VERMONT 



VERMONT 



..ughout t: 



The first quarry was esl : at Dorset in 



1785. About eighty per cent of the marble 



: in monumental work is furnished by this 



. and among the prominent buildings in 



the I nt mar- 



hool and tin- 

 office building of Senate. 

 .rly output of marble is valued 

 at about $3.500,000. 



Quarries in the eastern hills produce quant i- 

 of green and purpl< - d in roofing; 



all the roofing slate of 

 that does not come from 

 Pennsylvania. Soapstom-. limestone, talc, as- 

 bestos, copper, ocher and kaolin are other min- 

 eral products, and small amounts of gold and 

 r have been found. The total mineral out- 

 put is valued each year at about $9,000,000. 

 Manufactures. With the utilization of the 

 r furnished by mountain streams, Ver- 

 mont's manufacturing industries are growing in 

 importance. The quarries of the state furnish 

 rial for the chief industry, the cutting and 

 hing of marble and stone. Logging and 

 :IGJ of lumber on Lake Champlain was 

 the earliest industry of importance, and Bur- 

 lington became a great lumber center. Most 

 of the sawmills are run by water wheels; those 

 of Bellov, :iid other Eastern cities are 



run by 1 n of the Connecticut River. 



Among the lumber products wood pulp and 

 furniture are of most importance. There has 

 been a great increase in the dairy industries, 

 and Vermont is now among the leading states 

 in the making of cheese and butter. The state 

 was one of the last in NYw England -to develop 

 ile manufacturing, and the output of cot- 

 ton and woolen goods is relatively small. 

 it Johnsbury is famous for the manufacture 

 'ales. The first platform scale was invented 

 and manufactured here by the Fairbanks Scale 



Company, now one of the largest scale manu- 

 facturers in the world. Flour and grist milling, 

 foundry and machine shop work and the manu- 

 facture of slate roofing are other important in- 

 dustries. Burlington is the chief manufacturing 

 city. In 1910 Vermont ranked thirty-eighth 

 among the manufacturing states; the gross 

 value of its products, as reported by the census 

 of 1914, was $76,811,000. 



Transportation. Vermont has good railroad 

 service and excellent facilities for water trans- 

 portation. Railroads running north and south 

 along the east and west borders of the state 

 make connection with lines to Boston and to 

 New York, and in the north with Saint Johns 

 and Montreal lines. Between these roads there 

 are many parallel lines crossing the state diag- 

 onally, giving the railroad map roughly the 

 appearance of a gridiron. In 1914 there were 

 1,073 miles of railroad and 124 miles of electric 

 track in the state, together affording accommo- 

 dations in every county and city. The princi- 

 pal roads are the Boston & Maine, Saint Johns- 

 bury & Lake Champlain, Central of Vermont 

 (Grand Trunk) and the Rutland, of the New 

 York Central system. In 1915 safety laws regu- 

 lating railroad crossings were passed by the 

 state. 



Lake Champlain is the great highway for the 

 water traffic of the state. The Champlain Ca- 

 nal at Troy, New York, affords passage from 

 the lake down the Hudson to New York har- 

 bor. By way of the Richelieu River and the 

 Saint Lawrence, traffic from lake ports reaches 

 Canadian markets. Otter Creek is the only 

 river of commercial importance. Burlington 

 is the port of entry for the Vermont customs 

 district. 



In 1914, 200 miles of state and state-aid roads 

 were built; in 1915 3,278 miles, or 22.7 per cent 

 of all public roads, were surfaced a high aver- 

 age when compared with many other states. 



Government and History 



Government. Vermont has had three consti- each house of the succeeding legislature they 

 tutions, adopted in 1777, 1786 and 1793. The are then submitted to the people. If favored 

 government of the state is generally mon- ly a majority of the voters, the amendments 

 democratic thAVthat of the other New Eng- are adopted. Suffrage is extended to all male 

 land states. Originally the constitution was 

 revised by a council of censors, but since 1880 

 the senate has been authorized to propose 

 amendments every ten years. If these are ap- 

 proved by a majority in the house of repre- 

 sentatives they are published in the newspa- 

 pers, and if again approved by a majority in 



citizens residing in the state one year. Women 

 have the right to vote in school elections, and 

 they may hold positions on school boards. 



The legislative department consists of a sen- 

 ate of thirty members and a house of repre- 

 sentatives of 245 members, elected and meeting 

 biennially. The senators are apportioned ac- 



