USA > Vermont > Chittenden County > Gazetteer and business directory of Chittenden County, Vermont, for 1882-83 > Part 5
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38
CHITTENDEN COUNTY.
understand why they should not affect the roots of the word. According to a French map of 1732, the river is called Ounousqui. In the letters of John A. Graham, published at London, in 1797, Mr. Graham gives the following account of the naming of the river "Onion:" "A Mr. Peleg Sunderland, [who was also appointed by the Grand Committee, at Bennington, as guide to Maj. John Brown, in 1775, on his mission to Canada to treat with the In- dians respecting the approaching war,] in 1761, while hunting for beaver on this stream, lost his way, and was nearly exhausted with fatigue and hunger. when a party of Indians fortunately met him, and with great humanity. re- lieved his wants and saved him from perishing. Their provisions were poor ; but what they had they freely gave, and their kindness made amends for more costly fare. Their whole store consisted of onions, and Mr. Sunderland then gave the stream, near which he was so providentially preserved, the name of Onion River. which it has retained ever since." During the early French colonial wars it was called French River. But so much for this ; we have at least, we think, shown good cause for dropping the vegetable portion of its name. The alluvial flats along its valley are narrow until the river has passed the western range of the Green Mountains, when they become broad and fertile. Its rocky gorges, etc., are spoken of in connection with the sketch of Burlington, so we will omit their further notice at this point.
Bolton Falls, on this stream, in the eastern part of the County, are well worth visiting. They form a wonderful evidence of the mighty agency of water, for an ordinary observer cannot fail to discover that the high bluffs of rock on either side were once united, and formed a barrier through which the stream has gradually worn its deep and narrow channel. The contem- plative mind at once reverts to the time when this barrier existed, and beholds a long and narrow lake extending up the valley to Montpelier, and discovers the reason why the streams emptying into the head of this lake should, in the still water, deposit the sediment forming the numerous terraces that are found in different portions of its valley. In the tranquil waters of this lake the sed- iment brought down in the floods of the different streams emptying into it, would settle at the bottom and partially fill it up. Upon the opening of the rocky barrier,-like the breaking away of a flume or a portion of the dam of a mill.pond partly filled with sediment,-the running stream would sweep down a portion of this sediment, by cutting a channel through it, either in the cen- ter, leaving portions at each side, or upon one side and leaving the other remaining. Thus the smoothly rounded rocks that project from the sides of the valley, as well as the striated ones near the bed of the river, bear unmis- takable testimony that by some abraidng agency, in which water played a conspicuous part, the rocks have been worn down so as to give greater width to the valley.
The Lamoille River is not as large as the Winooski, nor quite as long ; yet it has, in a lesser degree, the same wild, picturesque channel, and affords many excellent specimens of terraces. It rises in Greesboro, from the union
39
CHITTENDEN COUNTY.
of several streams (formerly from Runaway Pond), runs southwest to Hard- wick, when it turns northwesterly, passes through the middle of Lamoille County, the southern part of Franklin County, and finally joins Lake Cham- plain in the northwestern part of this county, in the town of Milton. It was discovered by Champlain, in 1609, and called by him la Mouette, the French for mew, or gull, a species of water-fowl, which were very numerous about the mouth of the stream. In Mr. Anger's map of his surveys, in 1732, it is called la riviere a la Mouelle, probably a mistake in the engraver in not crossing his t's. "Thus," says Mr. Thompson, " to the mere carelessness of a French engraver are we indebted for the smooth, melodious sounding name Lamoille."
Brown's River, so named from Joseph Brown, an early settler upon its banks, in the town of Jericho, originates in Underhill and thence flows a southwesterly course through the northern part of Jericho, into Essex, where it turns north and passes through Westford into Fairfax, in Franklin County, and there unites with the Lamoille. It is twenty miles in length.
Huntington River rises in the southern part of Huntington, and after a rapid, sepentine course over a gravel or stony bottom for about twenty miles, empties into the Winooski, in the town of Richmond. This stream, from the many specimens of terraces its valley consists, its rocky gorges, etc., is called one of the most interesting tributaries of the Winooski.
