STATES AND TERRITORIES—CONNECTICUT.    37

abundance, all the varieties of products common to the climate. Nearly every description of
grain, flax, hemp, hay, potatoes, and garden vegetables of all kinds, are among the m®st pro-
fuse of the agricultural products; orchards are also numerous, yielding apples, peaches,
cherries, plums, and other fruits peculiar to this region.

Climate. — No portion of New England, contiguous to the sea-coast, possesses a more salu-
brious climate than Connecticut. The raw easterly blasts, which annoy all residents upon the
shores of Maine and Massachusetts, become greatly softened before reaching the southerly
border of this state. It is true that near the coast the weather is variable, and sudden changes
of temperature occur, in accordance with the direction of the sea or land breezes; but, in the
interior, these fluctuations are far less frequent, the temperature becomes steady, and the
climate healthful in consequence.

Rivers. — Connecticut is finely watered by the noble river whence its name is derived,
by the Thames, Housatonic, Naugatuck, and numerous smaller streams, affording extraordi-
nary facilities fop commercial and manufacturing operations. Numerous bays and creeks
penetrate its shore, affording commodious harbors: that at New London, one of the best in
the United States, has a depth of 30 feet of water. Brooks and springs, of the purest water,
abound throughout the interior. Several mineral springs exist in the state, especially at Stafford
and Suffield, which have acquired much celebrity.

Internal Improvements. — There are numerous railroads completed within the. state, com-
prising an aggregate extent of somewhat over 500 miles ; others extend in various directions,
into or out of the state ; and others still are in process of construction. Indeed, all requisite
means for the extension of intercourse, and the promotion of internal and external commerce,
are amply and generously provided, wherever and whenever the necessity becomes apparent;
such is the vigilant spirit of enterprise and industry which is constantly stimulating this people
to works of general improvement and utility.

Minerals. — Iron ore, of various qualities, is obtained in several parts of the state. The
town of Salisbury, bordering on Massachusetts and New York, is celebrated for its valuable
iron mines. The ore procured in this region possesses a peculiarly tenacious property,
admirably adapted to the manufacture of wire, anchors, and other articles wherein firmness
and flexibility, without brittleness, are desirable. It has been worked for upwards of one
hundred years, and the supply still seems inexhaustible, many thousand tons being extracted
annually. Stafford, near the southern line of Massachusetts, abounds in bog-iron ore, of ex-
cellent quality, suited to the manufacture of fine hollow-ware, and other castings. Marble of
different kinds abounds in Milford, at the junction of the Housatonic with Long Island Sound.
A quarry of serpentine, or “verde antique," of very beautiful texture, has been wrought for
some time with much success. Vast quantities of reddish sandstone, much used in New York
and other cities for building purposes, are quarried in Chatham, Portland, &.C., on the Con-
necticut. Copper ore is found in Granby, in certain caverns about 50 feet in depth, called the
Simsbury mines — once employed, for some forty years, as a prison, but now more liberally
used for mining purposes. Another copper deposit has been discovered at Orange, near New
Haven, where also a vein of silver was struck some years since, which, however, yielded too
little to be deemed worth working. But few indications of coal are found in the state.

Manufactures. — The citizens of this state enjoy, in an eminent degree, the rare faculty of
combining their great home interests — those of agriculture, commerce, and manufactures —
in such manner as to make them happily support and advance each other. The products of their
fields and forests, their orchards and dairies, their mines and quarries, are all subjects of
domestic or foreign trade; or are made to contribute in some way, either as raw material, or
as means of exchange, to the improvement and growth of then^- numerous branches of mechan-
ical industry. Although the traffic of Connecticut, especially the coasting trade, is extensive,
in comparison with that of other states of like magnitude, her manufactures are of still greater
extent. Establishments for the conversion of her unwrought products, of all descriptions, into
articles fit for practical use, abound, and are still multiplying, throughout the state, together
with others, for operating in like manner upon the imported products of other states anti

Hartford^CT^rf⁶    °^f    b*    ^John Hayward.

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