History of Addison county Vermont, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 4

Author: Smith, H. P. (Henry Perry), 1839-1925. 1n
Publication date: 1886
Publisher: Syracuse, N.Y., D. Mason & co.
Number of Pages: 988

USA > Vermont > Addison County > History of Addison county Vermont, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers > Part 4

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The Quartz Rock Range enters the county in Leicester and Goshen and extends to the northern part of Starksboro, having a mean width of about three miles, and underlying the eastern parts of Leicester, Salisbury, Middle- bury and Monkton, Bristol and the western parts of Starksboro, Ripton and Goshen. The greater part of it is a semi-vitreous or hyalin quartz, remarkably compact, and seemingly a sandstone partially metamorphosed. This variety is traversed by numerous joints, parallel to one another, and generally so near one another as to be mistaken for planes of stratification. The texture is often as fine as that of the pencil slates of Rutland county - one homogeneous mass and it is remarkably compact and enduring. A variety in Monkton decom- poses very readily, thereby originating the valuable "glass-sand." A good idea of this quartz rock may be obtained by a visit to the south end of Hog- back Mountain, east of Bristol village, which terminates abruptly in a preci- pice of rather coarse, very compact quartz rock 400 feet high. Much of the range in the valley between Bristol and Starksboro cannot be distinguished from members of the red sandrock series. A few fossils have been found near Rockville, in brown quartz. The formation gradually tapers to a point, and at its termination in the northern part of Starksboro is enveloped in impure lime- stone. The average thickness is estimated at about a thousand feet. Very few minerals are found in this range - it is in reality a mineral by itself. The most important found in it is hematite, which occasionally occurs in small veins. Iron pyrites are considerably common in small bright crystals. In the eastern part of Middlebury, high up upon the Green Mountains, some strata have been discovered containing an unusually large amount of crystals of magnetite-suffi- ciently numerous to be of considerable value in the vicinity of iron furnaces.

The Gneiss Range has an average width of about three miles and underlies the eastern parts of Goshen, Panton and Lincoln, and western part of Hancock. The essential ingredients of gneiss are quartz, feldspar and mica, forming a rock closely resembling granite, differing from it only in having a distinctly stratified, slaty or laminated structure. For this reason it makes a very con- venient and handsome building stone, as the sheets or strata can be easily ob- tained at the quarries, and can then be split or divided into any required thick- ness.

The Trenton Limestone Range varies from a hundred rods to a mile in width. It enters the county in the western part of Orwell and extends along the lake shore to the northern part of Shoreham, where it branches, one branch follow-

HISTORY OF ADDISON COUNTY.

ing the lake shore through Bridport, Addison and Panton, and the other ex- tending through the eastern parts of Bridport, Addison and Ferrisburgh, where it enters Chittenden county; found also in Cornwall and Middlebury. Al- though this rock has four distinct or chief varieties, one can usually learn to distinguish it from all others by its common character 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 range is four hundred 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 reports says he should think that four hundred 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. Some varieties of this stone are used for building purposes and for manufacture into lime.

The Utica Slate Range is narrow in limits, extending along the lake shore of the towns of Panton and Addison, and also cropping out in a very narrow ledge in the central part of Orwell, gradually widening as it extends north, till in Shoreham it attains a width of nearly a mile and a half; from this point, gradually growing narrower, it extends through the eastern parts of Bridport, Addison and Panton, into Ferrisburgh, where it enters Chittenden county. This formation is a continuation of the calcareous shales of the Hudson River group of rocks downward, until they meet the slaty limestone of the Trenton group, and it is difficult to distinguish between them and the Hudson River group in Vermont, except by their fossils. The range has a thickness of about one hundred feet.

The Conglomerate Range commences near Ripton village, and extends north to the county line, gradually widening from the point of commencement until it attains a width of three miles. According to Prof. Adams, in his re- port of 1845, this rock is called magnesian slate; but later its present name was considered more appropriate, and consequently adopted. The vein is a purely conglomerate species, having associated together in its formation the following varieties of rocks : sandstones, breccias, quartz rock, calcareous rocks, novoculite schist, and coarse conglomerates. The sandstones are few, while the quartz variety is quite abundant. Some of its varieties answer very well for a building stone, though rather soft, while others exhibit a fine, compact magnesian slate, which may easily be sawed into any form desired, and is used as a fire-stone. In many places the slaty laminæ are covered with fine talc glazing. In the geological reports of 1861 Prof. Hagar says : " We have made no estimate of the thickness of the talcose conglomerates, but know they must be very thick. They must be 2,000 or 3,000 feet at the least calculation. We suppose that this bed of rocks includes the Sillery sandstones of Canada.

