USA > Vermont > Rutland County > Gazetteer and business directory of Rutland county, Vt., for 1881-82 > Part 4
USA > Vermont > Rutland County > Gazetteer and business directory of Rutland county, Vt., for 1881-82 > Part 4
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MRS. W. H. H. GOULD, Doctress, of Rutland, has been quite successful in her treatment of patients in many parts of the county. She has an extensive ride. Her card appears on page 578.
The FAIRHAVEN ERA, a neat and popular newspaper, in the western part of the county, is published every Wednesday, by Frank W. Redfield, a spicy and entertaining writer. The paper deserves a liberal support, and no doubt will continue to receive it. Card on page 642.
DUNN & LOEHR, Merchant Tailors, No. 23 Merchants row, Rutland, pre- sent a very attractive advertisement on the map. This firm are prepared to make to order fine clothing in as elegant style as can be had in the larger cities. ' Mr. Loehr, as a cutter and fitter, professes to be equal to any of his crafts- men. Dress up ! Put on new clothes. Go to Dann & Loehr for a new out- fit. They will treat you well.
JENNESS RICHARDSON, Naturalist and Taxidermist, has studied the habits of animals and birds, and practiced his art about ten years. Several specimens of his work are now on exhibition in the Museum of Natural History, at Boston, Mass. He is universally recommended in Rutland, his native town, as an expert. Animal heads are easy to get, and when set up are a pleasing ornament. Card on page 498.
WM. METZGER, Upholsterer, on Evelyn street, Rutland, practiced his pro- fession in New York and Brooklyn, and has been over twelve years in Rut- land. He is thoroughly competent to execute the most elaborate style of upholstery work in the best manner and at reasonable rates. He executes orders for packing valuable furniture, crockery, &c., for long transportation, and manufactures awnings and tents to order, of superior materials. Re- member to call on him when anything in his line is needed. See card, on page 490.
V. N. FORBES, of Westhaven, has for several years devoted much attention to the improvement of his stock of sheep, until now his flock of registered merinos, of the Robinson and Atwood families, are as pure as any in this locality. He is also a breeder of Jersey cattle. Card on page 562.
THE COOLEY CREAMER, as manufactured by the Vermont Farm Machine Company, has acquired a wide-spread reputation for its excellent qualities. Several styles are made. We refer the reader to the illustrated advertisement, opposite page 344. The Davis Swing Churn is so easy of operation and so effectual that it can't fail of gaining friends. The firm also manufacture a superior Evaporator for making maple syrup, &c., which in this country can be made a source of large profit.
ALBERT W. HIGGINS, leading druggist, of Rutland, advertises on colored page, opposite the map. Mr. Higgins' store, in the Bates House block, Merchants row, is fitted up in an elegant manner, and his stock of goods is unsurpassed in quality and variety. For the convenience of callers he has supplied directories of leading cities and of States, which may be freely con- sulted. As a manufacturer of proprietory medicines he has acquired consider- able celebrity. Country physicians can be supplied here with medicines on favorable terms.
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PUBLISHER'S NOTES-ADVERTISEMENT.
LESTER FISH, breeder of full blood merino sheep, fine horses and Jersey cattle, at Ira, prints an illustrated card on page 514. He is among the suc- cessful and well known breeders.
CHAS. E. MAILHIOT, practical Boot and Shoe Maker, at 61 Center street, Rutland, prints an illustrated card on page 490. Citizens of the county who patronize Mr. Mailhiot, will, by reason of comfortable, easy-fitting and stylish boots or shoes, feel pleased with their bargains. "Unsurpassed for ease and comfort" is Mr. M's motto.
EUREKA SLATE COMPANY, of Poultney, has become one of the best known in the county. Their quarries produce the celebrated Unfading Green Slate, as well as other colors, and the goods produced find a market, not only throughout the United States, but in the old country as well. One of the partners has his office in London, while the resident and managing partner, Mr. Hugh G. Hughes, is one of the busiest men in Poultney. See adver- tisement, opposite page 345.
MRS. ELLEN McMAHON,
FASHIONABLE MILLINER
AND DEALER IN
.
FANCY GOODSKK
PAPER PATTERNS, &c.,
MAIN STREET, - -
CASTLETON, VT. 1
RUTLAND COUNTY.
