The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1926-03-25
FROM FOREST PRIMEVAL
TO WAVING WHEATFIELDS
Remarkable Transformations in
The Mountain of Western
Maryland.
BY LEO J. BEACHY
1t. Nebo Studio, Grantsville, Nd
In Motor Travel Magazine

In Motor travel Magazine
Trees have always been of great in
terest as well as of practical benefit,
to travellers along the highways of all
countries.
The biggest problem to the pioneer
settlers in the forested Eastern States
was that of clearing the ground pre-
paratory to raising garden truck and
farm crops.
Before the advent of the primitive
sawmill and during the days of the
old log cabins and the open fireplaces,
many fine specimens of the most valu-
able oak, beech and hickory trees
were cut down for firewood or rolled
into log heaps and burned to ashes.
When, about fifty years ago, Gov
ernor Frank Thomas of Maryland
made a speech in Grantsville, and
stated his belief that the day would
come when oak timber would be as
valuable as pine, people said that he
was foolish and did not know what he
was predicting. But that same gen.
Grafton saw the time come and go
when those extensive oak and hard
wood |. forests were sought after by
lumbermen as the most valuable nat
ural resources between the SUBMITS
of these two high mountains-Negro
Mountain and Meadow Mountain.
In 1900, the Jennings Lumber Com
pany of Towanda, Pa, made its ap-
pearance in this region near Grants
vile, Maryland, and started to build
fourteen-mile railroad up the Cas-
selman River valley; they also erected
a large band sawmill and founded the
town of Jennings, Maryland. This
mill was operated until about 1922,
cutting from forty thousand to eighty
thousand feet per day, thus taking
out in all many hundred millions of
feet of lumber.
Famous Tracts of Land Denuded.
Among the large tracts Of virgin
timber cut in these operations were
such as the "Manadier Tract" the
"Brenneman Tract" "The Beachy
Tract" "The Esther Seibert Tract"
the "Broadwater Tract" the "R. En-
gle Tract" the william burst Tract"
and the Cunningham Tract" at the
farther end of the road in the Bittin-
ger section of the valley.
The cunningham Tract" contained
100 acres. After some of the finest
timber on the whole of the Jennings
operation was cut and removed from
this tract crew of men was put to
work cleaning up the slashings and
blowing the ground with shovel plows
and then they sowed wheat between
the many thousands of charred
stumps. This was in 1910 and 1911.
When the grain was ripe men with
cradles were set to work cutting and
binding the wheat into sheaves; the
self-binder reaper could not be used
on account of stumps. The crop of
wheat amounted to LOO bushels.
Large Sugar Groves.
In this valley and county (Garrett)
are the only large groves of sugar
trees in the State of Maryland Here
and in Somerset county, Pa, adjoin-
ing, are Elijah Livengood's groves,
which are among the largest maple
sugar producers in the United States.
Mr.. Livengood was pronounced "Su-
gar King" by the U. S. Government
officials in 1898 for having received
the largest check for bounty on maple
sugar.
Not many of the sugar groves in
the Casselman River Valley were cut
by the Jennings Lumber Company,
but within the past two and a-half
years the Back Greek Lumber Com
pany has come in and cut at least
fourteen of these sugar groves, which
gave, each, from 10000 to 100000
feet of lumber.
A Giant Primeval Oak.
Some very large trees grew in this
valley. My father told me of a mon
ster oak 7 feet in diameter, a mile
north of Grantsville on the MILLER
Church" road, with which he had
something to do when he was % years
old, in 1858, while attending school in
Grantsville and boarding at Minister
Joel Beachy's where Bishop Moses D.
Yoder now lives.
This big tree stood only a few hun
dred yards north and up the hollow
from the present site of the Amish
Mennonite Children's Home, on land
which was then part of the Joel Bea-
chy farm. This tree was cut down
for the value of colony of honey
bees harboring in its trunk about 20
feet from its base.
After tree of this size was cut
down it was an easy process to work
it up on the spot, cut into rail lengths
of about II feet, or move it to a saw
mill. The reader may imagine see
ing siX-foot man standing alongside
such regular giant of tree trunk
when he was still a foot short for
L Il