fia? 



DELAWARE. 



DELAWARE. 



were thus returned : Wool, 57,765 Ibs. ; butter, 1,055,308 Ibs. ; 

 cheese, 3187 Ibs. ; the value of animals slaughtered in the year, 

 373,665 dollars. Bees' -wax and honey, 41,2481bs. 



Manufactures, Commerce, <kc. Although mainly an agricultural 

 state, there is in the north, where water-power is abundant, consider- 

 able manufacturing industry ; the trade of the state is also important, 

 and from Wilmington the whale-fishery has been successfully prose- 

 cuted. In 1850 the number of manufacturing establishments pro- 

 ducing to the value of 500 dollars and upwards, was 513, of which 12 

 were cotton-factories, employing 413 males and 425 females, and a 

 capital of 460,000 dollars ; 8 woollen-mills, employing 140 persons, 

 and a capital of 148,500 dollars ; 15 iron-works, employing 300 per- 

 sons, and a capital of 388,500 dollars ; and 16 tanneries, employing 

 108 persons. The other establishments consist of grist, flour, saw, 

 gunpowder, and paper-mills, smitheries and machine-shops, &c. Ship- 

 building is carried on to some extent at Wilmington. The total 

 number of ships built in the state in the year ending June 30, 1852, 

 was 1 6 schooners, 5 sloops, and 2 steamers, with an aggregate tonnage 

 of 2923 tons. Salt is made from sea-water at Lewis and Rehoboth. 



Delaware has scarcely any direct foreign commerce, both the exports 

 and imports being made through Philadelphia, Baltimore, and New 

 York. In 1847 the exports were returned at 235,459 dollars, the 

 imports at 12,722 dollars. In 1849 the exports had fallen to 38,229 

 dollars, the imports to 1400 dollars. Since that year no entry has 

 been made of either exports or imports in the Treasury returns. The 

 total shipping owned in the state in 1850 amounted to 16,719 tons, 

 all which was employed in the coasting-trade and fisheries. 



sions, Town*, Ac. Delaware is divided into three counties, 

 Newcastle in the north, Kent in the middle, and Sussex in the south ; 

 and these are subdivided into 25 hundreds. Dover is the capital of 

 the state, but the principal town is Wilmington. The following are 

 the only places which require notice here : the population, when not 

 otherwise expressed, is that of 1850 : 



Dover, the capital of the state, population about 700, is built on 

 high ground between the two principal branches of Jones Creek, in 

 39 10' N. lat., 75 30' W. long., 114 miles E.N.E. from Washington. 

 The streets are wide and laid out at right angles. The state-house, a 

 spacious and handsome edifice, occupies one side of a large central 

 square, in which are also placed the county buildings. There are in 

 the town four churches, ak academy, two schools, and a costly monu- 

 ment erected in memory of Colonel Haslett, who was killed in the 

 battle of Princetown. The trade of the town is chiefly in flour with 

 Philadelphia. 



Wilmington, the principal port of the state, 37 miles N. by W. from 

 Dover, stands on rising ground between the Brandywine River and 

 Christiana Creek, about a mile above their confluence, and two miles 

 above the Delaware River : the population, which was 13,979 in 1850, 

 hxl increased in 1853 to 16,153. The streets are wide, and cross each 

 other at right angles ; the houses are chiefly of brick, and well built. 

 The town is well supplied with water from the Brandywine by means 

 of extensive waterworks. The public buildings are a city hall, two 

 market-houses, the usual county buildings, an arsenal, 19 churches, 

 several academies, and a spacious hospital. Wilmington has now no 

 foreign commerce, but it carries on an extensive coasting-trade, and 

 has several vessels engaged in the whale-fishery. Vessels drawing 

 14 feet of water ascend to its wharfs in Christiana, and vessels of 

 8 feet draught to those on the Brandywine. Its vessels possess an aggre- 

 gate tonnage of about 10,000 tons, of which about 2600 tons are 

 propelled by steam. The manufactures of Wilmington arc also 

 important, full advantage being taken of the large amount of water- 

 power furnished by the Braudywine. Flour-mills are the most 

 numerous, and some of them are among the largest in the Union. 

 Gunpowder is made to a considerable extent. The town stands in 

 the midst of a busy and fertile country, and since communication has 

 been opened by railways with the principal towns in this part of the 

 Union, Wilmington has been steadily increasing in business and 

 prosperity. Five newspapers are published in the town. 



Christiana stands on the left bank of Christiana Creek, 38 miles 

 N. l.y W. from Dover : population of the town and district 3902. There 

 are extensive flour and gunpowder-mills, cotton-factories, &c. The 

 Philadelphia, Wilmington, and Baltimore railway passes through 

 iana. Delaware City, on the right bank of the Delaware, at the 

 entrancs of the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal, 28 miles N. from 

 Dover, though styled a city, is really a small village of about 60 

 dwelling-houses, warehouses, stores, &c. Georgetown, the capital of 

 t county, 34 miles S. by E. from Dover, contains the court- 

 house, jail, and other county building!!, and, with the surrounding 

 district, 2318 inhabitants. Newcastle, the port of entry and capital of 

 Newcastle county, stands on the Delaware, 31 miles N. from Dover : 

 population, 3500. Next to Wilmington, from which it is 5 miles 

 distant, Newcastle is the chief port of the state. It is an old town, 

 and wan formerly the capital of Delaware. It contains a court-house, 

 jail, market-house, arsenal, five churches, several schools, and a public 

 library of 4000 volumes. There is a large manufactory of steam- 

 engines, locomotives, Ac. The harbour is well protected by piers. 