SHE State of Vermont was originally divided into but two counties, the Green Mountains, from which Vermont derives its name through the French Verd Mont, being the dividing line. The portion on the west was called "Bennington," and that on the east "Cumberland" County. On Feb. 13, 1781, by an act of the General Assembly, Bennington County was cir- cumscribed to its present limits, while the portion to the northward was formed into Rutland County. By the formation of Addison County, in 1787, Rutland County was brought to its present limits, with the exception of Orwell, which was set off to Addison County, Nov. 13, 1847. Tinmouth was selected as the county seat, and remained so until 1784, when it was removed to Rutland. The bar-room of the hotel, built of logs, was used as a court house. The first chief justice of the county was Hon. Increase Moseley, of Castleton, a native of Connecticut, and a graduate of Yale College. The Supreme Court commences its session at Rutland on the Ist Tuesday after the 4th Tuesday of Janu- ary, and the County Court on the 2d Tuesdays in April and Septem- ber. The United States Circuit Court sits here annually on the 3d, and the District Court on the 6th day of October.
The county is divided into two Probate Districts, Fairhaven and Rutland. The Fairhaven District is composed of the towns of Fairhaven, Pawlet, Wells, Poultney, Westhaven, Castleton, Benson, Hubbardton and Sudbury, while the residue of the county is included within the Rutland District. The county sends four Senators, and each town a Representative annually to the General Assembly.
The county lies in the western part of the State, between 43° 18' and 43° 54' north latitude, and between 3º 41' and 4º 19' longitude east from Wash- ington. It is bounded north by Addison County, east by Windsor, south by Bennington, and west by Washington County, N.Y., and contains twenty-five towns :- Benson, Brandon, Castleton, Chittenden, Clarendon, Danby, Fair- haven, Hubbardton, Ira, Mendon, Middletown, Mount Holly, Mount Tabor, Pawlet, Pittsfield, Pittsford, Poultney, Rutland, Sherburne, Shrewsbury, Sud- bury, Tinmouth, Wallingford, Wells and Westhaven.
The county is centrally distant from Montpelier, the State Capital, about fifty-five miles, is forty-two miles long from north to south, and thirty-four
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RUTLAND COUNTY.
wide from east to west, and contains 958 square miles of territory. The physical features are diversified by lofty peaks of the Taconic and Green Mountain ranges, the former cut by broad fertile valleys. The mean tem- perature of the climate is about 43°, while the rainfall averages about 40 to 43 inches a year. All the mountains east of Otter Creek belong to the Green Mountain range, while those to the west of it belong to the Taconic range, which extends from Massachusetts through Bennington County as far north as Brandon.in Rutland County. Along Otter Creek and in the south- western part of the county, the surface is level and handsome, and the soil of the first quality. The remaining parts are hilly and broken, but the soil is warm and well adapted to the production of grass and grain, and it is owing to this that Rutland County is so noted as a wool-growing county. The highest point is Killington Peak, one of the Green Mountain range, so named from the town of Killington, now Sherburne ; it is situated in the towns of Mendon and Sherburne, and about ten miles east from Rutland village. Its height, according to the admeasurement of the signal service corps, in 1879, is 4,380 feet. Pico Peak, in Sherburne and Mendon ; Shrewsbury Peak, in Mendon and Shrewsbury ; White Rocks, in Wallingford ; Mount Tabor, in Mount Tabor, are also elevated peaks in the Green Mountain system.
Several peaks in the Taconic range rise to the height of three thousand feet or more, and, in consequence of the decomposition of the limestone which often enters largely into the composition of the rock of the mountains, the tops and sides are often clothed with a verdure rarely if ever seen on the western slope of the Green Mountains, where silicious rocks prevail to a great extent. The principal peaks are Bird and Herrick mountains, in Ira, Moose Horn mountain, in Wells, and Danby mountain, in Danby. The timber of the county is principally spruce, hemlock, beech, birch and maple, with some pine, basswood, poplar and oak.
The country is well watered by numerous streams that have their sources in the several mountain tops. Otter Creek, the principal one, flows through the county from south to north. Black, White and Quechee rivers all originate in the eastern part, and flow easterly into Connecticut River. Pawlet River runs across the south-west corner, and Poultney, Castleton and Hubbardton Rivers water the western part.
Numerous lakes and ponds are located in the several towns, of which Lake St. Catharine or Lake Austin, in Wells and Poultney, and Lake Bomoseen, in Castleton and Hubbardton, are the largest. The latter is a handsome, deep sheet of water about eight miles long by two and one-half in width. The lakes are much resorted to by pleasure parties.
GEOLOGICAL.
