The John A. Grant Lecture

When I first started to look into lake bathymetry in 2011 I tried to understand the “lay of the land.” I did a lot of Google searches to find historical items about Garrett County. One of these items was from a local real estate’s agent website and contained, a bit hidden among their web pages, the “John A Grant Lecture.”

I found it a fascinating reading, giving some background on the area. I downloaded a copy of it.

But it disappeared and could never find it again, even the version I downloaded (I have subsequently found a copy of it on one of my earliest websites. I guess it made an impression - Jan 2022).

John A. Grant was a Garrett County native. He died in 2012 at the age of 88. He was trained as a navigator for a B-29 bomber aircraft. Grant was employed as a civil engineer with B&O Railroad. Grant also became an Episcopal priest. Grant was a member of the Garrett County Historical Society and served for 19 years as Editor of the Society’s journal, “The Glades Star”. And, hence his insight into history and engineering.

Garret County has a lot of interesting history that is not very well published. Here, I just want to keep alive John Grant’s memories.

A great description of Garrett County and its history is by John Grant in a “handout” that he prepared for a Garrett County History course at Garrett College during 2001 and 2002.

I found this lecture on a website accidentally and downloaded it on 10/17/2013. This is a verbatim copy as I have it. (PLV: 5/9/2016)

The John A Grant Lecture

Background Information

      For a number of years, scientists had observed that rock formations in one area resembled rock formations in another area, miles apart. Similar fossils could be found in these rocks, sometimes separated by hundreds of miles. As time and observations continued they led to the conclusion that the rock formations had been composed at the same time. Gradually, these rocks were given the title sedimentary rocks because they were assumed to have been formed by sediments deposited in either fresh or salt water seas formed by the uplifting and depression of land masses to form the seas.

      This uplifting and depression of the land masses to form various beds of rock led to a fundamental law of geology called the Law of Superposition. The “Law of Superposition” states that the oldest rock beds are on the bottom of a particular rock formation and the newest rock beds are on the top. Differences in the composition of the material forming the rock beds also led to the theory of erosion of older formations, uplifted hundreds of miles away, and their materials being re-deposited to form new rock beds.

      (In Garrett County, the “conglomerate sandstone” containing pebbles of older rocks is a good example of the erosion of older rock beds to form new ones.)

Continental Drift

      Similar rock formation containing the same fossils were found on different continents, and this led to the theory of Continental Drift. It was put forward by many geologists; foremost among them was Alfred Wegener in the early 1900’s. Missing from this theory, however, was a reasonable mechanical explanation of how the “drift” came about. Following WW II, and the development of electronic measurements, the wedging apart of the continents by ridges built up in the oceans, led to the idea of plate tectonics and the mechanical explanation for the Continental Drift.

      The wedging apart of the continents also accounted for the great lateral pressures which would bring about folding of the rock strata of the crust of the earth to form mountains.

Definitions

­1. Topography The natural configuration of the surface of the land.
2. Geosyncline An elongated down-fold of rock strata in which the sides rise up from a central axis.
3. Geoanticline An elongated fold in a rock strata in which the sides slope downward away from a crest or dome of an elongated axis.

Garrett County Topography

      The topography of Garrett County consists of a series of large and small hills. In some areas, “glade land” stretches out between the hills, forming a drainage area for small streams feeding into larger ones. In other areas, the hills slope directly down into a small streams. In general, these changes in topography are due to a series of geosynclines and geoanticlines which traverse Garrett County at roughly 30 degrees northeast / southwest.

      Rock beds folding east and west through the County, gradually turn from geosynclines to geoanticlines, and many of the flat glade areas throughout the County sit on top of subterranean geoanticlines.

      A good example of this folding is the geosyncline which carries the water of the North Branch of the Potomac River. The western outcropping of this rock structure forms cliffs along the western face of Backbone Mountain. The eastern face by contrast, gradually dips toward the Potomac River and rises gently to crest in West Virginia. The eastern face of this geosyncline is the formation generally referred to as Allegheny Front.

“The Youghiogheny River follows the axis of another geosyncline.”

      Between the geosynclines which carries these two rivers is a geoanticline, which is called the “Deer Park Anticline.” On top of this anticline can is found a series of glades such as the Pleasant Valley area with “Yough Glades”, or “Cherry Glades” found on top of Meadow Mountain. One oddity of this geoanticline is the fact that it carries a strata of rock infused with natural gas.

      The presence or absence of natural gas along this geoanticline is due to fracturing of the rock strata along its axis. For example, a “fault” in the rock strata accounts for natural gas being found east and west of Accident, Md., but not existing under the town.      

