silurian. H. B. Rogers 
 pointed out that the lines of faults in Virginia are continuous with 
 
Physiography of Virginia. 5 
 
 the flexures in Pennsylvania. The faults may therefore be designated 
 as Hexure faults. The structure of the Appalachians closely re- 
 sembles that of the Alps. The thrust force, however, in the case 
 of the Alps was toward the ocean, while that of the Appalachians 
 was from the ocean. The pressure, being greatest from the ocean 
 side, gave rise to asymmetrical and inverted folds, and the mountain 
 ranges decline into an elevated plateau on the landward side, with 
 feebly undulating or horizontal stratification. This is exemplified 
 in the West Virginia Highland and the Cumberland Plateau of 
 Tennessee. This high mountain region was worn down to an un- 
 dulating plain (Schooley or Kittatinny peneplain) during the Trias- 
 sic and Jurassic periods, with surviving ridges here and there of more 
 resistant structure. 
 
 Towards the close of the Jurassic period the region was sub- 
 jected to a moderate and gradual re-elevation, attaining a maximum 
 in Virginia of 1,400 feet (Willis). The arch-lines follow the gen- 
 eral strike direction of the Appalachian folds. This period of ele- 
 vation rejuvenated the streams on the uplifted plain, making the 
 valleys deepest where the elevation was greatest, and most shallow 
 where the uplift was least. A revolution of the drainage system 
 was initiated over a part of the region in the denudation attack along 
 the lines of induced weakness. The change was greatest over the 
 Appalachian region proper, since most of the dynamical agencies 
 work more effectively on sedimentary rock structure. The excava- 
 tion of the valleys along the belts of weaker structure has resulted 
 in a physiography more nearly approaching the mountain type than 
 existed at the close of the re-elevation of the region. Most of the 
 remnant ranges and the intervening valleys are the result of cir- 
 cum-denudation, the height of the ridges and the width of the val- 
 leys being the expression of the relative strength of the strata, and 
 the amount of subsequent elevation. The transverse streams are 
 contemporaneous with the larger longitudinal ones, but have only 
 been able to carve out for themselves narrow valleys or precipitous 
 gorges. From the standpoint of soil production they have added 
 but little; but their economic value cannot be overestimated, since 
 they have established natural locations for the great transportation 
 routes across the Alleghany Mountains, and present ideal conditions 
 for the most economic utilization of their superior water power. 
 
 The Appalachian anticlinorium has lost its physiographic identity, 
 but it is readily revealed in a study of the structure as exposed by 
 the stream dissection and surface denudation. 
 
 That part of the Appalachian System draining into the Atlantic 
 
6 Physiography of Virginia. 
 
 Ocean is known as the Northern Appalachian, while the part south 
 of New River, draining into the Gulf, is the Southern Appalachian. 
 The following subdivisions of the system are readily recognized 
 in a topographic study: (i) Blue Ridge; (2) Valley; and (3) 
 Appalachia. 
 
 (i) Blue Ridge. This stands out as the most prominent physical 
 feature in the State. With an elevation of 1,460 feet at Harper's 
 Ferry, where the Potomac breaks through the Blue Ridge, it in- 
 creases southwestward, being 3,993 feet in Bedford County (Peaks 
 of Otter), and reaches a maximum of 5,700 feet in Balsam Moun- 
 tain, Grayson County, Virginia. This is a continuous barrier from 
 the Maryland to the North Carolina boundaries, excepting four 
 water-gaps and occasional wind-gaps. In its higher altitudes the 
 crest line is marked by a hard, resistant sandstone of the Lower Cam- 
 brian period. The southern portion expands into a fan-like plateau, 
 which is the watershed for the waters flowing into the Atlantic 
 Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico. The counties of Floyd, Carrol, 
 Grayson, Franklin, and a part of Montgomery are situated in the 
 plateau portion. In North Carolina the plateau topography is inten- 
 sified, and the elevation increases to a maximum of 7,000 feet. 
 
 The eastern flank of the Blue Ridge consists for the most part of 
 highly metamorphosed Archaean rocks which formed the Paleozoic 
 shore of the interior sea, and were thrust up by the great forces 
 which gave birth to the Appalachian System. Along the crest, the 
 western flank, and the western foot-hills, the Cambrian rocks pre- 
 dominate. Well-identified fossiliferous shales of the Lower and 
 Middle Cambrian occur near Natural Bridge, and at Balcony Falls 
 (James River gorge through the Blue Ridge at Balcony Falls). 
 So far as developed for minerals, this is. the most unproductive 
 region in the State. 
 
 (2) The Valley. This is a continuation of the Great Valley of 
 east Tennessee, and becomes the Cumberland Valley in Maryland 
 and Pennsylvania, the Kittatinny Valley of New Jersey, and the 
 Newburg part of the Hudson River Valley in New York. It is 
 the central part of the Greater Appalachian Valley, as described by 
 Willis, which includes the Blue Ridge, the Valley, and the Alle- 
 ghany Ridges. The Valley region is that which lies between the 
 western base of the Blue Ridge and the eastern base of the Alle- 
 ghany Front. It is 15 to 30 miles in width, and 310 miles in length, 
 making an area of about 5,000 square miles. It consists of the 
 following minor valleys : The Shenandoah, 106 miles ; James River, 
 50 miles ; Roanoke River, 38 miles ; New River, 54 miles ; and 
 
Physiography of Virginia. 7 
 
 Holston River, 52 miles. For the purposes of convenience we may 
 recognize three general sections : The northern, or Shenandoah Val- 
 ley section; the central, embracing that region between the head- 
 waters of the Shenandoah and the Holston Rivers, which is cut by 
 the transverse valleys of the James, Roanoke and New Rivers; and 
 the southern section, that part drained by the Holston River. 
 
 Viewed topographically, it is a broad, gently rolling plain, with 
 the floor dissected by minor drainage systems. The elevation in- 
 creases south-westward and westward, being 242 feet above tide 
 at the mouth of the Shenandoah, and 1,687 f^^t where the Holston 
 River crosses the State line. The maximum elevation of 1,700 feet 
 is_ reached in Wythe County. The Shenandoah Plain was carved 
 out of the Schooley Peneplain during the Tertiary period, and the 
 subsequent elevation and denudation have brought it to its present 
 topographic condition. 
 
 The soil of the valley is prevailingly limestone, and it is by far 
 the most productive of the natural divisions. George Washington"" 
 realized its great possibilities when he wrote: 'Tn soil, climate and 
 production, in my opinion, it will be considered, if it is not con- 
 sidered so already, as the Garden of America." 
 
 There is no marked decrease of fertility as we pass from the 
 bottoms to the uplands. The bottoms are utilized intensively and 
 extensively for cultivation, and the uplands for grazing. 
 
 Settlements were made in the region as early as 1732. Several 
 of the earlier ones were exterminated, but the natural conditions 
 were so favourable that each depredation by the Indians inspired 
 the settlers to stronger and more persistent resistance. 
 
 The position of the Valley topographically marks it out as a 
 natural transportation route, so we find the Norfolk and Western 
 Railroad traversing it from Bristol, which is on the Virginia-Ten- 
 nessee line, to Roanoke; from this point the Shenandoah Valley 
 extends to Harper's Ferry, on the Virginia- West Virginia-Mary- 
 land line. 
 
 (3) Appalachia, or Alleghany Ridges. This area embraces the 
 region between the Valley and the Alleghany Front, which is the 
 eastern border of the Alleghany Plateau, and is made of a series of 
 ridges of northeast-southwest direction, alternating with narrow 
 trough-like valleys. This general topography is interrupted where 
 intersected by the transverse valleys, previously referred to. An ex- 
 amination of the ridges shows a remarkably accordant topography. 
 They are believed to be the remnant of a plain of advanced topo- 
 
 * Letter to Sir John Sinclair, 1796. 
 
8 Physiography of Virginia. 
 
 graphic maturity formed during the Mesozoic era, which was 
 continuous from Piedmont to the Alleghany Plateau, called by Davis 
 the Schooley Peneplain, and by Willis the Kittatinny Peneplain. 
 The region under discussion has been reduced to its present topo- 
 graphic condition since the Jurassic period by denudation and periods 
 of elevation. 
 
 The ridges owe their elevation chiefly to the fact that the Car- 
 boniferous conglomerates and sandstones were depressed below the 
 general level of the Kittatinny Peneplain, and thus escaped being 
 worn away during the production of that feature. Subsequent 
 elevation and denudation have removed the weakened anticlinal 
 rocks, and left the synclinal remnants of hard sandstone standing 
 out in relief, as protecting caps to the softer strata beneath. 
 
 Like the land of the Valley, the Blue Ridge and the Alleghany 
 Front, these ridges increase in general elevation southward. Many 
 of them exceed 3,000 feet. Elliot's Knob, 20 miles west of Staun- 
 ton, has an elevation of 4,473 feet. 
 
 The Appalachia and Valley topography of southwest Virginia 
 has been materially influenced by a series of faults which produced 
 a displacement of 500 to 12,000 feet. The most important we may 
 designate the Saltville or North Holston fault, with a maximum dis- 
 placement of 10,000 feet ; the Walker Mountain fault, with a max- 
 imum displacement of about 10,000 feet, and seemingly continuous 
 with the Great Fault of Northern Virginia; and Draper Mountain 
 fault, which by a maximum displacement of 12,500 feet brings up 
 the Lower Silurian in Wythe and Pulaski County as a rugged moun- 
 tain in the heart of the Valley. Two cross-faults pass frorn it, the 
 Max Meadows in a westward direction, and the Pulaski in a north- 
 western direction, toward the Walker Mountain fault; so that in 
 the very heart of the Valley there is a block of Upper Silurian, 
 Devonian and Lower Carboniferous, with Lower Silurian on two 
 sides, Cambrian on the third, and Lower Carboniferous on the 
 fourth.* 
 
 The soils of the upper slopes are usually sandy and sterile, be- 
 ing derived from the heavy siliceous sandstones and conglomerates. 
 Beneath these strata occur the softer shales, some of which (the 
 most calcareous) form fairly productive soils. The residual soils 
 from limestone are always fertile, but most of the limestone strata 
 have been removed by denudation. 
 
 Because of the very broken topography common to the region, 
 it is best adapted to grazing. The narrow valleys are made up of 
 
 * American Journal of Science, 1887, p. 262. 
 
Physiography of Virginia. 9 
 
 sandy calcareous alluvium, with often a strong impregnation of 
 iron, and are productive. Cultivation is concentrated on the valleys 
 and lowlands. 
 
 More virgin forest survives in this belt than in any other part 
 of the State, because of its inaccessibility. With the superior water 
 power, which abounds throughout the region, the manufacture of 
 hardwood products should become an important industry. 
 
 This is the most productive region of the State in mineral re- 
 sources. 
 
 The bold south-eastward-facing escarpment of the Alleghany 
 Plateau border constitutes the western border of the Alleghany 
 trough. The State line is approximately marked by it, except in the 
 southwest corner. 
 
 From Little High Knob (26 miles south of the Potomac in the 
 Virginia- West Virginia boundary) south westward it declines in 
 elevation. 
 