The rocks of the county are the Calciferous sand rock, which enters the State' from New York, in the town of Westhaven, passing northward through the western portion of that town and Benson, into Addison County. This rock
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RUTLAND COUNTY.
forms the transition from pure sandstone to pure limestone, and therefore par- takes of the character of each. The width of the belt varies from a few rods to three miles, and its thickness from two to eighty feet. Adjacent to, and parallel with this rock, extends a narrow range of Trenton limestone which contains a great many beautiful fossils. This range, according to Prof. Adams, is about four hundred feet in thickness.
The Hudson River slates enter the county at Westhaven, and extend north through Benson into Addison County. The range has a mean width of about five miles. In the south-eastern part of Benson, and eastern part of West- haven, it is cut by a ledge of Hudson River limestone about a mile-and-a-half in width, and eight to ten miles long. This slate, though not as valuable a range as the Georgia slate, is still of great value. A number of quarries are worked for roofing-slate. The operation of splitting the slate to the required thickness for roofing is a difficult one and requires much practice and patience ; it is generally performed by Welshmen, who take the blocks of slate rock and at a glance perceive the direction of its "cleve" or "rift," and commence work upon it by splitting through the middle of the block and con- tinue to subdivide each block till sheets of slate thin enough for roofing are produced.
A narrow belt of Talcoid schist enters the county at Fairhaven, and extends in a northerly direction through the south-eastern corner of Benson, into Hub- bardton. Another range of this rock, about five miles in width, enters at the southern extremity of the county, in the towns of Pawlet and Danby, and extends north through Middletown, Ira, Rutland and Castleton, into Hubbardton. Talcoid schist is a stratified rock of a greenish color, having a smooth lamina of a pearly luster, and, when reduced to powder, is unctuous to the touch. To this formation of rock, according to Prof. Hager, all the gold found in Ver- mont is confined.
There is a peculiar kind of conglomerate associated with this rock, found only in Rutland County. It consists of transparent quartz pebbles in a tal- cose paste. It is abundant in Ira, Middletown, Wells and Pawlet. Upon Bird Mountain, in Ira, it constitutes the mass of the rock. The pebbles are usually about the size of kernels of corn,
There is an immense bed of limestone in schists, lying partly in Ira, but mostly in West Rutland. It is very dark blue, nearly black. There is also another large bed in Pawlet, and some small beds in talcoid schists of Cas- tleton and Hubbardton. The average thickness of the talcoid schists is over two thousand feet.
The Georgia slate is a very abundant rock, entering the State in Pawlet and extending northward in a belt from five to eight miles in width, passing through the towns of Pawlet, .Wells, Poultney, Fairhaven and Hubbardton, where it gradually becomes narrower, through Sudbury, and finally ends in Addison County. The finest roofing slates of the Georgia slate deposit, in Vermont, are found in Rutland County. The excellent character of the
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RUTLAND COUNTY.
slate for economical purposes is too well known to demand repetition here. It has various colors, such as greenish, reddish brown, what is generally called "slate color," chocolate, mottled, bright red, and bluish gray. There are numer- ous shades of all these colors, as well as innumerable intermediate varieties. Some of the varieties are so soft as to be used for slate pencils, and can be cut into every conceivable shape. Many of the layers are compacted together, and, being destitute of cleaverage planes, appear like a thick, homogeneous mass of argillaceous rock. More will be said of the quarries, etc., of this range in connection with the several towns.
Entering the county at Danby, and extending northward through the towns of Tinmouth, Clarendon, Rutland, Pittsford and Brandon, is a range of rocks, varying from one to five miles in width, that has made the name of " Rut- land " familiar in nearly all parts of the world. It is a range of the famous Eolian limestone, or Marble. Marble is a name appropriately applied to those varieties of carbonate of lime, or lime and magnesia, that can be quar- ried in large blocks, destitute of fissures, and sufficiently compact and uniform in structure to receive a good polish. The variety of marble that has been most extensively worked in Vermont is the white granular variety. In color and structure it closely resembles the Italian Carara marble, the quarries of which were opened in the days of Julius Caesar, and since then have become celebrated for the great amount of marble taken therefrom and the valuable blocks that they have contributed for statuary purposes. Of the marble quarries, etc., more will be spoken anon.
Within this range, extending through the towns of Danby, Wallingford, Clarendon and Rutland, are narrow beds of Quartz rock and Talcoid schists. Next to the Eolian range, and extending through the whole length of the county, is a Pliocene tertiary deposit of narrow limits. At Pittsford, a branch shoots off into Chittenden. In this deposit are found ores of Man- ganese, brown coal, ocher, and hematite ores.
