Ten Mile Creek at another crossroad
The quest to protect Montgomery County ’ s last best creek continues …
By Sylvia Tognetti and RG Steinman , with contributions from Norman Mease
Ten Mile Creek received its name from the many travelers in the 1700s that used the Old Baltimore Road in the very early days that the American colonies were being settled . The Ten Mile Creek ford , which lies approximately 10 miles east of the mouth of the Monocacy River , became an important waypoint on the road and was known then , as it is today , as the Ten Mile Creek . Importantly , there was always water in the ford , even in times of very serious drought . While the mainstem of the creek may completely dry up , both upstream and downstream of the ford , there is always water in the ford provided by the confluence with the small creek to the west , that flows under the driveway of Norman Mease ’ s farm , immediately upstream of the ford . This stream has never ceased to flow . Travelers could depend on this ford as a source of water for their draft animals as well as live animals in the shipments of their agricultural products goods over land towards ports on the Chesapeake Bay .
Norman ’ s farm was acquired by his parents in 1932 during a
drought when many farmers lost their land due to crop failures . That drought lasted until 1936 , the year he was born , when it was followed by record flooding that left an 8-foot-high watermark on trees at the ford . Stories going back to the 1700s came to them from other local farmers whose family histories went back to well before
Clockwise from top left : Swamp milkweed grows along the banks of the creek ; a tributary of Ten Mile Creek that flows on Norman Mease ’ s farm ; : Norman Mease ; red salamander .
the Civil War . Norman personally experienced 3 severe droughts since he returned in 1964 after inheriting the farm and began farming himself . Since then , he has observed that , even when the creek itself dried up , there was always water in the ford where aquatic life would congregate in the depressions , serving as a food source for birds . During the drought in 1968 , he was able to pump enough water from the tributary for his cattle and ¼ acre garden and still leave water flowing to the ford . As he recalls , during dry summer periods , area residents , and even the fire department , regularly came to the Ford to load drums and tanks with water .
PHOTOS : Tenley Elizabeth Wurglitz
26 plenty I autumn harvest 2022