CONNECTICUT 



1545 



CONNECTICUT 



OUTLINE MAP OP CONNECTICUT 



Showing boundaries, principal waterways and leading cities, quarrying locations, and the highest 

 point of land in the state. 



manufactures brought the little state to twelfth 

 in rank, according to the United States census 

 of 1910. In an early day some scheming manu- 

 facturers made and sold wooden nutmegs, and 

 the fraud gave to Connecticut the name of 

 NUTMEG STATE. Yet because of the solid char- 

 acteristics of its people it has also been called 

 the LAND OF STEADY HABITS. The word Con- 

 necticut is of Indian origin and means long 

 river. The mountain laurel is the state flower. 



It is nearly one-third larger than Delaware 

 and Rhode Island together, covering about 

 4,965 square miles, but has only about three- 

 fourths as many people as the city of Philadel- 

 phia. It supports a population of 1,114,756 

 people (census 1910), averaging 231 to the 

 square mile; the Census Bureau estimated the 

 number of people in 1917 to be 1,254,926. Only 

 Rhode Island, Massachusetts and New Jersey, 

 in the order named, have greater density of 

 population. 



Location and Land Surface. This irregularly- 

 rectangular state lies on Long Island Sound, 

 with New York on the west; it is bounded on 

 the north by Massachusetts and on the east 

 by Rhode Island. Most of the state is some- 

 what rough, with three important river-valleys. 

 The central one, the Connecticut Valley, is 



the most fertile, containing about 600 square 

 miles of good, low, flat land, above which rise 

 the Hanging Hills, near Meriden. In the east- 

 ern part of the state is the valley of the 

 Thames. The Housatonic-Naugatuck system 

 of rivers is in the western portion of the state 

 where, too, lies the southern continuation of 

 the Berkshire Hills. In the northwest corner 

 are a number of low mountains, Bear Mountain 

 in Salisbury with an altitude of 2,355 feet being 

 the highest; Gridley, Riga, Bradford and But- 

 ton mountains are also of interest. Through- 

 out the state are numerous small lakes and 

 many little rivers, the latter of which, with 

 their falls and rapids, furnish power to great 

 industries. The coast of Connecticut is irreg- 

 ular, with here a rocky point, there a sandy 

 beach, and occasionally a good harbor. 



Climate. Owing to winds from the west and 

 southwest the climate is subject to sudden 

 changes, but these winds temper the severe 

 winters and hot summers. The pleasantest 

 season is autumn, though the northwestern hills 

 and the rocky seacoast are frequented all the 

 summer by visitors from New York and 

 near-by cities. The rainfall is sufficient every- 

 where for agricultural purposes, therefore irri- 

 gation is practically unknown. * 



