History of Western Maryland. J. Thomas Scharf

      ALLEGANY COUNTY.

      CHAPTER LIV. INTRODUCTORY.

      Allegany County is situated in the northwestern portion of Maryland. It is bounded on the north by Pennsylvania, on the east by Washington County and West Virginia, on the south by West Virginia, and on the west by Garrett County. The North Branch of the Potomac River passes along the southern, southeastern, and eastern limits of the county, and separates it from West Virginia. Mason and Dixon's line separates it from Pennsylvania on the north, and Great Savage Mountain divides the counties of Allegany and Garrett. The boundary between Allegany and Washington Counties is Sideling Hill Creek.

      The face of the country is very much broken by numerous ridges of the Allegany Mountains, making an almost constant alternation of rugged hills and narrow defiles or valleys. Along the Potomac River there are large bottoms or flats formed by alluvial deposits from the mountains which surround it, which were formerly very productive in Indian corn and grass. One of the most striking and curious features of the surface of Allegany County is the "glades," large, level, flat, swampy bodies of land between the highest ridges of the Alleghanies. These are famous grazing-places for large flocks of cattle, which are driven from the neighboring counties of West Virginia to be pastured in the summer months. They were doubtless at one time lakes, and have been filled up gradually by washings from the surrounding hills, and by the decay of plants and trees which grew on them. The soil to the depth of many feet contains a large proportion of vegetable matter, and from this cause is dark and loamy, resembling very much the black-gum swamp soils of the lower counties of the Eastern Shore of Maryland. The Little Savage Mountain, a ridge of the Alleghanies, divides the eastern waters which flow into the Potomac from the western streams which flow to the Ohio River. The summit of the mountain is from fifteen hundred to two thousand seven hundred feet above tide-water, and though the temperature in summer is pleasant, the spring season is backward and the winters are of long duration and great severity. The crops most generally grown are oats, buckwheat, rye, Indian corn, and wheat. The alluvial bottom-lands grow principally corn and oats; buckwheat and rye are confined more especially to the mountainous parts of the country, whilst wheat is almost exclusively restricted to the clay limestone lands in the eastern and the Cove in the western part of the county. This county would not compare with some others in the State if compelled to depend solely on its agricultural resources. In some portions farming has made great advances, and in others lands if properly cultivated and manured will in time pay large profits, and Allegany County in the future may become as famous for its agricultural as its mineral wealth, but at present the latter is the paramount basis of prosperity. The soils may be divided into the red rock or red sandstone, the limestone clay, the shaly red sandstone, the Potomac bottom, and the loamy soils in the coal regions.

      The red sandstone soils are formed by the disintegration or decay of the red sandstone, which is easily recognized by its color. These soils are light and porous, except where argillaceous sandstone and shales are mixed with them. They do not suffer from drought or moisture, and from their color they readily absorb heat, and belong to the class known as quick soils. These are found from Sideling Creek to Polish Mountain, and extend within the mountain ' ranges to the bottom-lands of the Potomac. The soil in some places is much more porous and light than in others, owing to its location on the side of the hills, all its fine particles as soon as formed being washed out by rain-water, which leaves the larger fragments of rock behind.

      The analysis above given is nearly an average of ten different examinations of this variety of soil taken from the different localities where it exists. On the eastern side of Polish Mountain we meet with the limestone and clay soils; for a short space on the eastern side of Martin's Mountain the red soil again appears, but gives way to the limestone clay on the western slope, which continues until the top of Evitt's Mountain is reached, where the shaly red sandstone occurs. The soil of the country between Savage River and Meadow Mountain is of this character, and it is found also in the Cove in a highly-cultivated state, producing fine crops.

      The clay limestone soil is marked by the outcropping of limestone rocks running parallel to the mountain ranges. The surface soil, of variable depth, is a loam and of a darkish color; the subsoil is a tough, reddish clay, making fine brick, and with proper cultivation is very productive. These soils are so easily recognized as to render further description unnecessary. The difference in their fertility is due in part to the greater abundance of phosphoric acid in some localities than in others. On Merley's Branch they are very productive. This is due not less to their composition than to the excellent mode of their cultivation and management.

      The difference in the color of these limestone clay soils is due to the greater quantity and higher degree of oxidation of the iron in some than in other specimens.

      The red shaly and sandstone soils are of a lighter color than the red sandstone soils, and have very nearly the same composition. They require thorough cultivation, and manuring with stable manure, straw, and litter as a top-dressing. The great disadvantage of these soils is their shallowness. Wherever the underlying rocks allow, they should be plowed as deep as possible. This will enable them to retain moisture well, and prevent their washing from heavy rains, which is a serious injury to them. The soils of the coal-lands on George Creek and the neighborhood of Frostburg are clayey soils and very productive, though they have received but little in the way of cultivation and nothing from manures. The soils in the middle and western coal-fields are generally of a light and sandy texture.

      The bottom-lands on the Potomac vary in proportion to their composition from the washings of the different varieties of soils named above, but some of them are very productive.

      In many places these lands suffer from too much moisture from the