The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1931-09-24

the mountain sides. Some of these
orchards comprise only so acres; 9TH
ers, known as commercial orchards
and owned by stock companies, con-
tain 1000 acres. 1t is said that the
fruit trees in the neighborhood of
Hancock number we'll over a million,
and that Washington county is one
of the great fruit-producing counties
in the country, from the standpoint
of value. The town of Hancock alone
ships two million dollars worth of ap-
Piles and peaches annually. Smiths
burg comes next with a million and a
half.
The mining of sand might be said
to be an industry in Hancock. AL
though the mines are located on the
other side of the river, in West Vir-
ginia, the people engaged in the work
live and do business in Hancock.
In Hancock you can turn off the
highway and cross the Potomac to
Berkeley Springs, health recort that
was in existence at the time of Wash
ington.
The road to Cumberland and points
west leaves the river Tor, rather, the
river leaves the road) at Hancock and
you begin the ascent of Tonoloway
Ridge, which is a climb of two miles.
On the eastern slope of Tonoloway
is the filling station of chap named
Jack, who probably sells more oil than
any other man along the pike. Jack
continually tells you by painted signs
on rocks and trees that there are "big
mountains ahead" and that you had
better "change your oil" at Jacks
place. Indeed, after reading these
warnings for miles you feel that if
you pass Jacks place without stop
ping something terrible is likely to
happen. But if you decide to pass
by without having him "check the
OIL" perhaps you will slow down suf-
ficiently to admire his fearful and
wonderful display of empty oil drums.
You reach the foot of the western
slope of Tonoloway and Immediately
you start up the eastern slope of
Sideling Hill, but you do not go
straight across. The name was orig
inally Sidelong Hill and probably was
so called because it is necessary to
crawl along the side of the hill for
some distance before reaching the
crest and then crawl back along the
other side before making the descent.
At the foot of the western slope
you leave Washington county and en-
ter Allegany. Washington is proba-
bly, the most irregular in shape of all
the Maryland counties, for its south
ern border follows the windings of the
Potomac. In great contrast with this
is the boundary between the county
and Pennsylvania, to the north, which
is a perfectly straight line.
Town Hill is three feet higher than
Sideling, but the road passes over it
with less winding. From its slopes
one can look down into cleared valleys
filled with peaceful farms. At least,
they look peaceful from the side of
the mountain, but you really can't
tell what might be going on down
there.
The next elevation worth talking
about Cet's not bother with the little
ups and downs) is Polish Mountain.
When l first saw this name on the
map, never having heard it pronounc-
ed, 1 jumped to the conclusion that it
should be pronounced with long "o''
and that it had been named for group
of settlers from Poland. However,
the young lady at the filling station
on top will tell you that the word is
pronounced like what you get at a
shoe-shine parlor and that the name
comes from the fact that in the fall,
when the trees are brilliant with reds,
yellows, puppies and browns, the
mountain looks as thought it had been
polished.
That's her story, but in Cumber-
land heard that there's no truth in
it. The Cumberland people, who pro-
nounce it like something from Poland
say it is so called because a man by
that name once lived there.
On a recent journey over. the old
road we crossed this mountain in the
early evening and pulled into Flint
stone after dark. Flintstone is just
tiny village, with a mountain in the
front yard and another in the rear
and there is no reason in the world
why anybody should want to sleeI
there unless it is that he Graves to
spend the night in an old tavern.
At any rate we stopped at the
Flintstone Hotel (The Piper House in
other days. on night in summer and
found it pleasant. We were personally
entertained by DR.. Twigg, who also is
the physician for the community. He
took lantern and showed US all over
the house-from the big, handheweC