THE MIDDLE APPALACHIAN REGION.—The states of New York, Pennsylvania, Eastern Ohio, New Jersey, Maryland, Delaware, and West Virginia have a strong claim to be treated as a separate region. Their area is less than one-twentieth that of the whole United States, but they have 23 per cent. of the population, and in 1905 they had 40 per cent. of the capital invested in manufactures, 37 per cent. of the wage-earning classes, and 38 per cent, of the gross value of the products.' Geographical conditions have determined, to a great extent, the economic growth shown by these remarkable figures. The region belongs essentially to the Appalachian system, the coastal and lake plains being developed only to a slight extent. During glacial times the continental ice-sheet covered nearly the whole of New York and the northern parts of Pennsylvania and New Jersey, leaving in many valleys a deep and generally fertile soil, and offering numerous facilities for the use of water-power. On the Piedmont and Allegheny plateaus, and in the Great Valley, there are many districts capable of cultivation.
As a result of its position and varied topography, the climate of the region is not the same throughout, but on the whole the winters are cold and the summers warm. The mean winter temperature ranges from 17° F. to 21° F. in the north of New York state to 30° F. to 35° F. in Maryland and Delaware, and the mean summer temperature from 60° F. to 65° F. in the northern districts to 70° F. to 75° F. in the southern. Over the greater part of New York state the rainfall is from 35 to 40 inches annually, and over the remainder of the region from 40 to 45 inches.
The surface of the land is too diversified to permit the Middle Appalachian States becoming a great agricultural region, and, although they produce between 6 and 7 per cent. of the wheat and oats, and 4 per cent, of the maize, grown in the country, " truck " farming and dairying are the most important agricultural pursuits, the former being followed chiefly on the Piedmont Plateau and in the Great Valley, where soil and climate are favourable, and the latter mainly on the Allegheny Plateau, where the altitude and damp climate are unfavourable to cultivation. New York is the most important dairying state in the Union.
The second factor of importance in the economic develop ment of this region is its enormous supplies of coal. Anthracite, obtained nowhere else in the United States but in two small coal fields in the Rocky Mountains, is worked here in large quantities, the mines being found in the east central part of Pennsylvania, in a district bounded on the west by the Susquehanna, on the north by the north branch of that river, and on the east by the Delaware and Lehigh rivers. The production for 1909-11 averaged 76,000,000
tons. Anthracite is now used chiefly as a domestic fuel, for which it is valued on account of its cleanliness, its freedom from smoke, and its excellent heating qualities. The demand for it is largely local, Pennsylvania and New York taking a great part of the output. Bituminous coal, which occurs throughout the whole length of the Appalachian system, is obtained chiefly in west Pennsylvania, eastern Ohio, West Virginia, and Maryland. The beds usually run in long curves from north-east to south-west, following the general trend of Appalachian folding. The coal is easily worked, and the greater part is won by drifts along the outcrop, or by gentle slopes down the dip of the bed, very few deep mines having as yet been sunk. The production from the Pennsylvania fields in 1909-11 averaged 128,000,000 tons, from Ohio 27,000,000 tons, from West Virginia 51,000,000 tons, and from Maryland 4,000,000 tons. This amounted in all to almost one-half of the total coal production of the United States. Pennsylvanian coal, especially that from the Pittsburg seam, is used in all the industries of Pennsylvania and New York. Large quantities make their way to tide-water at Baltimore, Philadelphia, and New York, to be shipped north and south along the Atlantic coast, while much goes by water routes to the Gulf of Mexico, and considerable quantities are sent by the Great Lakes to various ports in the North Central States and Canada. About one-half of the coke manufactured in the country comes from the Connellsville region on the Pittsburg seam, and is dis tributed over the greater part of industrial North America. West Virginia consumes comparatively little of its own coal, and the output of the well-known Pocahontas field (a small part of which lies in Virginia) and other producing districts goes either to tide water at Norfolk, or, by the Kanawha, to the Ohio river. The Ohio mines send part of their output to Canada by the Great Lakes, while a considerable proportion of Maryland coal finds its way to the coast by the railways following the Potomac.