OHIO, a State in the North Central Division of the North American Union; bounded by Michigan, Lake Erie, Penn sylvania, West Virginia, Kentucky, and Indiana; admitted to the Union, Feb. 19, 1803; capital, Columbus; number of counties, 88; area, 41,040 square miles; pop. (1890) 3,672,316; (1900) 4,157,5451 (1910) 4,767,121; (1920) 5,759,394.
Topography.—The surface of the State is an undulating plain with a tranverse ridge crossing it in a N. E. and S. W. direction just N. of the center of the State. This ridge forms the watershed between those rivers belonging to the St. Lawrence, and those of the Ohio river systems. The highest altitude in the State is near Bellefontaine, in Logan county, 1,550 feet. The N. side of the watershed, though smaller, has a more gentle slope than the S. side. The lands in the N. W. were originally swampy. The Ohio river forms over half the E., and the entire S. boundary of the State, and though it has an average descent of eight inches to the mile, is navigable its entire distance along the State. Lake Erie forms over two-thirds the N. bound ary and provides Ohio with several ex cellent harbors. The principal rivers flowing into the lake are the Cuyahoga, whose mouth forms the harbor of Cleve land; the Black, the Vermilion, the Ot tawa, the Sandusky, emptying into San dusky Bay, and the Maumee, emptying into Maumee Bay. All of these rivers have excellent harbors at their mouths. The Maumee river drains the larger por tion of the N. of Ohio. The streams flowing into the Ohio are the Muskingum, emptying at Marietta; the Scioto, at Portsmouth; the Little Miami, 6 miles from Cincinnati; the Big Miami, 20 miles below Cincinnati, and the Hocking.
Geology.—The entire geological forma tion of Ohio consists of PaIxozoic strata, having an average thickness of about 3,500 feet. The Carboniferous, Devon ian, and Silurian systems form the sur face rock of the State. The Quaternary or drift deposits, cover a large area of the State, consisting of a blue bow]der clay, covered by the Erie clay. The Carboniferous deposits cover one-third the surface, overlying the Devonian, which geologically forms the surface of the N. part of the State. The whole S.
E. half of Ohio is underlaid with coal measures, showing seven distinct veins of superior coal, for gas making, or iron smelting. These coal measures have a
practical working thickness of over 50 feet.
Mineralogy.—The mineralogical re sources of Ohio are very extensive. The State ranks ninth in the United States in the production of petroleum, and clay products ; fourth in coal and natural gas; and fourth in salt. Iron is found in several counties, and is adapted to fine class castings. Carbonate of lime, hy draulic cement, and quicklime are exten sively manufactured. The sandstone near Cleveland is used extensively for building purposes in the N. States and Canada. Ohio is one of the most im portant of the mineral producing States. Its two leading products are coal and clay products. There were produced in 1919 47,919,202 short tons of coal. The petroleum produced in the same year amounted to 7,825,226 barrels, valued at $10,061,493. The natural gas production was valued at $17,391,060. The value of the products of the quarries, chiefly sand stone and limestone, was $5,816,923. The Portland cement produced was 1, 983,217 barrels, valued at $1,940,824. The value of the clay products was $36, 839,621.
Manufactures.—There were in 1914 15,658 manufacturing establishments, employing 510,435 wage earners. The capital invested was $1,677,552,000, and the amount paid in wages was $318,924, 000. The value of the materials used was $1,020,782,000 and the value of the finished product was $1,782,808,000.
Soil and Agriculture.—The soil is di vided into three grades, limestone soils, clay of the uplands, and swamp lands in the N. W. The former two are well adapted to agriculture, all the fruits, cereals, and vegetables of the temperate zone thriving well. The following fig ures give the acreage, production and value of the principal crops, in 1919: corn, 3,700,000 acres, production, 162, 800,000 bushels, value $196,988,000; oats, 1,548,000 acres, production 51,858,000 bushels, value $37,338,000; wheat, 2,860, 000 acres, production 54,440,000 bushels, value $115,413,000; hay, 2,879,000 acres, production 3,973,000 tons, value $86,611, 000; tobacco, 90,000 acres, production 77,400,000 pounds, value $26,000,084; po tatoes, 150,000 acres, production 9,300, 000 bushels, value $17,856,000.