PARKERSBURG, a city in West Virginia, incorporated 1860, on the e. bank of tte Ohio river at the month of the Little Kanawha; pop. about 9,000. It is the capital of Wood county, 92 m. below Wheeling, 65 m. n. of Charleston and 12 in. below Marietta, Ohio. It is regularly laid out in squares, with streets 60 ft. wide; on a plateau 100 ft. above the river, the ascent being a gradual rise from the water's edge, and the limits of the city extending for 1 in. on the Ohio river, and 2 m. on the Little Kanawha. In the background is an elevation called Prospect hill. A railroad bridge spans the Ohio at this point, erected in 1869-71 at a cost of $1,000,000; 11 m. long, 6 spans over the river. It is the w. terminus of the Baltimore and Ohio railroad, connecting here with the Marietta and Cincinnati railroad, It has regular lines of steamers to Wheeling, Charleston, mid Cincinnati, the Little Kanawha being navigable 38 m. above this place. It is favorably located, the center of a fertile agricultural region, and of an active and constantly increasing trade. It contains 4 medicinal springs 6+ In, from the city, and
petroleum wells of great value Salt is among its mineral products. It has 7 establish ments for refining petroleum, producing about 200,000 barrels of illuminating and 100,000 barrels of lubricating oil annually; annual value of oil shipments $3,000,000. Among its manufactories are barrel factories, a chemical laboratory, a boat-building yard, lumber mills, iron foundries, machine shops, and chemical works. Its public buildings are of a substantial character. consisting of a county court-house, a tine building for holding the U. S. court, a custom house, a market, and fine post-office, and 3 national banks, with an aggregate capital of $450,000. Three weekly newspapers and two ,monthly magazines are published here. It contains 10 churches and several academies.