Chap. 10. 



STATE OF SOCIETY. 



215 



COMMERCE AND NAVIGATION. 



STEAM BOATS ON LAKE CHAMPLAIN. 



Section VI. 

 Commerce and JVavigation. 



On account of the inland situation of 

 Vermont, and the various modes of trans- 

 portation, it is impossible to form any 

 correct estimation of the amount of im- 

 ports or exports. The commercial busi- 

 ness of the state is, however, considerable, 

 and is annually increasing. A large 

 amount of dry goods and groceries arc 

 brought into the state and disposed of 

 among the inhabitants ; and for several 

 years past Vermont has, to a very great 

 extent, depended upon the state of New 

 York and the western states for her 

 bread stuffs. 



The exports from Vermont consist of 

 live cattle, horses, hogs, sheep, wool, lum- 

 ber, pot and pearl ashes, butter, cheese, 

 iron, marble, paper, copperas, &c. Wheat 

 was formerly exported, but for some years 

 past a sufficient quantity has not been 

 raised for home consumption. When 

 the country was new and the first settlers 

 were clearing their lands, pot and pearl 

 ashes were the staple articles for market. 

 Lumbering also engaged the attention of 

 many in the vicinity'- of the navigable 

 waters. Connecticut river furnished an 

 outlet for the lumber in the eastern part 

 of the state, while that in the western 

 part found its way to Quebec through 

 lake Champlain, the Richelieu and St. 

 Lawrence, previous to the construction of 

 tlie Champlain and Hudson canal, since 

 which it has gone through that canal to 

 New York. iJut this branch of business 

 has been pursued too eagerly for the good 

 of the state. Pine of a good quality is 

 becoming scarce and at the present rate 

 of consumption the time will soon come, 

 when there will not be enough in the 

 state for domestic purposes. For about 

 ten years past wool has constituted the 

 principal article for export ; and is so at 

 present, although a large amount of the 

 other articles above named continue to 

 be sent to market. 



Vermont being an inland .state its navi- 

 gation is necessarily limited. Indeed it 

 is nearly confined to lake Champlain. 

 A portion of the merchandise and the 

 productions of the eastern parts of the 

 state, it is true, are transported in boats 

 upon Connecticut river, but far the great- 

 er portion of the business of those parts 

 is over-land to Boston. The mercantile 

 connexions on the west side oftlie moun- 

 tains are mostly witii !!sew York, and most 

 of the business of the north western sec- 

 tion of the state is transacted through 

 lake Champlain, the northern canal and 

 Hudson river. Previous to the openino- 



of the Champlain and Hudson canal, in 

 lt;23, Montreal and Quebec shared large- 

 ly in the business of this section, but, 

 since that event, the business with Cana- 

 da has been comparatively triflino-. The 

 opening of that canal not only chanored 

 the direction of business, but gave fo it a 

 fresh impulse throughout the whole valley 

 of lake Champlain, The amount of busi- 

 ness and of the shipping suddenly in- 

 creased, and has been going on increas- 

 ing from that time to the present. The 

 whole number of vessels now in service 

 upon lake Champlain, including steam 

 boats, sloops, schooners, and canal boats, 

 exceeds 100, with a tonnage of perhaps 

 yOOO tons, and more than two thirds of 

 these are owned in Vermont. According 

 to the returns made by the collector of 

 the district of Vermont, on the 30th of 

 September, 1838, there were at that time 

 belonging to Vermont, four steam boats, 

 seventeen sloops, fifteen schooners, and 

 thirty one canal boats, being 67 in the 

 whole and rated at 4250 tons. 



The first successful experiment in 

 steam navigation, was made in 1H()7, uj>ou 

 Hudson river, by Robert Fulton. The 

 very next year, 1808, a steam boat was 

 launched at Burlington upon lake Cham- 

 plain, which commenced running in 1809, 

 for the transportation of passengers and 

 merchandise. Since that time 13 other 

 steamboats have been built, six of which 

 are now in service. The following table, 

 for the materials of which I am chiefly in- 

 debted to Captains, J. and R. W. Sher- 

 man and Robert White, exhibits a con- 

 densed history of all the steam boats, which 

 have been built upon lake Champlain;* 

 and it is a fact worthy of being recorded, 

 that, during 32 years of steam navigation 

 on lake Champlain, and the transporta- 

 tion of more than a million of passengers, 

 no life has been lost or person injured by 

 the explosion of steam. On the 5th of 

 September, 1819, six persons lost their 

 lives by the burning of the steamboat 

 Phcenix, while on her passage a little to 

 the northward of Burlington, and in 182() 

 one person was killed by the collision of 

 the Phoenix and Congress near Port Kent. 



*On lake Goor^o, which is so closely connected 

 with lake Champlain, there have heen built three 

 steanrjijoals, viz. The tirst, Caldwell, in J.-"]7, at 

 Ticonilero^'a, hy John VVinans ; lengtli 80 feet, 

 breailth -30, and depth 8; cost J9,000 ; power 20 

 horse ; speed 5 miles per hour. It was burnt at 

 Caldwell in 1820 or '21. The Mountaineer, in 1824, 

 at Caldwell by J. Sherman, length 100 feet, breadth 

 It^, and dejith 8; cost $12,000 ; power 20 lioise, speed 

 6 miles ; run 13 years, and was condemned at 

 'J'iconderoja in 1837. The second Caldwell, in 

 1838, at Ticonderoga, by J. Sherman, length 140, 

 breadth 17, deptli 8 ; cost $20,000 ; power 40 horse: 

 speed 12 miles nn hour, commanded by Cnpt. 1,. C. 

 l.arabeo and now ruimin'r. 