 New River, flowing north-westward, enters the plateau in a cafion 
 1,500 feet deep. All the other streams crossing the Front rise in 
 the plateau and flow southwestward, to emerge from deep canons 
 into the minor valleys of the Great Valley. This peculiar drainage 
 adjustment was brought about by a southeastward tilting of the 
 northern part of the plateau in the elevation subsequent to the 
 Schooley Peneplain stage, while south of the New River divide 
 the tilting was to the southwest.'"^ 
 
 D. Palisade System. (Jurassic Period.) 
 
 At the beginning of the Triassic period it is probable that the Vir- 
 ginia land area extended farther east than it does at this time. During 
 this period a series of narrow troughs was formed along the Atlantic 
 slope, closely parallel to the trend of the Appalachians, as if occupy- 
 ing orographic valleys in the chain ; but separated from them by the 
 remnant ridges, which were still sufficiently high to effectually cut 
 off the Appalachian drainage from the east. The depressions could 
 not have been formed from an oceanic submergence, for no marine 
 fossils have been found in the beds ; neither could they have resulted 
 from stream action alone, or the nature of the rock structure would 
 be different. The most probable supposition, therefore, is that the 
 depressions represent the topography of the continental border after 
 the Appalachian upturning. The water accumulated in these de- 
 pressions in estuaries, fresh-water lakes, streams, bogs and swamps, 
 and the depositions took place slowly and to great depth. The rocks 
 
 * Russell, I. C, Rivers of North America, p. 205. 
 
10 Physiography of Virginia. 
 
 are mostly granitic sandstones, sandy shales, conglomerates, bitu- 
 minous coal, along with carbonaceous shales. The extent of the 
 conglomerate formation and the prevalence of the cross-bedded 
 structure give evidence of the presence of strong currents. 
 
 The longest trough seems to have been continuous from the Hud- 
 son River south through New Jersey and Maryland, and into Vir- 
 ginia as far as Cumberland County, a distance of 350 miles. It is 
 probable that the Richmond area was a separate basin, 35 miles in 
 length; and that the Pittsylvania area belongs to the Dan River 
 trough of North Carolina, 100 miles in length (40 miles in North 
 Carolina). The thickness of the beds in Virginia varies from 2,000 
 to 3,000 feet. 
 
 Productive coal beds occur in the Richmond* basin south of the 
 Chickahominy River, being northwest of the city of Richmond, 
 and separated from the northern part of the Richmond Mesozoic 
 area by an interval of crystalline rocks about 3 miles in width. This 
 is the only Mesozoic area in Virginia which retains the basin form 
 in its present structural condition. 
 
 The lateral pressure whch caused the elevation of the series was 
 chiefly from the west, while that for the Appalachian system was 
 chiefly from the east. The elevation took place at the close of the 
 Triassic or in the early Jurassic period. Faults are frequent, and 
 volcanic action became general, as shown by the numerous dykes 
 which cut the series. 
 
 The crustal movements, however, over most of the region resulted 
 in monoclinal uplifts of low angle. Flexures are rare and local, 
 the largest being that of the Richmond Basin. 
 
 The Jurassic period was one of great denudation, when the high 
 ranges of the Appalachians were much wasted away, and the newly- 
 elevated Triassic beds were deeply eroded. 
 
 The brown sandstone of this series supplies one of our most 
 valuable building stones. 
 
 Coastal Plain. — At the close of the Jurassic period there was 
 a slight elevation; but this was of short duration, and gave place 
 to a strong eastward tilting of the land, which permitted the western 
 transgression of the Upper Potomac formation.^ The Potomac 
 series was formerly classified as Lower Cretaceous by DavisJ and 
 others, but the very careful stratigraphic work of the Maryland 
 
 *U. S. G. S. Bull. No. 85, 1892 ; American Journal of Science, 1879. 
 + Physiography of Maryland, Part II , p. 144. 
 
 $The Geological Dates of Origin of Certain Topographic Forms. Geol. Society America, 
 Bull. II. 1890, pp. 545-548. 
 
Physiography of Virginia. 1 1 
 
 Geological Survey has led to the classification of the lower beds of 
 the series to the Jurassic. The Coastal Plain Series begins with the 
 Potomac Group*, which were formed in a narrow band along the 
 Atlantic Coast. Detached portions of the beds indicate that they 
 formerly extended farther westward. The different members of the 
 Coastal Plain series were formed by alternate periods of elevation 
 and depression. It is beyond the province of this discussion to enter 
 into a detailed description of the geological history. 
 
 The series consists of sands, clays, loams and "gravels, usually in 
 the unconsolidated state, and arranged almost horizontally. 
 
 The Tertiary period was inaugurated by an encroachment of the 
 sea, and the Eocene deposits of sands and clays formed in a narrow 
 band through New Jersey, Maryland and Virginia. From Virginia 
 southward the deposits become much broader. The crustal move- 
 ments which closed the period were greater from south to north and 
 from east to west, giving a southeast tilting. This is true for the 
 whole Coastal Plain series, as evidenced by the thickness of the beds, 
 and the resulting topography. One of the salient topographic evi- 
 dences is the increase in the southeastward deflection of the streams 
 along the western border of the Coastal Plain (along the ''Fall 
 
 Line"). 
 
 The early Miocene witnessed a slight transgression of the sea, as 
 a result of which the Upper Miocene beds were deposited on the 
 Lower Eocene. By the close of the period the Atlantic and Gulf 
 shores had attained almost their present outline. 
 
 A broad belt, extending from the Piedmont margin to the centre of 
 the Coastal Plain, is covered by a mantle of Lafayette (Pliocene) de- 
 posits in the interstream area. These consist of clay, loam, sand and 
 gravel, the latter being often ferruginous and cemented into a com- 
 pact ironstone. The formation has an average thickness of about 
 50 feet. 
 
 With the close of the Tertiary the Atlantic Coast was raised about 
 100 feet in the Virginia portion. On passing from Piedmont to the 
 Coastal Plain, the stream character changes abruptly from rapids, 
 falls, and steep gorges, to meandering streams over a terrace-bound 
 lowland. The terraces were formed by the flood-plain condition ex- 
 isting during the Pleistocene period. 
 
 The great number of bays and estuaries are of comparatively 
 recent origin, having been formed by the gradual subsidence of the 
 Coastal Plain region, by which the rivers were drowned in their 
 lower course through the transgression of the ocean. The Susque- 
 
 * Physiography of Maryland, II, p. 121. 
 
12 Physiography of Virginia. 
 
 hanna River formerly entered the ocean east of Cape Henry, and the 
 Potomac, James, York and Rappahannock were its important tribu- 
 taries. The continued depression converted the lower Susquehanna 
 Valley into the Chesapeake Bay, and embayed the mouths of the lower 
 tributaries, making them tidal streams. Accomac and Northampton 
 Counties became thereby separated from the mainland. 
 
 The effect was to make all of the important streams navigable in 
 the Coastal Plain part of their course, and it gave to the State in the 
 formation of Hampton Roads (estuary at the mouth of the James 
 River) the finest American harbour. 
 
 The elevation increases from sea-level to 150 feet on the western 
 border. From the surface configuration the land is commonly desig- 
 nated as first and second bottom, and the ridge country. The first 
 bottom, where protected from the tide, is very productive. It is in 
 this portion that most of the swamp and marsh lands occur, all of 
 which are covered with a variety of swamp and marsh grasses, which 
 are partially utilized for grazing. Wherever this has been reclaimed 
 it is exceedingly productive. Dismal Swamp* being the most notable 
 example. No survey or special study has been made of these wild 
 lands, but there is no doubt but that hundreds of square miles could 
 be reclaimed at a cost which would leave a wide margin of profit. 
 
 The second bottom is alluvial, as the first, and is the most valuable 
 part of Tidewater. The subsoil is a dark red or yellow clay, with a 
 moderate admixture of sand. The surface soils consist of sandy 
 loams, which vary in colour and consistency according to the 
 mineral and vegetable matter predominating. The ridge country has 
 an elevation of 90 to 150 feet above sea-level. The soil is a light 
 sand, easily eroded, and intractable to most methods of improvement. 
 This section represents one of the most important economic problems 
 in the State. Calcareous marls have proved very beneficial, and it is 
 believed by some fertilizer authorities that most of the area can be 
 brought into a state of at least fair productivity. 
 
 Emory and Henry College, Emory, 
 Virginia. 
 
 ♦Dismal Swamp marks the southern limit of the bog mosses (Sphagnei) which are common 
 further north, and the northern limit of the dwarf palmetto. 
 
CLIMATE AND BOUNDARIES OF VIRGINIA. 
 
 BY 
 
 G. T. SURFACE. 
 
 Climate. 
 
 In speaking of the climate of any region we naturally think of 
 the weather conditions which prevail during the different seasons. 
 Temperature, pressure, humidity, absorption, radiation, winds, and 
 currents are the determinant factors, all of which interact with in- 
 finite variations. Just as the chemist and physicist are unable to 
 dissect and measure the smaller units of physical substances, so the 
 climatologist is unable to measure the smaller units of climatic cause 
 and control. We can, however, determine the larger units, and out 
 of these construct logical groupings. These, when studied in re- 
 lation to each other at regular intervals through a long period, 
 indicate with a fair degree of accuracy what may be considered as 
 constants and variables. It is thus that we arrive at the science of 
 climatology. It is only within modern times that it has advanced 
 to the stage of becoming really an economic science, which we are 
 conservative in saying is but in its infancy. 
 
 The native wealth of any land area is determined largely by its 
 climatic and geological environment. We are justified in affirming 
 that Virginia holds an exceptionally favored position as to the 
 harmony of these two wealth-determining factors, so that nothing 
 is lacking, from the standpoint of natural essentials, for the largest 
 and most economic development of its resources. 
 
 The effect of climatic influences on the social order is also not to 
 be lost sight of, or underestimated. The leading psychologists and 
 anthropologists attribute the wide differentiation of races to differ- 
 ences of geographic environment. Many of these designate climate 
 as the controlling factor. Whether this may, or may not be true, 
 we do know that climatic extremes do not conduce to the most 
 efficient voluntary activity. 
 
 The climatic belts of the State are in general coincident with the 
 physical divisions. There are limited areas, which, by virtue of their 
 position, are subject to more sudden changes and greater extremes. 
 
 There are no high mountain ranges in the State, but the eleva- 
 tion is continuous from the Eastern Shore, to the Blue Ridge. We see 
 in Table I (p. 97) a difference of 10° in the mean annual temperature 
 
2 Climate and Boundaries of Virginia. 
 
 of Norfolk and Burke's Garden, the latter being an observation sta- 
 tion in Tazewell County. This difference would be even greater but 
 for the tempering effect of the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico on 
 the prevailing southwestern winds. The rainfall varies somewhat 
 with the seasons, but the general average for different years shows 
 that no section can be said to be favoured above another. This aver- 
 age ranges between 35 and 45 inches. The rainfall of the Tidewater 
 region would be considerably heavier than in the Blue Ridge, the 
 Valley, and the Appalachia regions but for the re-saturation of the 
 southwestern winds as they pass over the warm Gulf waters. Killing 
 droughts and disastrous weather changes, such as are common to the 
 region west of the Mississippi River, are unknown. In Texas we 
 find a maximum difference in the mean annual temperature of 21.7°, 
 and droughts are not infrequent in the northern and western portions 
 of the State. Washington shows the widest range in the annual 
 rainfall, Clearwater having an average of 126 inches and Mottinger 
 Ranch an average of 11 inches. 
 
 The Alleghany Highlands, extending for a distance of 200 to 500 
 miles west of the* State boundary, constitute an effectual barrier 
 against the storms which originate in the Mississippi Valley region. 
 
