PENNSYLVANIA 



PENNY 



31 





northern fields ; the resources of the anthracite mines 

 are estimated as sufficient to yield 100,000,000 tons 

 per year for two centuries. The production during 

 the ilecade 1888-98 averaged about 45,500,000 tons. 

 Pittsburgh is the centre of the bituminous region, 

 and the average annual production for the same 

 period was 39,295,697 tons. The proximity of coal 

 and iron in such vast quantities has made Pennsyl- 

 vania a great mining and manufacturing state ; it 

 leads in the. manufacture of pig-iron, yielding over 

 4,600,000 tons in 1897, nearly one-half the total 

 output of the United States. 



The successful boring for Petroleum ( q. v. ) in 1859 

 produced an excitement which was not surpassed 

 even by the discovery of gold in California. For- 

 tunes were made anil lost in a day. The mining 

 of petroleum and the manufacture of the various 

 articles produced from it have created new and 

 important industries. The utilisation of natural 

 gas for heating and manufacturing purposes has 

 also greatly modified methods of living in western 

 Pennsylvania. Gold, silver, copper, and tin exist 

 in Pennsylvania, but not in paying quantities, 

 though copper is mined to a limited extent in 

 Montgomery county. There are large zinc-works 

 t South Bethlehem, and nickel is obtained in 

 Lancaster county. 



The eastern part of the state is drained by the 

 Delaware and its tributaries the Schuylkill and 

 Liehigh. The Susquehanna, with its affluents the 

 North Branch, the West Branch, and the ' beau- 

 tiful Juriiata,' occupies the central drainage area. 

 The Snsijuehanna is too rapid and too shallow for 

 navigation, but it is used for floating quantities of 

 timlicr, and coal, lumber, and other products are 

 carried by the canals along its banks. A portion 

 of the north-western region belongs to the valley 

 of the Genesee, but the greater part of western 

 Pennsylvania is drained by the Alleg'iany and 

 Monongahela rivers, which unite at Pittsburgh to 

 form the Ohio, furnishing a great highway of inland 

 navigation. Pennsylvania has ( 1897 ) 9908 miles of 

 mil re i-ii I and several hundred miles of canals. For 

 the ' Pennsylvania system,' see PKISOXS, p. 423. 



In the mountains arid wooded sections the 

 smaller wild animals are still abundant. The 

 panther, wild cat, ami black l>ear are occasionally 

 seen, and in some places the deer and wild turkey 

 are not uncommon. The climate is healthful, but 

 subject to extremes, and much modified by differ- 

 ences of elevation. Heavy snows fall on the moun- 

 tains in winter, and the rivers of the western half 

 of the state are often flooded in spring and summer 

 (see e.g. JOHXSTOWN). Nearly one-fourth of the 

 state is wooded ; lumbering is one of the sources 

 of wealth in the north, and farther south and west 

 are great forests of hemlock, which maintain some 

 of the largest tanneries in the world. In the Pocono 

 xwampH and plateaus, between the Wyoming and 

 Kittatinny Mountains, the virgin growth of beech 

 is known as the 'Shades of Death.' The soil, ex- 

 cept in the mountains, is rich and fertile. Agri- 

 culture is a leading occupation, and in many crop 

 Pennsylvania holds a high rank. The mountain 

 regions and the western plateau are well suited for 

 grazing, and the horses, cattle, sheep, and dairy 

 product!! are noted for their excellence. The most 

 important industries of Pennsylvania are mining 

 and manufacturing. The amount of capital in- 

 ve-tcrl is greater than in any other state, and in 

 the value of IKT manufactured products Pennsyl- 

 vania is surpassed only by New York. Her com- 

 merce, l*>th foreign and domestic, is very extensive. 

 Shipbuilding is important ; river-steamers are built 

 at Pittsburgh, and iron and steel steamships, in- 

 cluding somitof the finest war- vessels in tlieLnited 

 States and oilier navies, are constructed on the 

 Delaware river, the ' Clyde of America.' 



