Georges Creek Valley is located in
Allegany County, Maryland
Allegany County is located in the northwestern part of the U.S. state of Maryland. As of the 2020 census, the population was 68,106. Its county seat is Cumberland. The name ''Allegany'' may come from a local Lenape word, ''welhik hane'' or ''o ...
along the
Georges Creek. The valley is rich in wide veins of
coal
Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen.
Coal is formed when dead ...
, known historically as "
The Big Vein." Coal was once extracted by deep
mines but is only mined today through
surface mining. The Georges Creek Valley was once a major center for the US coal industry.
History
A series of small mining towns were founded along the Georges Creek Valley in the nineteenth century when coal was discovered in the region. This led mining companies in the valley to develop
railroad
Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a prep ...
s for transporting the coal. Some of these railroads were merged into the
Cumberland and Pennsylvania Railroad
The Cumberland and Pennsylvania Railroad (C&P) was an American railroad which operated in Western Maryland. Primarily a coal hauler, it was owned by the Consolidation Coal Company, and was purchased by the Western Maryland Railway (WM) in 1944.
...
System between 1853 and 1870. A competing railroad, the
George's Creek and Cumberland Railroad, operated in the valley between 1876 and 1917, followed by the
Western Maryland Railway
The Western Maryland Railway was an American Class I railroad (1852–1983) which operated in Maryland, West Virginia, and Pennsylvania. It was primarily a coal hauling and freight railroad, with a small passenger train operation.
The WM bec ...
.
Most of the original settlers to the Valley came in response to the abundance of jobs available in the coal mines. Many were
Irish
Irish may refer to:
Common meanings
* Someone or something of, from, or related to:
** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe
***Éire, Irish language name for the isle
** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...
, but
German
German(s) may refer to:
* Germany (of or related to)
**Germania (historical use)
* Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language
** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law
**Ge ...
,
Scottish
Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including:
*Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland
*Scottish English
*Scottish national identity, the Scottish ide ...
, and
Welsh names also are found in the early records of the town.
Coal mining quickly became the most important industry in the
Cumberland area. Some of the richest beds of soft,
bituminous coal
Bituminous coal, or black coal, is a type of coal containing a tar-like substance called bitumen or asphalt. Its coloration can be black or sometimes dark brown; often there are well-defined bands of bright and dull material within the seams. It ...
in the country lay within the hills and mountains of this region. After the
Civil War
A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country).
The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policie ...
, coal became one of Maryland's chief products and exports. Coal from the Cumberland area fueled the state's
mills and plants,
steamships in
Baltimore
Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic, and the 30th most populous city in the United States with a population of 585,708 in 2020. Baltimore was ...
's
harbor as well as the
US Navy fleet, and was traded to buyers from
London,
Brazil,
Egypt, and beyond. Primarily Scottish and Welsh immigrants provided the labor force for these mines, immigrating with their families for the opportunities America offered. In the Cumberland region, miners escaped the indebtedness to the mining company that plagued miners in surrounding states. The
company store
A company, abbreviated as co., is a legal entity representing an association of people, whether natural, legal or a mixture of both, with a specific objective. Company members share a common purpose and unite to achieve specific, declared go ...
system, in which miners were forced to purchase all their supplies and household needs from the mining company, was outlawed in Maryland in 1868. A comparatively high proportion of miners were also homeowners, as local mining firms found it more profitable to sell houses to their miners, than establish "company" housing.
Since regional coal mines were constructed with horizontal shafts, they were far less dangerous than the
vertical shaft mines of
Pennsylvania and
West Virginia. Still, the regional miners, blackened from head to foot when they emerged from a mine at the end of a day, knew that the
carbon-filled air, which corroded the lungs over time, would lead to an early death.
After
World War I, coal production started to decline, and today only some
strip mining remains as the last vestige of this once all-important industry. Coal trains once went through the valley every day, but now do so only once or twice a month.
Towns in the Valley
*
Westernport
Western Port, (Boonwurrung: ''Warn Marin'') commonly but unofficially known as Western Port Bay, is a large tidal bay in southern Victoria, Australia, opening into Bass Strait. It is the second largest bay in the state. Geographically, it is ...
