The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1932-09-29

Big Vein on Georges Creek, floating
down the Potomac River in fat-bot-
toned boats, at first, then years later,
filling long lines of barges on the
Chesapeake and Ohio Canal and end
less trains of coal cars.
There are pictures of Welsh and
Scotch miners coming to Allegany
settling mostly about such mining
towns as Frostburg and Homecoming,
and digging not only coal, but iron
ore and fire brick clay out of the
mountain sides, giving a new flavor
to the Maryland speech.
Now and then close-ups of strange
and remarkable individuals flash on
the screen.
Here is the figures of the brilliant
and eloquent but eccentric and vio-
lent Francis Thomas, Congressman,
diplomat and Governor of Maryland,
who spent his last years almost as a
hermit, in the mountains of Eastern
Garrett.
The duel in 1910 between Thomas
and William Price, later a leader of
the Baltimore bar, was sensational
though it proved bloodless.
Fainter is the pictures of strange
Englishman named Evarts, tradition
ally of noble birth, who, being Tilted
by the girl to whom he was engaged,
hid his broken heart in a log cabin on
the tip of a remote mountain, which is
still trackless. There he lived and
died nearly 200 years ago. The few
who have climbed Evitt's Mountain
so has the name been corrupted-re-
port finding the ruins of a stone
chimney, small clearing and other
indications of ancient occupation.
Driving back to Baltimore the car
crosses Just east of Cumberland Ev-
tits creek, another memorial to the
man who died for love.
Now the car climbs on easy grades
to the top of Martins Mountain 100
feet in the air, from which the picture
is of almost unbroken woods, running
up and down the shoulders Of the
nearby hills.
Solid Woodland
From the crests OF Polish Mountain
and the Green Ridge-slightly lower
the picture is much the same, deep,
Not until the car stops on the top of
Town Hill Mountain does the human
element enter to make the scene more
charming. Down in the valley of
Town Hill creek, far below, are many
formsteads, the following stubble
fields, the plowed land and the white
and red buildings adding variety and
color to the wide picture.
The easternmost barrier of Allega-
ny is the quantity named Sideling Hill,
which appears on the early maps as
Sidelong Hill.
Just west is huge tract of State
forest reserve, running down to the
Potomac and almost up to the Penn
sylvania line.
The State road over Sideling Hill
a part, of course, of the old route
leading into the historic National
Highway-runs close to the edge of
the cliff, but the view, which should be
very wide and beautiful, is largely
cut off by the tops of trees.
One suggests, with all due modesty,
to the men who have so skillfully
built this road, that the cutting, here
and there, of a few high-growing
trees, would open up as many beauti-
full vistas and add much to the pleas
ure of the motorist.
Washington County
Drive east down Sideling Hill into
Washington county and the picture
Immediately softens, the landscape
grows more smiling. To the south
lies the low green valley of the Poto-
mac, with it's wide meadows. Running
from the highway far down to the
river is the great 5,000acre preserve
of the Woodmouct Rod and Gun Club.
Close by are two big State game
reguges, SO that sensible wild duck
may take its choice of quarters with
or without shooting.
Near Hancock, big apple orchards
sweep over the slopes as far as the
eye car reach. 1t is here that William
Penn and Virginia did their best to
cut Maryland squarely in two. They
so nearly succeeded that just at Han
cock the State is only two miles wide.
Bits By The Way
Up the road, beside the orchards,
comes tramping tall, red-headed
young fellow, hatless and wearing a
ragged white shirt. Incredibly, he car
ries a guitar swung around his neck
and is drumming a tune as he comes.
Such a wandering minstrel would have
been quite out of place on the high
sides of Big Savage Mountain. Here