ETIENNE, ST., an important manufacturing t. of France, in the department of Loire, is situated or both banks of the Furens, an affluent of the Loire, in the center of avaluable and extensive coal-field, 30 m. s.s.w. of Lyons by rail, and about 288 m. s.s.e. of Paris. It is surrounded by coal-mines, is seated upon coal-deposits, and has galleries driven even beneath its streets. The stream on which the town is built furnishes invaluable water-power to move its machinery, and its waters are also of great use for tempering iron and steel The old town of St. E. is badly built, and the new town, which has sprung up very quickly, is destitute of architectural harmony. The newer houses are built of a fine white sandstone, and are frequently five and six stories in height; but they rapidly become tarnished and begrimed by the perpetual cloud of coal-smoke which hangs over the town. The most noteworthy building is the Hotel-de Ville, which contains the .31u.see Industrie& with specimens of the manufactures of the town, and of the minerals and fossils of the neighborhood. St. E. is famous for its manufactures of ribbons and firearms. The ribbon-manufactories contain 30,000 looms,
and the annual value of their produce is estimated at 60,000,000 francs (£2,375,000) in value. They are unrivaled in elegance of design, and in richness and delicacy of color, and are exported to all parts of the world. There are extensive private manufactories of firearms, besides an imperial firearms which supplies most of the mus kets of the French army. St. E. has also extensive manufactures of bayonets, scythes, nails, saw-blades, foils, anvils, vices, tiles, and also of silks, velvets, lace, embroidery, muslins, glass, leather, and paper. From the coal-field on which St. E. is situated, about 600,000 tons of coal are raised annually. On the 1st Jan., 1856, St. E. was con stituted the capital of the department, in place of the town of Monthrison. St. E. arose originally from a castle built in the 10th c. by the counts of Forez. It increased greatly in the 15th c., and in 1771 it had 20,000 inhabitants; in 1851, it had 49,614 inhabitants; in 1872, it had 80,526; and in 1876, 117,537 inhabitants.