Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1904-06-01
METHUSELAH CARNEY,
Aged Nine Months.
1900 AND 1903.
The Growth of the United States Since
the First Census

|
| The first census of the United States
was taken in 1890 under a law signed
by President Washington on the LIST of
March Of that year. a description of it
and Of the methods since adopted is now
published by the census bureau.
In March, 1890, the Union consisted of
only twelve states, for Rhode Island was
not admitted till the following May. The
! next year, before the results OF the
census were announced, Vermont was
ADDED. Maine was then q part of Massa-
chusetts, Kentucky part of Virginia
and Alabama and Mississippi were parts
OF Georgia. Ohio, Indiana, Illinois,
Michigan, Wisconsin and a part Of Min
nesota made up the Northwest Territory,
as 1t was then known, and Tennessee. then
4 part of South Carolina, was soon to
be organized as the Southwest Territory
VI the whole area of the United States,
| than S27, S44 square miles, only 239, $50
| square miles were settled. Western New
York was Il wilderness. West Of the
Allegheny mountains, the country was
unsettled and scarcely penetrated, with
! the exception Of a small part Of Ken
| lucky. Detroit was hamlet SO small
that 1t was not included III the first
! census. Philadelphia was the capital of
! the Union. Washington was only a city
| on paper, not even named.
The Mississippi river bounded the
! United States on the west. Fhe Louisi-
ana Purchase, celebrated by the st.
! Louis exposition, was not completed till
more than Il decade afterward, and in
! 1870 that territory belonged to the King
OF Spain. st. Louis now a city Of more
than 100000 inhabitants. was not even
q traders outpost. At the south the ter
ritory known as the Floridas was an
other Spanish colony. To Spain belonged
also Texas, which was part of Mexico,
and the territory now divided into Cali
! fornla, Utah, Arizona and New Mexico
The population of the United States in
1870 was 3,929,326, or about the present
/ population Of the city of New York
alone. Generally there were either no
roads at all or they were poor The
journey from New York to Washington
took eight days Transportation was by
| stage or private coach or on horseback
1t is curious to note that besides these
| obstacles the marshals in taking the
| census had to encounter much opposition
/ on religious grounds, based on Scriptural
warnings against enumerating the CHI
dren of Israel.
In 1870 Virginia. with 1860 in
habitants, was the most populous state
of the Union. Then came in this order
the other more popuious states:
PENNSYLVANIA 434,373 S. Carolina 249073
| \. Carolina. 1875 Connecticut. 2379I6
| Ma cnuSettS 3iS,ISI New Jersey. 1874 139
| New York. $40 20 n Ha'pshire 141 $50
| Maryland.... 80, 72S
Since 1870 the area of the United
| States has increased from S27.S4 to
1922, 933 square miles. The population
Of the Union in 1903, as estimated by the
census bureau, was T9.900,3S9, these be-
ing the twelve largest states:
New York. 1859, 81 Ma'chusetts 1874, O21
Penn lvania 6606, 147 Indiana. -. 2614 22}
! Illinois. 5,117,036 Michigan 251O.647
! Ohio. ...... 4302. SEQ Iowa $500 1886 asa
| Texas. ..... 3.2SJ.474 Georgia. . 1886 40
! Missouri. 3221.214 Kentucky. . 23O,619
Only four of these existed as states in
1870. Together they contained in 1903
according to this estimate. 45,201 ,4S3 in
habitants. Even in 1870 the whole pop
ulation of the Union was only 3S,55S.371.
| In 1860, the year before the Civil war.
it was only 81, 1873, IA. At present the
population outside Of the twelve states
is 5.69S, COG. The cities with an esti-
mated population in 1903 exceeding half
a million were:
New York 3,716,139 ST. Louis. 612.279
! Chicago. 1873, $50 Boston. -. 594, 61S
Phia elphia 1,367,716 Baltimore. 531 ,313
Those six cities had a combined popu-
lation of S,695,945. The population of
the eleven states of the old Southern
Confederacy was only 1896, 24S in 1860.
-Nayy York Suu