atite and magnetic ores, silver, marble, copper, zinc, arsenic, bismuth, etc. Its forest trees comprise the most important vegetation of the state, and are found in marked varieties, as, for instance, walnut, beech, white and black oak, maple, ash, elm, hemlock, spruce, white and pitch pine, tamarack, red and white cedar, yew,

etc.

In the matters of internal improvements New York was the first state to take the initiative, having as early as 1825 connected the waters of the northern lakes with those of the Atlantic.* In point of commerce it greatly surpasses all the other states of the Union. The principal part of the imports, and a large portion of the exports, are manipulated at the port of its great emporium city. Nearly five thousand miles of railroad were completed in the state in 1870, at a cost of over two hundred and twenty-five million dollars. Its principal cities are New York, Brooklyn, Buffalo, Albany, Rochester, Syracuse, Utica, Troy, Poughkeepsie, Auburn, Elmira, Oswego, Lockport, Rome, Schenectady, Kingston, Albany is the capital of the state; it was orginally a tradingpost of the Dutch (1623), and was named in honor of the Duke of York and Albany, the proprietary of the colony. It is situated on the Hudson, one hundred and forty-three miles by railway from New York, and is the entrepot of a vast internal commerce, its situation for such purposes being unsurpassed.

etc.

Brooklyn, with a population in 1870, of 396,099, is the third city in the United States, and is separated from New York City by East river, an arm of the sea three-quarters of a mile in width. The two cities are connected by means of ferries, which will soon be supplanted by the magnificent bridge now in process of con

struction.

West Point, the site of the United States Military Academy, is located on the Hudson river, fifty-two miles north of New York City, and was established in 1802. In 1777 it was fortified and occupied by the American army, a massive chain being drawn across the Hudson to prevent, with the aid of the forts, the English from ascending the river and communicating with the Canadian provinces.

*See Chronological Record, year 1825.

New York City, the metropolis of the United States, is situated in New York county, on Manhattan Island, the city embracing the entire county. The island is two and a quarter miles wide at its maximum, thirteen and a half miles long on the west, and nine miles in length on the east side. The city was founded by the Dutch in 1614; surrendered to the English, 1664; retaken by the Dutch, 1673; captured by the British, 1776; evacuated November 25, 1783; slave market established in 1711; in 1725, the New York Gazette appeared; negro plot for the destruction of the city occurred 1741-42, twenty negroes hanged, thirteen burned at the stake and seventy-eight transported; battle of Long Island, August 26, 1776; first meeting of Congress here, 1785; Washington installed president of the United States at City Hall, in Wall street, April 30, 1789; yellow fever in 1795 and 1805; cholera in 183234-49; great fire swept over forty acres and destroyed twenty million dollars worth of property; celebration of the completion of the Croton aqueduct, October, 14, 1842; first street railway built, 1852; Central Park commenced, 1858. Population in 1656, 1,000; 1673, 2,500; 1696, 4,302; 1731, 8,628; 1756, 10,381; 1773, 21,876; 1786, 23,614; 1790, 33,131; 1800, 60,489; 1810, 96,373; 1820, 123,706; 1830, 202,589; 1840, 312,710; 1850, 515,507; 1870, 942,237.

Broadway, the principal street of the city, is one of the most imposing avenues in the world, extending north and south in a straight line, with a breadth of eighty feet. The public buildings of the city are massive and substantial, among which may be enumerated the new Exchange, Custom House, new Post Office, Stock Exchange, City Hall, new Court House, University of the City of New York, Academy of Design, etc. Its church edifices are costly and splendid ornaments to the city. Of these Trinity, on Broadway, is the most distinguished. It is a Gothic structure, of solid brown-stone from foundation to spire, with the exception of the roof, which is of wood. Although not of a pure Gothic, the height of the steeple (two hundred and eighty-two feet) and its general architectural beauty make it, on the whole, one of the most elegant and cathedral-like piles on this continent. Its theaters are well patronized, and the legitimate drama is an established institution of the city. The more prominent of these are Booth's, Grand

Opera House and Wallack's. The provisions of the city for educational purposes are upon a scale commensurate to the intelligence of its population, while its public libraries are extensive and excellent, chief of which is the Astor Library, founded by John Jacob Astor, and additionally provided for by his son, William B., the collection now exceeding one hundred and fifty thousand volumes. The New York Society Library was established in 1754, and the New York Historical Society in 1804. Its art galleries, scientific and literary institutions are of a high order, while its benevolent and charitable institutions are organized upon the most philanthropic and exalted basis. The celebrated Croton aqueduct is about forty miles long, and commences at the Croton river, where the water is collected in an immense dam, from whence it is conducted by aqueduct from the Croton river to the receiving reservoirs, which embrace an area of one hundred and thirty-seven acres, and possess nearly two billion gallons. It is thence distributed throughout the city by means of iron pipes, and in this way are the public and private buildings supplied.