NATURAL CHARACTERISTICS.

These are estimated at 4,000 feet in Canada." No fossils have been found in the range.

A Hydromica Slate Bed, about a mile in width, extends through Whiting, to a point just north of Cornwall village. It is the terminus of the great range extending through Rutland county, from which such fine varieties of slate are procured for manufacture into mantels, etc. Its thickness is estimated at about 3,000 feet.

Calciferous Sandrock is found on the lake shore of Orwell and Shoreham, the eastern parts of Addison and Panton, and western part of Panton, in Corn- wall, Weybridge and Middlebury. All of these beds are narrow. The rock forms the transition from pure limestone to pure sandstone, and therefore par- takes of the character of each. The belt in Addison and Panton is mostly con- cealed by the overlying deposits of Champlain clay, while that lying in the west part of the latter town underlies the Chazy limestone. About a mile south of Chipman's Point, in Orwell, the ledge is eighty feet high, made up of a black, glazed slate, from which calcareous tufa is constantly forming. This range is estimated to be about 400 feet thick.

Beds of Saccharoid Azoic Limestone are found in several localities in Whit- ing and Granville. These beds are azoic, as they are found in connection with unfossiliferous rocks, and as they are generally white and highly crystalline, re- sembling loaf sugar, they are termed saccharoid. In some situations the rock is dark-colored, however, or it may receive various other colors from the min- erals disseminated through it.

The following is a list of the minerals found in each of the towns of the county ; but as the instances where these deposits have given rise to an indus- try of any kind will be noticed in the chapters devoted to the towns wherein they occur, it would be needless repetition to give detailed descriptions at this point :

Addison-Iron sand, iron pyrites.

Bristol-Rutile, brown hematite, manganese ores, magnetic iron.

Goshen-Manganese ores. .

Granville-Gold, limestone.

Hancock-Plumbago, limestone, chlorite. 1136137

Leicester-Hematite.

Monkton-Hematite, pyrolusite, feldspar, wad, shell marl, pipe clay.

Middlebury-Dolomite, jasper, tourmaline, epidote, honestone, milky quartz, copper pyrites, marble, calcite, galena, stalactites, alabaster, magnetic iron.

Orwell-Gypsum, flint, calcite, calcareous tufa.

Panton-Marble, limestone.

Ripton-Brown iron ore, augite, octahedral iron.

Salisbury-Hematite.

36 *

HISTORY OF ADDISON COUNTY.

Shoreham-Iron pyrites, black marble, calcite.

Starksboro-Brown iron ore.

Vergennes-Calcite, quartz, limestone.

Weybridge-Asbestus, amianthus, stalactites.

Whiting-Limestone, calcite.

Soil and Timber .- No county in Vermont equals Addison in the value of its stock products. The soils, although varying materially in their construc- tion and composition, are invariably such as are favorable to the growth of grass, and even the rocky hillsides, which would fail to remunerate those who would attempt their cultivation, afford excellent pasturage. The prevailing soil in the eastern part is loam, in the western part clay. But the fine alluvial lands of the valleys and along the several streams render agricultural pursuits of all kinds pleasing and profitable. The territory was originally covered with a dense forest, only a remnant of which is standing. The natural growth of the lowlands is pine, cedar, tamarack, soft maple, black ash and elm, inter- spersed occasionally with other trees of a deciduous nature. In other locali- ties were large tracts of pine and oak, with some maple, beech, ash, basswood, butternut, walnut and hemlock.

CHAPTER III.

DISCOVERY AND OCCUPATION.

Jacques Cartier's Discovery - Events Leading to Civilized Occupation - Abandonment of the Early Explorations - Changes Ushered in with the Fifteenth Century . John Cabot's Ex- plorations - His Immediate Successors - European Claimants for the Territory of the New World-Cartier's Renewed Discoveries-" New France "-Other French Explorers-Samuel de Champlain - His Discovery of the Lake which Bears His Name- His Battle with the Iroquois -Henry Hudson's Discoveries-Settlement of the Dutch on Manhattan Island.

