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Garrett County History

“Industrial Garrett County”
      The word “industrial” brings to mind large factory buildings, smoke stacks, and hundreds of employees going in and out of buildings with shift changes. Thus, when a person looks at the farms, hills and trees of Garrett County, he might wonder about the above title, “Industrial Garrett County.” However, people of the County are engaged in the agriculture, mining, lumbering, recreation and electric power generation industries of the area ... just to mention a few industries.

Farming
      “Owning their own land” was the factor which brought many of the early settlers into western Maryland. At first, they could only grow sufficient crops to feed themselves, but gradually they reached the point where they had extra crops which could be offered for sale. Various kinds of grain came into the “extra crop” category and grist mills began to appear along the streams of Garrett County

Grist Mills
      As near as can be determined, the first grist mill in the County was built in 1771 on Bear Camp Run, one of the tributaries to the Youghiogheny River. It was built by a Dutch immigrant named Jacob Foreman and operated by him for many years except for a short period when he served in the Maryland Militia during the Revolutionary War.

      The second grist mill was built by Jesse Thomlinson at Little Meadows 1795 or 1797. After 1800, grist mills began to appear in the communities of Swanton, Kitzmiller, Selbysport, Bloomington, Gortner, and Sang Run.

Sawmills and The Lumber Industry
      During “off season” the mechanical power of the grist mills was turned to sawing logs into lumber for houses. However, the output of these mills was minimal ... usually for local use only.

      Following the Civil War, there was a great demand for all types of lumber. The sawmills were no longer powered by water wheels, but stationary steam engines and the out-put of these new sawmills was measured by the thousands of board-feet of lumber per day. Logging railroads followed the timber cutting work to carry the output of the mills to the “main line” railroads connected to East Coast markets and the lumber industry in Garrett County was in “full swing.”

Kendall On The Youghiogheny River
      Existence and disappearance of the town called “Kendall”, up-river from Friendsville, is a testimony to the growth and disappearance of the lumbering industry in Garrett County. (During its existence the town had three different names; “Yough Manor,” “Krug,” and “Kendall.”)

      In 1889, the Confluence and Oakland Railroad was extended up the Youghiogheny River two miles beyond Friendsville to a new milling operation. Houses, a church, and a school followed in quick succession as work of the saw mill operation brought people into the area.

      First, the Yough Manor Lumber Company built their saw mill there since it was cutting trees in the area; so the town was called “Yough Manor.” Next, came the A. Knabb Company which set up a stave mill in 1891. The company did this through negotiations with the Yough Manor people, and the town was renamed “Krug” after Mr. Henry Krug, one of the Knabb officials. Finally, during the early 1900’s, the Kendall Lumber Company took over the saw mill operation and the town received its third name, “Kendall.”

      As the timber cutting began to deminish in the 1920’s, mill buildings and houses were torn down. The McCullough Coal Mine Company was the final one to operate at the town’s location. When the tracks of the Confluence and Oakland Railroad were removed in the 1940’s, the remaining houses and other buildings completely disappeared, and nothing is there today but old foundations and sawdust piles.

Lime Kilns
      After a lot of the acreage of Garrett County was denuded of trees through the lumbering industry, more land was available for farming. Along with the increased in farming, came a demand for lime to enrich the soil.

      At first, the farmers would “burn” their own lime in the field where it was to be used. They would stack fire wood in a symmetrical pattern, cover it with lime rock, and pile dirt over top of the wood and stone. Then, the whole thing would be set on fire and the heat of the burning fire wood caused the lime stones to disintegrate into slake lime; the “burning” took about three weeks to accomplish

      Enterprising men realized that using a furnace called a “lime kiln” was a quicker and easier way to produce slaked lime all year ‘round. As a result, lime kilns appeared at various parts of the County where there were limestone outcroppings. Although it is no longer used, one kiln still exists on the Hoyes Run Road.

Quarries
      Garrett County has some excellent seams of limestone to provide limestone for building and highway construction.

Coal Mining
      According to “Brown’s Miscellaneous Writings” the first coal mine in Garrett County was opened in an area near the Mason Dixon Line, not far from Little Meadows; this was in the early 1800’s. At that time the primary use for coal was in black smithing work. However, after the railroads pushed into Garrett County, mining coal for export from the County became a profitable business.

      Today, the Mettiki Coal Mine on Backbone Mountain is the major producer of coal in Garrett County. When operating at peak production, the company is capable of digging 20, 000 tons of coal per day; exceeding the total out-put of coal for the County’s mines in 1900.

Hydro-Electric Power Generation
      Prior to World War I, there was a dream of using the Youghiogheny River as a source of hydro-electric power. The overall plan was to build four dams and three generation plants on the river. One plant and dam would be near Crellin; two dams, one above Swallow Falls and one on Deep Creek, would furnish water for a second generating plant; down river, collecting exit water from all three dams, would be a fourth dam and generating plant, up-stream from Friendsville. Of all the planned installations only the Deep Creek Lake generating plant was built.

      The reason for abandoning the hydro-electric dream was the increase efficiency of steam driven electric plants and long distance high-voltage electric transmission. (The steam powered electric plant near Mt. Storm, W.Va., is an excellent example of an efficient generating plant and long distance high-voltage electric transmission.)

Recreation Industry
      One of the most surprising industries to develop in Garrett County is the Recreation Industry. Starting with the days of the “Great Hotels,” the fresh air of Garrett County has been a “drawing card” for people to come to the mountain top. The creation of Deep Creek Lake overcame the slump in recreation produced by the development of travel by automobile rather than passenger train; it was this slump caused the demise of the “great hotels.” During the 1930’s, more and more out-of-state license plates appeared on automobiles traveling the highways around the Lake.

      Then in 1937-38, the Rural Electrification Commission extended electric lines all around the Lake and the building of cottages leaped forward. Gradually, after World War II, summer cottages were “winterized” or rebuilt for winter recreation.

      Today, Deep Creek Lake area is both a winter and summer resort, and with the development of “year-round” State Park facilities, recreation in Garrett County is at an “all-time” high.
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