History. The first permanent settlement in the 

 state was made in 1643 by Swedes, at the present 

 site of Chester. Their colony of New Sweden was 

 twelve years later conquered by the Dutch. In 

 1664 the English obtained possession, and the 

 territory now called Pennsylvania was in 1681 

 granted by Charles II. to William Penn (q.v. ). 

 The friendly relations already existing between the 

 whites and the Indians were re established by Penn 

 by a treaty, which was faithfully observed by both 

 parties for more than fifty years. During the French 

 and Indian wars, however, and again during the 

 war of the revolution, the frontier settlements were 

 attacked. In the struggle for independence and 

 in the civil war Pennsylvania took a prominent part, 

 and witnessed a number of the most famous battles 

 and events connected with each. Schools were 

 established by the earliest settlers, and a system 

 of education formed part of the original scheme of 

 government prepared by William Penn. The pub- 

 lic schools now are attended by over a million 

 pupils, and there are more than twenty univer- 

 sities and colleges in the state. A system of 

 Soldiers' Orphan Schools was established in 1865, 

 and there are numerous other charitable and edu- 

 cational institutions. There is a large foreign 

 element in the population ; many of the miners 

 and ironworkers, especially, are of Irish, Hun- 

 garian, and Italian birth, and serious riots have 

 not seldom occurred (see also MOLLY MAGUIRES). 

 Among the farmers a very large proportion are 

 of German descent, and still speak the patoi.t 

 known as 'Pennsylvania Dutdh.' This belongs to 

 the South German dialects, and is most closely 

 related to the Pfalzisch ; it preserves many old and 

 curious German words, but is also interspersed 

 more or less with Germanised English words, 

 according to the locality. There are perhaps two 

 million people around Philadelphia and New York 

 who speak tiie jmtiiin ; and in the country south- 

 east of the Alleghanies they have their own dia- 

 lectal newspapers. Specimens ( snelt phonetically ) 

 of the dialect may he given : ' Ich triuk tschenerli 

 rooter wei' (I generally drink red wine); and 

 "s wetter iss dr gants daak schee gwest' (the 

 weather has been fine the entire day). See Prof. 

 S. S. Haldeman's Pennsylvania Dutch ( 1872 ) ; also 

 A. J. Ellis's Early English Pronunciation (part iv. 

 1875). 



The state contains sixty-seven counties, and 

 returns thirty- two ftiembers to congress. Philadel- 

 phia, the metropolis of the state, is the leading 

 manufacturing city of the Union and ranks third 

 in population (1,293,697 in 1900). Among other 

 ini|K>rtant cities are Pittsburg (321,616) and Alle- 

 gheny ( 129,896), which form in all their interests a 

 single community, Harrisburg, the capital (50,167), 

 Scranton (102,026), Reading (78,961 ), Erie (52, 733), 

 Wilkesbarre (51,721), Lancaster (41,459), Altoona 

 (38,973), Johnstown (35,986), Allentown (35,416), 

 M'Keesport (34,227), Chester(33,988), York (33,708), 

 Williamsport (28,757), &c. Pop. of thestate (1850) 

 2,311,786; (1890)5,258,014; (1900)6,302,115. 



Penny (A.S. pening or pending ; apparently 

 from panrl, 'a pawn,' Ger. pfand, Lat. pannus), a 

 Britisn coin, first mentioned in the laws of Ina, 

 king of the West Saxons, about the close of 

 the 7th century. It was at this time a silver 

 coin, and weighed about 22| troy grains, being 

 thus about iJsth of the Saxon pound-weight. 

 This relation to tiie pound-weight is evidently 

 derived from the usage of the early Franks, who 

 retained the Roman division of the libra into 20 

 nolicli, and the soliilvx into 12 denarii (the denarius 

 being thus the 240th part of the libra or pound ). 

 See MARK. Halfpence and farthings were not 

 coined in England till the time of Edward I., 

 but the practice previously prevailed of so deeply 