Fossils and Imprints

      Through fossils and fossil imprints, geologists have been able to establish and name various time periods of Earth’s history. The various Eras, which are subdivided into time Periods, are Precambrian, Paleozoic, Mesozoic, and Cenozoic, with Precambrian as the oldest dating back 575 million years. The oldest rocks in Garrett County are of the Devonian time Period of the Paleozoic Era, and are about 400 million years old. Majority of the rock beds which contain the coal seams are about 320 million years old. The youngest topographic features which may eventually become rocks are about 25,000 years old and are the result of the last great ice sheet which moved down across eastern North America.

      There are abundant marine and plant fossils, along with fossil imprints, which can be found in Garrett County. Excellent examples of marine fossils can be found in the loosely consolidated limestone deposit in the Underwood area. It contains beautiful fossils of Brachiopod (Articulata), Mollusea (Cephalopoda), Arthropoda (Trilobita), and Echinodermata (Crinoidea).

      Plant fossils are found in sandstone formations adjacent to the coal seams. Imprints of Lycopoda can be seen in the sand stone formation at Swallow Falls and occassionally whole pieces of Lapidodendron can be found in other places.

      Rare imprints or tracks of ancient creatures can be seen in Garrett County, but are almost impossible to find. One set on top of Backbone Mountain has been the object of speculation for a century and a half. A simple description of the tracks in the white sandstone is that they are about four inches long and were made by a creature having an 18 to 24 inch stride. Locally, the imprints were called “panther tracks” and it was thought that they were made by an ancient creature that was the ancestor of the panther.

      Following the Law of Superposition, the sandstone on top of Backbone Mountain is part of the Allegany and Pottsville formation; this makes the white sandstone over 300 million years old. Judging by identical tracks observed in other states for the same time period, the creature which made the tracks in the sandstone was probably a sea scorpion (Euryptorida).

      “Stone Coal” is the name which early settlers gave to the bituminous coal which was found in the Garrett County area. For many years it was only used for blacksmithing. According to Brown’s Miscellaneous Writings, the first coal mine in the area was located north of Grantsville towards Salisbury near the MD/ PA boundary line.

Frost Pockets

      In the northern part of the County, a geological condition exists which has been given the term a “frost pocket.” The configuration of the hills does not allow the normal daytime heating, producing a prolonged time of cool air over the area. This condition has allowed the continued existence of sub-arctic flora in the Cranesville Swamp and the Finzel Swamp.        

Indian Trails and Campsites

      When their locations are drawn on a map, it is evident that Garrett County was criss-crossed by Indian trails. Presumably, the trails which the Indians followed were originally the seasonal migration paths of buffalo and elk herds. The trails gave the Indians access to camping and trading sites during the warm months, and a route home to their permanent towns at the end of the summer season.

      As near as can be determined, the Indians came into the Garrett County area from two general locations; the Monongahela – Ohio River drainage area to the west, and the New Creek – Potomac River drainage area to the east. Evidence uncovered by floods in the Potomac River valley, indicate that some towns have been in existence for over 2,000 years. However, some phases of Indian culture, such as the mound building, that took place in other part of eastern North America seem to be absent in this area.

      (It is to be noted that archaeologist speculate about the natural trenches which Washington used at Fort Necessity, and the embankments of Fort Redstone at Brownsville, Pa., as being a phase of the “mound” culture.)

      During the Early Woodland period of Indian culture, several “Shelter cave” sites were occupied by the Indians. In 1950, a shelter cave north of Friendsville was excavated by an archaeological team from Carnegie Museum, Pittsburgh, Pa. Known as “Indian Rocks” the cave is located near the headwaters of Laurel Run. It yielded a variety of stone and ceramic artifacts, including one piece of pottery that was one of the oldest ones ever found in this area; possibly dating abck to the Archaic Indian period making it up to 2,500 years old. Other pottery in the cave indicated that it had been occupied continuously for almost 1600 years.

      Although Cherokee, Delaware, and Shawnee Indian culture artifacts can be found through out Garrett County, evidence shows that the indigenous Mingo tribe seems to be the one which returned to the mountain top each year to hunt, fish, trade, and plant a few crops where open land was available.

Colonial Contacts Begin

      Colonial settlements along the East Coast on North America, began a gradual infusion of European culture into the life of the Indians. As some of the East Coast tribes began moving westward, they carried with them parts of this new cultural influence. This fact is attested by stories and diary entries of trappers and explorers.

      Two men who provided historians with a wealth of information from their writings were Tomas Cresap and Christopher Gist. They knew Indian trails and many of the local chiefs; they seem to have moved about in the wilderness of the Appalachian Mountains without being molested.

      Thomas Cresap had a stockade at the present site of Oldtown in Allegany County; Christoper Gist built a model town on his plantation near the present Uniontown, Pa.

