The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1892-02-05
GROWTH OF GARRETT.

GROWTH OF GARRETT.
How Our Sister County 10 Going to
the Front.
The rapid growth of our sister
county of Garrett is attracting at
tention everywhere. Small as this
offspring of the loins of old Ale
gany is, it contains go square miles
of territory, with population of
14,213 in 1890. In 1880, it was
12,175. The Great Savage noun
tain, the backbone of the Allegha-
MES, crosses the county from north
to south, on the east side Of which
is the Maryland coal basin, one
third of which is in Garrett county.
West of the backbone and lying
0esUoen<1atn &1llA ~1l1Ez1x 1kou6-
tain, at an elevation OF $500 feet
above tidewater, is vast table land
covering an erea of 400 square
miles, one-third of which is glade
land, the finest part of the State for
grazing and stock raising. There
is no county in the State which
contains such valuable mineral de-
posits in coal, iron ore, fire clay and
limestone of superior quality. The
soil is a dark, rich loan, very pro-
ductive, and yields readily twenty
five bushels of wheat, forty bushels
of oats, forty to sixty bushels of
corn or 900 bushels of potatoes per
acre without fertilizers. The soil,
naturally good, is easily improved
and a coat of lime acts like a charm
on it.
The county is very sparsely set
tied and there is great deal of un-
cultivated land which may be bought
at from $3 to $40 per acre, while
the improved farms command $40
to $50 per acre.
! In later years, however, the farms
are being opened up, and number
of the most intelligent citizens of
the county are turning their atten-
ton to farming as a business, and
are raising, in addition to the crops
grown by their predecessors, large
amounts of wheat and corn, wool,
and making sugar and butter. Fa-
cilities for reaching the markets are
ample to all parts of the county, as
the Baltimore h Ohio runs through
the southern portion from east to
west for distance of thirty miles.
! On the Southern border the West
Virginia Central and Pittsburgh
runs for more than thirty miles,
and on the East is the Cumberland
and Pennsylvania railroad, and the
National turnpike traverses the
northern portion of the county for
twenty miles. The northern part
has access to the Pittsburgh
and Connellsville, branch of which
runs to Salisbury, located near the
Maryland and Pennsylvania line.
The large number of towns along
the railroads, especially along
Georges creek, in the mining re-
gion, furnish good markets for
nearly all the produce raised in the
county.
improvements in labor-saving
machinery and farming implements
are keeping pace with the general
advance along the agricultural line,
and nearly every farmer is provided
with reapers, mowers, grain drills.
as well as improved plows, harrows
and other utensils. Stock-raising
is one of the leading industries, and
the farmers are constantly intro
ducing new breeds of animals for
the purpose of improving their
stock.
Manufactures in Garrett county
do not amount to much, and are
limited to two or three wooden fac
tories, tanneries, "a few lumber mills,
etc. Its future lies in its capacity
for agricultural products, and not
in the prospect of becoming a man
ufacturing community. The time
is not far distant when it will be a
great agricultural county. The
amount of mercantile business done
annually in the towns would, pro-
badly, reach $500, 900.
Nowhere is her prosperity more
cordially estimated and generally
desired than in old Allegany.-
! Cumberland Times.
Marriage Licenses.