97

That portion of the county lying on the Catoctin Mountuin
on the west, and Parr's Ridge on the east, is by far its larg-
est portion, and here we find the largest portion of well cul-
tivated fertile soil. Great attention has been paid to the im-
provement of the land and the development of all the means
of agricultural improvement with very successful results.—
The farms are well cultivated, and the farm buildings, fenc-
ing, &c., show the results of careful, intelligent management.
The mineral resources, particularly those for agricultural im-
provement, are very fine and widely diffused. Limestone of
all the varieties adapted to the improvement of the different
classes of soils, anywhere met with, exist here, and have not
only been used very extensively in the county with great ben-
efit, but large quantities have been sold to other portions of
the State. We have in this county not only pure and mag-
nesian limestone, but also other varieties containing notable
quantities of talc and mica slate, by which the fertilizng
value of the lime is greatly increased. Some of the lime-
stone is remarkable for being almost chemically pure, exceed-
ing in its purity any other limestone which ever have been
examined, which include most of those existing in our coun-
try. Besides the limestone several varieties of beautiful
marble is found in the "county, one variety of which the
"Breccia or Calico Marble" has furnished the material from
which the columns in the old Hall of the House of Repre-
sentatives at Washington were made. It, for durability and
beauty, holds a very high rank. There are also many quar-
ries of fine roofing slate, with mines of iron ore, manganese
(Peroxide) and copper, with abundance of very fine quality
of brick-clay for building.

The county is well wooded and is well watered by Catoctin
creek in the west, and the Monocacy river in the middle por-
tion, which runs through the whole county, from the Penn-
sylvania line to the Potomac; these with their tributaries and
the Potomac river affords a very large quantity of water-
power which has been improved by large and flourishing
flower mills and manufactories of different kinds.

The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad passes entirely through
this county from east to west (within a short distance of the
county town, Frederick City, which is connected with it by
a short branch road,) and gives speedy and direct communi-
cation with Baltimore and Washington. The Chesapeake
and Ohio Canal passes through its whole southern border to
tide-water at Georgetown. The Western Maryland Railroad
now in course of construction, will pass through the north-
ern part of the county near to Emmitsburg.

Besides these facilities already existing, a Railroad—a
branch of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad—is being 'con-
structed from near the Point of Rocks, through the southern
12*