: Westernport is the terminus of Georges Creek, where it empties into the North Branch of the
Potomac River
The Potomac River () drains the Mid-Atlantic United States, flowing from the Potomac Highlands into Chesapeake Bay. It is long,U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map. Retrieved Augu ...
. The town derives its name from being the westernmost navigable port on the river. In the late 18th century and early to mid part of the 19th century, coal and
timber were loaded onto
flatboats at Westernport and floated down to near
Great Falls, Virginia
Great Falls is a census-designated place (CDP) in Fairfax County, Virginia, United States. The population as of the 2010 census was 15,427, an increase of 80.5% from the 2000 census.
History
Colonial farm settlements began to form in the area a ...
, where the goods were unloaded, the boats broken up to sell as lumber, and the operators walked back to Westernport. The town of
Piedmont, West Virginia, lies directly adjacent to Westernport on the other side of the Potomac.
*
Barton: The Reverend
William Shaw, a
Methodist minister, settled on the site of Barton in 1794. His son, William Shaw, Jr., laid out the town in 1853, naming it for his father's hometown,
Barton-upon-Humber
Barton-upon-Humber () or Barton is a town and civil parish in North Lincolnshire, England. The population at the 2011 census was 11,066. It is situated on the south bank of the Humber Estuary at the southern end of the Humber Bridge. It is so ...
,
England.
*
Lonaconing: The first non-
Indian
Indian or Indians may refer to:
Peoples South Asia
* Indian people, people of Indian nationality, or people who have an Indian ancestor
** Non-resident Indian, a citizen of India who has temporarily emigrated to another country
* South Asia ...
settlers in the late 18th century were
explorers,
hunter
Hunting is the human practice of seeking, pursuing, capturing, or killing wildlife or feral animals. The most common reasons for humans to hunt are to harvest food (i.e. meat) and useful animal products (fur/ hide, bone/tusks, horn/antler, ...
s and
farmers. Names of some of the first settlers were Dye, Duckworth, Green, Fazenbaker, Beeman, Grove, VanBuskirk, Knapp and Miller. The first stone house built in 1797 in
Knapps Meadow just north of Lonaconing was owned by Samuel VanBuskirk. The house still stands as of 2005.
*
Midland
*
Frostburg: Frostburg is the home of
Frostburg State University, an institution within the University System of Maryland.
Notable residents
*
Lefty Grove - Lonaconing
*
Leo Mazzone
Leo David Mazzone (born October 16, 1948) is a former pitcher in minor league baseball and pitching coach in Major League Baseball. He worked with the Atlanta Braves' organization from to and was the pitching coach for the Baltimore Orioles fr ...
- Westernport
*
William Shaw - Barton
Local dialect
Georges Creek is pronounced Georges ''crick'' by locals, though they pronounce other streams as ''creek''.
Heavy Scottish heritage in the area give locals a dialect unique in the area. Many outsiders confuse the local dialect with that of
Ontario, Canada, which it closely resembles.
See also
*
Maryland Route 36
External Links
Geologic map of Garrett, Allegany, and western Washington counties, Maryland Brezinski, D.K., and Conkwright, Robert, 2013. Maryland Geological Survey
References
* Albert L. Feldstein, ''Feldstein's Historic Coal Mining and Railroads of Allegany County, Maryland'', Publisher Albert L. Feldstein, 2000, (This book consists of 135 historic Allegany County, Maryland coal mining and railroad related photographs. These are primarily from the early 1900s. Accompanying each depiction is an historical narrative with facts, figures, dates and other information. Included within this number are 23 "graveside" biographies (tombstones depicted) of individuals associated with the history of coal mining in the region.)
* ''State Coal Profiles'', DIANE Publishing, 1994,
* Parts of this article are copied from th
a U.S.
National Park Service website whose contents are in the public domain.
{{coord, 39, 34, 18, N, 78, 58, 38, W, region:US-MD_type:landmark, display=title
Landforms of Allegany County, Maryland
Regions of Maryland
Valleys of Maryland