Tapping the big vein: Coal mining and environmental alteration in Maryland's Appalachian Region, 1789-1906

During the second half of the nineteenth century, the physical environment of the George's Creek valley in western Allegany County, Maryland was altered dramatically as coal mining and logging operations expanded and intensified. While much scholarly attention has been directed toward Appalachia in recent years, little has focussed on the causes of environmental alteration and on the environmental impacts of mining, lumbering, and other extractive activities. This research uses historical data to show that environmental alteration was not simply the result of wealthy "outsiders" entering the coalfield and leaving behind a devastated landscape. On the contrary, the research indicates that a number of factors working in concert produced large-scale environmental modification. Western Maryland occupies an important albeit often overlooked position within Appalachia as far as environmental alteration is concerned. It was in the George's Creek valley that the earliest manifestations of large-scale coal mining were expressed on the landscape. This region was also one of the first to be affected by the transportation revolution initiated by railroads and canals. In addition, this valley is particularly significant as the birthplace of the Consolidation Coal Company, which later spread into Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and Kentucky enroute to becoming the largest bituminous coal company in the United States by the late 1920s. There are two main goals to this research. The first is to uncover the causes and processes responsible for environmental alteration in the George's Creek valley. The second is to examine the context within which environmental modification took place. By so doing, we acquire a better understanding of the forces that transformed not only the George's Creek environment but much of Appalachia as well during this time.