Verrazano, a Florentine, in the service of France, is said to have discovered New York bay in 1524, but the history of the state commences with the arrival of Henry Hudson, an Englishman, in the service of the Dutch, in 1609, who discovered the river Hudson, bearing his name, and the island of Manhattan, where the city of New York now stands. The Manhattans, who inhabited the island, as well as the Mohawks, who occupied the newly-discovered country, were fierce and formidable nations. In 1610 a ship was sent from Amsterdam to trade with the Indians. In 1613 some few trading posts were built upon the river, and a number of houses erected on the island. October 11, 1614, the United New Netherlands company* was formed. An armed mercantile association passed the charter of the Dutch West India company in June, 1621. In 1624 Peter Minuit, with the power of director, arrived with several families from the frontiers of France and Belgium, and settled on the bay of Long Island. A directorship and council of five constituted the government. In 1626 Staten island was bought from the Indians, and the same year the entire island of

*The country extending between the Connecticut and Delaware rivers received the name of New Netherlands.

Manhattan was sold for twenty-five dollars.

The settlers of Ply

mouth company, about 1627, advanced a claim to the region watered by the Connecticut, which claim was resisted by the Dutch. In 1632 Director Minuit was recalled, when the government of Van Twiller was installed, who, at the end of five years, was succeeded by Kieft. In 1640 emigrants from Lynn, Massachusetts, attempted settlements. Peter Stuyvesant became governor in 1645, his administration closing by the capture of his colony by the British, September 6, 1664, after which the name was changed to New York, and Colonel Richard Nicolls, appointed by the Duke of York, to whom the territory had been granted by the King, as its governor, and who, June 12, 1666, granted a charter to the city; August 7, 1673, the colony was recaptured by the Dutch when the name of the city was changed to New Orange, and Captain Colve appointed governor. It was, however, restored to the English by treaty February 9, 1674. "Some doubts existing relative to the validity of the Duke of York's patent, both on account of the Dutch occupancy, and the fact that it was wrested from that nation in time of peace, he deemed it advisable to obtain a new patent from his brother, the king, in 1764. In the autumn of that year Mayor Edmund Andros, afterward so well known as the tyrant of New England, arrived in New York and assumed the of fice of governor. In February, 1685, the duke ascended the throne under the title of James II., and among the first acts of this bigot were his instructions to allow no printing press to be established in the colony." But his administration was of short duration, its termination having been compelled by the revolution of 1688, and the proclamation of William and Mary as heritors of the throne. War was declared between France and England in 1744, and the following year New York and New England combined in an expedition against the French fortress at Louisburg, which capitulated in July of that year.

A constitution for the state of New York was reported in March, 1777, by the provincial congress, and on the 20th of April following was accepted as the basis of government. Under the new constitution George Clinton was elected governor, there being at that time but fourteen counties in the state, to-wit: New York, Richmond, Kings, Queens, Suffolk, Westchester, Duchess, Orange,

Ulster, Albany, Tryon, Charlotte, Cumberland and Gloucester. The year 1790 witnessed the amicable adjustment of the difficulties between New York and Vermont, and the former state, within its present limits, unshackled by sectional or territorial animosities, entered upon its incomparable career of civil and commercial grandeur. July 26, 1788, it ratified the constitution, it being the eleventh state to indorse that instrument. After the close of the American revolution the western portion of the state was rapidly settled by an enterprising and energetic population. The first colonial governor was Joris Adrian (Dutch) 1623, and the first under the constitution was George Clinton, from 1789 to 1795. It was named in 1664 in honor of the Duke of York and Albany. Popular name, "The Empire or Excelsior State."

PENNSYLVANIA.

Pennsylvania, one of the original thirteen states, named by Charles II. in honor of William Penn, in view of her central position, her immense and inexhaustible natural resources and her many systems of transit-lines, occupies a commanding position among the great commonwealths of the Union. The state has a maximum breadth of 176 miles and an extreme length of 303 miles, furnishing an area of 46,010 miles or 29,446,400 acres. Population, 1790, 434,373; 1800, 602,365; 1810, 810,091; 1820, 1,047,507; 1830, 1,348,233; 1840, 1,724,033; 1850, 2,311,786; 1860, 2,906,215; 1870, 3,521,951.

"The surface of the state is level in the southeast, hilly and mountainous in the interior, and generally level or arable in the west. The Allegheny mountains occupy all the central part, covering with their ramifications more than half of its area. Their ridgy tracts all tend northeast and southwest, those east of the Allegheny range being abrupt and precipitous, while west the surface

*William Penn, the illustrious founder of Pennsylvania, was a native of England; born in London October 13, 1644; emigrated to America in 1682; returned to England the second time in 1711, burdened and encumbered by debts; sought to negotiate the sale of Pennsylvania to the Crown for 12,000 pounds, but in this measure was interrupted by illness, and died July 29, 1718, at Ruscombe, Berkshire county, England.