From Bark to Boots: The History of Tanneries in Western Maryland

Book Reviewby Sue Winterbottom, Editor, Archaeological Leather Group Newsletter, International Organization located in the UK.Andrew Sparber, From Bark to Boots: The History of Tanneries in Western Maryland (self-published, 2021, 174pp.)The two counties of Western Maryland, Allegany County and Garrett County further west, have the meandering north branch of the Potomac river as their southern boundary. They were settled from the late 18th century onwards chiefly by first generation Scottish, Irish and German immigrants. In this part of the Appalachian Mountains they found abundant timber, coal and iron and in the course of the 19th century the area became a centre of industrial development as well as farming. What began as small family businesses later amalgamated into larger enterprises or were absorbed by national corporations based in New York or Boston.So it was with tanneries. There was a massive need for leather goods of all kinds, initially for boots, caps, saddles and harness, britches, belts and shot pouches; later for drive belts for steam-powered machinery, for fire hoses and for conveyor belts used in mining and agriculture. From the start a tannery was essential to every settlement and the author identifies 26 tanneries founded between 1790 and 1893 in the two counties - 6 of them being in Cumberland, the main town in Allegany County.At that time the Green Ridge forest of Western Maryland contained vast stands of Eastern Hemlock (Tsuga canadensis), together with Chestnut Oak (Quercus montana) and other oak species. These were extensively felled and the bark ground for tanning. Hemlock bark produced particularly hard leathers, most suitable for shoe soles and machine belting. So many trees were felled that by 1900 little remained of the forests. At that point the tanneries had to close down, import other sources of vegetable tannins – such as nuts from South America – or convert to the new mineral tanning methods.Shipping bark to the tanneries became easier once major transport links were established. Construction of the 'National Road' or National Turnpike westwards from Baltimore was authorized by Congress in 1806 and it passed through Cumberland. It was followed by the Chesapeake and Ohio canal (from Washington DC to Cumberland) and the Baltimore & Ohio railroad, which further connected the Western Maryland towns. By these routes raw hides (of buffalo and later cattle) could also travel from farms and slaughterhouses to the tanneries, the tanned hides then being exported eastwards. Later in the century raw hides came in quantity from Chicago, New York and Boston; one instance was recorded of hides being received from England and the leather returned there. As an indication of how the trade grew, the Jones Tannery at Wills Creek, Cumberland was producing 7,000 hides a year in 1830; by 1887 following mechanization this had grown to 56,000 hides.For a reader like myself, with a very limited knowledge of American history, this book gives some unexpected insights into the pace at which an industrialized society was built from the bottom up, within the space of a modern lifetime. The civil war (1861-65), far from hindering the process provided a boost to manufacturing of all kinds and leather production was deemed so important that tanners were exempted from the draft. The author, Andrew Sparber, lives in the city of Cumberland and has written about the history of other industries in Allegany County. In researching this book he has used a wide variety of local and national resources. Most interesting are the articles and advertisements from local newspapers, early photographs, and a series of 'Insurance Maps' of individual tanneries. These were drawn up by the local fire department and as well as showing the location and use of each building on a site they include information such the number of workers, the production capacity of the site and the method of powering machinery, heating and lighting.The book is well constructed, richly illustrated and I found it an altogether fascinating read.