Economics of Frederick County

The furnace produced iron goods such as horseshoes, nails, ammunition, tools, hinges, and other metal household items needed for people to survive.

Many individuals were needed to make the furnace work:

• miners were needed to extract the limonite from the ground
• colliers prepared the charcoal to be burned in the furnace
• filler charged the furnace to keep it running
• founders casted the iron taken from the limonite
• blacksmiths were needed to forge the steel

Frederick has 48 mines. People have tried digging for gold, silver, iron, copper, and aluminum. (click here for more info.). Despite the attempts to mine for these materials, these mines are now closed.

Open pit mines are now more common. The Barrick Quarry in Woodsboro is an example of this type of mine. To find out more about the Potomac Marble Quarry click here: Potomac Marble

Construction began on the canal in 1828. In order for the canal to be built, many individuals were needed - stonecutters, masons, carpenters, as well as many other tradesmen and laborers.

As the canal followed the Potomac River north towards Cumberland, MD, there were few people to work. There were not many residents in this rural area and workers were hard to find.

The company which built the canal struggled with limited resources. For example: lumber, stone, and lime (needed to make cement) were all scarce.

When it was completed, the total cost to build the canal was 22 million dollars. Half of the cost came from changes in the canal and repairing damage caused by the Potomac River.

The railroad eventually beat out the canal in the 1800’s. It proved to be a faster and cheaper way to transport goods back and forth from the Washington D.C. area to the Ohio Valley. Today, the railroad is still used as a means to transport goods throughout Frederick County, Maryland as well as the rest of the country.

In 1874, S.W. Barrick bought a 200+ acre farm to establish a limestone quarry to produce and distribute the product lime to farmers in the Frederick County area and beyond.

The lime is produced by cooking limestone in a lime kiln (oven) until it can be crushed into a powder. The powder is sold to farmers to fertilize (neutralize the soil) their fields.

Lime was sold by the Barrick and many other quarries (Martin Marietta, Essroc, etc.) in Frederick County for many years when farming was the primary form of income during the agricultural revolution time period.

Recently, due to fewer farmers and the addition of many more careers there is no longer a need for lime.

With the increase in the population of Frederick County there is a need for building materials, which limestone fulfills. (examples: crushed stone, cinder block, pavers, concrete, brick, etc.)

There are over 1300 farms in Frederick County. Farming has continued to be a driving part of life here.