The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1870-12-17
For The Cecil Wing.
From Baltimore to Cumberland.

|
| Leaving Baltimore by the B. & O. Rail
| road, at A. NJ, we were soon passing
through hills and fields composed of clay
and sand, covered mostly with pine and
scrub-oaks. What appears to be an ex-
hausted tobacco field, is noticed on one side,
which bears no marks of having been
plowed for several years, but is dotted all
over with barns or drying houses. Here is
room for work and manure to restore the
wasted fertility.
| At Washington Junction, seven miles
out, the ROAD strikes the Patapsco, which
it follows in its serpentine course, shut in
on all sides by hills, for about twenty miles.
Near the thriving town of Ellicott City,
| some vineyards have been started on the
precpitous hills.
The marks of the great freshet that
swept through Baltimore two years or more
ago are very plainly to be seen here. Trees
twenty feet or more in height are bent like
grass, and piles of drift wood are lying
thickly strewn on land, apparently twenty
feet above present low water mark.
Near Mount Airy the railroad leaves the
PatapSco and strikes stream running into
the Monocacy, which valley it crosses at
right angles. Here the branch to Freder-
lick leaves the main road. Every indication
marks the valley of the Monocacy as one
of the best agricultural regions of the
State. At Ellicott City are granite quar-
ries, and here on the Menocacy slate crops
out, and the soil and stone bear striking
similarity to those on the Susquehanna.
Between Hagerstown junction and Har-
per's Ferry, one track was blocked up by
the wreck, caused by a collision of freight
trains at o'clock in the morning, and our
train had to weight few miles east, while
the eastern bound trains passed on the only
clear track The freight trains on this
road run on schedules, as they are called
about six trains Of twenty cars each, run
ming close together, and this accident had
been caused by the locomotive running into
the rear car of the preceding train, which
threw the engine from the track and sent
it head foremost down the bank, nearly
into the canal. The train from the oppo-
site direction ran into the wreck before it
could be stopped, and threw that engine
from the track, but without doing it any
serious damage. No one was killed by the
accidents, but one locomotive was in very
undesirable position. 1t resembled some
huge elephant that had gone down to the
canal to drink.
Beyond the wreck were fourteen trains
waiting to pass. After reaching the Poto-
mac the first marks Of the late war are
noticed. The abutments of the bridge
that once spanned the river at Point of
Rocks, and the walls of burned factories
tell the story of war.
At Harper's Ferry the Potomac is crossed
on an iron bridge that is rather novelty
in bridge architecture. The railroad has
to make two sharp curves on the bridge,
and it has to be built to correspond. The
track turns SO quickly that it throws
large extra strain on the structure, which
is braced on both sides by powerful iron
bars. To add to the complication, the
Winchester branch joins the main stem
about the middle of the stream.
Here are the ruins of the Z. S. Armory,
and the house was pointed out where old
John Brown was captured. The hills all
about here will long be remembered by
many of our Maryland soldiers as the scene
of many thrilling and oft-painful recollec-
tions.
But short distance above the town the
railroad leaves the river and ascends the
Hill to Martinsburg, Va. The country
improves in appearance after leaving the
rock-bound river, and begins to show signs
of natural fertility. Martinsburg, as many
of your readers are aware, is the site of
extensive machine and repair shops, belong
ing to the B. & o. Railroad Co., and is
general rendezvous for locomotives and
other rolling stock. They were all destroyed
by the war, but have been built up new in
a very substantial manner.
This is a limestone region, and there are
marble quarries now being worked near the
railroad. Like every other limestone re-
gion the soil is good, but so rocky in places
as to preclude the use of moving machines.
ln,. %. 1ol
rock running as regularly and as straight
across as winrows in bayfield,.
Beyond Martinsburg the railroad descends
again to the level of the Potomac, passing
in sight of Hancock, on the Maryland side.
Near this place are quarries where hydraulic
cement is being dug OF quarried and pre-
pared for market.
From the time the river is reached, and
on as far as the Potomac extends, the road
is constructed along its bank, with two
exceptions, where sharp curves are avoided
by tunneling the hill. At one place the
distance is % miles by the river, and IA in
straight line. Here the canal on the
Maryland side leaves the main stream, fol-
lowing up branch, and then running
through a tunnel about one mile long, thus
cutting off this IA miles.
Following the windings of the river,
sIlul LII oi Ill SltieS ny Hills fuU W OUU leeI
high, there is no diversity of scenery, other
than rocks and forests.
The timber is dwarf and of little value.
The rocks, lying in distorted strata, show
plain marks of their ancient volcanic
upheaval. Seams that were once horizon
tai, now dip at an angle of full 70 degrees,
and in some places are nearly perpendicu-
lar. The rocks are mostly of an ancient
sandstone formation, which is generally
supposed to be of aqueous origin.
At Cumberland the cement crops out
again, lying on top of this old sandstone.
We had an opportunity of here examining
the rock of which the article is made
The stone is composed chemically of car
Donate of lime and clay in certain proper
tions, which, on being burnt and ground,
forms the hydraulic cement used i'll build
ings, &c. Here is the terminus of the
Chesapeake & Ohio Canal, and the coal
from the mines above, is here loaded into
boats. 1t is this and the trade of the rail
roads centreing here, that has made this a
thriving town.