 The mean average annual temperature for the whole State is 
 about 56°. 
 
 Tidewater. — The climate of this coastal region has a mean annual 
 temperature of 58° to 61°, being greatly ameliorated by the warm 
 north-west currents of the Atlantic, whose waters intermingle off the 
 Florida coast with the heated waters of the Gulf Stream as they 
 emerge from the Gulf of Mexico, and flow thereafter as a north- 
 east current along the eastern coast of the United States. The soil 
 of this belt is universally sandy or a sandy loam and, with a limited 
 rainfall, or cold climate, would be of little economic value. Having 
 an adequate rainfall and a warm-temperate climate, it becomes ideally 
 adapted to the profitable industry of trucking, and holds first rank 
 in this line of production. Much of the arid land of the west has a 
 similar soil, and as favourable temperature requirements, but is prac- 
 tically worthless for lack of rain supply or irrigating facilities. 
 
 The average growing season* is from 7 to 7^ months' duration. 
 The winters are short and mild ; the snowfall usually light ; and the 
 freezing never extreme or protracted. The summer's heat is so tem- 
 pered by the sea-breezes as to seldom become oppressive. 
 
 Malaria was common during the early Colonial days, but this has 
 been largely exterminated by clearing the forests, draining the low- 
 
 * Average duration from the last killing frost in the spring to the first killing frost of autumn. 
 
Climate and Boundaries of Virginia. 3 
 
 lands and swamps, and the removal of the residences to more sani- 
 tary locations. 
 
 The mean annual temperature of the extreme southern Tidewater 
 Counties averages about 60°. It is in this belt that cotton is grown 
 to a limited extent. The mean annual temperature decreases grad- 
 ually within narrow limits as we pass northward. This results both 
 from the more inland geographic position, and the difference in lati- 
 tude. The heaviest rainfall registered in Tidewater is in the Rich- 
 mond, Williamsburg, Pamunkey and Gloucester Peninsulas, this belt 
 being northwest of the Chesapeake Bay mouth. Even in the Virginia 
 coast region there is considerable seasonal variation in the amount 
 of precipitation. 
 
 Middle-Piedmont. — The average mean annual temperature of this 
 belt is 56° -58°. Lynchburg is near the Middle-Piedmont boundary 
 line, and Manassas is on the line. In 1900, the average for Lynch- 
 burg was 58.4°, and for Manassas 56.5° (in 1902 the average for 
 Lynchburg was 56.8°, and for Manassas 54.1°). This climatic belt 
 marks the area of the most successful tobacco culture. Tobacco is 
 also cultivated with fair success in the mountain areas, with a mean 
 annual temperature as low as 52 degrees. 
 
 The growing season of the Piedmont belt is 2 to 3 weeks shorter 
 than in Tidewater. 
 
 There is greater variation in the prevailing direction of winds in 
 this belt than exists in any other part of the State, because of its inland 
 location with reference to both the mountains and the sea. The 
 autumn winds are prevailingly northwest, but those of the other 
 seasons fluctuate, the east and north east being most common in the 
 spring and summer. The northwest autumn winds are usually dis- 
 placed by western winds in the early winter, which in turn give way 
 to southwest winds before March. 
 
 Blue Ridge, Valley and Appalachia. — These regions constitute 
 the mountain district of the State, in which the climatic differences 
 so far as revealed by observation do not justify a differentiation. 
 The mean annual temperature of the Blue Ridge and the Valley is 
 52°-56°, and that of Appalachia is 48°-54°. We may correctly desig- 
 nate this as the zone of grasses, grains, and apples. The average 
 mean annual temperature not only increases as we pass from east to 
 west, but also from north to south, since the elevation gradually in- 
 creases from the Potomac River southward. 
 
 The aggregate precipitation of the mountain district does not 
 differ materially from the Piedmont-Middle belt, but the proportion 
 represented by snow is much greater ; and the rains are more frequent 
 
4 Climate and Boundaries of Virginia. 
 
 and of shorter duration. The rainfall also increases with the alti- 
 tude up to a variable limit, which is fixed by the local conditions. 
 The mountains not only cause the condensation of the vapour brought 
 by the rain-bearing winds, but prevent this supply of moisture from 
 being carried away again by the winds in dry, clear weather. The 
 rainfall of the Valley is greatest along the base of the mountains, 
 since the air, approaching the mountain, is forced to rise some dis- 
 tance from the barrier. ]\Iost of the rain is supplied by the south- 
 east and southwest winds, the one directly off the warm Atlantic 
 and the other less directly off the warmer Gulf. Those from the 
 Gulf have been robbed of some of their moisture by the intervening 
 land areas, but the increased elevation enables them to draw more 
 effectively from the decreased supply. Equalization of distribution 
 is established by the eastern half of the State having the advantage 
 of ocean proximity, and the western half the greater elevation. 
 
 The duration of the growing season is 53^ to 6 months in the Blue 
 Ridge and Valley, and an average of 2 weeks less in the Appalachia 
 country. 
 
 This region, together with the part of Piedmont adjacent to the 
 Blue Ridge, is peculiarly adapted to apple culture. The most suc- 
 cessful growers plant their orchards on the mountains, because the 
 valleys are not only more subject to frost, but the winter temperature 
 is lower than for the mountain, up to a greater elevation than is 
 represented by the mountains of Virginia. It is for this same reason 
 that the coffee plantations of Brazil are laid out on the high ground. 
 This theory when first advocated was considered absurd. It is now 
 no longer accepted as a theory but as a fact, having been demon- 
 strated by the scientists of America and Europe. The explanatory 
 cause is, the greater radiation in the valley. This is not necessarily 
 more rapid, but of longer duration. It begins one to two hours 
 earlier in the evening, and continues one to two hours later in the 
 morning. The following we quote from Julius Hann:* 
 
 The Swiss have learned by experience that the mountain sides have far more favourable tempera- 
 ture conditions in late autumn and in winter than the lowlands. During one of the calm, clear spells of 
 late autumn the traveller who spends a few days at one of these farm houses on the steep mountain side 
 may there breathe air which has the mildness of summer; he may see the green fields still decked with 
 autumn flowers . . . while down below, in the valley, the ground is already frozen hard by the frost, th»e 
 trees are lifeless, and all the activities of plant life have long ceased. 
 
 There is a wide variation in the snowfall of the State, both region- 
 ally and seasonally. It is usually light and of short duration in 
 Tidewater and Middle Virginia. From the Blue Ridge westward, 
 however, it is not uncommon for the ground to be blanketed a period 
 
 * Handbook of Climatology (Ward's translation), p. 264. 
 
Climate and Boundaries of Virginia. 5 
 
 of six weeks or two months. This is of great economic value to the 
 grain and grass crops of the region, protecting them not only against 
 the intense cold of January and February, but ameliorating the effect 
 of the thaws of occasional warm days. Since the region under dis- 
 cussion includes most of the large forested areas of the State it is 
 important that we make a brief study of the climatic effects of 
 forests. Forests increase the absorption, and protect the contained 
 moisture from speedy evaporation. This is most in evidence during 
 a drought. When the fields are parched and dusty, scarcely showing 
 signs of life, the adjacent forest has a wealth of foliage and flower. 
 Throughout the areas that have been deforested during the last half 
 century there is a noticeable decrease in the size of the streams. The 
 ruins of old mills still remain on streams whose volume would now be 
 entirely inadequate. The influence of forests on the distribution of 
 water supply is greatest in connection with the snows and rains of 
 the winter season. By preventing the snows from drifting and de- 
 creasing the melting, a forested area thereby holds the water until it 
 can be assimilated by percolation and absorption. ' We do not insist 
 that the aggregate rainfall has been materially lessened, but that the 
 same rainfall in a deforested region cannot be so thoroughly assimi- 
 lated. If the country is deforested the ground usually freezes 
 several inches before it receives much snowfall, and, in consequence, 
 remains frozen to a greater or less' extent until the approach of 
 spring. The frozen earth being almost impervious, causes the loss 
 of most of the water by surface drainage. The natural result is that 
 floods are far more frequent in deforested regions. 
 
 Forest soils have also that constituency and protection which 
 appreciably decreases radiation. The old settlers recognized them 
 as "warm soils," without having the knowledge of a scientific ex- 
 planation. The inability to raise peaches in certain parts of Michi- 
 gan with former success has been ascribed by some students of the 
 question to the deforestation of the country. 
 
 General Remarks. 
 
 The climate of Virginia is ideally adapted to successful agricul- 
 ture, since the prevailing conditions in the different geographic divi- 
 sions are such as are best suited to the soils of those regions. If the 
 Blue Ridge and Tidewater could exchange positions, Virginia would 
 cease to supply the eastern markets with early vegetables, and, in- 
 stead of ah annual surplus of more than $10,000,000, would be but 
 little more than self-supporting. Then, if Appalachia could ex- 
 
6 
 
 Climate and Boundaries of Virginia. 
 
 change places with Piedmont, Virginia would cease to be an import- 
 ant tobacco-producing State, and the net receipts from this resource 
 alone would be decreased by at least $5,000,000 per year. The rain- 
 fall has the most advantageous monthly distribution with reference 
 to farming operations and the growth of crops, being somewhat 
 heavier from April to July, which makes disastrous droughts un- 
 known. The growing season of each section is always long enough 
 to mature the standard crops of that section. 
 
 In general health fulness, probably no State in the Union is more 
 favored. The coastal region is growing in importance as a winter 
 resort, and the western part of the State has for many years been a 
 Mecca for summer tourists who seek health and comfort. The 
 popular resorts are to be found in almost every county west of the 
 Blue Ridge. 
 
 MEAN ANNUAL TEMPERATURE, RAINP^ALL AND SNOWFALL, AND 
 LENGTH OF GROWING SEASON, 
 ^ 1900-1905. 
 
 FOR REPRESENTATIVE VIRGINIA STATIONS. 
 
 
 Annual 
 
 Killing Frost • 
 
 Annual 
 
 station. 
 
 NAT. 
 DIV.* 
 
 JAN. 
 
 APR. 
 
 JUL. 
 
 OCT. 
 
 mean. 
 
 EXTF 
 MAX. 
 
 HME 
 MIN. 
 
 L.\ST IN 
 SPRING. 
 
 FIRST IN 
 
 AUTUMN. 
 
 RAINFL 
 INCHES. 
 
 SNOWFL. 
 INCHES. 
 
 Table 1, 1900: 
 
 Norfolk 
 
 Richmond 
 
 Farmville 
 
 Lynchburg 
 
 Staunton 
 
 Clifton Forge... 
 
 Blacksburg 
 
 Mana-sas 
 
 Burkes Garden.. 
 Bigstone 
 
 T 
 P-T 
 P 
 P 
 V 
 A 
 V 
 P 
 A 
 A 
 
 42. 
 39.4 
 
 37.6 
 
 37-4 
 31.8 
 35.7 
 35.0 
 31.3 
 35.2 
 
 45.5 
 
 57-3 
 57.6 
 57-1 
 54.3 
 50.5 
 
 51.2 
 
 53-6 
 48.9 
 55-2 
 
 80.9 
 81.2 
 80.6 
 78.6 
 77.1 
 
 74-6 
 71-4 
 78.8 
 67.9 
 75-2 
 
 65.8 
 64.6 
 64.4 
 
 63. 
 
