University of Virginia Library

HISTORICAL, STATISTICAL, AND DESCRIPTIVE.

The annexed concise geographical and statistical description of Virginia, is abridged
from Sherman & Smith's Gazetteer of the United States, and contains the results of the
statistics and census of 1840, published by the general government.

Virginia is 370 miles long, and 200 broad at its greatest width, containing 64,000
square miles, or 40,960,000 acres. The population in 1790, was 747,610 in 1800,
886,149; in 1810, 974,622; in 1820, 1,065,366; in 1830, 1,211,272; in 1840, 1,239,797,
of which 448,987 were slaves. Of the free white population, 371,223 were white
males; 369,745 ditto, females; 23,814 were colored males; 26,020 ditto, females.
Employed in agriculture, 318,771; in commerce, 6,361; in manufactures and trades,
54,147; navigating the ocean, 582; ditto, canals, rivers, and lakes, 2,952; learned professions,
&c., 3,866.

The state is divided into 123 counties and 2 districts—Eastern and Western. The
Eastern district comprises that part of the state east of the Blue Ridge, and has 67
counties. Population in 1840: whites, 369,398; free colored, 42,294; slaves, 395,250;
total, 806,942. The Western district comprises that part of the state west of the Blue
Ridge, and has 56 counties. Population: whites, 371,570; free colored, 7,548; slaves,
53,737; total, 432,855.

Richmond is the capital of the state, situated on the north side of James River, at
the head of tidewater, and just below its lower falls. This state has a great variety

of surface and soil. From the Atlantic to the lower falls on the river, which includes a
tract of from 110 to 130 miles in width, the country is low and flat, in some places
marshy, but extensively sandy, covered with the pitch-pine. On the margin of the rivers,
the soil is often rich. This is denominated the low country, and is unhealthy from
August to October. Between the head of tidewater and the Blue Ridge, the country
becomes uneven and hilly, and more so as it approaches the mountains. The soil in
this region is some of it sandy and poor; some of it is fertile, particularly on the margins
of the rivers. Towards the mountains the country is stony and broken, though the soil
is often rich. The first ridge of mountains in this state is generally about 150 miles
from the ocean. Beyond this the country is mountainous, traversed by successive
ridges of the Alleghany, which occupies a greater breadth of country in Virginia than
in any other state. Between the various ridges, however, there are long valleys or tablelands,
parallel with them, often of considerable breadth, and containing some of the
best and most pleasant land in Virginia. The farms are here smaller than in other parts
of the state, better cultivated, and there are fewer slaves. The climate in this region
is very healthy.

The soil in the tidewater country is generally poor, producing Indian corn, oats, and
peas. Wheat is raised in some parts of it, and a little rice in the swamps in its southern
part. Between tidewater and the mountains is the tobacco-country; but in the northern
upland counties wheat has extensively superseded tobacco; and south of James River,
sufficient cotton is raised for home consumption. The southeastern counties produce
apples and peaches in great abundance. Among the mountains, the farmers raise large
numbers of cattle and hogs. Indian corn is cultivated throughout the state. The
country west of the mountains, towards the Ohio, is rough and wild—sometimes, but not
generally, fertile; but very rich as a mineral region.

There were in this state in 1840, 326,438 horses and mules; 1,024,148 neat cattle;
1,293,772 sheep; 1,992,155 swine; poultry to the value of $754,698. There were
produced 10,109,716 bushels of wheat; 87,430 of barley; 13,451,062 of oats; 1,482,799
of rye; 243,822 of buckwheat; 34,577,591 of Indian corn; 2,538,374 pounds of
wool; 10,597 of hops; 65,020 of wax; 2,944,660 bushels of potatoes; 364,708 tons of
hay; 25,594 of hemp and flax; 75,347,106 pounds of tobacco; 2,956 of rice; 3,494,483
of cotton; 3,191 of silk cocoons; 1,541,833 of sugar. The products of the dairy
were valued at $1,480,488; of the orchard $705,765; value of lumber produced
$538,092; 13,911 gallons of wine were made.

The mineral wealth of Virginia is very great. Gold, copper, lead, iron, coal, salt, limestone,
and marble are found, together with a number of valuable mineral springs. An attention
to the business of mining has recently been excited, and in 1840, 2,000 persons
were employed in it. The belt of country in which gold is found, extends through
Spotsylvania county and the adjacent country, and in a southwest direction passes
into North and South Carolina, Georgia, and Alabama. The gold in this state is not
sufficiently concentrated to render it profitable, excepting in a few places, to engage in
mining it. The coal fields in Virginia are very extensive, and afford both the bituminous
and anthracite. Large quantities have been obtained and exported from the vicinity
of Richmond. Salt springs have been found in various places, and salt has been extensively
manufactured on the Great Kanawha River, near Charleston. The state
abounds in mineral springs, which are much resorted to; the principal are, the White
and Blue Sulphur, in Greenbriar; the Salt and Red Sulphur, and Sweet, in Monroe;
Hot and Warm, in Bath; Berkeley, in Morgan; Fauquier White Sulphur, in Fauquier;
Shannondale, in Frederick; Alum, in Rockbridge; Jordan's White Sulphur, in Frederick;
Red, in Alleghany; Grayson, in Carroll; Bottetourt, in Roanoke; Holston, in
Scott; Augusta Springs; and Daggers Springs, in Bottetourt.

