Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1915-12-05

There are still great deposits Of maris
in the county.
A good many years ago Prince
Georges county had the Oil and nat
ural gas fever. Although everybody
who went into the oil and gas bust
ness in the county lost money. yet
small amounts of gas and oil have
been observed in some places during
the sinking of wells and in the vicin-
ity of streams where there Is seepage
one mile south of Meadows, in Prince
Georges county, and although a depth
of 1911 feet was reached and the
crystalline rocks probably struck only
Biologists have written that 1t is not
probable that either petroleum or nat
ural gas in paying quantities will be
found within the limits of the county
The county town. Upper Marlboro. is
not busy place except on certain
court days, and tourists may find thrills
there if they happen to be interested I'm
the early history of the state and coun-
ty. Many tourists go there by auto
mobile from Washington. The main
road between Washington and Marl-
boro has been vastly improved within
the last year or two and automobiles
make the trip in much less time than
the village can he reached by trains
travelling on their usual schedule. The
Pope's Creek branch of the Pennsyl.
vania railroad from Bowie. on the main
line. to Pope's creek, on the Potomac
river, has station called Upper Mari.
boro about one mile northeast of the
court square of the village, and the
Chesapeake Beach railroad, running
from the District line at the east cor.
ner of the District to the bay has .
station about half a mile west of the
court square. Marlboro is built mainly
around the courthouse and in that dis
trict are the hotels. the bank. the Of
fees of lawyers and physicians, the Of
and close by are two fine old churches
st. Mary's (Catholic) and Trinity
(EpiscopaD. Marlboro stands close
upon Western branch, a stream which
has secured deep gorge through the
sandy soil of tie region and which
falls into the Patuxent river about
three miles southeast of Marlboro.
Laurel. which is the largest town in
the county. and lies at the northeast
boundary. is to quite degree sub
urb of Washington. 1t bears this char
acter. and is increasing it's suburban
relation because of the ease of COM
munication between it and the cap
ital. 1t is stop for nearly all Balti.
more and Ohio trains between Wash.
ington and Baltimore. Laurel is the
terminus of the trolley line which
passes through lexington. Hyattsville,
Riverdale. College Park, Lakeland Ber-
wyn, Branchville. Beltsvile and Muirkir,,.
Cars marked Treasury run from the
steep slope which leads down to
the PatuNent river. The Washington
Baltimore boulevard passes through
the center of Laurel. Standing fl
Laurel man might throw stone
across the PatuXent into Howard coun-
ty, or by throwing a little to the east
ward he could cast the stone into Anne
Arundel county.
BY following the main east and west
street of Laurel, which is Main street,
a walk of something between two and
three miles would carry one over the
boundary between Prince Georges and
Montgomery counties Main street Is
lined on both sides for several squares
with shops, but east and west of the
business district homes face that street.
These homes, for the most part, are set
back from the street and have ample
handsome places in Laurel, and in the
county nearby. All the larger Chris
tian denominations have churches
there. There are two banks which
serve the people in four counties for
number of miles around. There is a
large flour mill in operation, and an
other of the industrial activities is a
shirt factory. "~
Once extensive cotton mills were op-
Grated at Laurel and the great stone
mill buildings are there still and are
maintained in a complete state of re-
pair, but no machinery whirrs and
throbs in them. That cotton manufac-
turing was not found to be profitable
on that part of the Patuxent is said
lot to have been the fault of Laurel.