 The shipping of the port in 1850 amounted to 7259 tons, of which 

 1345 tons were propelled by steam. The shipping is almost wholly 

 'engaged in the coasting-trade. Newcastle is connected by the Wil- 



mington ,lnd FrencUtown railway with those towns aad also with 

 Baltimore and Philadelphia. 



Government, Judicature, Education, &c. The right of voting belongs 

 to all free white male citizens, 21 years of age, who have resided one 

 year in the state, and one month in the county for which they offer to 

 vote. The legislative body, styled the General Assembly, consists of 

 a senate of 9 members elected for four years, and a house of repre- 

 sentatives, consisting of 21 members, elected annually. The governor 

 is elected for four years : his salary is 1333J dollars. 



The revenue from all sources for the year 1853 was 95,206 dollars, 

 the expenditure was 60,419 dollars. The state has no debt, and has 

 an invested capital of 350,637 dollars, and a school-fund of 435,505 

 dollars. The militia of the state is composed of 9229 men, of whom 

 447 are commissioned officers. 



The judiciary consists of a superior court, presided over by a chief- 

 justice and an associate-justice, with salaries of 1200 dollars a year 

 each, and two other associate-justices with salaries of 1000 dollars 

 each ; a court of chancery, presided over by a chancellor, with a salary 

 of 1100 dollars; and an orphans' court, presided over by the chancel- 

 lor and a judge of the superior court. The judges hold office during 

 good behaviour. 



In order to place a free school within reach of every family, 236 

 districts are laid off, numbered, and incorporated, in each of which a 

 school is maintained. The number of scholars (only white children 

 being admitted) was 10,230 in 1853. Besides these there are about 

 40 academies and grammar-schools in the state, and two colleges. 

 Delaware College, at Newark, had 6 professors in 1853, with 45 scholars, 

 and a library of 7500 volumes. St. Mary's Roman Catholic College, 

 at Wilmington, had 3 professors in 1850, and 107 students. Among 

 religious sects the Presbyterians are much the most numerous in 

 Delaware: in 1850 they had 42 ministers and 2600 members. The 

 Methodists are the next most numerous sect : there are also many 

 Episcopalians, Roman Catholics, Baptists, and Quakers. Eleven 

 newspapers are published in the state. 



This country was first settled by the Swedes, whom Gustavus 

 Adolphus sent there in 1637. In 1655 it passed into the hands of the 

 Dutch, who ceded it in 1664 to the English. Its name is derived 

 from Lord Delaware, the governor of Virginia, who in 1610 was the 

 first to enter the bay, which thence received his name. 



(Colton, Statistical Gazetteer of the United States, 1853 ; Hassell and 

 Smith; Darby; Warden; American Almanac, 1854, &c.) 



DELAWARE, a river in the United States, rises in the state of 

 New York, between 42 and 42 45' N. lat., and afterwards forms the 

 boundary-line between New York and New Jersey on one side, and 

 Pennsylvania and Delaware on the other side. It terminates its 

 course of 305 miles about 5 miles below Newcastle in Delaware, about 

 39 30' N. lat., and 75 40' W. long. 



The Delaware is formed by two branches, the principal of which, 

 called the Mohawks, issues from a small lake near the borders of 

 Schoharie county, New York, 42 45' N. lat., at an elevation of 

 1886 feet above the sea. The other branch is called the Papachton ; 

 both rise on the western declivity of the Catskill Mountains, hardly 

 30 miles from the tide-water in the Hudson River. Both branches 

 flow in a west-south-west direction for about 50 miles, and unite on 

 the boundary of Pennsylvania. The river, now called the Delaware, 

 flows south-east for about 60 miles to the junction of the Neversink 

 River. Hence it runs in a south-western and southern direction to 

 the junction of the Lehigh at Eastou, 65 miles, where it again turns 

 to the south-east. After a course of 35 miles in that direction to 

 Bordentown, it resumes its south-western course to the place where 

 it enters the Delaware Bay, 5 miles below Newcastle. The tide 

 ascends hi this river 120^miles from its mouth to the rapids at Trenton. 

 The frequent changes in its course are caused by four ridges of the 

 Appalachian Mountains, through which the river breaks in an oblique 

 line. In passing through the Kittaning or Blue range it traverses a 

 remarkable ravine, two miles long, known as Delaware Water Gap, 

 where the rocks rise precipitously 1600 feet from the edge of the 

 water, in many places scarcely leaving room for a road. Though in 

 its course above Trenton it forms 25 rapids within CO miles, having 

 a total fall of 165 feet, they are insufficient to prevent the navigation, 

 which at seasons of high water extends by both branches into the 

 state of New York. Ships of the line may ascend to Philadelphia, 

 45 miles above Delaware Bay, where the tide rises 5 or 6 feet, and 

 sloops as far as Trenton, 80 miles above the bay. 



The importance of this river has been greatly increased by the 

 discovery of extensive coal-beds near the sources of its two largest 

 tributaries, the Lehigh and Scluiylkill. The Lehigh joins the 

 Delaware at Easton, and the Schuylkill 5 miles below Philadelphia. 

 Though both these rivers, whose sources are between 1400 and 1500 

 feet above the sea, and whose course does not exceed 100 miles, are 

 extremely rapid, a great portion of their course has been rendered 

 navigable by dams and locks, so that the produce of the coal-mines 

 can be brought down to Philadelphia. 



The navigation of the Delaware River as noticed under DELAWARE 

 State, is united to that of Chesapeake Bay by the Chesapeake and 

 Delaware Canal, and they are further connected by the Newcastle and 

 French-town railway. The Delaware is united with the Hudson River 

 and the bays of New York by the Delaware and Hudson, the Morris, 