The La Plotte is a small stream, only fifteen miles in length, rising in the southeastern part of Hinesburgh, and flows a westerly course through a portion of Charlotte and Shelburne, into the head of Shelburne Bay. As the inter- esting tradition relative to the origin of its name is spoken of in connection with the Shelburne sketch, we will defer further mention here. These are the principal streams of the county, though there are many of almost equal importance, affording many mill-sites, and ample irrigation to the soil.
No inland lakes of importance are found, though there are several small ponds, Shelburne and Hinesburgh in the southern part of the county being the largest. But the unequaled Champlain lies upon its western border, stretching north and south as far as the eye can reach, while directly opposite, on its western shore, the blue Adirondacks spread far into the interior-at various points projecting their jagged spurs into the lake, and often present- ing lofty headlands, waving with forests or frowning in bleak masses of naked granite, while wide fields spread between these headlands, teaming with flocks and herds, and redolent in beauty and fertility. Not less charming is the scene presented on its eastern shore, though of a softer tone, and more of a pastoral beauty, while beyond, the horizon is limited by the bold and serrated outline of the Green Mountains. Still, this scene of transcendent natural beauty on either shore, is dimmed by the exquisite loveliness of the lake itself, which divides them. Calm and blue its waters lie, placid as the cloud- shadows that fleck its bosom, reflecting the mountains and headlands, and studded with numerous islands to variegate and adorn the scene-some of
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40
CHITTENDEN COUNTY.
which are mere rocky shafts shooting up from the surface of the waters ; others, decked in their native emerald, gleam like gems upon its breast ; while others, of alluvial formation, glow in their soft and gentle loveliness, and are unsurpassed in their exuberant fertility.
Reader, at the beginning of this chapter we likened history to a bridge, and purposed to journey with you across it, o'er the beautiful country we have attempted to describe, to the days when its history, so far as we are able to learn, was not. During this journey the beautiful Champlain must be the principal point of interest, for around no other section of our beauti- ful country cluster historical associations so brilliant and memorable. For a century and a half, this lake, appropriately named by the Indians Caniadere- Guarante, that is, "the lake which is the gate of the country," was rendered classic ground by successive deeds of daring, by bloody forays, by the romances of border warefare, and by the conflicts of fleets and armies. During those merciless contests, in which France and England were the allies of savage tribes; in the long and sanguinary conflicts between those great powers ; in the war of the Revolution, and that of 1812, the whole course of the lake was stained with blood, and emblazoned by feats of glory.
When Samuel Champlain, in 1609, entered upon the waters which have perpetuated his name, silence and solitude brooded over the charming scene. Grand primeval forests covered the territory where the verdant fields of Chit- tenden County now lie, with not even an Indian wigwam to relieve its deso- lation and stillness, for continuous savage wars had driven its transcient popu- lation into the recesses of the forests, and beyond the mountain barriers for protection. But this peace and solitude were soon to be broken. Even upon Champlain's first visit his arquebus carried fear and death to the hearts of the savages, some of whom he met on the New York side of the southern part of the lake. Soon after, canoes and batteaux, in summer, were gliding over its pure waters on errands of blood and rapine, or, in winter, a highway of its crystal pavement was formed for the same purpose, over which the French and their savage associates traversed the lake, thence up the Winooski, and penetrating the gorges of the Green Mountains, devastated, often amid the snows and storms of winter, the fairest villages of New England. Later on, upon its blue waters and sequestered shores, vast armies, clothed in the pomp and panoply of modern warfare, have gathered. But as our brief account of the war of 1812, the war of the Revolution, etc., properly belongs to articles under these respective heads, we must defer particular mention until they, in their order, are reached.
