Great Falls tribune. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1921-current, 1922-08-13

Washington, D. c., Aug. 10.-Men
have been building cities and deserving
them from time immemorial. The
usual causes are military and economic.
Carthage. one of the greatest cities of
early times, was utterly destroyed after
the Punic wars waged by the Romans.
Virginia City. New. was deserted be-
cause the mining industry which made
it a substantial municipality lapsed
upon the exhaustion of the lode. But
here in the east is a group of cities
which have fallen from their previous
Importance by the operation of the
forces of nature.
The great mass of'the people of the
United States, being distributed so
widely over the expanse of the new
territory of the west, lacks the en-
vironment to create a realization OF
the antiquity of the eaOstern section.
It is difficult for the man in Chicago
to realize that the eastern Americans
have lived on this soil for as long u
period under the British flag as under
the American-that the period extend
ing from the first settlement of tho
eastern seaboard up to the American
revolution was as long as that from the
revolution to the present day.
More than three centuries of human
occupation bring about curious changes
in the habitationS of men. When the
country was first settled the soil was
virgin and, for the most part, covered
with dense forests. The pioneers built
their primitive houses on the banks Of
streams because the streams were
their easiest roadways. They felle6
the trees and planted their corn and
tobacco and. in the course of the years
ports sprang up by the waterside and
became thriving cities. The farms
reached farther and farther back into
the wilderness. large areas being
cleared of timber.
Southern Maryland furnishes IN ex-
| ceilent example of such development.
! It's soil is loamy and was extremely
fertile. As. year after year. the gently
! rolling hillsides were ploughed. the soil
was loosened and the rains of each year
washed it down into the streams
Three centuries of this erosion gradu-
ally have filled up the streams. Tho
| riverside and bayside cities which once
throve on the shipping of the products
of the farm did not keep up with the
erosion of the land. The result was
| that the streams filled year by year
| until the channels were clogged and
what once were noble highways now
! are narrow creeks.
Soil and Streams Ruined
This erosion which was despoiling
the rivers, the highways of commerce,
also was washing off the rich, fertile
ton soil. Therefore the land which pro
duced the crops, the object of com
mevce. disappeared in company with the
streams. 1t was inevitable that the
cities should decline with both their
means of and the commodi-
ties of taken away by this
operation of natural forces set IN
motion by the plough.
When the Romans took Carthage
, they tore down the buildings. sowed
salt upon the site and ploughed it
under. The lost cities of southern
Maryland. no less, have been ~ploughed
under. There are three excellent ex-
amples of these places. Bladensburg,
Port Tobacco and Piseataway.
B~ladensburg was a port to the
| wharves of which came great mer-
| chant ships from England that sailed
ND the Potomac and followed its east
ern branch to the port which was a city
long before Washington was even
planned. Today no craft larger than a
small motorhoat can get VI as far as
B~ladensburg and. after a dry spell,
even such a small boat is likely to
ground.
Bladensburg was a thriving port of
entry, a great tobacco shipping point.
II boosted hotels and warehouses and
numerous beautiful colonial mansions,
several Of which still stand. To-day 1t
is a village of small population and
probably would have disappeared al
together were it not for the fact that
it is near Washington.
Probably the most interesting of the
lost cities is Port Tobacco. Old maps
of Maryland show this place marked
with the large star or circle as indicat-
ing an important center. Marylanders
lean strongly on tradition and even
today the maps show Port Tobacco as