The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1902-07-10
Lack of Railway Lines, 1t Is Claimed,
Has Been an impeachment
to Development.
POTOMAC RIVER BASIN THE SOURCE
Over 400 Square Miles of Coal In arrett
County, Much of Which Has Not Yet
Been Developed-The East Consumes
Greater Part of the Product

20 miles long and averaging five miles
in width, and cover over 400 square
miles of Garrett county
They are discussed in the annual
report of the Geological Survey, now
in press, by David White, who notes
the excellent work of the biologists
of the Maryland Geological Survey.
The coal measures lie in three broad
northeast southwest basins. The
eastermost is the Potomac basin,
called locally the Frostburg, the
Georges Creek, the Elk Garden and
the Upper Potomac basins. North
of the Potomac this basin lies in Al
legany and Garrett counties; south of
Piedmont nearly all of the western
half of the basin is in Garrett county.
By reason of the depth and accessi-
bility of its coal, and of its geograph
zeal advantage with reference to tide
water and eastern markets, the Po-
tomac basin is by far the most impor-
tant of the three main basins, as its
Big or Pittsburg bed is the chief
source of coal in Maryland.
Savage and Meadow mountains sep
arate the Potomac basin from the
second or Casselman basin in north
ern Garrett county, which is drained
by the Casselman river. The third
or Youghiogheny basin includes
Lower Youghiogheny basin, in the
northwestern, and an Upper Yough-
iogheny basin in the western part of
Garrett county. Both of these two
main basins are but little developed
commercially from lack of railway
facilities.
The coal beds sufficiently thick to
deserve mention are the Bloomington
or Railroad coal, in Garrett county,
from one to nearly three feet thick
the Mount Savage coal, Allegany
county, averaging about two feet
thick, extracted and used at the clay
mines for firing the brick; the West
ernport or Two-foot coal, Allegany
county, averaging from two to three
feet thick; the Bluebaugh coal in
northeastern Georges Creek district,
Allegany, over FIVE feet thick in
places, but variable; the Parker coal,
Allegany, ranging from few inches
to nearly five feet in thickness near
Warrior Run; the Davis or Six-foot
seam in the Georges Creek district,
which thickens as it goes nearly nine
feet near the corner of the State; the
Thomas or Three-foot coal, running
from about three feet thick in the
Georges Creek district to 5! feet at
Bayard and exceeding six feet at Fair
fax Knob; the Barton coal, from % to
81 feet thick in the Georges Creek
district-a valuable source of fuel for
eventual exploitation; the dirty nine
foot vein, varying from over two feet
to over 10 feet in thickness, though
generally of no Importance; the Elk
Garden or Fourteen-foot bed, Allie
gany county, varying from five feet
north of Frostburg to about nine or
ten feet south of Homecoming, to over
IA feet of workable coal near Frank
lin and to about 90 feet at Elk Gar
den.
This is the fuel known to the trade
as Cumberland coal, one of the high
est known grades of semi bituminous
steam coal, running south past Pied
mont into Garrett county 1t is
largely exhausted except in the region
of Frostburg. This bed has an area
of about 80 square miles. The Tyson
or Gas bed is reported as ranging from
four feet thick near Homecoming to
about seven feet at Franklin, Allie
gany; the Koontz bed in the Georges
Creek district varies from five feet to
over seven feet in thickness, but is
much broken up.
The Cumberland coal cokes salts
factorily, though on account Of the
greater profit in the raw fuel no coke
is now made.
The Big or Elk Garden bed in the
Georges Creek and Frostburg dis
tricts was one of the earliest of the
Northern bituminous seams to be
worked. Coal has been extracted
near Frostburg since about 1904,
though not until 1880 was it shipped
east in barges on the Potomac river.
The commercial exploitation of the
coal developed rapidly after the con-
struction of the Baltimore and Ohio
railroad, in 1S42, and was further pro
NOTED by the completion of the Ches-
apeake and Ohio canal, in 1850.
Maryland, ranking eleventh among
the producing states, had an out
put i'll 1900 of 1924, 6S8 short tons,
valued at $3,937, 1881. Much the greater
part of this coal came from Elk Gar
den bed, most of the remainder being
obtained from the Days and Thomas
beds along the Upper Potomac in
Garrett county.
With the exhaustion of the Big bed
the indications are that the thin beds