As settlements began to spring up in the State, and the forests to recede before the sturdy strokes of the pioneer, trade and commerce began to assert their rights. As Skeensboro (now Whitehall) was the first point at which the settlers touched the lake on their way north, and as the intercourse be- came more frequent between Connecticut, Massachusetts and the new set- tlements, Major Skeene, after whom the place was named, to accommodate
41
CHITTENDEN COUNTY.
the small business which was springing up, built a sloop in 1770, and with it opened a communication with the settlements on the borders of the lake and Canada. This was probably the first vessel which made any regular trips through the lake, or which was used for the purposes of trade. Soon after this, however, the Revolutionary war broke out, stopping all further settle- ments, and even drove off nearly all the people who had come, so that the navigation of the lake was returned to the uses of the military power.
After the close of the war, settlements rapidly sprung up and trade with the Provinces was soon commenced with redoubled vigor, so that the white wings of the trading sloops, and the rafts of heavy timber, dotted the whole length of the lake. But the great stride in progress was not until 1808, one year after Robert Fulton made the memorable trial trip of his steamboat on the Hudson. It seems that parties in Burlington were the first to see, or at least to take practical advantage of, the new field opened by this event ; for during this year they launched the second practical steamboat ever made in the world, and during the following year, 1809, it was completed and com- menced navigating the lake, just two hundred years after Champlain had entered upon its waters in his bark canoe. The owners and builders of this boat were two brothers, James and John Winans. It was in appearance sim- ilar to a large-class canal boat, except being about forty feet longer and six feet wider. Her decks were clear, having no pilot-house, being steered by a tiller, and her engine an horizontal one, being all under deck, only the smoke- pipe appearing above. There was but one room below, about twenty-five by eighteen feet, in which were berths upon the side, and which was used for a dining-room as well as for a sleeping apartment. She was fitted with a second- hand engine and boilers ; cylinder twenty inches by three feet, "side level bell crank," with a large balance-wheel some ten feet in diameter,-withal very poor machinery. But they were the best that could be procured at that time, as manufacturers of general machinery little understood the pro- portioning of machinery to resist the power of steam. The consequence was that the boat was constantly subject to " break-downs," which were a part of her programme, and could be relied upon to make a trip from Whitehall to St. Johns and back in about a week. In October, 1815, however, she had her last " break-down." On her trip from St. Johns the connecting rod be- came detached from the crank, and before the engine could be stopped, it was forced through the bottom of the boat and she was sunk a wreck near Ash Island, a few miles south of the Isle Aux Noix. The Messrs. Winans took out her engine and boilers, and sold them to the Lake Champlain Steamboat Company.
The great improvements made in steamboat building since the time of the building of the " Vermont" are well known. Even as early as 1815, a steamer was built on the lake whose speed doubled that of its predecessor. This boat, the "Ist Phoenix," met a sad fate, being destroyed by fire on the 5th of September, 1819, causing the death of six of its passengers. It
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1882. TABULAR VIEW OF STEAMBOATS ON LAKE CHAMPLAIN.
NAMES.
Where Built.
Length
Breadth.
Depth.
Tonnage.
Horse P'er
I Speed per
Hour.
For Whom Built.
Master Carpenters.
Continuance in Service.
Vermont
1809 Burlington .
12C 20
8
167: $20,000 20
4
ist Pha.nix . . . |1815, Vergennes ..
146 27
336
45,000
45
8
Champlain
1816 Vergennes
90'20
8
128
18,000
20
5
Congress .
1818 Vergennes ...
108 27
8
200
30,000
34
2nd Phoenix ..
ISzc Vergennes .
150,26
9%
343
45,000
451
8
Gen. Green ... Franklin. . ..
1827 St. Albans.
16 years.
Condemned, 1838.
Washington. . . 1827 Essex, N. Y.
92 20 4 74
134
14,400 30 8
McDonough ..
1828 St. Albans .
89 2016 81 138
12,000. 30 8
St. Albans Steamboat Co. Champlain Ferry Co ..
J. Sherman.
Samuel Wood. ... .
L. S. White.
17 years.
Condemned, 1854.
Whitehall. .
1838 Whitehall.
215:23
9
460
70,000 200 15
Champlain Transportation Co.
Samuel Wood.
15 years.
