TuE Water Power of Vermont. 653 



abundant in close proximity. Steep descents and abrupt 

 rapids give to these privileges their chi(*f value, and they 

 would long ago have been obliterated had not nature preserved 

 tliem with floors and walls of i-ock. These are the several 

 characteristics of Yermont's water powers. They are the 

 source of her future wealth, her only hope for the future, 

 tlie very life of the State. It is only through the full 

 development of these gratuities of nature, that Vermont 

 will grow into a wealthy and populous State. It is time 

 that her people ceased to go West, it is time she lost the 

 reputation of a good State to emigrate from, it is time 

 that her sons and daughters ceased dreaming of fortunes to 

 be had for the seeking in some El Dorado, while a river of 

 wealth is constantly idly flowing down her rocky hillsides 

 and througli her pleasant valleys. Work is the price all 

 must pay for the necessities as well as the luxuries of life. 

 Within the last two decades the population of the farming 

 towns of the State has been wonderfully depleted, a witness 

 of which can be seen in the hundreds of deserted farm 

 houses on every hillside and in every valley. In 18G0, 

 there were more people under 50 years of age than in 1870. 

 While in the same period those of 50 have increased. 

 Probabl}" 5,000 of this number gave up their lives in the 

 rebellion ; still it is evident that the great cause of this 

 is in the emigration of the. young to seek employment else- 

 where, leaving the older persons at home. The population 

 of 1870 falls nearly below that of 1860, while with that of 

 the increase of foreign population it is hardly more than in 

 1850. These figures tell their own story, hinting only too 

 plainly to what the population is drifting. What is the 



