GOVERNMENT.

The present Constitution of the State was ratified by the people in May, 1862. Every white male citizen, 21 years old, who has resided in the State one year, and in the county thirty days, is entitled to vote at the elections. Paupers, lunatics, and convicts, are not allowed to

vote.

The Government is vested in a Governor, Secretary of State, Auditor, Treasurer, Attorney-General, and a Legislature consisting of a Senate (of 22 members, elected for two years) and a House of Delegates (of 51 members, elected for one year), all elected by the people. The State officers are chosen for two years. The Legislature meets every year on the third Tuesday in January, and sits for 45 days only, unless two-thirds of both houses agree to prolong the

session.

The Courts of the State are, the Court of Appeals, Circuit Courts, and County Courts. The Supreme Court of Appeals consists of 3 judges, elected by the people for 12 years, one judge retiring every 4

years.

The seat of Government is located at Charleston, in Kanawha county. The State is divided into 53 counties.

HISTORY.

This State formed a part of Virginia until the outbreak of the late war. Being unwilling to be forced out of the Union by the action of the eastern counties, the people of the western district met at Wheeling in convention, on the 11th of June, 1861, and organized a State Government. Delegates from 40 counties were present. On the 26th of November, 1861, another Convention met at Wheeling and adopted a State Constitution for the new State of West Virginia. This was ratified by the people on the 3d of May, 1862, but Congress insisted on the adoption of certain amendments to the Constitution. These changes were made by the Convention, the amendments sustained by a vote of the people, and the new State was admitted into the Union on the 20th of June, 1863.

During the war the State was repeatedly invaded by the Confederates, and those regions bordering on the old State of Virginia put to considerable loss. The Kanawha Valley was the scene of several severe battles, but towards the close of the war the State was almost exempt from hostilities.

The people were much divided in sentiment, the Union element preponderating, however. A large number of men enlisted in the Confederate army, and the State furnished 31,884 troops to the United States army.

CITIES AND TOWNS.

The principal cities and towns are, Wheeling, Parkersburg, Martinsburg, Charleston, Lewisburg, Clarksburg, Fairmont, Grafton, and Wellsburg.

CHARLESTON,

The capital of the State, is situated in Kanawha county, on the north bank of the Kanawha River, 60 miles from its mouth, and at its confluence with the Elk River, and about 150 miles S.S.W. of Wheeling. The river here is about 300 yards wide, and is navigable for small steamers during the entire year. These furnish the only means of communication with Wheeling and Parkersburg, the principal cities of the State. Charleston will soon be connected with Eastern Virginia by the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway, now in course of construction.

Charleston is a pretty country town, containing the county buildings, a newspaper office, 3 or 4 churches, and several schools. Its only importance is due to its being the capital of the State. Being difficult of access, it is believed that the seat of Government will soon be removed to some more convenient town. In 1870 the population was 3162.

Just above Charleston are the famous Kanawha Salt Works, which extend on both sides of the river for about 15 miles. Previous to the civil war they gave employment to about 3000 persons, and produced large quantities of salt annually. During the civil war they were greatly injured. The entire Kanawha region is rich in coal, and abounds in fine water-power. Its proximity to the iron regions of the two Virginias gives it peculiar advantages for manufacturing, which will no doubt be improved in the course of a few years.

WHEELING,

The commercial and political metropolis of West Virginia, and the first capital of the State, is situated in Ohio county, on the east bank of the Ohio River, and on both sides of Wheeling Creek, at the mouth of the latter stream, 92 miles below Pittsburg, 365 miles above Cin

cinnati, and 420 miles west of Washington by the Baltimore and Ohio Railway. Latitude 40° 7′ N.; longitude 80° 42′ W.

The city is built along a narrow alluvial tract extending from the river to a range of hills less than a mile from the water, and running parallel with it. It is about 2 miles in length, with an average breadth of half a mile. It is regularly laid out, with moderately wide streets crossing each other at right angles, and though it contains a number of handsome buildings, public and private, is but indifferently built as a whole. The streets are tolerably well paved, and some of them are well shaded with handsome trees. The houses are mostly of brick, and nearly the whole of those recently erected are of this material.