Condemned, 1853.
Saranac. .
1842 Shelburne
166,22 9
375
473
258
6.48
75,000
250 18)< Champlain Transportation Co
Boquet .
1848 Essex. N. Y.
80 17 7
III
7,000
Boston .
1851 Shelburne 1851 Whitehall.
12, 25
814
284
25,00C
70 12
Champlain Transportation Co Collyer & Griswold
Thomas Collyer. . . 15 years. John English ..
17 years.
Condemned, 1870.
Montreal ...... 1855 Whitehall.
224 23 9
417
80,00€ 170: 19) 100,0001340 18 40,000|140'16
Champlain Transportation Co Champlain Transportation Co
¡L. S. White.
25 years.
Burned at Ma Quam Bay, 188c.
Oliver Bascom .1856 Whitehall.
136:27
92% 360
30,000 150 13 Northern Transportation Line. . John Riley. ..
Adirondack ... 1867 Shelburne
251.34
9 1087
90,000 250 18
Champlain Transportation Co ... L. S. White.
Oakes Ames. . 1868 Marks Bay.
258:35
9 1145 100,000 270 19
Burlington Steamboat Co.
O. S. Spear ..
A. Williams ... 1870 Marks Bay . ..
132 22
8
140
50,000 160 12
Orin Corbin ..
A. B. Curtis
Now running.
Vermont .... ..
1871 Shelburne
262 36/6110
:1124 100,000 260:19
Champlain Transportation Co ..
Now running.
Ma Quam. . . .. 1881 Swanton
142 25 8
370
St. Johnsbury & L. Ch'n R. R. Co.
Now running.
Reindeer . ...
1882 Alburgh & Burlg'n 168,27
19 498, ---- - Grand Isle Steamboat Co ...
Jeremiah Faulks ..
Now running.
8
115
12,000
28 8
8 Lake Champlain Steamboat Co ... Lake Champlain Steamboat Co. Champlain Ferry Company. . Champlain Transportation Co. Ross & McNeil.
Young & Gorham. Phillips & White .. - Collins .... ..
Charles Sampson . Charles Sampson . L. S. White.
13 years. 18 years.
Condemned, 1850.
Water Witch .. 1832 Fort Casson
90 17 8
107
14,00€ .
40| 8
Burlington . ..
1837 Shelburne
190 25 9
405
75,000.200|15
Champlain Transportation Co.
L. S. White.
13 years.
Condemned, 1855.
Francis Saltos. 1844 Whitehall.
Thomas Collyer . 15 years.
Condemned, 1859.
Converted into a Barge, 1879.
United States . 1847 Shelburne
Ethan Allen .. 1847 Shelburne
136.27 81
328+
36,000
30' 716 Ross & McNeil
.. L. S. White.
6 years. 20 years.
Condemned, 1871.
America . ...
1853 Whitehall ..
260,33/2 10
881
Champlain Transportation Co 50,000, 160 14% Peter Comstock. 25, OCO : 100,14
J. H. Hooker. 1846 Whitehall.
136,23 7
18,000 | 50 9 J. H. Hooker.
George Collyer . . . . 33 years. Capes & White .. 26 years. Win. Caper & Son. 23 years. Orson Spear . .
Condemned, 1873. Condemned, 1870.
Sold to go to Canada, 1854.
Condemned, 1866.
Canada .
Now running. Taken off, 1875.
8 years. 7 years.
5 years. Sunk near Isle Aux Noix, Oct. 15, 1815. Burnt I a. m. nr. Burlington, Sep. 5, 1819. Burnt at Whitehall, Sept. 1817.
- Gorham.
16 years.
Condemned, 1835. Condemned, 1837.
1825 Shelburne .
75 22 162:22
350
50,000 75|10
Condemned, 1843.
Wrecked, 1841
Winooski ...
1832 Shelburne
136,2016 83% 226
15,000 60 10
John and James Winans. .... Lake Champlain Steamboat Co ... Lake Champlain Steamboat Co.
John Winans.
4 years.