      In 1748, Cresap was hired by the Ohio Company of Virginia to lay out a pack horse trail westward from the Wills Creek trading post (Cumberland, Md.) to Fort Redstone on the Monongahela River (Brownsville, Pa.) He employed a local tribe of Indians to do the work under the direction of Chief Nemacolin. It is one example of the gradual change of Indian culture, because they were working for wages. The pack horse path which they cut out was named Nemacolin’s Path, and roughly follows the present route U.S. #40.

      A trapper and hunter from the Wills Creek area, John Frazer, had a log cabin on the banks of the Monongahela River near the present city of Pittsburgh, Pa. From Geo. Washington’s diary, it was learned that an Indian lived nearby also in a cabin.

Troubles In The Mountains

      Through the 1609 charter from the King of England to the London Company, the Colony of Virginia claimed all the land west of Laurel Mountain to the Ohio River as belonging to Virginia.

      One of the benefactors of the land grants from the King of England was Lord Fairfax. In 1736, he employed Benjamin Winslow to prepare a map of the Potomac River and to locate the “springing point” of the North Branch of the Potomac River. Winslow eventually came into the Garrett County area and located what he considered to be the westernmost “springing point” of the river. He marked the location with a pile of rock and blazed trees. This is the location of the present Fairfax Stone.

      Ten years later, in 1746, a second group of surveyors found the location identified by Winslow. Included in the surveying party was Peter Jefferson, father of Thomas Jefferson.

      However, the European conflict between France and England eventually spilled over onto the North American continent. In the mid-1700’s, Virginia felt that the French had usurped England’s rights to the Ohio River territory. In 1753, George Washington was sent by the Virginia legislature to the French forts on the Allegheny River. His task was to order the French to get out of the Virginia controlled area. They refused, and in 1754, he returned with a military force, which was defeated by the combination of French and Indian fighting men at Fort Necessity.

      The following year, General Edward Braddock set out with an overwhelming number of British and Colonial soldiers. They got within seven miles of Fort Duquesne but were ambushed by a combination of French soldiers and Indian warriors from the fort. They were completely defeated and in the skirmish, Braddock received a mortal wound; he died before ever getting back to Fort Cumberland.

Some Dates

1754 – Fort Necessity 1755 – Defeat of Gen. Braddock 1756 – Negro slave of Thomas Cresap killed on the mountain west of Little Meadows. 1765 – John Friend settlement at Friendsville. 1767 – Mason-Dixon line was surveyed through the northern part of Garrett County. 1769 – McCullough Path to Wheeling. 1773 – Massacre of Malott family. 1774 – Ashby family arrives in Garrett County.

Points Of Interest

Little Meadows Little meadows, east of Grantsville, was a well known camping spot by trappers, explorers and soldiers of the Colonial militia. Today, it is an easily accessible place to visit and remains of the Braddock Road can still be found there.

Braddock Road When Gen. Braddock made his ill-fated military march against the French at Fort Duquesnie, his engineering battalion cut out a road for supply wagons and canons on wheels. It became the “road westward” until construction of the National Road was completed to Wheeling in1819.

McCullough’s Pack Horse Path Commerce to the west in the late 1700’s was aimed for Wheeling on the Ohio River, gateway to the expanding mid-west. In 1769 Samuel McCullough cut out a trail from the South Branch of the Potomac River near Petersburg to Wheeling. “McCullough’s Path” was the path followed by some early settlers who came into Garrett County from the Virginia area.

Seneca Trail – Hoop Pole Ridge Road There were several north-south trails in Garrett County which were later developed into roads. The Hoop Pole Ridge Road ran from Oakland to Grantsville and followed part of the Seneca Trail. Traces of this old road can still be found at various places between Oakland and Deep Creek Lake.

Glades Path – State Road to Bloomington An Indian trail called the “Glades Path” came over Backbone Mountain from the North Branch of the Potomac River near Bloomington and ended at the Little Youghiogheny River west of Oakland. In 1789, much of it became the route for the Oakland - Deer Park – Swanton – Bloomington Road.

Military Lots During the early 1770’s, Col. Francis Deakines was commissioned by the Governor of Maryland to survey various land holdings by the people in Garrett County and Alleghany County. Following the Revolutionary War, the State of Maryland paid the Colonial soldiers with 50 acres of land known as “Military Lots”. Col. Deakins was hired to lay out the lots since he knew the territory. Beginning in 1787, Deakins and ten surveying crews laid out over 4, 000 Military Lots in the two counties.

The men who headed the ten surveying crews were, Henry Kemp, Daniel Cresap, Lawrence Bringle, Benjamine Price. John Tomlinson, Jonas Hogmire, Thomas Orm, John Hooker, John Lynn, and William W. Hoye.

Here are some additional links to the history of Garrett County:
­1. Garrett County and The Underground Railroad 2. The Historical Marker Database 3. Western Maryland Coal Talks: Interview Transcripts a download of the John Grant interview can be found here