216 



CIVIL HISTORY OF VERMONT. 



Part IL 



TABLE OF STEAM BOATS. 



LIGHT HOUSE. 



BREAKWATER, 



Some attempts have been made to navi- 

 gate Connecticut river, adjacent to Ver- 

 mont, by steamboats, but tiiey have not 

 hitiierto been successful. The first was 

 in 1827. A strong boat, 75 feet loner and 

 14.^ wide, called the Barnet, succeeded, 

 with some help in passing the rapids, in 

 ascending the Connecticut as far as Bel- 

 lows Falls. This boat was taken back to 

 Hartford, Connecticut, laid up and finally 

 broken to pieces. In 1820 Mr. Blanchard 

 built a boat called the Blanchard of the size 

 of the preceding, and another 80 feet long, 

 14 wide and drawing only 12 or 15 inches 

 of water, called the Verviunt. The stroke 

 of the piston was horizontal, and the pow- 

 er of the engine 120 horse. A few exper- 

 imental trips were made between Bel- 

 lows Falls and Barnet, but the obstacles 

 were such that the undertaking was re- 

 lin(iuished and has not been resumed. 



Light House. Only one light house 

 has been built in Vermont by the general 

 government, and that is situated on Ju- 

 niper island in lake Champhiin Con- 

 gress having made an appropiation for 

 the erection of a light house in the vicini- 

 ty of Burlington, the legislature of V'cr- 

 mont, in November, 1825, passed an act 

 c(Hliiig to t<jie United States, at their op. 

 tion, either Juniper island or five acres 

 on Appletree point, as a site for the same. 

 The island being chosen, a light house 

 was erected there in 1826. It stands on 

 the highest part of the island, is built of 

 brick in the form of the frustrum of a 

 cone, with a diameter of 18 feet at the 

 base and 12 at the top, and is 30 feet high. 

 A sufficient light is here kept constantly 

 burning in the night during the continua- 

 tion of navigation, which is usually from 

 the niiddle of April to the first of Decem- 

 ber. The first keeper of this light house 

 was Lieut. F. A. Sawyer. He was suc- 

 ceeded in 1821) by Capt. M. Corning, and 

 the latter in 1841 by Mr. E. Jones the pres- 

 ent keeper. The salary is $375, with tlie 

 use of the land on the island, about 11 

 acres, and a boat. 



Two other light houses have since been 

 built on the lake, one at Split Rock and 

 the other on Cumberland head, both within 

 the limits of New York. 



Break-Water. — For the protection of the 

 shipping at Burlington, the principal land- 

 ino- place on the east side of lake Cham- 

 plain, the Congress of the United States 

 in 1836 resolved to enter upon the con- 

 struction of a Break-water, and made an 

 appropriation for that purpose. On tiie 

 4th of July, 1837, the work was com- 

 menced by Nathan B. Haswell, Esq. as 

 ao-ent forthe government, who has kindly 

 furnished the following particulars of its 

 design and progress. 



