WEST VIRGINIA 



ginia had a greater percentage of native-born 

 population than any other state in the Union. 



The industrial development of the state has 

 caused a steady increase in the population, and 

 in 1910, with 1,221,119 inhabitants, it ranked 

 twenty-eighth in population among the states. 

 The average number of inhabitants per square 

 mile was 50.8, a density which is exceeded in 

 only fourteen >tau-s. The estimated popula- 

 tion on January 1, 1917, was 1,399.320. There 

 are over 64.000 negroes, but only 4.7 per cent 

 of the population is foreign bora. Of the for- 

 eigners, Italians, Austrians, Germans, Hungari- 

 ans, Russians, English, Irish and Scotch are 

 most numerous. 



Although only 18.7 per cent of the population 

 is urban, the number and size of the cities are 

 steadily increasing. According to a Federal 

 estimate in 1916 Huntington, the largest city, 

 had over 45,000 inhabitants, and Wheeling had 

 more than 43,000. Other important cities are 

 Charleston, the capital; Parkersburg, Bluefield 

 and Martinsburg. 



Among the religious bodies, the Methodists 

 have the greatest number of adherents; other 

 prominent denominations are the Baptists, Ro- 

 man Catholics, Presbyterians, Disciples of 

 Christ and Lutherans. 



Education. The school system is organized 

 on the district plan, and is under the adminis- 

 tration of a state superintendent. Free educa- 

 tion is provided for all of school age, and for 

 children between the ages of eight and fourteen 

 years education is compulsory. Separate 

 schools are maintained for white and colored 

 pupils, and about three-fourths of the total 

 school population is enrolled. In 1910, 8.3 per 

 cent of the inhabitants were unable to read 

 and write, this proportion being lower than that 

 in any others of the Southern states except 

 Maryland and Delaware. Agricultural education 

 has been introduced into the rural schools and 

 into many of the high schools, and the state 

 extension department of agriculture has estab- 

 lished extension schools in several counties and 

 has organized boys' and girls' clubs throughout 

 the state. 



There is a state supervisor of high schools, 

 appointed by the superintendent, and as a re- 

 sult of the recent campaign for more secondary 

 schools there are about 150 high schools in the 

 state. Preparatory schools affiliated with the 

 university are maintained at Keyser, Mont- 

 gomery and Morgantown; there are state nor- 

 mal schools for white teachers at Athens, Hunt- 

 ington, Fairmont, West Liberty, Glenville and 



WEST VIRGINIA 



Shepherdstown, and training schools for col- 

 ored teachers at Bluefield, Institute and Har- 

 per's Ferry. The state university is located at 

 Morgantown and includes agricultural and me- 

 chanical colleges. Prominent private institu- 

 tions of higher education are Allegheny Col- 

 legiate Institute at Alderson, Bethany College 

 at Bethany, Broaddus Institute at Clarksburg, 

 Davis and Elkins College at Elkins, Lewisburg 

 Seminary at Lewisburg, Linsly Institute at 

 Wheeling, Morris Harvey College at Barbours- 

 ville, Salem College at Salem, and West Vir- 

 ginia Wesleyan University at Buckhannon. 



Charities and Corrections. At the beginning 

 of its statehood West Virginia had no chari- 

 table or reformatory institutions within its 

 boundaries, but generous provision is now 

 made for the care of the defective and de- 

 pendent classes. There are hospitals for the in- 

 sane at Huntington, Spencer and Weston; 

 miners' hospitals at Fairmont, McKendree and 

 Welsh; a hospital for incurables at Hunting- 

 ton; a tuberculosis sanitarium at Terra Alta, 

 and a school for the deaf, dumb and blind at 

 Romney. The penal institutions include an 

 industrial home for girls at Salem, one for boys 

 at Pruntytown, and a penitentiary at Mounds- 

 ville. 



The Land. A lover of West Virginia has de- 

 scribed it thus: 



Secured against Atlantic's chilly blast 

 By Alleghany's steadfast mountain crest, 

 It slopes through hill and dale and meadow vast 

 To where a noble river on the west 

 Laves a low strand. 



The state has been termed "a realm of beauti- 

 ful modulations," and may be divided into four 

 mountainous or rolling regions: the Potomac 

 valley in the northeast panhandle, the Alle- 

 ghany plateau, the Cumberland plateau and 

 the Ohio valley. The broad, rolling meadows 

 of the Potomac and Shenandoah valleys gradu- 

 ally rise from an elevation of only 260 feet 

 above the sea at Harper's Ferry, on the ex- 

 treme eastern border, to the wooded foothills 

 of the Alleghanies, which extend from north- 

 east to southwest across the eastern half of the 

 state.- Here regular mountain folds rise one 

 above another or extend in parallel ridges, their 

 rounded, domelike peaks separated by a net- 

 work of broad valleys. Spruce Knob, in Pen- 

 dleton County, 4,860 feet in height, is the high- 

 est point in the state, and with the surrounding 

 peaks is known as the "birthplace of rivers." 



In the Cumberland plateau the valleys nar- 

 row into deep gorges, and rocky precipices 