ROBABLY the first European to gaze upon the green peaks of Vermont

P was the French navigator, Jacques Cartier. On the 2d of October, 1535, he was conducted by an Indian chief to the summit of Mount Real, which now overlooks the city of Montreal, and there "in that bright October sun " was opened to his enraptured gaze the beautiful country for many miles around. Before him the mighty St. Lawrence, coming solemnly from an un- known land, rolled on majestically toward the ocean; the distant horizon was bounded by the lofty mountains of Vermont, crowned with perpetual verdure ; while illimitable forests, robed in the gorgeous hues of autumn, were spread out before him in every direction. Donnacona, the Indian king who conducted him to the summit of the mountain, informed him that he might sail westward on the great river for three moons-passing through several immense lakes-

DISCOVERY AND OCCUPATION.

without reaching its source; that the river had its origin in a sea of fresh water to which no limits were known. Far to the southwest, he continued, there was another great river,1 which ran through a country where there was no ice or snow; to the north, there was an inland sea of salt water,2 extending to a re- gion of perpetual ice ; while southward there were rivers and smaller lakes, penetrating a beautiful and fertile country, belonging to a powerful and warlike nation called the Iroquois-including within its limits the present territory of Addison county. Before we proceed to the narration of the historic events directly connected with this locality, however, we will turn back and briefly review the events which led to its discovery and subsequent civilized occupa- tion.

The first Europeans to visit the shores of New England were a party of hardy, adventurous Norwegians. According to the Icelandic sagas, in the spring of A. D. 986 Eric the Red emigrated from Iceland to Greenland, and formed a settlement there. In 994 Biarne, the son of Heriulf Bardson, one of the settlers who accompanied Eric, returned to Norway and gave an account of discoveries he had made to the south of Greenland. On his return to Greenland, Leif, the son of Eric, bought Biarne's ship, and in the year 1000, with a crew of thirty-five men, embarked on a voyage of discovery. After sailing some time to the southwest, they fell in with a country covered with slaty rock and destitute of good qualities, and which, therefore, they called Helluland, or Slateland, corresponding with the present territory of Labrador. They then continued southerly until they found a low, flat coast, with the coun- try immediately back covered with wood, whence they called it Markland, or Woodland, and which is now known as Nova Scotia. From here they sailed south and west until they arrived at a promontory which stretched to the east and north, and sailing round it, turned to the west, and sailing westward passed between an island and the main land and "entered a bay through which flowed a river." Here they concluded to winter - at the head of Narragansett Bay, in Rhode Island. Having landed, they built a house to winter in, and called the place Leifsbuthir, or Leif's Booth; but subsequent to this they discovered an abundance of vines, whence they named the country Vinland, or Vineland, which thus became the original name of the territory now included within the limits of Massachusetts and Rhode Island.

Other discoverers and navigators followed this expedition, attempts at col- onization were made, and the country was explored, in some localities, quite a distance back from the coast; but dissensions among themselves and wars with the savages at length put an end to these rude attempts at civilization, and ex- cept a few Icelandic sagas, and a runestone found here and there throughout the territory, marking a point of discovery, or perhaps the grave of some un- happy Northman, the history of these explorations is wrapt in oblivion. Even

1 The Ohio.

2 Hudson Bay.

HISTORY OF ADDISON COUNTY.

the colonies which had been established in Greenland were at length abandoned, and the site upon which they flourished became, for many years, forgotten. Finally, however, the fifteenth century was ushered in, marking an era of great changes in Europe. It put an end to the darkness of the Middle Ages; it witnessed the revival of learning and science, and the birth of many useful arts, among which not the least was printing. The perfection of the mariner's com- pass by Flavio Gioja, the Neapolitan sailor, in the preceding century, having enabled sailors to go out of sight of land with impunity, a thirst for exploring unknown seas was awakened. Long voyages were undertaken and important discoveries made.

