l58 Erupticyn of Long Lake and Mud Lake, in Vermont. 



been with me, he might doubtless have made important disco- 

 veries. 



The bottom of the lake was in some places boggy, but gene- 

 rally so dry that we could walk over it without difficulty. It 

 was extensively grown over with sedge and other weeds, and in 

 many places with shrubs and young trees. The original water- 

 level of the lake was generally discoverable along the shores. 

 The same rivulet still flows in on the west side, which originally 

 supplied its waters ; but it now flows out at the northern end 

 into Mud Lake. It is about a yard over ; and, as no reason 

 can be given why it should have diminished, I conclude that 

 this was the size of the outlet of Long Lake. The flood left 

 obvious traces of its violence within the bed of the lake. At 

 the southern end, the water on the shoal, not more than 10 or 

 12 feet deep, rushing down the pitch into the deeper part of 

 the lake, swept down a considerable mass of earth and rocks, 

 and near the middle of the pitch, from east to west, formed an 

 excavation, or trench, about one hundred yards in length, nar- 

 rower ^nd shallow at its commencement, but widening and 

 deepening all the way to the bottom, where it is several rods in 

 width. On both shores of the lake, the force of the water tore 

 away large masses of earth, forced rocks out of their original 

 bed, and, in various instances, laid bare the surface of extensive 

 ledges of rock, which had been previously imbedded in earth ; 

 leaving them projecting a considerable distance beyond the line 

 of the shore. These effects were most marked towards the 

 northern end. About twenty rods from that end, an excava- 

 tion, or trench, commences in the bottom of the lake, and con- 

 tinues to widen and deepen, until it coincides with the deep gul- 

 ley at the outlet. 



The surface of Mud Lake is at least 30 feet lower, in the 

 opinion of the workmen, than before, and has not more than 

 half of its original extent. The soft mud from the bottom of 

 Long Lake, flowed into Mud Lake *, and took the place of the 

 hard, tough mud, which originally formed its bed. So large 

 was the supply, that Mud Lake is now shallow — having been 



• This lake was without a name, until this event procured for it this less 

 poetical than appropriate designation. 