The most abundant of the rocks, is the Green Mountain gneiss, which enters the county from the south, and is deposited in Mount Tabor, Wal- lingford, Mount Holly, Shrewsbury, Sherburne, Mendon and Chittenden. Most of the gneiss is concealed by drift, the only ledges being found at South Chittenden, and along the border of the formation north of this village. The greater part of Chittenden is made up of this range, where in the east- ern part, it forms very high mountains.
Granite is composed of the same material as gneiss, the composition of gneiss varying from it only, in having a distinctly stratified, slaty or laminated structure. For this reason, many suppose the Green Mountains are com- posed of granite ; but this idea is erroneous, for but very little granite is found in the entire range. There are some streaks found in the gneiss of this county, but not enough for remunerative working.
Iron Ore .- Iron, which contributes more to supply the varied wants of man, and is made more serviceable than any other metal, is found abundantly
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RUTLAND COUNTY.
disseminated in the crust of the earth and in a greater variety of combina- tions than any other metal. Ores of iron are scattered with beneficient profusion over every portion of the earth, and it not only forms an essential ingredient in most of those substances that are compounded in the great laboratory of nature, but it enters into the material organization of man, and is essential to his existence. Many ores of iron are found in Rutland County, of which the brown oxyd or hematite is the most abundant. This ore is generally imbedded in, and has upon its surface a friable oxyd of iron, known as yellow ocher, from which the solid and valuable ore is separated by washing before it is smelted. The ocher is prepared and used largely as a paint. Kaolin is also found, and generally resting upon or lying above the beds of ocher. Beds of iron ore are found in Chittenden, Tinmouth, Wal- lingford, Pittsford and Brandon. The latter town contains the most iron, and formerly contained the largest furnace in the State. Fire brick, paints and paper clay (elutriated Kaolin,) are prepared and manufactured in large quanti- ties here also.
Fossils of many varieties are found throughout the county, the finest of which are found in the Trenton limestone of the northern part of the county. In Mount Holly, 1,415 feet above the level of the ocean, the bones of a fossil elephant were found in 1847. Other fossils are found in Chittenden,-the bones of small animals such as are not now extinct.
Moraine terraces were formed when water covered the greater part of Vermont. They are elevations of gravel and sand, with correspondent de- pressions of most singular and scarcely describable forms.
The theory of the formation of Moraine terraces is, that icebergs became stranded at the base and on the sides of hills, and that deposits were made around and upon them, and they would have been level-topped if the ice had remained; but in consequence of its melting, they are now extremely irregular.
Extraordinary accumulations of Moraine terraces occur upon the water- shed of the Battenkill River and Otter Creek. Following down the creek, Moraine terraces may be seen extending through the greater part of Danby, and at North Wallingford. They are continuous from this village to Clarendon. In the north-west part of Tinmouth, passing into Clarendon, may be seen other examples of Moraine terraces. They are particularly abundant in the east part of Rutland, near the line of Mendon, most of the length of the town, lying at the foot of the great range of quartz rock. Be- tween Pittsford Furnace and North Chittenden, upon the north-west side of Furnace River, is one of the finest examples of Moraine terraces in the State.
Near the village of Pittsford, and continuing north to Forestdale, in Bran- don, along the west slope of the Green Mountains, are found evidences of an ancient sea beach from six hundred to eight hundred feet above the present level of the sea.
Alluvium .- Under this head geologists include all the loose or partially consolidated materials that have been worn from the older rocks at whatever
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RUTLAND COUNTY.
period, and brought into their present state since the tertiary period. These materials, by whatever agencies first torn off from the solid ledges, have been more or less sorted and deposited by water in layers or strata, generally horizontal. The size of the fragments varies from that of enormous blocks, weighing thousands of tons, down to the impalpable powder of the finest mud. The power of water in the frozen state-as glaciers, icebergs and icefloes-is very great ; but still greater when it exerts its expansive force in freezing. Gunpowder hardly equals it; and probably a large part of the loose materials scattered over the surface as bowlders, are first loosened from the ledges by the freezing of water in the crevices of the rocks. Even though they get only an infinitesimal start the first year, each subsequent year -because the crevices are widening-will witness an increase of the work. The drainage of the land, also, by rivers, accomplished again and again, by the vertical movement, has worn out gorges and valleys of great depth, and the work has not yet ceased, as may be seen in the remarkable change effected in the Poultney River, three miles north-west of the village of Fair- haven, during a freshet in 1783. The river had previously run through a rocky gorge over a fall, because probably its old bed on a previous continent had been filled with sand. But having been diverted back again by the freshet, into the sand, it soon cleared out its channel and left the falls dry. About two miles north of Cuttingsville is an old river-bed now occupied by the railroad, in Shrewsbury, near the west line. The length of the old bed is about three-quarters of a mile. The river now runs through a deep gorge in slaty rock, seventy-five feet deep in some places. Terraces abound at the side of the gorge near where the old bed is situated. On Mill Brook, a branch of Otter Creek, a little east of the Bennington and Rutland Railway, in Clarendon, the stream has cut a gorge through the rock eighty-five feet deep, and three old beds can be traced.
