48 was
the state independent in this respect. The high cost of coal, the
speculative attractions of mining, and the high wages of labour,
handicapped the development of manufactures in early years. The first
continued to be a drag on such industries, until after 1895 the
increasing use of crude petroleum obviated the difficulty. Several
remarkable electric power and lighting plants utilize the water power of
the mountains.[4] Geographic isolation has somewhat fostered state
industries. The value of gross manufactured products increased 41.9%
from 1890 to 1900. In the latter year California ranked 12th among the
states in the gross value of all manufactures ($302,874,761); the
per-capita value of manufactured and agricultural products being
$293,--$89 of the latter, $204 of the former. Of the wage-earners 61%
were engaged in manufacturing. Fourteen industries represented from 41%
to 45% of the employees, wages, capital and product of the aggregate
manufacturers of the state. The leading ones in order of importance and
the value of product in millions of dollars were: the manufacture of
railway, foundry, and machine shop products (19.6 million dollars),
lumber and timber industries (18.57), sugar and molasses refining
(15.91), beef slaughtering (15.72), canning and preserving (13.08),
flour and grist milling (13.10), the manufacture of malt, vinous and
distilled liquors (9.26), leather industries (7.40), printing and
publishing (6.86). In the second, third and fifth of these industries
the state ranked respectively fifth, fourth and first in the Union.[5]
The canning and preserving of fruits and vegetables is in the main an
industry of the northern and central counties. In 1890 the state board
of forestry estimated that the redwood forests were in danger of
exhaustion by 1930. The redwood is a general utility lumber second only
to the common white pine, and the drain on the woods has been continuous
since 1850. The wood has a fine, straight and even grain; and though
light and soft, is firm and extremely durable, lying, it is
authoritatively asserted, for centuries in the forest without
appreciable decay. It takes a beautiful polish. The colour varies from
cedar colour to mahogany. A small southern belt in San Mateo, Santa
Clara and Santa Cruz counties is not being commercially exploited. The
annual lumber cut from 1898-1903 averaged more than 663,348,000 ft.; of
the 852,638,000 ft. cut in 1903, 465,460,000 were of redwood