Maryland Mining Company
Encyclopedia
Coal mining
The goal of coal mining is to obtain coal from the ground. Coal is valued for its energy content, and since the 1880s has been widely used to generate electricity. Steel and cement industries use coal as a fuel for extraction of iron from iron ore and for cement production. In the United States,...
, iron
Iron
Iron is a chemical element with the symbol Fe and atomic number 26. It is a metal in the first transition series. It is the most common element forming the planet Earth as a whole, forming much of Earth's outer and inner core. It is the fourth most common element in the Earth's crust...
producer and railroad company that operated in Allegany County
Allegany County, Maryland
Allegany County is a county located in the northwestern part of the US state of Maryland. It is part of the Cumberland, MD-WV Metropolitan Statistical Area. As of 2010, the population was 75,087. Its county seat is Cumberland...
, Maryland
Maryland
Maryland is a U.S. state located in the Mid Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware to its east...
.
The company was based in Eckhart Mines, Maryland
Eckhart Mines, Maryland
Eckhart Mines is an unincorporated town in Allegany County, Maryland, USA. Eckhart Mines lies at the southwestern base of Federal Hill, 2.9 km east of Frostburg and 1.3 km northwest of Clarysville. The town was originally founded as a company town for the nearby Eckhart Mines. The...
; the location in Braddock Run was among the first bituminous coal
Bituminous coal
Bituminous coal or black coal is a relatively soft coal containing a tarlike substance called bitumen. It is of higher quality than lignite coal but of poorer quality than Anthracite...
mines developed in the Georges Creek Valley
Georges Creek Valley
Georges Creek Valley is located in Allegany County, Maryland along the George's Creek. The valley is rich in wide veins of coal, known historically as the "The Big Vein." Coal was once extracted by deep mines but is only mined today through surface mining...
.
History
This region saw significant industrialization, with the first pig ironPig iron
Pig iron is the intermediate product of smelting iron ore with a high-carbon fuel such as coke, usually with limestone as a flux. Charcoal and anthracite have also been used as fuel...
to be smelted at Mount Savage, Maryland
Mount Savage, Maryland
Mount Savage is an unincorporated community in Allegany County, Maryland, United States. A small blue-collar community, Mount Savage lies at the base of Big Savage Mountain in the Allegheny Mountains, between the cities of Frostburg and Cumberland...
to the northwest by the Maryland and New York Coal and Iron Company. Coal mining began in Eckhart Mines after "The Big Vein
The Big Vein
The Big Vein refers to a thick seam of bituminous coal discovered in the Georges Creek Valley of Western Maryland in the early 19th century. This coal vein became famous for its clean-burning low sulfur content that made it ideal for powering ocean steamers, river boats, locomotives, steam mills,...
" was opened in 1820. The coal was originally transported by flatboats placed together on the headwaters of the North Branch Potomac River. As part of its operations, the company built the Potomac Wharf Branch
Potomac Wharf Branch
The Potomac Wharf Branch was a historic railroad located in Maryland. It was built by the Maryland Mining Company between 1846 and 1850, as an extension to the Eckhart Branch Railroad. The Potomac Wharf Branch crossed Wills Creek on a bridge just east of the present Route 40 road bridge near...
rail line from Wills Creek
Wills Creek
Wills Creek is the name of several streams in the United States:*Wills Creek , in Pennsylvania and Maryland*Wills Creek , a tributary of the Muskingum River...
, west of Cumberland, between 1846 and 1850, as an extension to its Eckhart Branch Railroad.
The Cumberland Coal & Iron Company, chartered in 1850, purchased the Maryland Mining Company's mines and railroad in April 1852, including the village of Eckhart.
With the arrival of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad
Baltimore and Ohio Railroad
The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad was one of the oldest railroads in the United States and the first common carrier railroad. It came into being mostly because the city of Baltimore wanted to compete with the newly constructed Erie Canal and another canal being proposed by Pennsylvania, which...
(B&O) in Cumberland, Maryland
Cumberland, Maryland
Cumberland is a city in the far western, Appalachian portion of Maryland, United States. It is the county seat of Allegany County, and the primary city of the Cumberland, MD-WV Metropolitan Statistical Area. At the 2010 census, the city had a population of 20,859, and the metropolitan area had a...
in 1842, local interests began lobbying for the construction of branch lines leading to the coal mines at Eckhart Mines, and the iron furnaces at Mount Savage, Maryland
Mount Savage, Maryland
Mount Savage is an unincorporated community in Allegany County, Maryland, United States. A small blue-collar community, Mount Savage lies at the base of Big Savage Mountain in the Allegheny Mountains, between the cities of Frostburg and Cumberland...
. The B&O didn't want to invest into branches for political as well as financial reasons. Eventually the Maryland & New York Coal & Iron Co. chartered and built its own Cumberland and Pennsylvania Railroad
Cumberland and Pennsylvania Railroad
The Cumberland and Pennsylvania Railroad was an American railroad which operated in Western Maryland. Primarily a coal hauler, it was owned by the Consolidation Coal Company, and was absorbed into the Western Maryland Railway in 1944....
with the purpose of connecting with, and hopefully later selling out to, the B&O near the Cumberland Narrows
Cumberland Narrows
The Cumberland Narrows is a water gap in western Maryland in the United States, just west of Cumberland, Maryland. Wills Creek cuts through the central ridge of the Wills Mountain Anticline at a low elevation here between Wills Mountain to the north and Haystack Mountain to the south...
