The economic interests of Los Angeles centre in the culture of fruits. The surrounding country is very fertile when irrigated, producing oranges, lemons, figs and other semi-tropical fruits. Thousands of artesian wells have been bored, the region between Los Angeles, Santa Clara and San Bernardino being one of the most important artesian well regions of the world. The city, which then got its water supply from the Los Angeles river bed, in 1907 authorized the issue of $23,000,000 worth of 4% bonds for the construction of an aqueduct 209 m. long, bringing water to the city from the Owens river, in the Sierra Nevada Mountains. It was estimated that the project would furnish water for one million people, beside supplying power for lighting, manufacturing and transportation purposes. All the water in excess of the city's actual needs may be employed for irrigation. Work on the aqueduct was begun in 1908, and it was to be completed in five years. From 1900 to 1905 the value of the factory products increased from $15,133,696 to $34,814,475 or 130%, and the capital employed in manufactures from $10,045,095 to $28,181,418 or 180.5%. The leading manufacturing industries in 1905, with the product-value of each in this year, were slaughtering and meat-packing ($4,040,162), foundry and machine shop work ($3,146,914), flour and grist milling ($2,798,740), lumber manufacturing and planing ($2,519,081), printing and publishing (newspapers and periodicals, $2,097,339; and book and job printing, $1,278,841), car construction and repairing ($1,549,836)--in 1910 there were railway shops here of the Southern Pacific, Pacific Electric, Los Angeles Street, Salt Lake and Santa Fé railways--and the manufacture of confectionery ($953,915), furniture ($879,910) and malt liquors ($789,393). The canning and preserving of fruits and vegetables are important industries. There is a large wholesale trade with southern California, with Arizona and with the gold-fields of Nevada, with which Los Angeles is connected by railway. Los Angeles is a port of entry, but its foreign commerce is relatively unimportant. The value of its imports increased from $721,705 in 1905 to $1,654,549 in 1907; in 1908 the value was $1,193,552. The city's exports were valued at $45,000 in 1907 and at $306,439 in 1908. The coastwise trade is in lumber (about 700,000,000 ft. annually), shipped from northern California, Oregon and Washington, and in crude oil and general merchandise. There are rich oil-fields N. and W. of the city and wells throughout the city; petroleum is largely employed as fuel in factories. The central field, the Second Street Park field in the city, was developed between 1892 and 1895 and wells were drilled farther E. until in 1896 the eastern field was tapped with wells at Adobe and College streets; the wells within the city are gradually being abandoned.