It was during this age of mental activity and growing knowledge that this great continent became known to Southern Europe, a discovery accidentally made in a quest of a westerly route to India and China. A little before sunrise on the 3d of August, 1492, the Genoese, Christopher Columbus, set out on a voyage of discovery under the patronage of the Spanish power. A little be- fore midnight, on the 13th of October, he descried a light on the island of San Salvador. From this moment properly dates the complete history of America. From this time forward its progress bears date from a definite period, and is not shrouded in darkness nor the mists of tradition. During the ages which preceded this event no grander country in all respects ever awaited the advance of civilization and enlightenment. With climate and soil diversified between almost the widest extremes; with thousands of miles of ocean shores indented by magnificent harbors to welcome the world's commerce; with many of the largest rivers of the globe intersecting and draining its territory and forming natural commercial highways; with a system of lakes so grand in proportions as to entitle them to the name of inland seas ; with mountains, hills and valleys laden with the richest minerals and almost exhaustless fuel; and with scenery unsurpassed for grandeur, it needed only the coming of the Caucasian to trans- form a continent of wilderness, inhabited by savages, into the free, enlightened republic which is to-day the wonder and the admiration of the civilized world.

Early in the wake of those frail caravels, the Mina, Pinta and Santa Maria, came other adventurous bands of navigators. The first of these was the Vene- tian sailor, John Cabot, who was commissioned by Henry VII, of England, in 1497, to voyage to the new territory and take possession of it in the name of England. He discovered Newfoundland and portions adjacent. In 1500 the coast of Labrador and the entrance to the Gulf of St. Lawrence were explored by two brothers from Portugal, named Cortereal. In 1508 Aubert discovered the St. Lawrence, and four years later, in 1512, Ponce de Leon discovered Florida. Magellan, the Portuguese navigator, passed through the straits which now bear his name in 1519, and was the first to circumnavigate the globe. In 1534 Jacques Cartier explored the St. Lawrence as far as Montreal, and five years later Fernando de Soto explored Florida. In 1578 an English navigator

DISCOVERY AND OCCUPATION.

named Drake discovered Upper California. Thus, in less than a century after the landing of Columbus, the different maritime powers of Europe were in active competition for the rich prizes supposed to exist in the New World.

While the Spaniards were pushing their acquisitions in the South, the French had gained a foothold in the northern part of the continent. Here the cod fisheries of Newfoundland, and the prospects of a more valuable trade in furs, opened as early as the beginning of the sixteenth century by Frenchmen, Basques, Bretons and Normans, held out the most glowing inducements. In 1518 Baron Livy settled there (Newfoundland), and in 1524 Francis I, of France, sent thither Jean Verrazzani, a noted Florentine mariner, on a voyage of exploration. He sailed along the coast 2,100 miles in the frail vessels of the period, and returned safely to his country. On his coast voyage he entered a large harbor, which is supposed to have been that of New York, where he remained fifteen days, and is believed to have been the first European to land on the soil of the State of New York. He proceeded north as far as Labrador and gave the whole region the name of New France, thus opening the way for the future contest between France and England.

Jacques Cartier, the French navigator whom we introduced at the opening of this chapter, was born at St. Malo in 1494, and was commissioned by the same French king, Francis I, and put in command of an expedition to explore the New World. After celebrating impressive religious ceremonies, as was the custom at that period before beginning any important undertaking, on the 20th of April, 1534, Cartier sailed from St. Malo with two vessels and with upwards of two hundred men. He touched first the coast of Newfoundland, and then sailing northward passed through the Strait of Belle Isle, landing on the coast of Labrador, where he took formal possession of the country in the name of his sovereign. Continuing his voyage he followed the coast of Newfoundland, making landings at various points and holding friendly intercourse with the natives ; at Gaspe Bay he persuaded a chief to permit his two sons to accom- pany him on his return to France; here also he planted a cross with the French arms upon it, and thence sailed northeast through the Gulf of St. Lawrence and entered the river of that name north of what is now called Anticosti Island. As he sailed up the broad stream on St. Lawrence day (August 10), he ap- plied to the river the name of the illustrious saint whose memory is perpetu- ated by that day. Here, unaware that he had discovered the mouth of a noble river, and anxious to avoid the autumnal storms, he turned his prow towards France, and on September 5, 1534, he entered the harbor of St. Malo. The succeeding year, 1535, having, under the command of the king, fitted up a fleet of three vessels and organized a colony, to a large extent composed of the younger members of the French nobility, Cartier again sailed from France, empowered by the authority of the king to occupy and colonize the country he had discovered, and to which he gave the name of New France. Arriving

