Er uption of Long Lake and Mud Lake, in Vermont. 159 



fllled up at the bottom, as well as cut off at the top by the abra- 

 sion of the torrent. I saw perhaps twenty of the trees, which 

 had been left in it thirteen years before, standing up from 

 its bottom, in various directions ; and the length of their stems 

 above the water, indicated that the depth was moderate. Be- 

 fore the draining of Long Lake, Mud Lake had no lime ; but 

 large quantities of the white friable carbonate of lime were 

 brought down and deposited within and around it, so as to ren- 

 der the manufacture of quick-lime a regular employment for 

 several of the inhabitants. 



Mr Blodget, the proprietor of the mill destroyed in Barton, 

 instituted a suit against some of the individuals employed in 

 letting out the waters of Long Lake. In the course of the 

 trial, the whole history of the event was brought to light. He 

 laid his damages at 1000 dollars ; but, pendente lite, compro- 

 mised the matter for 100, on condition that each party should 

 pay his own costs. 



It was doubtless a favourable circumstance, that Long Lake 

 was drained while the country on Barton River was a wilder- 

 ness. From the singular configuration of the adjacent ground, 

 it is certain that its contents would sooner or later have been 

 emptied into Mud Lake ; and had the discharge been deferred 

 until the country had been well settled, the injury would have 

 been incalculable. At the time when the event occurred no 

 material injury was done, and an essential service rendered the 

 community ; as the bed of the lake furnishes an advantageous 

 site for a road leading to the country eastward of Glover, which 

 the hills had previously rendered impracticable. Such a road 

 had been seriously proposed when I was there ; and my only 

 objection to the measure lay in the fact, that, by effacing the 

 vestiges of desolation, it would violate the rights of philosophi- 

 cal enquiry. 



This event appears to confirm an opinion, extensively enter- 

 tained in this country, respecting the changes which various 

 parts of its surface have in former periods undergone. Valleys 

 are here and there found, with streams of water passing through 

 them, surrounded on all sides by high grounds, except a very 

 narrow passage for the stream to enter, and another for it to es- 

 cape; and in both, the whole appearance of the ground indi- 



