History of Western Maryland. J. Thomas Scharf
can be worked. Copper exists also in the older rocks of the Catoctin summit. Pieces of the native ore have been picked up in Harbaugh's Valley, one of which weighed fourteen pounds. It is not to the native metal, however, that attention need be called, since it is quite improbable that deposits of it can be found in the class of rocks prevailing in this part of the country. More reliance may be placed upon the indications of sulphurets and carbonates of copper, which here may prove to be stored away in the central division of the mountain chain.
Sulphuret of lead, or galena, has been detected in the limestone region near Unionville; but only small pieces have thus far been secured. It occurs, also, in the Dolohyde copper-mine in small quantities. Oxide of zinc is found associated with the brown haematites of the Catoctin region, and it is obtained in large quantities as a furnace product from the Catoctin Iron Works.
Gold and silver have been detected as minute particles in some of the older slates and metamorphic rocks, both of the metalliferous belt and mountain range. The structure of these regions, however, renders it very unlikely that either of these metals will be found there in profitable amounts.
Roofing slates of good quality are present in several localities within the talcose schist region on the eastern side of the county. Among the Linganore hills several quarries of chiefly local interest have been opened, but near Ijamsville, directly on the line of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, large beds of even texture and dark-blue color have been worked for many years. These produce excellent thin plates of good quality, which improve in size and firmness as the beds are worked to greater depths. Slates of an entirely different character occur both in the Catoctin and Blue Ridge Mountains, next the roads leading towards Hagerstown. These are tough and very strong, easily and naturally split into slabs of four inches or more in thickness, may be obtained in pieces of the largest size, and are of a nature particularly well fitted for pavements, caps of walls, sills, and for the outside of buildings generally.
A remarkable feature of the county, and one of its most curious monuments, appears in its southeastern corner, near the Monocacy River. At that point representative rocks of three great geological periods center, and a great fold of the surface has built an isolated group of mountains. These are merely the lateral outliers of the great upthrust produced by the contracting force which raised the Catoctin and Blue Ridge. But here it has assumed a mere local elevation, and constitutes a triple-crested mountain, with a short ridge flanking it on the west. The summit called distinctively Sugar-Loaf is the most southwesterly, the intermediate one is called Round Top, and that at the other end, or northeasterly, is Mount Airy. About three-quarters of a mile to the west stands the nearly straight hog-back called Green Ridge, while beyond its northern end may be seen three minor single knobs of much less altitude. This section forms the place of junction of the primordial series with the new red sandstone and rocks of the Azoic formation, the former being represented by the Potsdam sandstone, constituting the uppermost layers of rocks and overlapping the talcose slates, while the brown sandstone fills the intervening valley, and conceals the ends of the great layers of white sandstone. The grand Sugar-Loaf rises in magnificent prominence to a height of thirteen hundred and seventy feet above the level of the sea, and gives a commanding view of all the country lying east and south to nearly as far as Washington. It is most appropriately named Sugar-Loaf, since it is built from base to summit of the plain white sandstone, which glistens with crystalline brightness in the sunshine.
The white rock is set together in vast walls of immense thickness, forming a curved front bristling with crags and rugged buttresses, like the torn flank of a huge fortress. On top great piles of the rock stand detached from the main mass, and project in frightful crags over the abyss beneath. In spite of the solid masonry which forms the whole body of the peak, it is covered everywhere, even upon the summit, with a growth of trees, which in the distance lends a rich contrast to the white rocks and spots of brown soil. Green Ridge is likewise well named, for it is a verdant billow, standing with refreshing brightness in bold relief beside the dark soils and light stream of the Monocacy. On the southwest side of the group colored sandstones and siliceous conglomerates form large beds, and offer beautiful building-stones, which would make superb substitutes for the much-used Scotch granites.
Fauna and Flora. — Great diversity obtains in the natural productions of the Blue Ridge Belt. Everywhere it has at some time supported a varied population of great beasts, of the smaller animals and birds, and of the unnumbered host of creeping things, while a rich and abundant representation of the floral tribes has added grace and beauty to the picturesque landscape. The great American elephant at one time roamed over the fertile valleys, while the elk, caribou, and red deer grazed in the open areas of the forests. Besides those, the bear, panther, wild-cat, gray wolf, two kinds of foxes, raccoon, opossum, ground-hog, and most of the small animals now common to the eastern side of the United States found a home in one or the other parts of this varied region. The beaver especially was formerly abundant here, and built dams across the creeks and river. Unhappily, with the increase of population new demands for cleared lands drove away many of the interesting animals, such as the beaver and elk, and the cupidity of thoughtless men caused the extermination of all the animals most valued in the chase. Of the birds, a vast assemblage once tenanted the lands where now only a few scores can be met with in the longest trip. The wild pigeon still returns in diminished numbers to the vicinity of its former " roosts," but the great birds have chiefly been destroyed, together with the raven, the Carolina parrot, the large white heron, the fish-hawk, and a large company of the sweet warblers and bright-feathered songsters of smaller size, but of inestimable value and gratification. Butterflies and brilliant insects abound, the injurious as well as the useful. But the removal of the forests has opened the way for a thousand crawling enemies to agriculture, while the thoughtless impulses of the population have destroyed numerous species useful and ornamental.
Flora has been lavish in the beauty and variety of her gifts, but the loose rich humus resting in the shadows of the heavy old forest has been swept away, and with it the primitive fairies which charmed the senses on the mountain-side and in the open valley. In their stead, however, still remain a remnant of the azaleas, magnolias, kalmias, orchids, asters, and sunflowers, in company with the blossoming thorns, viburnums, spiraeas, dogwoods, and other showy bushes. Judicious planting of trees year by year will bring back some of these lost beauties, but will do even more in retaining and supporting the moisture so much needed to keep the little streams, and through them the creeks, in their former more active condition as sewers of the country.
Coal. — Indications of the presence of coal have been met with in various parts of the new red sandstone formation in the valley of the Monocacy. But the chief localities which have given promise of deposits of this important fuel have been in the ridge of hills at the foot of the Catoctin Mountain, sometimes described as the red hills. This is at the head-waters of the Tuscarora Creek, runs off in a southeast direction, and constitutes the Chapel Ridge. It is formed chiefly of the breccia, or calico-marble, associated with shale of the reddish-brown sandstone, penetrated more or less by broken blocks of the blackish horn-blende trap. The region extends to near the Point of Rocks, where it blends with the talcose slates and becomes lost. Specimens of anthracite coal have been exhibited which were reported to have been taken from some outcrops of blackish shale in these hills. Great doubt has, however, been thrown upon the authenticity of these deposits by the attempts of unscrupulous persons to pass off unquestionable specimens of foreign coal as the products of this section. Carbonaceous shales do undoubtedly occur at the Yellow Springs, six miles northwest of Frederick City, between the branches of Big and Little Tuscarora Creek, but these do not belong to the true coal-bearing series of rocks. The breccia and blue limestone, associated with micaceous sandstone, enclose a bituminous shale, which is charged with impressions and remains of carbonized plants, including thin seams of apparently real anthracite coal. This shale sometimes outcrops at the surface of the ground, and elsewhere seems to be enveloped by the limestone and micaceous sandstone. The ledges of breccia form extensive outcrops on the more elevated places, and enclose a band of blue bituminous limestone. The general direction of this formation concurs with that of the adjoining mountain, and the strata dip in a northerly direction at an inclination of about forty-five degrees. It has been traced throughout a length of three miles, and proved to have a width of about one mile. Excavations have been made in it to a depth of twenty feet, and the adjoining gray sandstone has been penetrated about