'RICHMOND, city, port of entry, capi tal of the State, county-seat of Henrico County, on the James River, the Richmond Washington Railroad Line, the Atlantic Coast Line, the Chesapeake and Ohio, the Seaboard Air Line and the Southern railroads, about 115 miles almost 'due south of Washington, D. C., and 90 miles from the mouth of the river at Chesapeake Bay. Area, including the suburbs, 26 square miles. The surface is hilly, rising from the river and the valley of Shockoe Creek in a serifs of hills, almost terrace-like in forma tion, mild it reaches altitudes of from 170 to 250 feet above tea-level, at which altitudes there are plateaus constituting the principal resi dential sections. It was originally built on seven hills and was often called the Rome.' In 1842, when Charles Dickens visited the city, it had extended its limits to mother hill, and he wrote of it as Sith ated on eight hills' oveebanging NUS Wier' Regular lines of steamers, the Virginia Navigation Company and Old Dominion, con nect the city with Atlantic and Chesapeake ports and furnish a cheap outlet for shipping products to other parts of the United States and to foreign ports. James River (q.v.) furl nishes water power which is used extensively for manufacturing and for electrical develop. went which propels the entire stneet-car system and supplies the. • electric lights- of the city. Several bridges (five railroad and two for vehicles, street ears and foot passengers) cross James river and connect the two sections of the city lying on its opposite batiks and afford reddy access to its•suburbs— Forest Hill Park, Bon Air, Granite, Spring Hill and other places on the south side of the river. The streets. are all fairly wide, Main, the chief financial thoroughfare, is a broad, well-built street; Broad, -the shopping• district, is the widest street in the city; Grace and West Frank lin, as well as some of the avenues and suburbs, are residential sections. The water supply, which is excellent for domestic and all other purposes, is obtained from the James River at two points above the city.
The water is pumped into two reservoirs from which it is piped for distribution through. out the city. The plant comprises an extensive settling basin and system for insuring its claris fication at all times. The natural drainage makes the city healthful, and warm winters and temperate summers attract many house seekers who desire a mild climate.
Industries,— The chief industries of the city are connected with the preparation of tobacco for local use and for shipment to out-, side markets. Recent statistics give the annual value of cigars, cigarettes, smoking, chewing and reprising manufactured • at $30,. 806,680; foundry, machine-shop products and agricultural implements amounted to $18,850, 390; fertilizers, chemicals, cement, etc., to 10,987,560; flour milling, cornmeal, etc., to 5,750; paper and paper products to $5,958, printing, publishing, etc., to $5,985,570;, boots and shoes to $5,013,355; other manufac.. turing establishments produce wagons and car•I riages, locomotives, ammunition, lumber, sad-. dlery, harness, hides, leather, drugs,.modicines, perfumery, etc. The manufacturing concerns number 2,226, employing 32,905 hands. The capital employed is $37,342,940; the total• sales amount to $135,239,212.
Commerce.— The location and the facilities for transportation make Richmond the corn. mercial centre of a large extent of southeastern Virginia, and an important point of distribu tion for the Carolinas and adjoining Southern; States. Richmond has about 117,150,000 in-, vested in the jobbing trade, with annual mks $120,934,665. Post-office receipts amount to more than *$1,000,000 annually (for 1918 they were $1,290,707) ; internal revenue receipts to $20,000,000, and the Custom House collects' duty annually of over $1,000,000 (in 1918, $10,029,948), although the city's imports and exports are principally cleared through the cus tom-houses of New York and other northern ports. The, amount of trade with the United States Atlantic Coast cities and the cities and towns of the interior of the State is very large.