 60.7 
 54.0 
 63.4 
 
 60.7 
 59-7 
 
 58.4 
 56.9 
 55.1 
 52.9 
 56.5 
 50.1 
 
 56.3 
 
 100 
 102 
 105 
 100 
 102 
 lOO 
 
 96 
 
 95 
 
 X3 
 10 
 
 9 
 
 2 
 
 6 
 
 -2 
 
 2 
 
 -6 
 
 -4 
 
 Mch. 22 
 Apr. 5 
 Apr. 14 
 Mch. 22 
 May 10 
 
 May 10 
 
 May 5 
 May II 
 
 Nov. 10 
 Nov. 10 
 Nov. 6 
 Nov. 10 
 Nov. 9 
 Nov. 6 
 Oct. 18 
 Nov. 9 
 Oct. 10 
 Nov. 5 
 
 39-34 
 37.76 
 
 47.10 
 39.02 
 37.91 
 
 43-75 
 31.07 
 41.85 
 48.9 
 
 7.3 
 15.1 
 
 9- 
 7.2 
 
 20.5 
 4-5 
 38.0 
 20.5 
 
 Table 11, 1901: 
 
 Norfolk 
 
 Richmond 
 
 Farmville 
 
 Lynchburg 
 
 Staunton 
 
 Charlotteville... 
 
 Blacksburg 
 
 Wytheville 
 
 Burkes Garden.. 
 Bigstone Gap... 
 
 T 
 P-T 
 P 
 P 
 V 
 P 
 V 
 V 
 A 
 A 
 
 41.2 
 38.8 
 3Q.O 
 38.3 
 37.6 
 37.8 
 33.0 
 35. 1 
 31.8 
 35-4 
 
 52.0 
 52.8 
 53.6 
 51-9 
 50.0 
 51.8 
 45.2 
 47.0 
 42.4 
 49.0 
 
 81.0 
 81.0 
 82.2 
 80.0 
 78.2 
 79.0 
 74.0 
 75-4 
 70.4 
 76. 5 
 
 6i.o 
 59.1 
 57.4 
 57.0 
 56.8 
 59-4 
 52.0 
 
 It: 
 
 54.9 
 
 58.5 
 59-2 
 
 55.7 
 54-1 
 55.4 
 50.0 
 52.2 
 47.6 
 53.3 
 
 100 
 99 
 
 96 
 97 
 92 
 95 
 88 
 95 
 
 16 
 9 
 
 8 
 I 
 7 
 
 
 -14 
 -5 
 
 Mch. 8 
 Mch. 17 
 Mcb. 30 
 Mch. 18 
 Apr. T2 
 Mch. 12 
 Apr. 12 
 Apr. 12 
 Apr. 29 
 Apr. 24 
 
 Nov. II 
 Nov. 6 
 Oct. 26 
 Oct. 26 
 Oct. 30 
 Oct. 12 
 Oct. 4 
 Oct. 8 
 Sept. 21 
 Oct. 4 
 
 42.61 
 42.05 
 
 54.81 
 SI. 18 
 65.29 
 53.46 
 62.65 
 63-71 
 55.77 
 
 15.8 
 II. 
 10.3 
 
 15-5 
 20.3 
 
 28.8 
 
 Table III, 1902: 
 
 Norfolk 
 
 Richmond 
 
 Farmville 
 
 Lynchburg...... 
 
 Suunton 
 
 Clifton Forge... 
 
 Blacksburg 
 
 Manassas 
 
 Burkes Garden.. 
 Bigstone Gap... 
 
 T 
 
 P-T 
 P 
 P 
 V 
 A 
 V 
 P 
 A 
 A 
 
 ll:t 
 33.6 
 34.2 
 
 U:l 
 
 30.5 
 33.5 
 29.0 
 
 33-4 
 
 56.0 
 55.8 
 54.8 
 54.8 
 52.4 
 47.7 
 49.0 
 50.0 
 44.7 
 52.2 
 
 79.6 
 79.0 
 80.7 
 78.5 
 76.3 
 
 72.5 
 77.0 
 67.6 
 74.2 
 
 64.2 
 61.6 
 •59.6 
 
 55.1 
 58.6 
 50.7 
 57.6 
 
 59.3 
 58.2 
 
 56.8 
 54-9 
 
 52.4 
 
 55.1 
 
 9? 
 98 
 
 lOI 
 
 99 
 99 
 
 95 
 
 '?, 
 
 94 
 
 18 
 »S 
 
 4 
 13 
 
 9 
 
 5 
 
 
 
 6 
 
 Mch. 19 
 Mch. 7 
 Mch. 21 
 
 Apr. 16 
 Apr. 20 
 Apr. 18 
 Apr. 20 
 Apr, 18 
 Apr. 13 
 
 Dec. 6 
 Oct. 30 
 Oct. 22 
 Oct. 30 
 Oct. IS 
 
 Sept. 14 
 Oct. 22 
 Sept. 14 
 Oct. IS 
 
 38.4 
 49.32 
 
 48.79 
 38.19 
 
 36 '.85 
 
 Jl:?l 
 
 0.1 
 2.2 
 
 2.1 
 
 6. 
 II. 
 
 ♦ Tidewater (T), Piedmont (P), Valley (V), and Appalachia (A). 
 
Climate and Boundaries of Virginia. 
 
 MEAN ANNUAL TEMPERATURE, ETC.— Coniznued. 
 
 
 Annual 
 
 Killing Frost 
 
 Annual 
 
 STATION, 
 
 NAT. 
 DIV.* 
 
 JAN. 
 
 APR. 
 
 JUL, 
 
 OCT, 
 
 MEAN. 
 
 EXTREME 
 MAX. 1 MIN. 
 
 LAST IN 
 SPRING. 
 
 first in 
 
 AUTUMN, 
 
 rainfl. 
 inches. 
 
 SNOWFL. 
 INCHES. 
 
 Table IV, 1903: 
 
 Norfolk 
 
 Richmond 
 
 Farmville 
 
 Lynchburg 
 
 Staunton 
 
 Rocky Mount... 
 
 Blacksburg 
 
 Burkes Garden.. 
 
 Manassas 
 
 Williamsburg... 
 Bigstone Gap. .. 
 
 T 
 
 P-T 
 P 
 P 
 V 
 P 
 V 
 A 
 P 
 T 
 A 
 
 41.2 
 38.2 
 38.2 
 36.6 
 34.6 
 
 33-4 
 32-5 
 29.7 
 33-0 
 35.8 
 39-0 
 
 54.5 
 52.6 
 50.5 
 47.2 
 53.1 
 56.2 
 
 54-3 
 
 78.7 
 
 III 
 
 77.6 
 74.2 
 
 71.2 
 71.8 
 
 66,8 
 75-8 
 78,0 
 74.0 
 
 60.6 
 
 in 
 
 58.0 
 57.1 
 
 53-2 
 
 III 
 
 '56.6 
 57.8 
 55.2 
 
 59. 
 
 56.4 
 54.4 
 
 51.2 
 48.1 
 
 56.9 
 55.1 
 
 97 
 93 
 
 It 
 
 95 
 89 
 91 
 86 
 96 
 98 
 94 
 
 14 
 
 7 • 
 12 
 
 8 
 
 -5 
 
 7 
 
 -6 
 
 2 
 
 9. 
 -3 
 
 Apr. 5 
 Apr. 24 
 May 3 
 
 May 2 
 Apr, 6 
 May 2 
 May 5 
 Apr. 6 
 Mch. 4 
 Apr, 24 
 
 • 
 
 Oct. 28 
 
 Oct. 26 
 Oct. 27 
 
 Oct. 2S 
 
 Oct. 27 
 Sept. 29 
 Sept. 19 
 Oct. 27 
 Oct. 27 
 Oct. 19 
 
 46. 10 
 
 47.42 
 
 41.24 
 45.63 
 49.61 
 44.76 
 
 46.22 
 
 49.24 
 46.8 
 
 15.2 
 20.4 
 
 14.6 
 
 20.0 
 28.0 
 
 20.9 
 
 Table V, 1904: 
 
 Norfolk 
 
 Richmond 
 
 Farmville 
 
 Lynchburg 
 
 Staunton 
 
 Wythville 
 
 Blacksburg 
 
 Charlottesville., 
 Burkes Garden. . 
 Bigstone Gap. . , 
 
 T 
 P-T 
 P 
 P 
 V 
 V 
 V 
 P 
 A 
 A 
 
 36.4 
 33-4 
 
 32.8 
 30.3 
 28.8 
 
 26.2 
 
 32-5 
 
 55-4 
 54-2 
 52.8 
 52.2 
 50.0 
 46.5 
 46.6 
 52.8 
 44.1 
 5I-I 
 
 77.2 
 77-7 
 78.0 
 75.6 
 72.5 
 69.4 
 69.4 
 75-1 
 64.4 
 71.8 
 
 59-6* 
 57-7 
 
 56.2 
 
 55.3 
 
 57.4 
 56.2 
 
 54.8 
 52.9 
 50.7 
 50.3 
 55.3 
 
 54.3 
 
 94 
 98 
 
 91 
 
 is 
 
 92 
 
 12 
 
 9 
 
 -3 
 -14 
 
 ■ 
 
 Mch. 29 
 Apr, 20 
 Apr. 21 
 Apr. 22 
 Apr. 22 
 Apr. 22 
 May 16 
 Apr, 22 
 May II 
 May 17 
 
 Nov. 7 
 Oct. 28 
 
 Oct. 4 
 Oct. 7 
 Oct. 15 
 Oct. 15 
 Oct. 7 
 Sept. 16 
 Oct. 24 
 
 42.6 
 37.84 
 
 26.87 
 28.84 
 24.38 
 
 32.25 
 30.37 
 
 39.06 
 
 12.2 
 19.0 
 
 19.2 
 
 19.9 
 26.0 
 21.0 
 29.0 
 30.2 
 
 * Tidewater (T), Piedmont (P), Valley (V), and Appalachia (A). 
 
 Geographic and Political Boundaries. 
 
 Five natural geographic divisions can be easily recognized in a 
 Study of the physical features and climatic belts of the State. These 
 have a general northeast and southv^est direction, as fixed by the 
 Atlantic coast-line on the east, and the Appalachian System on the 
 v^est. 
 
 Natural Divisions. 
 
 AREA in SQUARE 
 MILES. 
 
 I. Tidewater ii,ooo 
 
 j 2. Middle 12,000 
 
 [ 3. Piedmont 6,000 
 
 4. Blue Ridge 2,500 
 
 5. Valley 5,000 
 
 6. Appalachia 5400 
 
 These divisions succeed each other in parallel order, and are 
 characterized by a continuous increase of elevation from the sea 
 w^estward. 
 
 Tidewater. — As the name would indicate, this represents that 
 portion of Virginia territory which constitutes a part of the Coastal 
 
8 Climate and Boundaries of Virginia. 
 
 Plain. It is an irregular quadrilateral in shape, averaging 1 14 miles' 
 in length from north to south, and 90 miles in width from east to 
 west, and includes an area of about 11,000 square miles. On the 
 south it borders North Carolina for a distance of 104 miles ; on the 
 east it is bounded by 1,500 miles of tidal shore-line on the Atlantic 
 Ocean, Chesapeake Bay, and the Lower Potomac River, or one mile 
 of shore to every 71 1/3 square miles of territory. The continent 
 of Europe has one mile of shore-line to every 191 square miles. 
 The western boundary is marked by that line of sudden topographic 
 change known as the fall line, where the streams emerge from the 
 hard crystalline rocks of. Piedmont on to the soft sedimentary de- 
 .posits of the Coastal Plain. The great number of bays and estuaries 
 are of comparatively recent origin, having been formed by the 
 gradual subsidence of the Coastal Plain region. 
 