The staple productions of the state are wheat and tobacco. The Potomac River
separates this state from Maryland. James River is the largest which belongs to this
state. It is 500 miles in length, and flows from the mountains in the interior, behind
the Blue Ridge, through which it passes. It is navigable for sloops 120 miles, and for
boats much further, and enters into Chesapeake Bay. The Appomattox is 130 miles
long, and enters James River 100 miles above Hampton Roads, and is navigable 12 miles,
to Petersburg. The Rappahannock rises in the Blue Ridge, is 130 miles long, is navigable
110 miles for sloops, and enters into the Chesapeake. York River enters the
Chesapeake 30 miles below the Rappahannock, and is navigable 40 miles for ships. The
Shenandoah enters the Potomac just before its passage through the Blue Ridge. Of the
rivers west of the mountains, the Great Kanawha rises in North Carolina, passes through
this state, and enters the Ohio. The Little Kanawha also enters the Ohio. The Monongahela
rises in this state, though it runs chiefly in Pennsylvania.

The lower part of Chesapeake Bay lies wholly in this state, is 15 miles wide at its
mouth, and enters the Atlantic between Cape Charles and Cape Henry. Norfolk, 8
miles from Hampton Roads, has a fine harbor, much the best in the state, spacious, safe,
and well defended; and it is the most commercial place in Virginia; but Richmond and
Petersburg are more populous, and have an extensive trade. Besides these, Wheeling,
Lynchburg, Fredericksburg, and Winchester, are the principal places.

The exports of this state, in 1840, amounted to $4,778,220; and the imports to
$545,685. There were 31 commercial and 64 commission houses engaged in foreign
trade, with a capital of $4,299,500; 2,736 retail drygoods and other stores, with a capital
of $16,684,413; 1,454 persons employed in the lumber trade, with a capital of
$113,210; 931 persons engaged in internal transportation, who, with 103 butchers,
packers, &c., employed a capital of $100,680; 556 persons employed in the fisheries,
with a capital of $28,383.

The manufactures of Virginia are not so extensive as those of some states inferior to
it in territory and population. There were, in 1840, domestic or family manufactures to
the amount of $2,441,672; 41 woollen manufactories and 47 fulling-mills, employing
222 persons, producing articles to the amount of $147,792, with a capital of $112,350;
22 cotton manufactories, with 42,262 spindles, employing 1,816 persons, producing articles
to the amount of $446,063, with a capital of $1,299,020; 42 furnaces producing
18,810 tons of cast-iron, and 52 forges &c., producing 5,886 tons of bar-iron, the whole
employing 1,742 persons, and a capital of $1,246,650; 11 smelting houses employed
131 persons, and produced gold to the amount of $51,758, employing a capital of
$103,650; 5 smelting houses employed 73 persons, and produced 878,648 pounds of lead,
employing a capital of $21,500; 12 paper manufactories, producing articles to the
amount of $216,245, and other paper manufactories producing $1,260, the whole employing
181 persons, and a capital of $287,750; 3,342 persons manufactured tobacco to
the amount of $2,406,671, employing a capital of $1,526,080; hats and caps were
manufactured to the amount of $155,778, and straw bonnets to the amount of $14,700,
the whole employing 340 persons, and a capital of $85,640; 660 tanneries employed
1,422 persons, and a capital of $838,141; 982 other leather manufactories, as saddleries,
&c., produced articles to the amount of $826,597, and employed a capital of $341,957;
4 glass-houses and 2 glass-cutting establishments employed 164 persons, producing articles
to the value of $146,500, with a capital of $132,000; 33 potteries employed 64
persons, producing articles to the amount of $31,380, with a capital of $10,225; 36
persons produced drugs, paints, &c., to the amount of $66,633, with a capital of
$61,727; 445 persons produced machinery to the amount of $429,858; 150 persons
produced hardware and cutlery to the amount of $50,504; 262 persons manufactured
9,330 small-arms; 40 persons manufactured granite and marble to the amount of
$16,652; 1,004 persons produced bricks and lime to the amount of $393,253; carriages
and wagons were manufactured to the amount of $647,815, employing 1,592
persons, and a capital of $311,625; 1,454 distilleries produced 865,725 gallons, and 5
breweries produced 32,960 gallons, employing 1,631 persons, and a capital of $187,212;
764 flouring-mills produced 1,041,526 barrels of flour, and with other mills employed
3,964 persons, producing articles to the amount of $7,855,499, with a capital of
$5,184,669; ships were built to the amount of $136,807; 675 persons manufactured
furniture to the amount of $289,391; 402 brick or stone, and 2,604 wooden houses
were built, employing 4,694 persons, and cost $1,367,393; 50 printing offices, and 13
binderies, 4 daily, 12 semi-weekly, and 35 weekly newspapers, and 5 periodicals, employed
310 persons, and a capital of $168,850. The whole amount of capital employed
in manufactures in the state was $11,360,861.

