WEST VIRGINIA. Ver-jin´e-ah.
"Pan-Handle State."

Composed of northern and western counties of the original State of Virginia; denounced passage of secession ordinance. April 22d, 1861; became a State, 1863.

Area, 24,780 square miles; greatest length north and south, about 240 miles; greatest breadth, 160 miles. Big Sandy, Great and Little Kanawha, Guyandotte and Monongahela are navigable rivers. Number counties, 54. Temperature at Morgantown: winter, 34° to 42°; summer, 70° to 75°. Rainfall at Romney, 45 inches.

Charleston, capital; pop. 4,192. Wheeling metropolis, principal seat of manufactures, and port of delivery; pop. 30,737. Parkersburg, port of delivery; pop. 6,582. Pop. of Martinsburg, 6,335.

Number farms, 1870, 39,778; 1880, 62,674. Average value per acre cleared land, $21.05; woodland, $9.39. A rich agricultural tract, 61 per cent. of laborers engaged in agriculture; staples are tobacco, wheat and corn, the last being the most valuable crop; number bu. grown 1884, being 11,900,000; wheat, 3,318,000; oats, 2,212,000; tobacco, 1883, 1,952,872 lbs.

On farms, Jan., 1884: Sheep, 671,226; swine, 424,626: annual wool clip, 2,000,000 lbs. The yield of butter, 1880, was 9,315,895 lbs; of fruit, over $1,000,000. Wine made 1880, 71,026 gallons; total value lumber products, $2,431,857.

Salaries of State Officers.
Governor $2,700
Secretary of State 1,000 and fees.
Treasurer 1,400
Auditor 2,000 and fees.
Supt. of Free Schools 1,500
Attorney Gen. 1,000
Presiding Jdg. Supm. Court 2,250
Asso. Judges 2,250
Senators,
Representatives

 $4 per d.
mileage 10 cents.
District Judge 3,500
2 Colls. Int. R. 2,875
30 Deputy Colls. $700 to 1,600

Presidential P. O.
Charleston $2,100
Charlestown 1,500
Clarksburg 1,600
Fairmont 1,200
Grafton 1,400
Huntington 1,700
Lewisburgh 1,000
Martinsburgh 1,800
Morgantown 1,000
Moundsville 1,200
Parkersburg 2,300
Piedmont 1,300
Pt. Pleasant 1,000
Wellsburgh 1,300
Weston 1,200
Wheeling 3,000

Iron ore yields 50 to 80 per cent. pure metal, latest amount reported, 61,216 tons; coal, 1,792,570 tons; salt, 2,679,438 bu.; petroleum is extensively produced in Ritchie, Pleasants, Wood and Wirt counties. Ranks fifth in salt and coal; eighth in buckwheat, iron and steel.

Population, 618,457; male, 314,495; female, 303,962; native, 600,192; foreign, 18,265; white, 592,537; colored, 25,886; Indians, 29; 40 per cent. increase in pop. 1870 to 1880; number slaves, 1860, 18,371. Governor and State officers elected quadrennially, and legislature every two years; State elections, second Tuesday in October; congressional and presidential, Tuesday after the first Monday in November; number Senators, 26; Representatives, 65; sessions biennial, in odd-numbered years; limit of session, 45 days; term of Senators, 4 years; of Representatives, 2 years. Number electoral votes, 6; number voters, 139,161; native white, 123,569; foreign white, 9,208; colored, 6,384. Insane, paupers and convicts excluded from voting.