History of Western Maryland. J. Thomas Scharf
moderate size.
The Potomac River bounds the whole length of the western side of this county, and receives numerous tributaries from the adjoining hills, but its description properly belongs to the general belt of counties, in and where it will be found. The northwest branch of the Potomac River is but a small creek in this county. It rises in two principal branches, fed by several small brooks in the region southwest and south of Sandy Spring. It runs in a somewhat zigzag southeast course between the sandy and clay hills, through a rather depleted country in which the red clay and heavy soil abounds. After having pursued a course of about twelve miles amidst the tangled bushes and low woods, it passes Rock Creek, — The next system of drainage to be noticed is that of Rock Creek. This is an important stream, carrying a large body of water, fed by several tributaries along both banks, and supplying waterpower to numerous grist and saw-mills. It rises in the region northwest of Brookville, in the midst of craggy masses of talcose schists, which are traversed by innumerable veins of white quartz. The rills which form its source leap down from the silvery rocks in frequent cascades, cool and limpid, shaded by bushes, tangled vines, and canopies of ferns; then breaking into rapids as they strike the bowlders in their path, they finally spread out in a broad, active stream as the vicinity of Rockville is reached. The creek passes through a pleasantly diversified country, uncovering here and there along its margins the ledges of hornblende, gneiss, steatite, and sienite which underlie the soil. Along its banks the decomposing rocks yield red and yellow lands of decided fertility; a large part of these have been cleared, and while some parts have been worn out by crops of tobacco, others now comprehend some of the best-tilled farms in the county. The copious supply of water afforded by this stream and its tributaries has fed the trees and contributed towards the growth of a luxuriant vegetation. The original forests which here covered the land were formed of the grand old white oaks, with a numerous company of other oaks, of several kinds of hickory, of walnuts, tulip-trees, maples, gums, sycamore, and dogwood, with a varied retinue of bushes, flowering shrubs, and creepers. Now their successors, of less impressive size, still luxuriate in the rich alluvial soils of the bottoms, or spread along the misty summits of the hills. Everywhere the horizon is bounded by a stately belt of verdure, which gives variety and freshness to the dull uniformity of the plowed fields and denuded hillsides. After running in a southwestern course for about fifteen miles, the creek crosses into the District of Columbia, and finally buries itself in the Potomac River within the limits of Georgetown. A great part of its bed is clogged by the bowlders of hornblende and gneiss which have been torn from the sides of the uplands by the furious floods which have penetrated the region.
Seneca Creek next claims attention as forming another separate outlet for the waters of the county. It rises by numerous tributaries in the high country bordering the fork of Parr's Ridge, and is separated from the head-waters of the Patuxent River by only the outlying barrier of talcose slates which curves from the vicinity of Damascus to Cracklintown, and continues thence to Mechanicsville and beyond. Some of its sources start in the dark mounds of serpentine rocks which contain the chrome-iron ore. The tributaries at its head bend in almost countless curves to evade the frequent hills and swells of surface studding that section. On the eastern side it receives three large branches, — the Whetstone, Long Draught, and Dawes' Branch, and on the western side the Little Seneca and the Dry Seneca, all of which are fed by copious and constant springs. Taken altogether, it is a long and wide-reaching stream, extending nearly across the entire width of the county, bending into sudden loops towards the west until Dawsonville is reached; next with equal abruptness it stretches south with fewer bends, and then straightening out, it empties into the Potomac River. It passes in most parts through a country abounding in round-top single hills and short knobs, although the whole system of swells belongs to a broad fold of the surface which runs almost to the Potomac River, and includes two minor folds, known as Oak Ridge and The Pines. This higher district is peculiar to the eastern side of the creek, and is chiefly built into the magnesian rocks, with thin and lean soils. On the western side, north of the Little Seneca, the rocks are chiefly talcose slates of green and red tints, largely invaded by veins of white quartz, and extensively shattered into joints inclosing angular