 The political boundary lines of Virginia are generally irregular, 
 but they are more irregular in Tidewater than elsewhere, since the 
 boundaries of the older counties were almost without exception 
 fixed by the streapis and the Chesapeake Bay water front. 
 
 Middle Virginia. — In the article on physiography this territory 
 was grouped as a part of Piedmont because of the similarity of 
 structure and the inability to so clearly differentiate it physiographi- 
 cally from the Piedmont proper. However, in the early development 
 of the country the barriers which constitute its irregular western 
 border were sufficient to give rise to a fairly well-defined differentia- 
 tion of population. It is for this reason that we describe it here as 
 a geographic division. 
 
 It extends westward from the head of tide ("fall line") to the 
 foot of the .low, broken ranges, Catoctin, Bull Run, Yew, Clark's, 
 South-west, Carter's, Green, Findlay's, Buffalo, Chandler's, Smith's, 
 etc., mountains and hills. These extend across the State in a south- 
 west direction from the Potomac River, near the corner of Fairfax 
 County, to the North Carolina line, and are a part of the eastern 
 outliers of the Appalachian System. The general form of this area 
 is that of a right-angled triangle, its base resting on the North Caro- 
 lina line ; its perpendicular a line 174 miles in length, extending from 
 the North Carolina line to the Potomac River ; and the hypothenuse, 
 216 miles in length, extending along the Piedmont border. Most of 
 the streams cross it at right angles, dividing it into a series of ridges. 
 On the whole, it has the appearance of an undulating plain. A 
 triangular area, including a part of Fauquier, Fairfax, Culpepper, 
 and Madison counties, consists of Triassic-Jurassic sandstone, which 
 produces a residual soil of marked fertility and durability. 
 
Climate and Boundaries of Virginia. 9 
 
 Piedmont. — This division extends from the Appalachian outliers, 
 previously named as the irregular western border of Middle Vir- 
 ginia, to the eastern base of the Blue Ridge. It varies in width 
 from 20 to 30 miles, and extends from the banks of the Potomac to 
 the banks of the Dan River on the North Carolina line, a distance of 
 244 miles. The elevation increases from 300-500 feet on the east, 
 to 700-1200 feet along the Blue Ridge border. The topography is 
 much broken by the numerous streams which cross it almost at right 
 angles. 
 
 From the middle of the 17th Century to the middle of the i8th 
 Century this region constituted the Virginia frontier, which gave 
 rise to a very distinct type of society. 
 
 Blue Ridge. — This is the most prominent physical feature in the 
 State, and stands as a conspicuous barrier between the Piedmont and 
 Valley regions. It is 3 to 20 miles in width. Its elevation at Har- 
 per's Ferry, where the Potomac breaks through the Ridge, is 1,460 
 feet. This increases southwestward, reaching its maximum in 
 Rogers Mountain, Grayson County, which is 5,719 feet in elevation. 
 In its southern portion it expands into a plateau, which is the water- 
 shed for the waters which flow into the Gulf of Mexico and the 
 Atlantic Ocean. This fan-like expansion includes the counties of 
 Floyd, Carroll, Grayson, and parts of Franklin and Montgomery. 
 
 The early colonists gave it the name of the ''Blue Mountain," or 
 the Blue Ridge, from its appearance in the distance. During the 
 first half century of colonization the inhabitants believed it was im- 
 passable; and the first explorers to ascend it did so only to find 
 other heights as formidable in appearance looming up in the west, 
 and turned back in discouragement. In the spring of 1669 John 
 Lederer"^' made a trip to the top of the Blue Ridge, which he called 
 Apalataei. Almost the whole of the plateau is drained by New River, 
 which flows northeast through a gorge valley of circuitous winding, 
 having established its course at a stage of advanced erosion, when 
 the whole Appalachian area was reduced to a peneplain. 
 
 The Valley. — This division is 15 to 30 miles in width and 310 
 miles in length, making an area of about 5,000 square miles. It 
 consists of a continuous chain of counties, the boundary of which 
 is fixed by the Blue Ridge on the one side and the second and third 
 range west of the valley on the other. Prior to 1738 all that part of 
 Virginia situated west of the Blue Ridge was included in the County 
 of Orange, but in the fall of 1738 this territory was divided into the 
 counties of Frederick and Augusta. 
 
 * Discoveries of John Lederer in 1 hree Marches from Virginia, p. ii. 
 
10 Climate and Boundaries of Virginia. 
 
 Appalachia. — ^^This is the most irregular of the natural divisions 
 both in boundary and physical features. The eastern boundary is in 
 general formed by Walker, Brush, and North Mountains ; while the 
 western is formed by the Cumberland, Black and Flat Top Moun- 
 tains south of the New River divide, and by the Alleghany Moun- 
 tains or the Alleghany Front north of the divide. 
 
 This irregular belt is 260 miles in length and 10 to 50 miles in 
 width, with an approximate area of 5,725 square miles. 
 
 The counties can be provisionally grouped with reference to their 
 drainage system as follows : 
 
 1. James River Group, including Highland, Bath, Alleghany 
 and Craig Counties. 
 
 2. Kanawha or New River Group, including Giles and Bland 
 Counties. 
 
 3. Tennessee River Group, including Tazewell, Russell, Lee and 
 Scott Counties. 
 
 4. Sandy River Group, including Buchanan and Wise Counties, 
 which topographically belong to the Alleghany Plateau region. 
 
 Summary of State Boundaries under Different 
 Charters and Negotiations. 
 
 1606. — First Charter* under James I, including all territory 100 
 miles from the coast, between 34°-45° N. Latitude, and all the 
 islands adjacent thereto. 
 
 1609. — Second Charter, known as "Virginia Charter of 1609," in- 
 cluding 200 miles along the seacoast northward and southward 
 "from the said pojnt of Cape Comfort," "through from sea to 
 sea," and all islands adjacent thereto. 
 
 1611-1612. — Third Virginia Charter, including all territory between 
 30°-4i° North Latitude. 
 
 1632. — Maryland is detached, but the separation is strenuously 
 opposed by the Virginia colonists. 
 
 1744. — Virginia obtained from the Six Nations a deed for all their 
 territory, which had for its boundary on the west and north-, 
 west the Mississippi and Illinois Rivers; thence along the east 
 side of Lake Michigan, including Lake Huron; thence to the 
 Ottawa River, which it followed to its junction with the St. 
 Lawrence River ; thence to the head of Lake Champlain ; thence 
 on the 45th parallel to the St. Lawrence River ; thence to Lake 
 Ontario; thence with the Lake shore to the western Pennsyl- 
 vania boundary." f 
 
 ♦Jamestown was settled under this charter. 
 
 t Colonial Boundaries of Virginia and Maryland, Gilbert Thompson, pp. 8-9. 
 
Climate and Boundaries of Virginia. 11 
 
 From this time the boundaries remained unchanged until 
 the settlement of the national boundaries by the cession of 1783, 
 in which, on October 20, the General Assembly passed an act 
 authorizing the delegates in Congress to convey to the United 
 States all the Territory northwest of the Ohio River.* 
 1862-3. — The territory now constituting the State of West Virginia f 
 was by the vote of the people separated from Virginia. It 
 consisted of the three Northwestern Virginia Senatorial Dis- 
 tricts. 
 
 * American History Leaflet No. 22. By Hart and Channing. p. 12. 
 
 t Constitution framed November, 1861-February, 1862, and ratified by the popular vote in April, 
 1862. Bill for the admission of the state passed the United States Senate July 14, 1862. State for- 
 mally inaugurated June 20, 1863. 
 
 The Rending of Virginia. G.D.Hall, pp. 26-27. 
 
RACIAL AND REGIONAL STUDY OF THE 
 VIRGINIA POPULATION. 
 
 BY 
 
 G. T. SURFACE. 
 
 The distribution of population in a new or old country affords an 
 essential key for determining the factors of geographic control and 
 economic response. In this brief discussion we cannot hope to do 
 more than point out some of the salient facts relative to the estab- 
 lishment, evolution, and distribution of the people of Virginia. 
 
 The Indians, who were in possession of the territory prior to colo- 
 nization, divided themselves into three confederacies — the Powhat- 
 ans, Mannahoacs, and Monacans. The Powhatan confederacy occu- 
 pied the Coastal Plain region and southern. Piedmont, and consisted 
 of 30 tribes ; the tribes inhabiting the headwaters of the Potomac and 
 the Rappahannock Rivers were attached to the Mannahoacs ; while 
 those of the headwaters of the James River and the Great Valley 
 belonged to the powerful Monacans. The territory of the Monacans 
 was always referred to by the eastern tribes as *'the stony region." 
 From this we see that the aboriginal people were distributed and 
 divided according to distinct economic and physiographic conditions. 
 The tribes of the three confederacies spoke languages so radically 
 different that interpreters were necessary for the transmission of 
 communications. Each was as distinctly adjusted to his primitive 
 environment as was the Cavalier, the small German farmer, and the 
 Scotch-Irish mountaineer of a century later. The Powhatans and 
 the Monacans were naturally the most densely-populated because 
 their food supplies were both more abundant and more accessible, 
 and the density in any local area was in direct proportion to the ease 
 with which a livelihood could be obtained. Captain John Smith 
 estimated, in 1609, that there were 5,000 Indians within 60 miles of 
 Jamestown. 
 
 The only vestige of Indian blood remaining which can be identi- 
 fied with any degree of certainty is that of two small reservations in 
 King William County, and these are considerably more negro than 
 Indian. The larger band numbers 120, and they call themselves 
 
2 Racial and Regional Study of the Virginia Population. 
 
 Pamunkies; the smaller numbers about 50, and they call themselves 
 Mattaponies. They are both governed by chiefs and councillors, 
 together with a board of white trustees chosen by themselves. That 
 they can lay some claim to being descendants of Powhatan may be 
 inferred from Thomas Jefferson's reference to the Mattaponies and 
 Pamunkies still occupying, in 1787, small holdings in King William 
 County, on the streams bearing their names.* 
 
 Most of the Virginia colonists of the 17th Century were English. 
 Of these a small minority were of the English gentry, while the free 
 and indentured f servants constituted the vast majority. Though 
 these classes were of the same race, they were as widely 'separated 
 in point of ability and social standing as if they had belonged to 
 different races. They came for the most part from southwestern 
 England, many being from the city of Bristol, and settled on the 
 Coastal Plain and along the eastern border of Piedmont. The Cava- 
 liers did not come in large numbers until after 1649. By 1790 they 
 were estimated to number 250,000 and to represent the majority of 
 the free whites. That almost all of them became planters, and be- 
 came political and social rulers-, is so well known as not to demand 
 a discussion. 
 
 The Quakers began to make their appearance in 1656, and the 
 first immigrants settled in Nansemond County. As the agitation 
 against them increased, some of them moved to the western Pied- 
 mont and Valley region; but they continued stronger in the south- 
 eastern portion of the State than they became elsewhere. 
 
