Patrick Stakem

Mount Savage, Patrick Stakem

This book focuses on the early production of iron, and the later production of derivative products such as locomotives at Mount Savage, Maryland. Mount Savage was at the forefront of the Industrial Revolution in the United States. What made this possible was the juxtaposition of natural resources (iron ore, coal, and fire clay), availability of a workforce, and the relative ease of transportation to the coast. Nearby Cumberland had the B& O railroad from Baltimore, and the C& O Canal from Georgetown. The forward-seeing industrialists built their Mount Savage Rail Road not just to supply coal for shipment east, but for their iron products as well. This started with pig iron for the foundries in Baltimore, Georgetown, and along the Potomac. Significantly, the new short line railroad was built with rail they built themselves. THIS WAS A BIG DEAL. The B& O was using imported British Rail up to that point. Then this little upstart facility in the backwoods of Western Maryland came up with a cheaper, better local product.