fragments. " Between the Little Seneca and Buck-lodge branch the quartz is more porous, the pores lined with black oxide of manganese, and occasionally inclosing specular oxide of iron. In this direction the talcose slate varies in color from red to grayish and blue, assuming a more decidedly slaty character, and finally passing into the true clay-slate. About the region of the Dry Seneca, and stretching to the mouth of the Seneca proper, the rocks are red and gray sandstones and shales, whilst near the mouth of the Monocacy River, and between it and the Little Monocacy, the sandstone varies in color from gray to red." This rock also assumes a difference in texture and composition, ranging from a fine-grained, uniform sandstone to a gritty and uneven conglomerate. The creek, including its numerous windings, has a total length of about twenty-six miles, and, together with its tributaries, drains an area of more than one hundred and thirty-six square miles. At its head-waters the country is wilder, much diversified, and well pervaded with ledges and beds of broken rocks, but as the creek widens and takes on its well-settled form the region is more extensively cleared, farms appear on every hand, and the woodlands are more restricted to the tops of the hills and to the rocky alluvial basins of the stream. After crossing the Rockville turnpike it becomes a creek fully thirty feet wide, running through a well-defined trough, extensively bounded by alluvial banks, and continuing in a slowly widening channel until, near the splendid aqueduct which crosses it and carries the water of the canal, it becomes a full stream at least sixty feet wide, and almost equaling the Monocacy in its volume of water. The brown soil through which it passes in its lower division imparts some of its color to the creek, so that the stream is usually seen to have a rusty brown tint.
Besides the larger streams already described, a multitude of small branches pour into the Potomac River from the ravines opening out on that side of the county, and thus an abundant supply of water is seen to be secured. But here as elsewhere the injudicious clearing away of the forests has laid the surface open to the sun, and the springs which formerly supplied the rivulets that fed the creeks and rivers have become dry, and a great volume of water has accordingly disappeared from the larger streams.
The Monocacy River has several small tributaries which rise in the slate-lands within the western part of this county. But the only considerable one of these is Bennet's Creek. It starts from many sources among the broad, round, clay-slate hills southwest of Damascus, and bending westwardly, passes behind the Sugarloaf Mountain to empty into the river. Like most of the other branches which have their sources in the slates, it bursts forth from cavities in the midst of the shattered rocks, and pursues its course in deep channels along narrow ravines, expanding but little in its course, and finally passing out into the wider stream through alluvial beds of its own construction.
The resources of Montgomery County are adequate to the wants of a large and varied population. Industries of nearly all kinds possible to an inland country can be successfully conducted within its limits. As already noticed, ample water-powers for driving mills and machinery are present in nearly all the larger streams. The Great Falls of the Potomac pours the heaviest volume of water to be found in the State. Broad belts of alluvial soil suitable for meadows and fitted for the grazing of stock are present in the northern and western sections, and the mild climate, pure water, and fresh air of the higher districts supply the first requisites for a healthy and thriving population. Gold, copper, and chrome occur in the metalliferous range of formations bordering the central belt of magnesian rocks; brown sandstones, granites, etc., for building purposes, abound within easy access of the canal, and fruit culture can be conducted to an immense extent.
The native animals of the region have been the black bear, gray wolf, panther, wild-cat, gray and red fox, raccoon, opossum, mink, marten, weasel, field hare, ground-hog, skunk, fox-squirrel, gray squirrel, flying squirrel, chipmunk or ground squirrel, common mole, star-nosed mole, shrew, white-footed mouse, jumping mouse, and several others of this group, the hoary and two other kinds of bats, the otter and muskrat in the waters, and the common rat and mouse in the barns and houses. The wild beasts have been exterminated, and so have the elk and caribou, but the red deer is said to be still a casual visitor of the wilder sections near the Potomac River.
The birds still form a numerous assemblage, rich in species, attractive in habits and song, and finely varied in plumage. The famous mocking-bird,