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Kempton is a ghost town in
Kempton is a ghost town in Garrett County, Maryland
Garrett County () is the westernmost county of the U.S. state of Maryland. As of the 2020 census, the population was 28,806, making it the third-least populous county in Maryland. Its county seat is Oakland. The county was named for John Work ...
. Kempton is also partially located in Tucker County, West Virginia.
Geography
Kempton is located on the North Branch Potomac River, which feeds the larger Potomac River. Runoff from human activity at Kempton feeds the wetlands at Laurel Run. Kempton contains a vast mining complex, much of which has been reforested. Mining at Kempton takes up more than 7,680acre
The acre is a unit of land area used in the imperial
Imperial is that which relates to an empire, emperor, or imperialism.
Imperial or The Imperial may also refer to:
Places
United States
* Imperial, California
* Imperial, Missouri
* Imp ...
s of land. Kempton is partially located in Tucker County, West Virginia, close to Thomas. The location of the town is nearby to several notable natural sites, such as Blackwater Falls State Park
Blackwater Falls State Park is located in the Allegheny Mountains of Tucker County, West Virginia, US. The centerpiece of the park is Blackwater Falls, a cascade where the Blackwater River leaves its leisurely course in Canaan Valley and enters ...
and the Dolly Sods Wilderness
The Dolly Sods Wilderness – originally simply Dolly Sods – is a U.S. Wilderness Area in the Allegheny Mountains of eastern West Virginia, US, and is part of the Monongahela National Forest (MNF) of the U.S. Forest Service (USFS).
Dolly Sods ...
.
History
Kempton was founded in 1913 as acompany town
A company town is a place where practically all stores and housing are owned by the one company that is also the main employer. Company towns are often planned with a suite of amenities such as stores, houses of worship, schools, markets and re ...
of the coal industry
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 de ...
. Kempton was founded by the Davis Coal and Coke Company
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* Davis, Saskatchewan, an unincorporated community
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. In 1915, mining operations began at Kempton Mine Company, a subsidiary
A subsidiary, subsidiary company or daughter company is a company owned or controlled by another company, which is called the parent company or holding company. Two or more subsidiaries that either belong to the same parent company or having a s ...
of Davis C&C Company. By the 1930s, Kempton's population had grown to approximately 900 residents. In 1950, the main mine, Mine No.42, closed unexpectedly.
Decline
After the mining industry dried up during the 1950s following unexpected mine closures, the population of Kempton declined sharply. As of 2003, a small number of residents remain in old company housing at Kempton. Over the years, mining at Kempton has put significant strain on the local watershed. The mining complexes at Kempton are the most significant contributor to acid mine drainage (AMD) on the North Branch, which used to house thriving trout andbass
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industries. After the closure of Mine No.42 in 1950, lack of maintenance on the abandoned mines caused large amounts of AMD into surrounding waterways. In 1977, the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act was passed to help regulate the environmental impacts of both active and abandoned coal mines. By this time, many of the mines were abandoned and Kempton had already been a ghost town for several years.
See also
*List of ghost towns in Maryland
The following is an incomplete list of ghost towns in Maryland. Ghost towns can include sites in various states of disrepair and abandonment. Some sites no longer have any trace of civilization and have reverted to pasture land or empty fields. ...
References