C is for Catoctin

Tim Iverson
Naturalist

(6/2020) Out of the depths of our darkest economic depression, a small mountainside iron town forged a lifeline. Uniting new concepts, restoring economic prosperity, and giving second life to people and land became the underlying mission of the new-deal era. Recreational demonstration areas scattered across the country relied on programs like the Works Progress Administration and the Civilian Conservation Corp. President Franklin D. Roosevelt instituted programs to allow for the symbolic re-growth of the people and the literal re-growth of the land in areas that would become places like Catoctin Mountain Park.

The enormous natural resources that Catoctin Mountain provided spurred the diverse cultural history of the people that came to settle the land. Early American Indian settlements sprang up around the mountain. Later, vibrant iron, charcoal, milling, and farming industries came to rely upon what the mountain had to offer. After a period of economic collapse new life was breathed into the area. The vitality of the various job corps still stands today in the historic structures dotting the mountainside. All these stories are a fabric woven together with the land as their loom.

Evidence of encampments and quarry sites are the just first chapters to a prolific story of all the mountain had to give. Rich in rhyolite stone, mining sites provide direct archeological evidence that people began utilizing this area long ago. Quarry and production of tools occurred here for potentially thousands of years, as far back as 8,000 BCE to 900 CE. Artifacts of these have been found hundreds of miles away, making their way to coastal Virginia and as far as New York state. The land had much more to offer and continued for generations.

Along with rhyolite, prized for its durability and widely used for tools, Catoctin was abundant in hematite iron ore. By the 1770’s this iron ore had caught the attention of revolutionary Americans. The first of three iron production facilities in Thurmont, MD was commissioned by the Johnson Brothers, one of whom (Thomas Johnson) later became the first governor of the state. The American Revolution gave way to the Industrial Revolution at the foot of Catoctin Mountain.

Iron smelting was a 24 hour a day operation and lasted on a near continuous timeline from 1776 until 1903 with few interruptions. The iron produced here was mostly shipped and processed elsewhere. There are accounts of some noteworthy production items including musket and cannon balls used in the Revolutionary War, sheet metal used in ironclad ships (such as the USS Monitor) in the Civil War, and a type of popular stove during the 1800’s.

To render the ore into a usable product the furnace required enormous amounts of charcoal, driving temperatures over 2,000 degrees. The forest blanketing the mountain became the source for fuel in the furnaces. Making charcoal was a massive undertaking in itself. Over 300 woodcutters clear-cut the 11,000-acre mountain multiple times in 20 - 30-year cycles. Sawyers would only leave a few trees per acre to reseed and repopulate the area. One cord of wood produced 6 bushels of charcoal. It took 80 bushels of charcoal to make one ton of iron. The colliers, who made the charcoal, and woodcutters were entirely dependent on the success of the iron furnace.

As time marched into the Gilded Age Pittsburg, Pa. became the steel capital of the world. The eventual demise of Catoctin’s iron furnace industry was written on the wall. In 1903 the bellows of the furnace finally blew out. One of two furnaces was disassembled and shipped to Pittsburg. The ruins of the other still stand in Cunningham Falls State Park today. The town and surrounding area trudged on as progress passed by. Within a short span the entire nation was mired in economic collapse, while Catoctin Mountain bore the scars of the past.

In the spring of 1933, the newly elected President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, began a series of initiatives dedicated to revitalizing the nation both physically and financially. Sweeping legislation enabled the Civilian Conservation Corp (CCC) and Works Progress Administration (WPA) to employ millions of people across the country instructing them in valuable skills and trades. The Department of the Interior purchased approximately 10,000 acres of land on Catoctin Mountain, and by August 1936 Catoctin Recreational Demonstration Area (RDA) was born.

In the height of the Catoctin RDA program the WPA and CCC employed over 600 men. Young men, both locally and from outside the area, arrived in search for an honest day's work and pay. Unskilled labor developed into skill sets and trades to advance their lives and eventual careers. Working with state foresters, the mountain was replanted and trails blazed. Buildings were erected from stone and timber sourced from local material found on the mountain. Blacksmiths hammered away at a specialty shop in Camp Round Meadow, where interpretive programs are still hosted. Overtime, in a second-growth forest, a new park was born.

As war emerged half a world away, men from the WPA and CCC had the rigid discipline and varied skill sets to advance the cause of the Allies. The programs were disbanded and many either joined or were drafted into service. As the era of the Catoctin RDA drew to a close the mountain caught the attention of the Office of Strategic Services (OSS). The OSS was the forerunner to today’s CIA. Agents and soldiers came to the mountain to train and hone their spy-craft skills before deploying to aid the war effort. A weary wartime president seeking solace from the hardship of governance found a retreat initially known as Shangri-La.

Like other recreational demonstration areas, the plan was to rehabilitate sub-marginal land into recreational outlets for neighboring urban areas and return the parks to local or state authorities. Catoctin has a compelling history and had become a home away from home for presidents. As a result, the land was roughly split evenly and half was returned to the State of Maryland becoming Cunningham Falls State Park. The other was retained by the National Park Service and became Catoctin Mountain Park.

Catoctin is truly a site with a story that is mutually dependent upon the natural and cultural resources. The land made the people and the people made the land. From humble beginnings, to a symbol of an industrial powerhouse, to rejuvenation and retreat Catoctin Mountain Park is a unique unit of the National Park Service encompassing the best of what the resource and people have to provide.