.
The line to the Mt. Savage works was finished and operating in December 1844, while Maryland Mining's Eckhart branch entered service in May 1846. Throughout the following years, the Mt. Savage operation fell on hard times, and the Eckhart coal business has always been the more prosperous of the two. The C&P later became the initial stretch of B&O's main line to Connellsville, Pennsylvania
Connellsville, Pennsylvania
Connellsville is a city in Fayette County, Pennsylvania, USA, 57 miles southeast of Pittsburgh on the Youghiogheny River, a tributary of the Monongahela River. It is part of the Pittsburgh Metro Area. In 1890, 5,629 people lived in Connellsville, which was a borough at that time...
, first via trackage rights and following 1903 by way of lease. Eckhart Jct. was established just west of the Narrows, Mt. Savage Jct. a few miles to the north.
Timeline of the railroad
1845 - Mount Savage Coal & Iron Company (later Maryland & New York Coal and Iron Company) completes the Mount Savage RailroadMount Savage Railroad
The Mount Savage Railroad was a railroad operated by the Mount Savage Coal and Iron Company of Mount Savage, Maryland between 1845 and 1854. The 14.9 miles rail line ran from Frostburg to Cumberland, Maryland.-History:...
, from Mt. Savage furnaces to Cumberland, with branches.
1846 - Maryland Mining Company completes the Eckhart Railroad
Eckhart Railroad
The Eckhart Branch Railroad is a historic railroad that operated in Maryland.The company was a subsidiary of the Maryland Mining Company of Eckhart Mines, Maryland...
, from Eckhart Mines, Maryland
Eckhart Mines, Maryland
Eckhart Mines is an unincorporated town in Allegany County, Maryland, USA. Eckhart Mines lies at the southwestern base of Federal Hill, 2.9 km east of Frostburg and 1.3 km northwest of Clarysville. The town was originally founded as a company town for the nearby Eckhart Mines. The...
to Wills Creek
Wills Creek
Wills Creek is the name of several streams in the United States:*Wills Creek , in Pennsylvania and Maryland*Wills Creek , a tributary of the Muskingum River...
(Eckhart Jct.).
1850 - Cumberland & Pennsylvania Railroad (C&P) is chartered.
1850 - Eckhart Railroad completes the Potomac Wharf Branch
Potomac Wharf Branch
The Potomac Wharf Branch was a historic railroad located in Maryland. It was built by the Maryland Mining Company between 1846 and 1850, as an extension to the Eckhart Branch Railroad. The Potomac Wharf Branch crossed Wills Creek on a bridge just east of the present Route 40 road bridge near...
into Cumberland.
1853 - Georges Creek Coal & Iron Company builds the Georges Creek Railroad
Georges Creek Railroad
The Georges Creek Railroad was a railroad operated by the Georges Creek Coal and Iron Company in Western Maryland. The railroad operated from 1853 to 1863, when it was acquired by the Cumberland and Pennsylvania Railroad .- History :...
between Lonaconing, Maryland
Lonaconing, Maryland
Lonaconing is a town in Allegany County, Maryland, United States located along the Georges Creek Valley. It is part of the Cumberland, MD-WV Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 1,205 at the 2000 census.- History :...
and Piedmont, West Virginia
Piedmont, West Virginia
Piedmont is a town in Mineral County, West Virginia, United States. It is part of the 'Cumberland, MD-WV Metropolitan Statistical Area'. The population was 1,014 at the 2000 census. Piedmont was chartered in 1856...
.
1863 - C&P acquires the Georges Creek Railroad after purchasing the Mt. Savage RR.
1870 - C&P absorbs Eckhart Railroad.
1876 - The Maryland and American Coal Companies start building the George's Creek and Cumberland Railroad (GC&C).
1879 - Pennsylvania Railroad completes PRR of Maryland line between State Line and Cumberland.
1888 - GC&C merges PRR of Maryland.
1907 - Western Maryland Railroad assumes control of the GC&C as part of the George Gould
George Jay Gould I
George Jay Gould I was a financier and the son of Jay Gould. He was himself a railroad executive, leading both the Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad and the Western Pacific Railroad ....
empire (merged into WM in 1917).
1939 - GC&C abandoned west of Eckhart Jct.
1944 - WM acquires C&P.
1953 - C&P formally merges with WM.
1982 - State Line Branch abandoned.
These railroads were built by the iron and coal companies in the early 1840s, in anticipation of connecting with the B&O Railroad and the ppChesapeake and Ohio Canal both then under construction to Cumberland. Some of these standard gauge
Standard gauge
The standard gauge is a widely-used track gauge . Approximately 60% of the world's existing railway lines are built to this gauge...
mine roads owned and operated their own equipment, while others were operated with early B&O motive power and rolling stock. By 1870, all of the lines were absorbed into the Cumberland & Pennsylvania Railroad, which was itself absorbed into the Western Maryland system.