Taylor-Made Deep Creek Vacations & Sales – Page 13

Some of the top golf resort courses in Western Pennsylvania

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Wisp

Located in McHenry, Md., adjacent to Deep Creek Lake, Wisp has two 18-hole courses with vastly different looks, none more dramatic than Lodestone, a man-sized, 7,507-yard layout with massive, undulating greens, mounded bunker complexes and breathtaking vistas. Designed by Todd Schoeder and Hale Irwin, Lodestone has three par 5s longer than 600 yards, and only one par 4 –the 349-yard 14th — plays shorter than 424 yards. But because the elevation is 3,000 feet and most of the approaches play downhill, Lodestone doesn’t play as long as the yardage might suggest. Lodestone is in drastic contrast to the crafty resort course designed 30 years ago by architect Dominic Palumbo of Upper St. Clair, requiring shots through a variety of tree-lined fairways.

For More Information Click Here: http://www.post-gazette.com/sports/golf/2015/04/12/Some-of-the-top-golf-resort-courses-in-Western-Pennsylvania/stories/201504120104

Famous Travelers: Edison, Ford, Firestone: Vagabonds Remembered for Work, but Loved Nature

By Francis Champ Zumbrun

It was true the Vagabonds, these “gentlemen campers,” were not exactly roughing it; but, it was also true these captains of industry did go without some of comforts that they were accustomed to at home. Anyone finding them camping at Muddy Creek Falls in the summer of 1921 would have found the Vagabonds carrying much more camping gear than when they first began camping together in 1915.

Their entourage, consisting of about 40 people, was much larger as this was the first time their wives traveled and camped with them. In addition to family members, six support staff traveled with them to drive trucks, cook, set-up and break-down their camping gear, and be a general camp “roustabout.”

Edison was probably the unhappiest of the group because their camping equipment was becoming more elaborate and cumbersome. Edison took great joy telling his friends stories about his adventures with the Vagabonds, his close encounters with nature, and toughing-it-out in the great outdoors each summer.

Now that their wives were camping with them, the Vagabonds were less likely to drive in the back woods along rough, dust-covered roads with little or no traffic, roads that Edison loved exploring.

Interestingly, Edison overlooked the fact that he too brought advanced camping gear, the like never seen before at a campsite, including a battery-powered radio and several strings of electrically powered light bulbs.

Joseph Hinebaugh, with several other boys, who the Vagabonds bumped from their Muddy Creek Falls camping spot (discussed in a previous article), visited the famous men at their campsite and were amazed to see light bulbs strung all around the camp connected to and powered by an automobile battery.

Famous Travelers: Edison, Ford, Firestone:The Vagabonds Camp at Muddy Creek Falls

By Francis Champ Zumbrun

“…we should be using nature’s inexhaustible sources of energy – sun, wind, and tide… I’d put my money on sun and solar energy. What a source of power! I hope we don’t have to wait until oil and coal run out before we tackle that. I wish I had more years left!” – Thomas Edison (circa 1931)

Note: This is the fifth in a series of articles covering a time in the summer of 1921, when Henry Ford, Thomas Edison and Harvey Firestone camped for two weeks in western Maryland. This article finds the vagabonds, a term the wealthy captains of industry called themselves when camping together, at “Camp Harding” along Licking Creek, about 6 miles east of Hancock, in Washington County, where they stayed from July 21 to July 27. From here they traveled to present day Swallow Falls State Park where they camped from July 27 to July 31.

Photo of Muddy Creek Falls courtesy of Roy Musselwhite.

On the afternoon of July 27, 1921, crowds of people, getting word that the vagabonds were in the area, started gathering along the streets of Oakland, Maryland, hoping to get a glimpse of the world famous men. The vagabonds sometimes caused a commotion when they arrived in a small town. One unknowing observer described the scene as the vagabonds entered Oakland as something like a circus coming to town.

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Garrett County in negotiations regarding ASCI

FRIENDSVILLE — Garrett County is in negotiations regarding the Adventure Sports Center International, county commission chairman Paul Edwards told a constituent during Monday’s public meeting.

County resident Ken Jasko asked what is going to be done about ASCI in McHenry.

“There is a hole in Garrett County’s arm with a needle that our money is going through — it’s called ASCI. When are we going to take that out — smash it, throw it away?” asked Jasko.

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Assembly votes to ban fracking for two years

Maryland lawmakers gave final approval Friday to a more than two-year fracking ban, marking the legislature’s most aggressive move yet to curb the controversial natural gas extraction process.

The legislation forbids drilling any wells until October 2017, and also requires the state to enact regulations next year to monitor the practice.

The plan drew accolades from opponents of hydraulic fracturing. They hope it gives them more time to build a case against the practice. But fracking supporters praised the legislation as well, saying it sets a clear timetable for when drilling could begin.

Gov. Larry Hogan has not said if he will sign the bill, which passed both chambers by veto-proof margins. The governor has said he supports fracking as a way to bring jobs to economically depressed Western Maryland as long as the process can been done safely.

Environmentalists had backed another bill that would have imposed a three-year moratorium and called for further study of the health and environmental impacts of fracking, but lawmakers instead passed a compromise that grants a shorter moratorium and forgoes another study.

Low oil prices hurt US frac sand producers as more states sour on fracking

The plunge in the price of oil has hit demand for frac sand in the US, just as many companies approach record output in the wake of the North American fracking boom. Meanwhile, fracking has come under renewed criticism in Maryland and California, while ONSOL Energy and Halliburton are seeking to improve the industry’s image with new low-emissions technology.

Low oil prices and reduced drilling in US shale exploration regions like North Dakota are pinching growth in the nation’s $4.2bn fracking grade silica sand (frac sand) industry, slashing demand and prices and forcing some frac sand producers to cut jobs.

According to a report by the Star Tribune, US sand mines, including 63 in Wisconsin and six in Minnesota, are projected to ship significantly less sand to oil drillers in 2015, compared with last year.

This pullback in deliveries comes at a time when producers including Fairmount Santrol, US Silica and Superior Silica Sands expect to set annual production records, having aggressively ramped up capacity in the last two years to meet demand from the North American fracking boom.

“This whole ripple effect has taken hold and it is going to continue,” Richard Shearer, CEO of Texas-based Superior Silica Sands, which operates mines in Wisconsin, told the Star Tribune. “There are peak cycles and trough cycles, and we have hit a trough.”

The US oil and gas sector now buys about 72% of the country’s silica sand output, which has more than doubled in the last five years, leaving the industry vulnerable to fluctuations in the price of hydrocarbons.

Maryland Senate approves fracking moratorium

The Maryland Senate approves legislation that would introduce a fracking moratorium until October 2017.

The bill, which was approved by a 45-2 vote, has been passed onto the House of Representatives.

The House sanctioned a bill last month that would introduce a three-year fracking moratorium, but that would also require investigation of the health and economic impacts of the technique.

The motion passed by the Senate does not require this measure.

Senator George Edwards of Garrett County, who voted in favour of the bill, described it as a “good first step” and noted that companies would have to wait at least two years for a fracking permit even if they applied immediately.

Author: Taylor-Made Deep Creek Vacations & Sales