Montgomery County sentinel. [volume] (Rockville, Md.) 1855-1974, 1952-12-04

This is the fifth of series of ar
ticles dealing with spots of local
color and beauty unknown to the
average native.
MARBLE QUARRY"
In ITO George Washington of
Mt. Vernon, Virginia, began pre-
liminary survey of what was to be
known as the Chesapeake & Ohio
Canal, lazy, man-made waterway
originally intended to link Ohio
with the Chesapeake Bay region of
Maryland. (Hewever, the canal
never got any further than Cum
berland, due to lack of funds and
the possibility that the "iron horse"
then in it's infancy, might cause
it some serious competition.))
Even at that the digging of the
canal was a stupendous undertake
ing-what with almost primitive
hand tools and lack of sufficient
manpower. The latter difficulty
was quickly overcome by the i'm
portation of hundreds of Irish
laborers who worked for practically
nothing and were hardy enough to
withstand the rigorous winter
months without too much discom-
fort.
At one spot it was necessary to
carve the way through hard, al
most impervious rock, a beautiful
dull red, manv-hued rock, later to
be classed by biologists as a
marble. This rock was indigenous
to Montgomery County only, and
was not encountered elsewhere
along the route of the canal. 1t pre-
dominated at spot which can be
located TODAY as the three mile
lineal area between Woods Lock
and Whites Ferry. said area being
known as Marble Quarry.
How these hardy men ever got
THROUGH this mountainous barrier
of solid rock has always been a
source of wonder to me. OF course
there were manv accidents. and
old-timers still tell of stories hand
ed down of the many unmarked
graves along the old canal. l once
knew an old lock tender, who was
born on a canal boat, who went
coon hunting with me one night
along the canal, and who vehem-
emily swore. as only he could. that
the wild ducks ouacking noisily (of
this | am quite sure) along the
river were the mutterings of the
ghost of an itinerant Irishman who
had been laid to rest on the birm
side of the canal.
Today there is not a house in oil
Marble Quarry proper. 1t covers.
! would say. approximately 1000
acres. 1t is heavily timbered. the
terrain is especiallv RUGGED, and it
is positively the finest "ame section
in all of Montgomery County,. Bear
Branch. which cuts Marble QUARRY
in half. is the rendezvous of old
Mr.. Coon and manv, manv'S the
time the hounds loud "howw,
howw, howw" let us know the
coon was Gun" CUP" down in Gods
country. durine that magical
season "When the frost is on the
punkin'-and the folders in the
shock" What glorious nightsi
Close to Bear Branch is beauti-
full little spring l discovered many
years ago. Because of the profusion
of mountain ferns all around it,
/ named it "Fern Spring." Tran
Gull Bear Branch-I can see it now.
flowing through primevil woodland
prints of the raccoon as they
hunted for crawfsh along it's steep
banks. Noiselessly it sneaks on
down the hills through a man-made
viaduct under the canal to lose it's
identity in the Potomac.
If you go to Marble Ouarry's
hills land do mean hills), you
cannot miss seeing the large num-
Der of red granite rocks which
litter the tops of some of the higher
cliffs. All bear the unmistakable
mark of three-quarter inch drills.
l do not know whv trase rocks
were not taken out. The labor that
must have gone into each and
everyone is incalculable.
/ have wondered at the tireless
energy of these pioneers who,
somehow, got through this mount
ain of rock-men indeed intelligent