CONNECTICUT, a State in the North Atlantic division of the North American Union; bounded by Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Long Island Sound, and New York; gross area, 4,845 square miles; one of the original 13 States; number of counties. 8; population (1890) 746, 258; (1900) 908,420; (1910) 1,114,756; (1920) 1,380,631; capital, Hartford.
Topography.—Connecticut lies on the S. slope of the New England hill region, and while its surface is diversified by hills and valleys it is in only a few places over 1,000 feet in altitude. The highest elevation is Bear Mountain, Salisbury, 2,354 feet. The State is drained by three large rivers and their tributaries; the Connecticut, rising in New Hampshire, bisects the State in a N. and S. direction, and is navigable for 50 miles; the Thames, formed by the Shetucket, Yantic, and Quinnebang, is navigable as far as Norwich; and the Housatonic, with its main branch, the Naugatuck, navigable to Derby. The coast line is about 100 miles in length and affords many ex cellent harbors, of which New Haven and New London are the largest.
Geology.—The valley of the Con necticut river exhibits triassic sandstone and post-tertiary formation, but the greater part of the State is of eozoic or primary formation, which is separated into E. and W. sections by secondary rocks. Extensive trap dykes traverse the E. and W. sections, and boulders of great size on the hill tops, together with scratches on the mountain sides, are in dications of a glacial passage down the Connecticut valley.
Soil.—Along the coast as far N. as Middletown the soil is very sandy; but the remainder of the Connecticut valley has a rich deep loamy soil. In the N. E. is a light gray loam and in the S. E. a dark argillaceous soil. The climate is temperate, and there are no swamps or marshes. The trees include several varieties of oak, pine, cedar, tamarack, chestnut beech, wild cherry, ash, bass wood, hickory, walnut, willow, poplar, dogwood, sycamore and holly.
Mineralogy.—Of various mineral pro ductions iron ore is the most abundant. Copper and lead exist, but have never been mined with much profit. Silver
occurs in minute quantities. There are immense quarries of red sandstone at Portland and Cromwell, and marble and limestone is quarried at Canaan and Washington, while the largest amount of orthoclase quarried in the United States comes from Glastonbury and Middletown. The total value of the min eral production is about $4,000,000 annu ally. Clay products rank first in value— about $2,000,000—and stone second, with a value of about $1,300,000.
Agriculture.—The agricultural inter ests of the State are very important. Cereals, fruits, and vegetables grow in great abundance in the W. valleys, and tobacco in the valley of the Connecticut. The acreage, production, and value of the chief crops in 1919 was as follows: Corn, 55,000 acres, 3,300,000 bushels, with a value of $5,940,000; hay, 340,000 acres, 544,000 tons, with a value of $16, 429,000; tobacco, 25,000 acres, 39,000, 000 pounds, with a value of $18,057,000; potatoes, 24,000 acres, 1,680,000 bushels, with a value of $3,276,000.
Manufactures.—Connecticut is one of the foremost manufacturing States in the Union. There were in 1914, 4,104 manufacturing establishments in the State, employing 226,264 wage-earners. The capital invested amounted to $620, 194,000. There were paid in wages $125,220,000. The value of materials used was $288,511,000, and the value of the finished product was $545,472,000. The principal articles were cotton goods, foundry and machine shop products, hardware, and brassware. Other impor tant manufactures a7e woolen goods, silk and silk goods, plated and britannia ware, hats and caps, brass castings and finishings, corsets, and worsted goods.
Banking..—In 1919 there were 66 Na tional banks in operation, having $20, 306,000 capital, $13,577,478 in outstand ing circulation and $12,858,850 in United States bonds. There were also 3 State banks, with $550,000 capital, $12,179,000 in deposits, and $14,516,000 in resources. In the year sending Sept. 30, 1919, the exchanges at the United States clearing houses at Hartford and New Haven ag gregated $722,532,000.