 Small parties of French Huguenots were introduced in the early 
 part of the 17th Century for the purpose of planting vineyards and 
 conducting that industry, but their coming was not fostered by the 
 Government until 1700. In this year Colonel Byrd :{: negotiated for 
 the landing of 500 Huguenot refugees, who were distributed as fol- 
 lows, according to Brock : § ''They appear to have settled at differ- 
 ent points ; a portion about Jamestown, some in Norfolk County, 
 others in Surrey, and 200 or more at a point some 20 miles above 
 Richmond, on the south side of the James River (Powhatan 
 County), where 10,000 acres of land, which had been occupied by 
 the extinct Mannakin tribe, was given them." This settlement was 
 made a distinct parish by an Act of the Assembly, December, 1700. 
 They were accepted as desirable foreign immigrants because they 
 accepted as a class the religion of the Established Church. The 
 
 * Lecky— England in the i8th Century, Vol. 3. 
 
 + Servants bonded for a time service to pay for transporution. 
 
 t Lecky— England in the i8th Century, Vol. 3. 
 
 ft R. M. La Follette. The Making of America, Vol. i, p. 16. 
 
Racial and Regional Study of the Virginia Population. 3 
 
 Huguenots were the most intelligent and enterprising Frenchmen of 
 the 17th Century. Many were merchants and manufacturers, and 
 few belonged to the French peasantry, or wage-earning class. 
 Henry Cabot Lodge has attempted to differentiate the American 
 ''notables" according to race. He finds that 589 of the 14,243 listed 
 in Appleton's'Enclycopedia of American Biography are of Hugue- 
 not descent, which would indicate on that basis of comparison a 
 percentage of ability higher than that of any other race. The immi- 
 grants to America being largely a select class of tradesmen and 
 artisans, combined with the readiness with which they assimilated 
 the language and religion, gave them a special opportunity for ad- 
 vancement. 
 
 The German immigrants during the early colonization of Virginia 
 are usually spoken of as "skilled workmen of the trades," but their 
 immigration did not assume important proportions until after the 
 beginning of the i8th Century. About this time they began to come 
 in large numbers as an overflow from Pennsylvania, where the policy 
 of William Penn was so favourable that more than 500,000 came to 
 that State in 20 years. As a class they were poor, and those who 
 came from England were religious refugees. The land of the east- 
 ern part of the State was occupied, and the attitude of these English 
 colonists was anything but generous to separatists of any class. The 
 presence of a frontier protection barrier was, however, so desirable 
 as to make their presence in the western part of the State tolerated. 
 Here land was cheapest, and the Great Valley gateway opened di- 
 rectly into it, so it was but natural that the Germans settled chiefly 
 in the Valley and the western Piedmont counties. It is in this region 
 that we find their descendants in large numbers to-day; and they 
 are, as a rule, industrious, thrifty, frugal, and pious. 
 
 More Scotch-Irish settled in Virginia in the 18th Century than 
 any other class. This is a mixed race, made up of the primitive 
 Scot and Pict, the primitive Briton, the primitive Irish, but with a 
 larger admixture of the later Norwegian, Dane, Saxon, and Angle. 
 The discriminatory trade laws passed by the Irish Parliament in 
 1698 destroyed their industrial prospects ; and the Test Act of Queen 
 Anne's Parliament, compelling public officials to take the communion 
 of the Established Church, deprived them entirely of self-govern- 
 ment. With this they began to migrate in large numbers. They 
 found in Massachusetts a State church to which they must conform 
 to be admitted to citizenship; the Dutch of New York were un- 
 friendly to them; the Germans were localized and in possession of 
 eastern Pennsylvania and Maryland; and the English held eastern 
 
4 Racial and Regional Study of the Virginia Population. 
 
 Virginia. In consequence, the great majority went west into central 
 and western Pennsylvania, and southward through the Great Valley 
 into the frontier country of Virginia, on into east Tennessee and 
 western North Carolina. So favourable were the geographic con- 
 ditions that they became the dominant class in the Valley. While 
 the planters of eastern Virginia were living in luxury and ease, with 
 an abundance of time and ambition for political and social pursuits, 
 these hardy immigrants were building houses, clearing forests, 
 tilling the soil, and fighting the ever-menacing Indians. They were 
 brave, brawny, resolute, robust, and industrious. Their experiences 
 in Scotland had been such as to make them brave and self-reliant, 
 and appreciative of the conditions of freedom. 
 
 Much of this 1 8th Century frontier region has, under the touch 
 of skill and civilization, become the garden spot of the State, with 
 the largest wealth per capita of any section in the State; but many 
 of the communities are the direct descendants of the first settlers, 
 with scarcely a trace of foreign admixture, and are probably the 
 purest stock in America. 
 
 The Italians did not become an important part of Virginia immi- 
 gration until within the past three decades, but are coming now in 
 larger numbers than any other race. Two causes explain this un- 
 usual influx : first, the immense Italian immigration to America — 
 200,000 per year; and, second, the unprecedented industrial activity 
 of the State, such as railroad construction, mineral development, and 
 factory enterprises. Most of them are from southern Italy, where 
 the agricultural wages are from 8 to 32 cents per day. They com- 
 mand in Virginia $1.25 to $3.00 per day in mining, and $1.50 to 
 $3.00 per day in railroad construction. They are the most migratory 
 of our foreign constituency. They are also the most illiterate, the 
 most subservient to superiors, and yeft among the most thrifty and 
 industrious of our common labourers. Their standards of living 
 are naturally low, the majority being of the peasantry who have fled 
 from poverty, congested population, and the oppression of the land- 
 lord system. We get very few immigrants from northern Italy, 
 which has that intellectual, educated, and progressive type, so well 
 demonstrated in their development of the Argentine Republic. In 
 Buenos Aires they constitute one-third of the population, and own 
 one-half of the commercial capital of the city. 
 
 The negro population of the State is undergoing a rapid readjust- 
 ment in aggregate and territorial distribution. According to the 
 1900 Census, there were 55,000 negroes to every 100,000 whites, as 
 compared with 62,290 to each 100,000 whites in 1890. The white 
 
Racial and Regional Study of the Virginia Population. 5 
 
 population increased 16.9 per cent, in the last decade, while the 
 negro increased but 4 per cent. The negro population in the differ- 
 ent geographic divisions is distributed as follows in the order of 
 density: Piedmont, Tidewater, the Valley, Appalachia, and the 
 Blue Ridge. 
 
 The migration is taking place in four directions : from the State 
 as a whole to northern and eastern cities ; from the non-mining dis- 
 tricts to the mining districts; from the country to the cities and 
 towns of the State; and from the mountains to the valleys. The 
 population was never large in the mountain sections, but almost all 
 of the few thousands who lived in the mountains have moved out. 
 More than 30 per cent of the total coloured population live in cities 
 and towns, while less than 20 per cent of the white population is 
 urban. The relative decrease in the population is attributed to the 
 high death-rate, and the northern migration — chiefly to Washington, 
 Baltimore, Philadelphia, and New York. The census returns from 
 ten southern cities gave the coloured death-rate at 30.5 per 1,000 
 coloured persons, while for the whites it was 17.9 per 1,000 in the 
 same cities. The coloured infantile death-rate is nothing less than 
 appalling — 371 deaths to 1,000 children born, as compared with 148 
 among the whites. The coloured death-rate from tubercular trouble 
 is more than two and one-half times as great as among the whites. 
 What statistics we have on this subject for the years 1820 to 1850 
 indicate that the coloured death-rate from this cause was less than 
 that of the whites. The causes are too numerous for a full dis- 
 cussion in this paper. The most apparent are — the change from an 
 open-air country life to congested city life, prevalence of immorality 
 and vice, ignorance of the laws of health, lack of medical attention, 
 and the lack of institutions for antagonizing disease. The economic 
 safety of the white population and the rescue of the negro from 
 physical degeneration demand that the situation receive prompt and 
 vigorous attention at the hand of the Government (State and 
 Federal), of all institutions organized for the purpose of safe-guard- 
 ing the interests of humanity, and of every citizen and individual 
 who prizes the health of his own family as worthy of protection. 
 
 As a factor in the labour situation, the negro is important ; but it 
 is difficult to predict his economic future. In Virginia he is drifting 
 rapidly away from agriculture, is generally unsatisfactory in factory 
 service, and many are developing such a marked aversion to do- 
 mestic service as to be willing to live in poverty rather than engage 
 in it. In whatever service engaged he is irregular, but, notwith- 
 standing this serious objection, is generally considered as the most 
 
6 Racial and Regional Study of the Virginia Population. 
 
 satisfactory labourer in construction work and mining operations. 
 The same may be said of his services in restaurants and hotels. 
 
 * * * * 5k * * 
 
 Population statistics supply at least a partial gradient for reading 
 the economic and social conditions underlying them. During the 
 decade 1890- 1900, the general population of the State increased 16 
 per cent., the rural population a little less than 12, and the urban 
 population 22.y. As a rule, economic factors are predominant in the 
 shifting and readjustment of population; but in the case of the 
 negro social factors seem to be of paramount importance. Since 
 each natural division of the State has its own distinct economic 
 environment, it will be interesting to examine into the human re- 
 sponse as expressed by the redistribution which is in progress. The 
 average increase in Tidewater was (1890-1900) 14.1 per cent., this 
 being exclusive of incorporated towns. This evidences a normal 
 healthful growth in the development of agriculture, which is the 
 only rural source of wealth. 
 
 Passing to Piedmont, the population curve rapidly descends to 
 an average increase of 4.3 per cent. How shall we explain the 
 relative decrease? In six counties within 60 miles of Richmond 
 there was an absolute decrease, the result of city migration for more 
 lucrative employment than the worn and frequently sterile soil can 
 realize, better educational and religious advantages, and the pur- 
 chase of country real estate by city investors. 
 
 There are only three counties which are situated wholly in the 
 Blue Ridge division: Floyd, Carroll, and Grayson. These are 
 rugged plateau counties, which until recently were 20 to 30 miles 
 from railroad connection, and in consequence are devoted entirely 
 to agricultural pursuits. The population increased in the past de- 
 cade 1 6. 1 per cent. From a careful field survey of this region I am 
 convinced that the large increase is due to. the prevalence of large 
 families. The small family is in that region the exception. 
 
 The Valley has had a normal healthful growth, with an increase 
 of 13.5 per cent. This is the most productive agricultural region of 
 the State. It has for many years been served by a railroad line 
 throughout its length. The productivity of the soil, proximity to 
 shipping points and small towns, and a native population trained to 
 labour with the hands have minimized the tendency toward urban 
 migration. 
 
 Appalachia has been the scene of the most phenomenal develop- 
 ment, chiefly through the growth of the coal and iron industries. 
 The average increase in population 1890-1900 was 29.9 per cent., 
 
■Racial and Regional Study of the Virginia Population. 7 
 
 and the increase since 1900 has been even greater. Wise County 
 showed an increase of 110.3 per cent.; Allegheny, 75.9 per cent.; 
 Buchanan, 65.2 per cent. ; and Dickenson, 52.6 per cent. 
 
 Of the total, population engaged in some gainful occupation 
 (536,883), 45.4 per cent, are engaged in agriculture, as compared 
 with 51.5 per cent, in 1880; 15 per cent, in domestic and personal 
 service; 14. i per cent, in manufactures and mechanical pursuits; 
 1 1.2 per cent, in trade and transportation (as compared with 6.4 
 per cent, in 1880) ; 2.5 per cent, in professional service; 1.4 per 
 cent, in fishing; i.i per cent, in mining and quarrying; and the 
 remaining 9.4 per cent, in sundry vocations. 
 