- Roberts. John Winans .. ..
I year.
16 years.
7 years.
Converted into a Sloop, 1833.
16 years.
3 years.
Converted into a Schooner, 1836.
CHITTENDEN COUNTY.
1
42
Made over into the Champlain, in 1873, and wrecked at Westport, 1875.
L. S. White. .. - Cookson ....
185 26 18;%
240,28/2 19
75 10 Steam Tow-Boat Co.
250,3114 916 745
Cost.
-
Year Finished.
43
CHITTENDEN COUNTY.
may be well to state, however, that this is the only wreck or conflagration which has occurred on the lake with an attendant loss of life. From this time forward boats were rapidly put out, increasing in power and size, until the present " floating palaces " have attained almost perfection. Navigation companies were established, and steamboat property came to be the most profitable in which one could invest money. Its profit was diminished, however, by the advent of its near relative, the locomotive, which took a large share of its business. Still, there is an extensive business done on the lake at the present time, which will doubtless continue, notwithstanding the build- ing of railroads. We should like, did space permit, to add a sketch of the establishment and progress of the several transportation companies, but as it does not, we shall have to be content with giving, on the opposite page, a table of the steamers that have been built on the lake, their dimensions, by whom built, date of building, etc., which we hope will prove of interest to many. Yet it may not be invidious to remark, that The Champlain Transportation Co. is the oldest company existing on the lake, and that to its enterprise and energy is owing, in a great degree, the past and present prosperity of the transportation business. As early as October 26, 1826, the Vermont legisla- ture granted its charter, the following well-known names appearing as the company : Ezra Meach, Martin Chittenden, Stephen S. Keys, Luther Loomis, Roswell Butler, and Eleazer H. Deming.
GEOLOGICAL.
The geological formation of this county does not materially difter, in gen- eral structure, from that of most of the other counties of the State. Its rocks are distributed, like those of the others, in parallel ledges, or ranges, extend- ing nearly in a north and south direction. Passing eastward from the lake shore, the first of these veins is a ledge of Trenton limestone, which enters Charlotte from Addison County, underlying nearly the whole extreme western part of that town, where it finally passes under the lake, to appear again in Grand Isle and Isle La Motte, thence extending into Canada. Although this rock has four distinct or chief varieties, one very soon learns to distinguish it from all others. by its common characters of black schistose layers, associated with slaty seams of limestone and occasionally argillaceous matter. There are some varieties, however, that can be assigned to this formation only by their fossils, in which the whole group is peculiarly rich. The thickness of the Trenton limestone is 400 feet in New York, and is stated by Prof. Adams, in his second report, to be of the same thickness in Vermont; but in one of his note books he suggests that it may be even thicker. Mr. Hagar, however, in his "Geology of Vermont," says he should think that 400 feet is rather too great a thickness for it, as it generally appears in Vermont, though he has made no measurements to settle the question.
A bed of Utica slate comes next in order, crossing the western part of Char-
44
CHITTENDEN COUNTY.
lotte and Shelburne, thence passing under the lake and croping out again in the extremity of Colchester Point, and thence across to Grand Isle County. This formation is a continuation of the calcareous shales of the Hunson River group of rocks downward, until they meet the slaty limestone of the Tren- ton limestone, and it is extremely difficult to distinguish between them and the shales of the Hudson River group in Vermont, except by their fossils. The range has a thickness of about one hundred feet.
Next to this bed comes a range of rocks known as Hudson River slates, about a mile in width, passing through Charlotte and Shelburne, the western portion of Colchester, and thence under the lake. Lithologically, it con- sists of deposits of pure and impure limestone, clay slate, calcareous slate, interstratified with small beds of limestone, often sparry, silicious slate, sand- stones, brecciated limestone, and slate filled with veins of calcite, etc. Prof. Thompson speaks of this variety in Chittenden County as follows : "The black slate is generally contortored or crushed, and abounds in seams of white calcite, varying from a line to a foot in thickness. Still there are places where the spar has not been injected, and where the lamination has not been disturbed. Cases of this kind may be seen on the eastern side of Pottier's Point, and at Appletree Point. But all this slate doubtless contains too much lime, and is too brittle to be used for any better purpose than making roads. This slate, in many places, particularly where it is fragmentary, has its surface covered with a black glazing, giving it very much the appearance of anthracite. This may be seen near the meeting-house in Charlotte, and at Rock Point, and it has led some to suppose that coal might be found in con- nection with it. But I believe very little, if any, money has been thrown away, in the vain search for coal in this county." The group is 930 feet in thickness, and is the highest member of the lower silurian rocks.
