_Manufactures._--Although Maine has no coal and only a very small
amount of iron ore within her borders for the encouragement of
manufacturing, yet the abundance of fine timber and the numerous
coves, bays and navigable streams along or near the coast promoted
ship-building from the first, and this was the leading industry of the
state until about the middle of the 19th century, when wooden ships
began to be supplanted by those of iron and steel. Until about the
same time, when the Maine liquor law was passed, the manufacture of
rum from molasses, received in exchange for lumber and fish in the
West Indies, was also an important industry. It was not until early in
the 19th century that the large and constant supply of water power
afforded by the rivers began to be used to any considerable extent.
The first cotton mill was built at Brunswick on the Androscoggin about
1809, and from 1830 the development of cotton manufacturing was rapid;
woollen mills followed, and late in the 19th century were erected some
of the largest paper and pulp mills in the country, which are run by
water power from the rivers, and use the spruce and poplar timber in
the river basins. The total value of the manufactures of the state
increased from $95,689,500 in 1890 to $127,361,485 in 1900; and in
1905 the value of factory-made products alone was $144,020,197, or
27.5% greater than their value in 1900.[3] Measured by the value of
the output, paper and wood pulp rose from fifth among the state's
manufactures in 1890 to third in 1900 and to first in 1905; from
$3,281,051 in 1890 to $13,223,275 in 1900, an increase of 303% within
the decade, and to $22,951,124 in 1905, a further increase of 73.6% in
this period. Lumber and timber products ranked second
(1905)--$11,849,654 in 1890, $13,489,401 in 1900, and $17,937,683 in
1905. Cotton goods ranked third (1905) in value--$15,316,909 in 1890,
$14,631,086 in 1900, and $15,404,823 in 1905. Woollen goods ranked
fourth (1905)--$8,737,653 in 1890, $13,744,126 in 1900, an increase of
57.3% within the decade; and the value of the factory-made product
alone in 1905 was $13,969,600, or 20.1% greater than in 1900. Boots
and shoes ranked fifth (1905)--$12,295,847 in 1900, and $12,351,293 in
1905. Fish, canned and preserved, followed next, $1,660,881 in 1890
and $4,779,773 in 1900, an increase within the decade of 187.8%, most
of which was in one branch--the canning of small herring under the
name "sardines"; from 1900 to 1905 the increase was slight, only
$275,358, or 5.8%. In the value of its manufactures as compared with
those of the other states of the Union, in wooden ships and boats,
Maine in 1900 and in 1905 was outranked by New York only; in canned
and preserved fish by Washington only (the value of fish canned and
preserved in Maine in 1900 was 21.7% of the total for the United
States, and in 1905 19.2%); in the output of woollen mills by
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