VIRGINIA TRADE AND COMMERCE. 
 
 BY 
 
 G. T. SURFACE. 
 
 Excepting the complicated factor of human traffic, the commer- 
 cial relations in Virginia under slavery were surprisingly simple, as 
 compared with the social ideals and customs of the time. The 
 explanation for this is manifest, in that the large labour surplus 
 enabled the owners to be producers of most of the articles consumed, 
 and at the same time produce a large surplus of tobacco, the most 
 profitable commodity in the export trade. In 1790, Virginia ranked 
 first in the total value of exports ($3,131,865). By 1830 the export 
 trade had increased to $4,791,644; while for the same year the 
 imports only aggregated $405,739, showing how adequately the 
 demands were met by the home manufacturers. 
 
 The passing of the War crisis, with its destruction to life and 
 property, and the emancipation of slaves, made necessary a new 
 system of production, which in turn brought about a reactionary 
 adjustment of Virginia's commercial relations. The decade follow- 
 ing the Civil War is the period which marks the beginning of a new 
 era in the industrial and commercial development of the State. 
 We shall, therefore, discuss briefly the factors which gave impetus 
 and foundation to the succeeding order. The immediate and most 
 urgent demand was to become self-sustaining, by the production of 
 food-stuffs and clothing, since all of the surplus had been consumed 
 during the four-years' struggle, which centred on Virginia territory, 
 and from which the people of the State suffered most. Co-ordinate 
 with this was the demand for restoring the property losses incurred. 
 Notwithstanding the fact that thousands of negroes migrated to the 
 cities of the North and the cotton fields of the South, there was still 
 
2 Virginia Trade and Commerce. 
 
 a surplus of negro labourers, but thoroughly disorganized and 
 demoralized ; and few of the landowners had the capital with which 
 to employ labour. Capital far in excess of the surplus had been 
 invested in negroes, so that bankruptcy was more general than sur- 
 plus capital, The large tobacco surplus was, therefore, ruled out by 
 the conditions at home, and a diversified agricultural production on 
 a small scale made necessary. This initiative was promoted and 
 fostered by conditions outside of the State. Cotton rose to fabulous 
 prices, and in the cotton States all energy was bent to a maximum 
 production. They could not afford to raise poor corn and wheat 
 crops on good cotton land, when cotton was selling at fifty to sixty 
 cents per pound. There developed, in consequence, a great demand 
 for provisions in the cotton States. The border States — Virginia, 
 Tennessee, and Kentucky — were adapted to grains, grasses, and the 
 live-stock industries, but not to cotton. The stimulus for diversified 
 agriculture in these States was therefore much intensified by the 
 situation in the cotton States. But the situation in the North was 
 no less favourable toward this same development. While the South 
 had been purchasing negroes and growing negroes, the North had 
 been building factories, extending trade, and accumulating a large 
 surplus. As the war progressed prices rose and Northern industries 
 flourished, as a result of which there was more money in the North 
 at the close of the war than at the beginning. Following the war the 
 demand for cotton and woollen goods, farming implements, and 
 labour-saving machinery was unprecedented, and so the Northern 
 factories entered upon a new era of development and prosperity, 
 which rapidly increased the urban population. As a result, instead 
 of the manufacturing States having a surplus of food-stuffs, they 
 could scarcely supply the home demand. 
 
 Without discussing the beneficial effects of emancipation upon the 
 production and trade of the State, it must be apparent to every 
 student of Virginia's economic and industrial development that the 
 change in the system was most fortunate. It induced an unwonted 
 economy, which of itself was a discipline of far-reaching importance ; 
 discontinued the general practice of wholesale timber destruction ; 
 labour-saving machinery was purchased; the soil better cultivated; 
 the property improved; the children schooled; and the surplus gra- 
 dually increased. 
 
 Virginia is just now entering upon another era of industrial 
 development, which may be characterized as the era of scientific 
 agriculture and diversified manufacture. This was made possible by 
 the sounder and more economic bases of the post-bellum policies. 
 
Virginia Trade and Commerce. 3 
 
 We shall discuss the present trade conditions under the following 
 divisions: Intra-State Commerce, or the sale and exchange of pro- 
 ducts between different sections of the State : Inter-State Commerce, 
 the trade relations with other States ; and Foreign Commerce. 
 
 Intra-State Commerce. 
 
 Regional.* — The distinct zones of production conform in general 
 to the natural geographic divisions. f Tidewater produces a large 
 surplus of garden products, peanuts, fish, and oysters, and these are 
 the most important shipments westward; but they are more thafi 
 balanced by the coal, lumber, hay, grain, and tobacco received from 
 the western part of the State for home consumption. 
 
 PiedmontX produces a smaller surplus proportional to its area 
 than either Tidewater or the Valley, but its productions are so varied 
 that the deficiency of one part of the region could be supplied from 
 the surplus of another, if developed with reference to economic 
 adaptation. Coal from Appalachia is the most important shipment 
 into Piedmont. Tobacco§ constitutes the largest surplus of southern 
 Piedmont, and live-stock the largest of northern Piedmont. Fully 
 three-fourths of the total tobacco crop is manufactured within the 
 area. The important manufacturing and distributing points are 
 Richmond, 1 1 Petersburg,^ Lynchburg, Danville, Chatham, and 
 Martinsville. 
 
 The trade of Blue Ridge consists chiefly of the sale of live-stock, 
 lumber, and fruits ; and the purchase of furniture, groceries, clothing, 
 and machinery. This plateau section has more live-stock** per 
 square mile than any of the other geographic divisions. 
 
 The Valley produces a large surplus of grain, hay, live-stock, 
 winter vegetables, and fruit. A large part of the provision surplus 
 of the southern Valley is marketed in the mining districts of Virginia- 
 West Virginia, which is contiguous territory. There is still a small 
 surplus of forest products, but the cultivatable land is being rapidly 
 
 * Production and trade of cities will be considered under a separate head. 
 
 t The natural geographic divisions of the State are Tidewater, or the Coastal Plain; Piedmont, or 
 the plateau region; the Blue Ridge; the Valley; and Appalachia. 
 
 t Middle Virginia is here considered as a part of Piedmont. 
 
 § Sixteen counties in Piedmont produced, in 1900, more than 3,000,000 pounds each. Pittsylvania 
 ranked first, 17,088,550 pounds; Halifax second, 13,077,200 pounds; and Mecklenburg third, 7,368,220 
 pounds. 
 
 II On the Piedmont-Tidewater boundary. 
 
 •l Floyd, Carroll and Grayson are the only counties situated wholly in this division. 
 
 ** Cattle, 33 per square mile; sheep, 46.3 per square mile (1900). 
 
4 Virginia Trade and Commerce. 
 
 deforested, and cannot be reckoned as an important and permanent 
 factor of trade. 
 
 The wealth of the Valley is greater per capita than is that of any- 
 other division, which makes it a large purchaser of farming imple- 
 ments, household furniture, and general merchandise. 
 
 Appalachia produces a large surplus of coal, coke, lumber, and 
 live-stock. The coal is shipped to all parts of the State. The cattle 
 are marketed locally, in the eastern cities, and as exports. Tazewell, 
 Russell, Craig, Bland, and Giles counties form the agricultural belt 
 of Appalachia, by virtue of a large part of the area having a strong 
 residual limestone soil. Live-stock — especially small cattle and 
 sheep — and lumber are the important sources of revenue in northern 
 Appalachia. 
 
 The mining counties — Wise, Russell, Buchanan, Dickenson, and 
 Lee — are large purchasers of provisions, merchandise, mining 
 machinery, draft horses, and alcoholic drinks. 
 
 Cities.* 
 
 Since no separate record of the State and inter-State traffic is kept, 
 it is impossible to give figures as to the exact amount of shipments 
 from the manufacturing and distributing points. The discussion is, 
 however, based upon a careful study of the inter-State and foreign 
 trade, reports and statements from the various Boards of Trade, and 
 personal observations in representative sections. 
 
 Richmond ranks first in population; is served by more railroads 
 than any other point in the State; is largest manufacturing, jobbing, 
 and distributing centre ; and is the most centrally locatedf city in 
 the State. There were 1,554 factories in operation in 1906, the sales 
 of which aggregated $77,432,692. Of the manufactures, tobacco 
 led with 59 factories, and a total product of $20,195,336. The follow- 
 ing valuations are given for the respective classes of manufactures: 
 Iron products (including farming implements), $9,876,482; fer- 
 tilizers, chemicals, iron and cement products, $8,376,120; and leather 
 products, $3,361,077. The jobbing trade for 1906 aggregated 
 $61,524,275. All of the important articles of manufacture are sold 
 throughout the State. 
 
 The largest purchases made by the city consist of tobacco, lumber, 
 grain, flour,| leather, vegetables, and poultry products. 
 
 • This part of the discussion relates only to the intrastate trade of the cities. 
 
 + If we draw a circle around Richmond as the centre on a radius which will include Accomac 
 County, this circle will include four-fifths of the total Virginia territory. 
 
 X The Richmond Grain and Cotton Exchange received during 1905, 4,500,000 bushels of grain, and 
 162,200 barrels of flour. 
 
Virginia Trade and Commerce. 5 
 
 Greater Norfolk {including Norfolk, Portsmouth, Berkley and 
 U. S. Navy Yard). — Norfolk is not only Virginia's most important 
 port, but one of the most important in the South. Among Southern 
 ports it ranks first in lumber, first in peanuts, second in coal, and 
 fourth in cotton shipments. 
 
 The city is situated at the junction of the southern and western 
 branches of the Elizabeth River, which is tributary to the James 
 River Estuary, of which Hampton Roads is the connecting channel 
 with the Chesapeake Bay. The James River has no bar at its mouth, 
 and there are 30 feet of water at low tide. The distance of Norfolk 
 from the ocean is 32 miles, and from Hampton Roads 8 miles. As 
 to the special advantages of the Norfolk harbour, I quote from the 
 report of Commodore M. F. Maury: "Norfolk, be it remembered, 
 with its deep waters, spacious harbors and free outlet between the 
 Capes of Virginia to the sea, occupies geographically what the early 
 discoverers thought would be, and what physical geography claims 
 is, the most commanding commercial position along the whole 
 Atlantic seaboard of the United States. Its natural advantages, 
 make it so."* 
 
 There are 30 miles of wharf frontage. The outer harbour con- 
 tains 50 square miles of anchorage ground, with a depth of 50 feet ; 
 and the inner harbour (Elizabeth River and its branches) has 1,000 
 acres of anchorage ground, with a depth of 28 feet. Portsmouthf 
 is just across the river from Norfolk, and has a harbour frontage of 
 one mile. 
 
 The traffic of the southern branch of the Elizabeth River in 1905 
 showed a great increase over any previous year, being about 1 1 ,000,- 
 000 tons, valued at more than $500,000,000.$ 
 
 Norfolk ranks first as a rehandling, and foreign and domestic 
 export point; and in the variety and volume of manufactures ranks 
 next to Richmond. The largest enterprise is the United States Navy 
 Yard at Portsmouth, which employs more than 2,000 wage-earners 
 at a total cost of $2,000,000 per year. The following important 
 industries enter into the general supplies and traffic of the State: 
 Fertilizer, tobacco, lumber and iron mills, cotton factories, cotton 
 compresses, packing-houses, peanut factories, fisheries, brick fac- 
 tories, farming implements, and shoe factories. The total value of 
 manufactures was estimated for 1905 at $34,400,000. Fertilizer, 
 tobacco (manufactured), canned meats, peanuts, and oysters are 
 
 * Physical Survey of Virginia, M. F. Maury, 1876, p. 20. 
 
