CECIL COUNTY. 



Cecil County is located at the northeast corner of Maryland. 

 Bounded on the east side by Delaware and on the north by Pennsyl- 

 vania, it is at the beginning of Chesapeake Bay, from which tidewater 

 streams cut deeply into the County from two sides. The Susquehan- 

 na River is the dividing -line between this County and Harford, on 

 the western side, while the main line of the Pennsylvania Railroad 

 divides it into two distinct areas — on the southeast the Coastal Plain, 

 and on the northern side the Piedmont Plateau. Low hiUs and broad 

 valleys characterize the topography of much of Cecil County, these 

 elevations rising to Black Hill, at a height of 311 feet, in the corner 

 of the County known as Elk Neck. Local soils vary much, from those 

 which are barren to others exceedingly rich. The poorer situations 

 are in the northwestern part, sassafras loam in the northeast, and in 

 the southern section both sand and loam. There is much good farm 

 land in the latter, as also in the northern central part. In the north- 

 west are the more rocky soil formations, with many fair-sized patches 

 of forest. 



The Forests. 



Forests distinctly characteristic of the Coastal Plain and Pied- 

 mont divisions meet in this county, of which 24 per cent is wooded. 

 Although there is no portion of the county where there is not a fair 

 amount of forest, it is in the central part, from Perryville to Leslie, 

 and south from Leslie along Elk Neck, that the largest bodies of wood- 

 land occur. The area north of PerryviUe represents in large part the 

 holdings, at one time or another, of the present Whitaker Iron Com- 

 pany, originally the old Prineipio Furnace. As such it has been cut 

 over and "charcoaled" repeatedly, which, together with the now pre- 

 valent chestnut blight and the logging operations necessitated by the 

 utilization of affected timber, has had an important bearing upon the 

 present wooded area. In 1722 the Prineipio Furnace was first placed 

 in operation. During the Revolutionary period it furnished muni- 

 tions to the armies of Washington, and from Colonial days to the pres- 

 ent it has been in continuous operation, though the output within 

 recent years has become relatively small. 



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