History of Western Maryland. J. Thomas Scharf
reported to resemble anthracite in its hardness and general appearance. Unfortunately, only a single deposit has been discovered, but nowhere else than in the shaly slate, and this was only excavated in a quite small bed.
Mountains. — The mountain ranges of the Blue Ridge Belt deserve especial mention because of the important influence which they exert upon the adjacent country. Standing up as barriers to the clouds, they aid in giving direction to the masses of moisture which form areas of precipitation of rain and snow. On the western faces they rise in general quite precipitously, while on the eastern they mount by a series of gradual slopes of fairly easy ascent. Only in the most northern divisions are the roads excessively steep, and there the gaps or chasms between the spurs and knobs generally open out in a series of terraces, forming resting-places at occasional intervals. Frequently an avenue rises gently along the projecting flank of a ridge, leading up to a chasm nearer the summit, through which it passes to the next stage above. The highest summits of the South Mountain range, as it appears in this State, are met with on the western side, overlooking the Hagerstown Valley. There at the most northern extremity the well-known High Rock rises beyond Pen Mar Park to an altitude of two thousand feet above the level of the sea. The view from this peak is very extensive, and takes in a vast range of country, reaching out into the three States of Maryland, Pennsylvania, and Virginia. A charming country lies spread out before the eye from this point, including the richest regions in the great valley which crosses the three States before mentioned, and takes in to the southward the most varied and romantic parts of the Shenandoah basin. The mountain-side is here strewn with huge bowlders and fragments, the shattered remnants of colossal rocks of the Alp that once rose far above any point now reached by the loftiest pinnacle of this region. On this side of the range, also, two or three high knobs, only a few miles farther south, rise to altitudes of two thousand two hundred to two thousand three hundred feet above the level of the sea. Some of these are almost flat on top, the shattered rocks which formerly rested there having been carried away by the torrents and tempests, and the summits thereby worn off and leveled. On the outer limits of the chain short spurs and ridges have been split off" from the ancient mass, and these form the outliers from which the foot-hills swell away into the broad valleys. The South Mountain range, when viewed alone, appears to form an undulating line of nearly horizontal ridges, sloping gradually, for a few miles, to be successively more rounded, and then by more abrupt summits, until the whole series of swells is lost in the misty blue of the distance. It is a series of high and very narrow parallel folds, which become a single ridge on the south, and having a general width of less than a mile in that part of its course. This view is, however, somewhat deceptive, since it presents only that part of the system which rises above the beds of the high adjoining valleys. It forms what appears to be only the larger western division of a great fan-shaped synclinorium. or series of depressions, of which the Elk Ridge is the extreme western member and the Sugarloaf group the eastern. Both of these outer divisions are superficially detached from the great central body of upfolds, but formed of the same rocks, having continuity throughout along lines below the surface, and produced by the same set of continental forces as those which let down the valleys. The same tremendous agencies have likewise squeezed together the two great chains on the north, breaking enormous cracks and chasms along and across their course, throwing them into curving spurs running nearly east and west, forcing the underlying older rocks, such as the epidotes, porphyries, and amygdaloids, to the surface in huge ranges, and twisting the whole series of strata far out of place. At the southern end of the South Mountain the ridges rise generally to a height from eleven to thirteen hundred feet above the level of the adjoining valley, while farther north several of the more single knobs reach an altitude of nearly five hundred feet higher.
The Catoctin forms a less elevated but wider, alternately contracted and expanded ridge, sloping in general rather gently along its eastern side, and, as usual, more abrupt on the western. It is well buttressed by swelling hills along its whole length, and rises very slowly from the domes, which roll away and become lost in the valley of the Monocacy. It forms a highly picturesque body of mountains as the upper part of its course is pursued; but the lower end, near the Potomac, is rather monotonously blunt and flat, except where relieved at the Point of Rocks by the rigged black slate mases which have been torn asunder by the terrific forces that opened a way through them for the great river. The high billows of the range are succeeded at occasional intervals by sharp ridges and knobs. These rise with some irregularity from a height of about nine hundred feet above the level of the sea, until nearly half-way up the chain, at High Knob, an altitude of fifteen hundred and thirty feet is reached, while two or three outstanding knobs towards the north are reported to rise to a height of sixteen hundred to seventeen hundred feet. Probably the highest of these is Round Top, which towers in magnificent altitude at a distance of about three and a half miles southwest of Emmittsburg. Eagle Mountain is another single spur, standing out from the great body of the range, on the right of the grand gap of Owen's Creek. On the side of the gap through which the turnpike runs from Frederick to Middletown the Catoctin becomes lowered to a level of about eight hundred and seventy feet above tide. At least seven openings between the spurs make easy entrances for the roads which cross into the Middletown Valley. These rise through comparatively easy grades, are remarkably even and well kept, and open out broadly wherever the swelling terraces of the mountain permit. Only in the most northern division, where the two ranges unite, are the roads steep and difficult, and even there they are so wide and excellent as to greatly facilitate the crossing of such sudden heights. The most conspicuous rock on the higher surfaces, and which lies broken and scattered in endless confusion, is the Potsdam, with its related sandstones. It forms enormous beds above and in the gaps, and crops out at frequent intervals in scattering crags and beetling summits. Hard, compact talcose slates, grading into aluminous sandy rocks, constitute the body of the mountain, while its central core and inner base is found to be filled up with the metamorphosed slaty porphyries, epidote, amygdaloids, and quartz. These hard, almost volcanic rocks have been so distorted and torn by the expansive power of heat that their broken and disjointed fragments are spread around in all directions, and in part may be found in masses lying all along the flank of the higher levels. At intervals of every few miles, and occasionally near the gaps, spurs and knobs stand off, as if monster sentinels to guard the approaches to the peaceful valleys below. These afford a wide view of the lowlands beyond, each having its own peculiar panorama, and no two presenting precisely similar features. At the southern extremity the Potomac basin and Sugar-Loaf Mountain bound the distance; viewed from nearer the middle of the range, the broad valley and its many villages and towns, besides the picturesque city of Frederick, form the central group, while the Linganore hills, the winding Monocacy, and Parr's Ridge fill out the picture; likewise towards the north an almost interminable collection of short ridges, hills, belts of forest, villages, and hamlets, half concealing the network of slender streams, creeps away into the red sandstone and gray slates on the horizon. The lovely valley of the Monocacy lies in full view from several of the high central prominences. In the spring and early summer it is a country full of beauty and bloom. Rich soils, more varied than can be found in any other equal area within the State, yielding abundant crops of all the cereals, fruits, and products of the farm, luxuriant meadows, and extensive dairies characterize the whole of this favored region.
In addition to these, a healthful climate, an exhilarating atmosphere, and a permanent supply of pure water in springs and streams renders the region best calculated to support a large, healthy, and thriving population. The valley is not a simple depression between two ranges of heights, but is a broad, waterworn basin, flat and rolling by turns, less elevated than its counterpart on the other side of the mountains. Swells of highlands and a few ridges push into it from the Catoctin, and high billows range along the eastern side of the Monocacy until they meet the higher uplift of the Sugar-Loaf It constitutes an area having a width of ten to fifteen miles, and a length of about thirty miles, the lowest level being in the bed of the river, at an altitude of about two hundred and eighty feet above tide. The general average of the surface may be computed to be about four hundred feet above the sea, with a gentle downward slope from the north towards the south, and with a more decided pitch from the sides towards the middle line. This causes the drainage of the whole country to descend into the river, which in its turn empties into the Potomac. The Monocacy is the principal stream in the region. It is a small but long river, not more than a creek in the upper part of the county, but which becomes more than one hundred feet wide in the part near