The principal public buildings are, the United States Custom House (in which is located the Post Office), a handsome granite edifice, and the Court House. The city contains 24 churches, some of which would do credit to any city; an efficient hospital; 7 public schools, and several excellent private schools, its female seminaries being among the best in the country; a free library of 35,000 volumes; 2 hotels, and 4 newspaper offices. Its principal points are connected by a street railway, which is also extended across the Ohio to the town of Bridgeport, in the

State of Ohio; it is lighted with gas, is supplied with pure water from the Ohio River, and is provided with a steam fire department, and an efficient police force. It is governed by a Mayor and Council. 1870 the population was 19,282.

In

Wheeling lies in the midst of one of the loveliest portions of the Ohio Valley, and is destined to become a place of very great importance. It is connected with Baltimore and the East by the Baltimore and Ohio Railway. A railway on the opposite side of the river connects it with Pittsburg and Cleveland, and another on the same side with Columbus, Cincinnati and all parts of the West. The Ohio is navigable for steamers during the greater part of the year, and affords water communication with all parts of the Mississippi Valley. The city is engaged in a heavy river trade. a number of steamboats being owned in Wheeling.

The prosperity of the city is due almost entirely to its manufactures. The mills by which it is surrounded are filled with coal, which lies. but a few feet below the surface. The large mills mine their own coal at a moderate cost, many of the "coal banks," as they are called, lying within the city limits. Dr. Reeves, of Wheeling, writing in 1870, thus speaks of the manufactures of the city:

"In the manufacture of iron and nails, within the limits of the city, 2295 persons are employed; of these the principal operatives are boilers and their helpers, 620; blacksmiths, 80; nailers, 127; nailfeeders, 385. Boilers work at the furnaces by turns of ten hours, both day and night, and prepare the metal for the rolls, where it is made into bars and nail sheeting. This class of laborers is generally composed of Germans and Irish-the most of them foreign born, and, as a rule, are a hardy set of men.

"The nail mills of Wheeling-the Riverside Iron Works, Belmont, La Belle, and Wheeling Iron and Nail Works, including the two mills at Benwood and Bellaire, which are four miles distant from Wheeling, cut 17,350 kegs of nails per week, or about 902,200 kegs annually, at an average value of $4,059,900. Besides these, and other rolling mills for the manufacture of railroad bar rod, hammer iron, sheet iron, bridge iron, bolts, etc., there are two spike mills which turn out annually, for railroad and boat building purposes, from 50,000 to 60,000 kegs. The toughness of Wheeling nails, and therefore their superiority to nails made at other mills, is generally conceded. The Whitaker Mills, situated on the bank of Wheeling Creek, engage principally in the manufacture of railroad iron, spikes,

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sheet iron, etc., and are capable of rolling and finishing 60 tons of railroad bars per day. Fifty miles of the rails of the great Pacific road were made at these mills. The Norway Manufacturing Company's mills, situated in South Wheeling, are supplied with machinery of the most improved invention, and are capable of doing all kinds of wrought iron bridge work. A part of the grand railway superstructure soon to span the Missouri at St. Charles, near St. Louis, is now going through these mills, which not only proves their capacity, but as well their competitive ability. The hinge and tack factories are extensive establishments, and because of the superior manufacture of their stocks, they are rapidly extending their trade in all directions. The founderies and machine shops give employment to 475 persons, who are remarkable for their general good health, notwithstanding their frequent excesses in eating and drinking. There are eight founderies in the city. Three or four of these establishments are principally engaged in duplicating the patterns of machinery employed in the different iron and nail mills, and they are also as well prepared to make original patterns and single castings of any shape and for any purpose, weighing from one pound to fifteen tons. Recently a new item of business-the making of iron fronts of the most beautiful and substantial patterns, for business houseshas come into existence.

"The stove market is entirely supplied from home founderies, which turn out annually thousands of different patterns, both for cooking and heating purposes. In this particular line of trade, business is constantly on the increase, for two reasons, mainly: the truly excellent patterns made, and the exceedingly low price at which they are sold. Besides, it has been ascertained that Wheeling stoves withstand greater and longer heat without burning than many patterns of Eastern and Northern manufacture.

"There are eight machine shops in the city. Of these the Baltimore and Ohio are the most extensive, and command the labor of from 60 to 120 men, both day and night. In each of the other shops, however, equally skilled machinists are busily employed the year round making steam-engines, boilers, shafting, mill work, steamboat irons, etc., etc. In a word, anything in the way of Machinery can be made at the Wheeling shops as well and at as low price as it can be furnished from the competing shops of Pittsburg and Cincinnati.

"THE MANUFACTURE OF GLASS.-In this department there are six extensive establishments—one of which is said to be the largest