 + Considered a part of Greater Norfolk. 
 
 t Report of Chief of Engineers, U. S, Army, 1906, p. 238. 
 
6 Virginia Trade and Commerce. 
 
 shipped to all parts of the State. The Norfolk jobbing and wholesale 
 houses do a large business in Tidewater, eastern and south-eastern 
 Piedmont, and North Carolina. It is the largest horse market in the 
 South, the aggregate sales of 1905 being $2,500,000. 
 
 The volume of the traffic going into Greater Norfolk far exceeds 
 that of any other point in Virginia. The most important classes are 
 in the order of tonnage: Lumber, iron, coal, grain, garden products, 
 live-stock, cotton,"^' and tobacco. The lumber comes from Appala- 
 chia, the Valley, Blue Ridge, Piedmont, and from North Carolina, 
 Tennessee, and West Virginia ; the coal from Appalachia, the States 
 of Kentucky and West Virginia; the grain and live-stock from all 
 parts of the State, and the Middle West; the garden products from 
 Tidewater and Piedmont chiefly, the cotton from Virginia, North and 
 South Carolina ; and the tobacco from Piedmont. 
 
 Newport News'f is situated on the northern shore of Hampton 
 Roads, 20 miles due west from Cape Henry. The depth of the 
 water off piers is 60 feet; There are ten miles of water front, and 
 good anchorage. The port is served by 18 regular steamship lines. 
 The total tonnage for 1905 was 4,717,858 tons:}: valued at $89,816,- 
 686. About three-fourths of the total tonnage consisted of coal and 
 coke. It is the seaboard terminus of the Chesapeake and Ohio Rail- 
 road, which intersects more intra- State lines than any other road 
 operating in the State,, and about three-fourths of its traffic is sup- 
 plied by the connecting lines. The most important classes of coast- 
 bound traffic originating in Virginia are: Grain, live-stock, lumber, 
 tobacco, and garden products. Newport News is an important dis- 
 tributing centre for merchandise, furniture, farming implements, and 
 machinery, which go to all parts of the State north of the James 
 River, and a small part is diverted to the connecting lines from the 
 South. 
 
 Lynchburg.^ — As an inland railroad centre Lynchburg ranks next 
 to Richmond in importance. Although Lynchburg is now entirely 
 an inland town, its early importance as a trade centre was fixed by 
 the James River Canal, which was the most important transportation 
 route from the seaboard to the interior part of the State, until the 
 construction of the Norfolk and Western Railroad. Lynchburg was 
 the handling station of all goods destined for south-west Virginia, 
 western North Carolina, and the northern part of the east Tennessee 
 
 ♦ 822,930 bales of cotton shipped from Norfolk in 1905, valued at $40,000,000. 
 
 t Population, 28,749, in 1906. 
 
 t Tonnage in 1902, 2,663,669 tons. 
 
 § Population 20,000 -+- in 1906. 
 
Virginia Trade and Commerce. '^ 
 
 country. The old Lynchburg-Knoxville pike was constructed for 
 the convenience of this traffic. The James River ceased to be 
 navigable above Richmond when it became unprofitable to operate 
 the canal, after which time Lynchburg's importance was due to the 
 trade stimulus as fixed by the old transportation regime, and the 
 later railroad facilities. In total manufactures and the jobbing trade 
 it ranks next to Norfolk. The 1906 factory output was valued at 
 $15,000,000. The important manufactures are : Shoes, foundry pro- 
 ducts, tanning extracts, cotton goods, flour, and farming implements. 
 In the manufacture of shoes it ranks first among the cities of the 
 South. The products are sold throughout Piedmont, and the western 
 part of the State. Lynchburg is the largest shoe-distributing point 
 in the South, and its shoes are sold, not only in all parts of Virginia, 
 but throughout the South Atlantic States. 
 
 Roanoke"^ may be justly termed a railroad town, as its size and 
 trade have been largely produced by the Norfolk and Western Rail- 
 road, of which it is headquarters. The. company employs 4,700 
 operatives, who have their homes in the city. It is situated on the 
 main line (Bristol-Norfolk) of the Norfolk and Western railway, 
 and is the southern terminus of the Shenandoah Valley and the 
 northern terminus of the Roanoke and Southern railroads, both of 
 which are owned and operated by the Norfolk and Western. The 
 geographic location and railway service, therefore, make it the east- 
 ern gateway into south-west Virginia, and the southern gateway into 
 the Valley. The jobbing and retail trade have steadily increased, 
 and manufacturing enterprises have begun to be extensively deve- 
 loped. Roanoke will be a division terminus for the trans-State 
 Tidewater railroad, which, added to its present prosperous trade 
 relations, bids fair to make it the largest and most important exclu- 
 sively inland city of Virginia. The most important outgoing ship- 
 ments are: Groceries, iron products, general merchandise, and alco- 
 holic drinks ; and the most important incoming shipments are lumber, 
 grajn, vegetables, and tobacco. 
 
 Bristol'^ is located on the Virginia-Tennessee boundary, and, as 
 the terminus of five different railroads, is an important rehandling 
 station and distributing centre. It is southern Appalachia's most 
 direct gateway to the south and east, and is, therefore, an important 
 trade centre for that region, and the southernmost portion of the 
 Great Valley. 
 
 Three of the railroads operating from the city as a base have their 
 
 * Population 30,000 in 1905. t Population 15,000 in 1905. 
 
8 Virginia Trade and Commerce. 
 
 General Offices there. It is also the headquarters of the Virginia 
 Iron, Coal and Coke Company, with a capital of more than $10,000,- 
 000. The most important manufactures are : Iron, lumber products, 
 paper, tanning extract, tobacco, flour, and chemicals. 
 
 The value of the manufactures and trade has been more than 
 doubled in the last decade. The manufactures of 1906 are valued at 
 $10,500,000; exclusive of lumber, coal, and iron products, valued at 
 $10,000,000. The jobbing trade aggregated $9,000,000, which shows 
 Bristol's importance as a distributing point. 
 
 Danville"^ is at the crossing of the Southern and the Danville and 
 Western railroads. It is the largest loose-leaf tobacco rnarket in the 
 world, handling from 45,000,000 to 55,000,000 pounds annually. 
 Tobacco is the principal farm product of the region, and the most 
 important article in trade. The city is situated on the Dan River, 
 which has sufficient volume and favourable fall for the establishment 
 of large factory enterprises. Already two cotton mills have been 
 established, with a combined capital stock of $4,500,000, which fur- 
 nish employment to more than 4,000 wage-earners. 
 
 Inter-State Commerce. 
 
 Though Virginia is making marked progress in the development 
 of manufacturing enterprises, these have not reached such propor- 
 tions as to make the State an important purchaser of raw materials. 
 The rapid development of cotton factories creates an increasing 
 demand for raw cotton. In 1900 there were only 7 factories within 
 the State; while in 1905 there were 32, which consumed 57,223 
 bales, an excess of 39,049 bales over the total production of the 
 State. The most important shipments, therefore, from other States 
 for domestic use consist of manufactured products. There are large 
 shipments from other States into Virginia, destined for eastern and 
 foreign markets, which require rehandling; and for these due allow- 
 ance must be made in the consideration of the aggregate port trade, 
 since no separate record is kept at the ports of the traffic originating 
 within the State, and without the State. This rehandled traffic 
 creates a large demand for labour, sorting, transfer, and shipping 
 facilities, and in that way becomes an important factor in the State's 
 traffic and trade. The products consist chiefly of lumber, cotton, and 
 tobacco from North Carolina ; lumber and live-stock from Tennessee ; 
 and lumber, coal, and coke from West Virginia. 
 
 Virginia produces a large surplus of raw and manufactured 
 
 * Population in 1900, 16.520. 
 
Virginia Trade and Commerce. 9- 
 
 tobacco, garden products, forest products, coal and coke, live-stock, 
 and peanuts ; and a small surplus of fruits, poultry products, leather, 
 meats, and iron. These constitute the bulk of the outgoing tonnage, 
 the major portions of which are sold in the North Atlantic and New 
 England States. The most important markets are: New York, 
 Philadelphia, Boston, Baltimore, and Washington. Large shipments 
 of live-stock are made to Lancaster, Pennsylvania, from which point 
 they are sold to the farmers of Pennsylvania for winter fattening. 
 
 The inter-State shipments of live-stock, tobacco, cotton, and vege- 
 tables are largely by rail. More than three-fourths of the sea- 
 board lumber traffic, and more than one-half of the seaboard coal 
 shipments, are by water. Cotton is shipped almost exclusively by 
 ;v^ater. The coastwise trade centres in Norfolk, Newport News, 
 and Richmond. 
 
 Foreign Commerce. 
 
 The total imports into the State for 1905 were valued at $10,885,- 
 628, and the exports at $23,409,119. The imports were largely 
 general merchandise, and the exports coal, live-stock, grain, flour, 
 cotton, tobacco, lumber, and meats.* 
 
 Newport News. — The total exportsf from this port for 1906 were 
 valued at $18,693,803, which is an increase of 18 per cent over 1905.$ 
 The following are the important classes, in the order of valuation: 
 Flour, $3,095,649; lumber, $1,454,096; lard, $1,231,201; copper, 
 ingots, &c., $1,100,623; tobacco, $1,038,483; coal, $925,275; linseed 
 oil cake meal, $869,632; cotton, $506,056. The imports aggregated 
 $2,723,788, an increase of 26 per cent, over 1905. § The following 
 are the most important, in the order of valuation : Burlap, $376,388 ; 
 jute bags, $336,025 ; plate-glass, $265,546 ; alcoholic drinks, $231,903 ; 
 earthenware, $165,403; and cocoanut oil, $142,728. 
 
 Norfolk and Portsmouth.\\ — The following are the important 
 exports from this port, in the order of valuation :^ Lard, $1,180,441 ; 
 coal, $1,111,725; lumber, $1,000,000; cotton, $943,031; grain and 
 flour, $780,487; tobacco, $329,729; and cattle, $305,300. The total 
 exports were valued at $7,640,800 for the ■ year ending December, 
 1905, as compared with $8,256,519, the total imports for the same 
 year, which consisted of merchandise, chemicals, alcoholic drinks, 
 
 * The coastwise trade for the same year was about twelve times the total foreign trade. 
 
 t Newport Custom House Report, 1906. 
 
 t Exports in 1905, $15,750,310. 
 
 § Imports in 1905, $2,154,650. 
 
 II In the same Custom House district. 
 
 T 1905, . . 
 
10 Virginia Trade and Commerce. 
 
 burlap, etc. Norfolk is the ocean terminus of the Tidewater railroad, 
 which crosses the State from east to west. Its construction is for 
 the purpose of marketing the coal from one of West Virginia's 
 richest fields. The grading in the Virginia portion is nearing com- 
 pletion, and the contracts demand that the road be ready for traffic 
 by January 1908. It will probably be the heaviest coal carrier in the 
 State, and will increase the coastwise and foreign traffic out of 
 Norfolk at least 25 per cent. 
 
 It is generally believed that the Tidewater will finally be extended 
 to the intersection with the Wabash railroad, and be consolidated 
 with that system, in which event it would become one of the most 
 important trunk lines. 
 
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