The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1922-11-09
BIG COAL BOOM SEENCOM-
ING TO GARRETT COUNTY
Corner of Maryland Underlaid
With Valuable Deposits

writing from Oakland said in the col
umns of his paper the following day:
Driving from Oakland to Crellin
yesterday, the attention Of the Sun
reporter was called to an outcropping
of soft coal right beside the State
road. A little farther on, another,
then another. Garrett county has
coal for a foundation, and wherever
one goes, he sees coaL. In this, the
largest, even though it is the young
est county in Maryland, there is more
coal, and it is almost safe to say bet
ter coal, than in any other county of
the State. There are a few approx
mate figures that may astound the
average Marylander.
In Garrett county there are 1885,
400 acres, Is per cent of which covers
coal-that is, 328,S00 acres. In half
dozen locations the price paid for the
privilege of mining under farm or
home was $500 an acre. Now, if we
move the decimal on that $500 back
two places, we have the value of the
under side of Garrett Of $32, $4,000
For farming purposes the land is
worth $1O,9O2, 0S1, or $23.72 per acre.
The average farm is 1852 cres.Again
multiply by $500 per acre, and see
what coal means in the average Of
cases-$13, 52O to each farmholder.
For the whole time of its short eX-
istence, Oakland, until 1915, depended
upon the Georges Greek region in
Allegany county, for its coal. When
the World War broke, something had
to be done to keep the home fires
burning and the citizens OF Garrett
began to dig coal like potatoes in the
garden. They will tell you today that
each chap made sure that neither his
n-ighbor, nor his neighbor's wife, nor
his children were watching him as he
entered the mining business. They felt
ike darn FOOLS" one of them said
But they didn't turn out to be fools,
for close to the surface they began
digging splendid mother coal with
no gas, coal lying in veins four,
and even eight feet thick, with a re-
markabla freedom from dirt or slate
50 long as the big veins of the
Georges Creek section held out, Gar
rett with its lighter veins, felt that
it could not compete with her sister
county. This notion has been eXplod-
ed. Today Garrett county is on the
verge CT a boom" Before long the
preliminary work toward extensive
operations will be completed and coal
from up there will he coming into
Baltimore not by tens but by hun
dreds of tons daily.
In Oakland, the county seat, the
other day, a two-horse wagon was
unloading coal in front of the big
buildings. The driver was asked
where it came from. "About two and
a half miles out" was the reply. 1t
cost 81 at the mine, and $3.50 for
delivery in the cellar-$z.50 in all t.
the consumer. Another delivery was
costing $3.50 at the mines and $3.50
for hauling. The Weber Bros, flor
lists, told The Sun reporter that by
the use Of their own one-ton truck
they were obtaining splendid coal at
81 delivered.
On small scale, perhaps, the re-
gion in and around Crellin is the best
developed. 1t is only a half mile
from the West Virginia line and min
ing section. Yet in sight of those
big operations the same veins have
been lying untouched on the Mary
land side.
The vein in the Pendelg ast mine is
more than six feet thick, with another
two-foot vein separated by only d
thin binder underlying. The reporter
saw small carloads coming out of that
mine, laden with better coal than the
big vein of Georges Greek of 20 years
dSO. II was GUILTY. d uiSCdIlCe VI OON
yards.
All the Garrett county mines are
drift" mines-that is, they go into
the side of the hills, and in this par.
ticular mine the vertical distance
from the slope of the hill to the mint
is about $50 feet. After this coal haC
been dumped into the railroad cars, il
was even prettier to the experienced
eye than before it was scattered. I
was lumpy and shOne with mother.
ITO the unfamiliar "mother" coal i
the pure article.) The owner of tn,
mine, who was working like the la
borers around him, boosted that q
inches of that vein he would mattel
against the world. This is a descrip
ton of the two-to-six-car mines, o
which there are scores in Carrot
county. As yet the mining operation
have but scratched the county in
few spots.
Just now the industry is in tn
transition period. 1t Is evolving from