William and Mary College, at Williamsburg, is the oldest in the state, and one of the
oldest in the country, and was founded in 1691. Hampden Sidney College, in Prince
Edward county, was founded in 1783, and is flourishing. Washington College, at
Lexington, was founded in 1812. Randolph Macon College, was founded at Boydton
in 1832. Emory and Henry College, Washington county, was founded in 1839. Rector
College, Prunty Town, Taylor county, was founded in 1839. Bethany College,
Brooke county, was founded in 1841. There are theological schools at Richmond, in
Prince Edward county, and in Fairfax county. But the most important literary institution
in the state, is the University of Virginia, at Charlottesville, founded in 1819. Its
plan is extensive, its endowment has been munificent, and it is a prosperous institution.
In all these, with a few smaller institutions, there were in 1840, 1,097 students; there
were in the state, also, 382 academies, with 11,083 students; 1,561 common and primary
schools, with 35,331 scholars; and 58,787 white persons over 20 years of age who
could neither read nor write.

The Baptists, the most numerous religious denomination, have about 437 churches;
the Presbyterians 120; the Episcopalians, 65 ministers; the Methodists 170. There
are also a few Lutherans, Catholics, Unitarians, Friends, and Jews.

In January, 1840, there were in this state 8 banks and branches, with a capital of
$3,637,400, and a circulation of $2,513,412. At the close of the same year the public
debt amounted to $6,857,161. There is a state penitentiary located at Richmond.

The first constitution of Virginia was formed in 1776. This was altered and amended
by a convention assembled for that purpose, in 1830. The executive power is vested
in a governor, elected by the joint vote of the two houses of the General Assembly. He
is chosen for three years, but is ineligible for the next three. There is a council of state,
elected in like manner for three years, the seat of one being vacated every year. The
senior councillor is lieutenant-governor. The senators can never be more than 36, and
the delegates than 150; and both are apportioned anew among the counties every 10
years, commencing with 1841. The senators were elected for 4 years, and the seats of
one fourth of them are vacated every year. The delegates are chosen annually. All
appointments to any office of trust, honor, or profit, by the legislature, are given openly,
or viva voce, and not by ballot. The judges of the supreme court of appeals, and of
the superior courts, are elected by the joint vote of both houses of the general assembly,
and hold their offices during good behavior, or until removed by a joint vote of two-thirds
of the legislature.

The right of suffrage is extended to every resident white male citizen of 21 years of
age, entitled to vote by the former constitution; or who owns a freehold valued at $25;
or a joint interest in a freehold to that amount; or who has a life-estate, or a reversionary
title to land valued at $50, having been so possessed for 6 months; or who shall own,
or be in occupation of, a leasehold estate, having been recorded 2 months, for a term not
less than 5 years, to the annual value or rent of $200; or who for 12 months shall have
been a housekeeper and head of a family, and paid the taxes assessed by the commonwealth.

Virginia has undertaken several important works of internal improvement, by chartering
private companies, several of which have been liberally aided by the state. The
Dismal Swamp Canal connects Chesapeake Bay with Albemarle Sound, extending from
Deep Creek to Joyce's Creek, 23 miles, at a cost of $879,864. It has branches of 11
miles. The Alexandria Canal extends 7¼ miles, from Georgetown to Alexandria. The
James River and Kanawha Canal extends 146 miles, from Richmond to Lynchburg.
The Richmond, Fredericksburg, and Potomac Railroad extends 75 miles, to
Aquia Creek. Louisa branch, 25 miles from Richmond, proceeds 49 miles, to Gordonsville.
Richmond and Petersburg Railroad, from Richmond, extends 23 miles, to Petersburg.
Petersburg and Roanoke Railroad extends from Petersburg, 59 miles, to Weldon.
Greensville Railroad extends from near Hicksford, for 18 miles, to Gaston, N. C.
City Point Railroad extends from Petersburg, 12 miles, to City Point. Chesterfield
Railroad extends from Coal Mines, 13½ miles, to Richmond. Portsmouth and Roanoke
Railroad extends from Portsmouth, 8 miles, to Weldon, N. C. Winchester and Potomac
Railroad extends from Harper's Ferry, 32 miles, to Winchester.