NATURAL HISTORS OP VERMONT. 



Part I. 



CLARENDON SPRINGS. 



CLARENDON AND PLYMOUTH CAVES. 



parts of the country. Tl)ey are situated in a 

 picturesque and beautiful region, 7 miles 

 southwest from Rutland, and have, in 

 their immediate vicinity, good accommo- 

 dations for 500 visiters. The waters are 

 found to be highly efficacious in affections 

 of the liver, dispepsia, urinary and all cu- 

 taneous complaints, rheumatism, invete- 

 rate sore eyes, and many others, and they 

 promise fair to go on increasing in noto- 

 riety and usefulness. These waters differ 

 in tlieir composition from any heretofore 

 known, but resemble most nearly the 

 German Spa water. For their curative 

 properties they are believed to be indebted 

 wholly to the gases they contain. They 

 have been analyzed by Mr. Augustus A. 

 Hayes, of Roxbury, Mass., with the fol- 

 lowing results. One gallon, or 235 cubic 

 inches of the water contained, 



Carbonic acid gas 4G.l(i cubic inch. 

 Nitrogen gas 9.63 " " 



Carbonate of Lime 3.02 grains. 



Murate of Lime ^ 



Sulphate of Soda > 2.74 grs. 



Sulphate of Magnesia 3 

 One hundred cubic inches of the gas 

 which was evolved from the water, con- 

 sisted of 



Carbonic acid gas 0.05 cubic inches. 

 Oxygen gas 1.50 " " 



Nitrogen gas 98.45 " " 



The Alburgh springs do not differ ma- 

 terially from the springs at Newbury, 

 Tunbridge, and other places in the north- 

 eastern part of the state, owing their med- 

 icinal properties principally to the sul- 

 phuretted hydrogen gas, which they con- 

 tain. 



Caves. There are no caves in Vermont 

 which will bear comparison with some of 

 the caverns found in other parts of the 

 world, and 3'et we have several, which 

 are deserving the attention of the curi- 

 ous. Those at Clarendon, Plymouth and 

 Danby are the most interesting. The 

 Clarendon cave is situated on the south- 

 easterly side of a mountain in the wester- 

 ly part of that town. The descent into it 

 is through a passage 2^ feet in diameter 

 and 31 feet in length, and which makes 

 an angle of 35 or 40^ with the horizon. 

 It then opens into a room 21) feet long, 

 12i wide, and 1« or 20 feet high. The 

 floor, sides and roof of this room are all of 

 solid rock, but very rough and uneven. 

 From the north part of this room is a pas- 

 sage about 3 feet in diameter and 24 feet 

 in length, but very rough and irregular, 

 which leads to another room 20 feet wide, 

 30 feet long and 18 feet high. This room, 

 being situated much lower than the first, 

 is usually filled with water in the spring | 



of the year, and water stands in the low- 

 est parts of it at all seasons.* 



The Plymouth caves are situated at the 

 base of a considerable mountain, on the 

 southwest side of Black river, and about 

 50 rods from that stream. They are ex- 

 cavations among the lime rock, which 

 have evidently been made by running 

 water. The principal cave was discov- 

 ered about the first of July, 1818, and on 

 the 10th of that month was thoroughly 

 explored by the Author, who furnished 

 the first description of it, which was 

 published shortly after in the Vermont 

 Journal at Windsor. The passage into 

 this cavern is nearly perpendicular, 

 about the size of a common well, and 

 10 feet in depth. This leads into the first 

 room which is of an oval form, 30 feet 

 long, 20 wide, and its greatest height 

 about 15 feet. It appears as if partly filled 

 up with loose stones, which had been 

 thrown in at the mouth of the cave. 

 From this to the second room is a broad 

 sloping passage. This room is a little 

 more than half as large as the first. The 

 bottom of it is the lowest part of the cave, 

 being about 25 feet below the surface of 

 the ground, and is composed principally 

 of loose sand, while the bottoms of all the 

 other rooms are chiefly rocks and stones. 

 The passage into the third room is 4 feet 

 wide and 5 high, and the room is 14 feet 

 long, S wide, and 7 high. The fourth 

 room is 30 feet long, 12 wide, and 18 high, 

 and the rocks, which form the sides, in- 

 cline towards each other and meet at the 

 top like the ridge of a house. The fifth 

 room, very much resembling an oven in 

 shape, is 10 feet long, 7 wide, and 4 high, 

 and the passage into it from the third 

 room is barely sufficient to admit a person 

 to crawl in. At the top of this room is a 

 conical hole, 10 inches across at the base 

 and extending 2 feet into the rock. From 

 the north side of the second room are two 

 openings leading to the sixth and seventh, 

 wliich are connected together, and each 

 about 15 feet long, 7 wide, and 5 high. 

 From the seventh room is a narrow pas- 

 sage which extends northerly 15 or 16 

 feet into the rocks, and there appears to 

 terminate. When discovered, the roof 

 and sides of this cavern were beautifully 

 ornamented with stalactites, and the bot- 

 tom with corresponding stalagmites, but 

 most of these have been rudely broken off 

 and carried away by the numerous visit- 

 ers. The temperature, both in winter 

 and summer, varies little from 44.^°, which 

 is about the mean temperature of the cli- 

 mate of Vermont in that latitude. A few 



* Williams' History of VermoDl, vol. I, p. 29. 



