The globe-independent. (Hagerstown, Md.) 1943-19??, 1950-03-09
HORSE AND
BUGGY DAYS
by
Ida 10 Martin

of the mine Hundreds" breathing
its last sigh, after burning its last
ounce of coal. And that other sound,
from across the tracks, is an old
fashioned horse and buggy, not
Kindred one bit by the lack of coal
oh yes, the good old horse was
and always will be dependent on
another substance, namely Hay"
but the horse is not worried: farm
ers don't 60 on strike.
Well, since that much sought-af-
ter black rock is attracting so much
attention, why don't we take a trip
to that part of our State which has
played such an important part, along
that line, to one Of the worlds most
famous and productive deposits of
coal, the great coal basin in AL
legany County
This coal field has played an inn
portant part, in the past, in our own
County too, for IL was this black
prize that attracted and was large
ly the support of such efforts as the
Chesapeake and Ohio Canal, and
our Western Maryland Railroad, as
well as other railways and other
enterprises And the mining and
transportation of This beautiful min
eral has brought untold riches and
prosperity to countless individuals
in this whole territory
To me, one thing of real interest
is the actual make up of that sec
ton of Earth. ! never knew that
there were so many layers of coal,
or Just how they were fitted to-
gether. This coal field is described
as laying between two mountains,
Davis, and Savage, averaging about
four miles in width and thirty miles
long. It is bordered on the south
by the Potomac River and on the
north it terminates at the imaginary
line between Maryland and Penn
sylvania. Throughout this area the
coal beds and the earth strata are
just about the same everywhere
Starting down at one spot would
give a good picture of the field all
over.
A brief summary of what you
would find is this: after digging
down some distance, depending on
the surface where you started, you
strike a vein of coal about two feet,
six inches thick. Forty-two feet
further down, you find six-foot
vein. Between are mixed shale,
sandstone and fire clay for another
eightly-five feet, then another vein
Of coal of over four feet thickness.
Then ten feet of fire clay, then three
feet of coal; 3 feet of mixed layers,
and another four and a half foot
vein of coal; feet of shale, | foot
Of coal; 5 feet of shale and another
foot of coal; after this, there is a
foot of shale, foot of sandstone,
another of shale, and you hit the
Black Diamond jackpot fourteen
feet of coal, the best in the world.
Beyond this 14-foot vein there are
alternate layers of shale, stone, iron
ore, and veins of coal, some small,
only a few inches, numerous two
three-and four-foot veins, and two
veins of six feet each. This con-
tinues for total thickness of near
ly one third of a mile. There are
in all 'thirty-six" separate veins of
coal, each at its own level.
Now here is another new thing
to me, and doubt that this is true
in many other coal areas. This en-
tire area, of one hundred and twen-
ty square miles, seems to have been
laid down, layer for layer, each
layer on level, throughout the en-
tire area. Quoting one writer, ''They
(the layers of coaD rest one above
the other, in regular layers, no
faults or serious dislocations having
been found in any part of their eX-
tent, and accordingly they can be
excavated continuously without the
hindrances occasioned by having to
search for the broken ends thrown
out of level"
Now just stop for a minute and
think. A bank of coal fourteen feet
high, extending for thirty miles in
one direction! And that is not all,
for if you removed the waste ma
terials between the layers, you
would have at least fifty-four feet
of COOL coal, extending over this en-
tire area. And furthermore, some
of the smaller veins, such as the six
foot veins, cover larger area, SO
that the total estimated available coal
actually exceeds that of the great
fourteen-foot bank
1t is of interest too, to note that the
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