Parallel with and adjacent to this range is an immense bed of red sand- rock, having a mean width of about four miles, and extending through nearly the whole length of the county, making the principal rock formation of the towns of Charlotte, Hinesburgh, Shelburne, Colchester and Milton.
Stratigraphically considered, this bed occupies the position of the Medina Group, of New York, or its equivalent, the Levant series of Pennsylvania and Virginia. The sandstones and shales bear a close resemblance to those of the latter, not only in color, but in the profusion of fucoid-like markings which they display on some of the parting surfaces. The series of reddish and gray limestones which rest upon these massive arenaceous beds form an interesting feature in the geology of Vermont. Their altercation with layers of sandstone and shale, and their frequently reddish tint, would lead us to regard them as a continuation of the lower mass under somewhat new forma- tive conditions. In the prolongation of this belt of sandstones and lime- stones toward the north, as in the vicinity of Burlington, the latter mass is seen to consist, in great part, of a pinkish-white, fine-graned limestone, which toward its base contains layers of reddish limestone, interstratified with red
45
CHITTENDEN COUNTY.
sandstone, making the transition from the arenaceous to the calcareous form of deposit. This latter variety forms a very durable and handsome building material. The whole formation, however, embraces a great variety of rocks, and there is some difficulty experienced in associating them together, because of the general absence of fossils. The general variety is a reddish brown or chocolate-colored sandstone. It becomes calcareous, and is frequently interstratified with dolomitic layers of corresponding color. The grains of sand composing the rock are often transparent, sometimes mixed with minute fragments of feldspar. A slight metamorphic action has sometimes rendered the grains nearly invisible, and made the whole rock compact. North of Burlington the variety is mostly red and variegated dolomites. At Milton a grayish quartz rock appears, probably equivalent to the red rock. The red color is owing to the change in the combination of the iron which enters into its composition, produced by heat.
Extending through the center of the county, with a mean width of about three miles, underlying portions of the towns of Hinesburgh, Charlotte, Shel- burne, Williston, Burlington, Essex, Colchester, Westford and Milton, is a range of Eolian limestone, or marble, one of the most important and useful rocks in Vermont. It furnishes the beautiful white marble, equal to the finest Italian, known all over the world as the product of this State. Such a rock, and such marble, certainly deserve a name as beautiful and as euphon- ical as the epithet Eolian. There is more variety in the limestone of this group than in almost any other formation in the State; yet the variations are mostly slight in themselves chemically, but considerable as far as external appearance is concerned, producing the numerous shades of variegated mar- ble, each surpassing the other in beauty, ranging from the purest white to inky blackness. An excellent opportunity is afforded the curious for com- paring our native marbles, both of this and other States, with that imported from Italy, at the extensive manufactory of J. W. Goodell & Co., of Burling- ton, where immense quantities are kept on hand, enabling one to examine the rocks side by side, both before and after they have been cut and polished. An excellent quality of variegated marble, containing many beautiful fos- sils, is quarried near Mallett's Bay, in Colchester. The coloring matter in this species of limestone is usually derived from minute particles of slaty matter disseminated through them. Hence they never fade or disappear, or change their position in the slabs after they have been quarried. The occasional stains which appear may be produced by a small portion of pyrites, affording a dirty, brownish hue. Most of the iron rust stain upon the blocks of marble at the mills is temporarially produced by particles of iron worn from the saws. The thickness of the Eolian limestone bed is estimated at 2,000 feet.
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