HISTORY OF ADDISON COUNTY.

at the mouth of the St. Lawrence in July he sailed up its majestic course to where the St. Charles (to which he gave the name of St. Croix) enters it near the present site of Quebec, and cast anchor on the 14th of September. Here he was entertained by Donnacona, a prominent chieftain, with the utmost hos- pitality, and through the aid of the two young Indians, who had returned with Cartier, was enabled to indulge in considerable conversation with the royal savage. From this point he made several expeditions, the most important one being up the river to a large Huron Indian town bearing the name of Hoch- elaga, on the site of the present city of Montreal. To a prominent eminence back of the town Cartier gave the name of Mont Real (Royal Mountain), hence the name of the modern city. This was the most important town of a large Indian population ; they possessed the country for a long distance up and down the river from that point, and appeared to be a thrifty, industrious people, liv- ing at peace among themselves and with adjoining tribes. Cartier found them kindly disposed toward him, and received numerous substantial evidences of their hospitality and confidence, to the extent of being permitted to take away with him a little Huron girl, a daughter of one of the chiefs, who "lent her to him to take to France." Though their town was palisaded plainly for the

purpose of protection against enemies, he saw before him the open fields cov- ered with ripening corn, attesting alike the industry of the people and the fer- tility of the soil. His imagination reveled in dreams of conquest and power, as, standing on the lofty hill at the rear of the town, his gaze wandered along the majestic river and the beautiful scenes we have presented, and he listened to the broken story of the Indian king, of the wonders of the strange land to which he had wandered. Over all the delightful scene and his dazzling dreams. was thrown the tremulous, softening influence of Indian summer time; the coming winter, with its storms and snows, was an unknown experience to the. adventurer.

Returning in October to the point where his vessels were moored, called by the natives Stadacona (now the site of Quebec), Cartier made preparations to spend the winter. The result of this decision brought with it extreme suf- fering from the rigors of a climate to which the new-comers were wholly unac- customed, augmented by the affliction of the scurvy, from which disease twenty- five of his men died. The bitter experiences of this winter of 1535-36 on the Isle of Orleans (where they had constructed rude barracks) dimmed the bright hopes of the colonists, and in the spring Cartier, finding one of his vessels unfit for sea, placed his men upon the other two and prepared to return to France. Taking possession of the country with all the formal "pomp and circumstance" of the age, he and his discouraged companions abandoned the idea of coloniza- tion, and, on the 9th of May, 1536, sailed for France. The day before his de- parture Cartier invited Donnacona and eight of his chiefs to partake of a feast on board his ship. The invitation was accepted, and Cartier, imitating the in-

DISCOVERY AND OCCUPATION.

famy of the Spanish conquerors of the southern part of the continent, treach- erously sailed away with them to France as captives, where they all soon died of grief.

No further efforts at colonization were undertaken until about 1540, when Francis de la Roque, Lord of Roberval, was commissioned by the king of France with vice-royal powers to establish a colony in New France. The king's authorization of power conferred upon De la Roque the governorship of an immense extent of territory, shadowy if not illimitable in boundary, but extending in all directions from the St. Lawrence and including in its compass all of what is now New England and much of New York. In 1541 he caused to be fitted out a fleet of vessels, which sailed from St. Malo with Cartier as captain-general and pilot. When, late in August, they arrived at Stadacona, the Indians were overjoyed at their arrival, and poured on board the ships to welcome their chief, whose return they expected, relying on Cartier's promise to bring him back. They put no faith in the tale told them that he and his companions were dead; and even when shown the Huron maiden, who was to be returned to her friends, they incredulously shook their heads, and their peaceful attitude and hospitality hour by hour changed to moroseness and gradually to hostility. The first breach of faith had occurred, never to be en- tirely healed.

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History of Addison county Vermont, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 4

Author: Smith, H. P. (Henry Perry), 1839-1925. 1n Publication date: 1886 Publisher: Syracuse, N.Y., D. Mason & co. Number of Pages: 988

Author: Smith, H. P. (Henry Perry), 1839-1925. 1n
Publication date: 1886
Publisher: Syracuse, N.Y., D. Mason & co.
Number of Pages: 988