Thus the face of the earth is constantly changing, and the change will continue, as it has in the past, through countless ages.
STAPLE PRODUCTIONS.
The staple productions of the county, are corn, rye, buckwheat, potatoes, butter, cheese, hay, maple sugar, and products of the orchard and garden. Considerable attention is also paid to dairying and wool-growing. Accord- ing to the U. S. census of 1870, the county contained 301,499 acres of improved land, producing 23,192 bushels of wheat, 7,939 bushels of rye, 180,780 bushels of Indian corn, 246,092 bushels of oats, 3,462 bushels of barley, 22,127 bushels of buckwheat and 617,094 bushels of potatoes. It had $2,314,499.00 worth of live stock, consisting of 19,594 milch cows, 5,623 horses, 4,566 swine, 1,227 oxen and 83,870 sheep.
From the milk of the cows was manufactured 119,645 lbs. of butter, and 1,369,844 lbs. of cheese. The sheep yielded 425,216 lbs. of wool, or about five and one-half pounds to the fleece.
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RUTLAND COUNTY.
INTRODUCTION AND PROGRESS OF SPANISH MERINO SHEEP BREEDING IN RUTLAND COUNTY.
The famous Merino Sheep, the breeding of which Vermont is so justly celebrated, is brought to as fine a state of perfection in Rutland County, and it produces as fine specimens, as any district in the world.
The Merino is the most important breed of sheep as regards the texture of the wool. The breed in modern times was brought to great perfection in Spain, though their originals probably formed the flocks of the patriarchs
.EBloomfield
JM Norto
(PONEY .- Weight, 148 lbs. ; Fleece, 26 lbs. 4 oz. Sired by Bull-Dog, by Dean's Little Wrinkly, by Sweepstakes, by Little Wrinkly, (Hammond's,) by Old Wrinkly, by Old Greasy, by Wooster, by Old Black. Dam Poney Ewe, (fleece, 16 lbs. 3 oz. ); by Green Mountain. Dam to Poney Ewe, Old Stubs, bred by V. Rich, Shoreham, Vt. A pure Spanish Merino Ram, bred and owned by JOHN H. MEAD, West Rutland Vt. )
thousands of years ago and have been the stock of all the fine-wooled sheep. They have wool growing on their foreheads and cheeks; the horns are very . large and heavy, and convulated laterally; the wool is fine, long, soft and twisted in silky spiral ringlets, and naturally so oily that the fleece looks dingy and unclean from the dust and dirt adhering to the outside; the form is not so symmetrical as in many English breeds, and there is generally a loose skin hanging from the neck and other parts of the body.
Both Spanish and French Merinos have been introduced into the United States, the former by Hon. David Humphreys, Minister to the Court of Madrid, in 1802, and the latter by Mr. Taintor, of Hartford, Conn., in 1846;
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RUTLAND COUNTY.
it is said that three Spanish Merinos were brought to Boston in 1793, by William Foster, but they were not preserved for breeding purposes. In Rutland County the breeding of Merino sheep has been brought to such a state of perfection, that it may indeed be called without exaggeration, a "science." First, and foremost among the old masters in this line, should be mentioned, Mr. Dyer Townsend of Wallingford, the oldest sheep breeder in the State, and a man who in the early history of the breeding of Merino sheep in Rutland County, in 1827, purchased thirteen Merinos brought from Connecticut by Mr. Frederick Button.
For a long term of years Mr. Townsend was said to have the best Merino sheep in the State. Rutland County sheep breeders are justly proud of his record. Mr. Townsend is to-day a hale, hearty man, 94 years of age, having never seen a day's sickness, never had the headache and "cannot remember when he has missed a meal." A man possessed of the highest moral char- acter, and never having allowed himself the use of intoxicating liquors, he stands to-day a living monument in favor of the cause of temperance. He still superintends a large farm, attends to banking, and much other business, but at the same time does not forget his early love for fine Merinos. He still retains a small flock of the same blood he has so long bred, and standing at the head of this flock is a fine ram, sired by " Poney " whose picture heads this article.
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