48 



GAZETTEER OF VERMONT. 



Part IIL 



CAVENDISH. 



CHAMPLAIN LAKE. 



Universalists, &c. but no settled minister. 

 The epidemic of 18J2 prevailed here, and 

 about 40, mostly heads of families, were 

 victims to it. The soil of this town is 

 easy and generally fertile. Black river, 

 which runs from west to east, and Twenty 

 mile stream, which runs in a southerly 

 direction and unites with it near White's 

 mills, are the principal streams. Along 

 these streams are some small tracts of fine 

 intervale. The greatest curiosity in the 

 town, and perhaps the greatest of the 

 kind in the state, is at the falls on Black 

 river, which are situated between Dut- 

 ton's village and White's mills. " Here 

 the channel of the river has been worn 

 down 100 feet ; and rocks of very large 

 dimensions have been undermined and 

 thrown down, one upon another. Holes 

 are worn into the rocks, of various di- 

 mensions and forms. Some of them are 

 cylindrical, from one to eight feet in di- 

 ameter, and from one to fifteen feet in 

 depth; others are of a spherical form 

 from six to twenty feet diameter, worn 

 almost perfectly smooth into the solid 

 body of the rock." Hawk's mountain, 

 which separates Baltimore from tliis town, 

 derives its name from Col. Hawks, who, 

 during the French and Indian wars, en- 

 camped thereon for the night with a small 

 regular force, among whom was General 

 (then Captain) John Stark. Some traces 

 of their route are still to be seen. The 

 stage road, from Weathersfield to Rutland, 

 passes through this town along Black 

 river. There are two villages, viz : Dut- 

 tonsville, and Proctorsville. Duttonstille 

 derives its name from Salmon Button, 

 Esq. the first principal inhabitant, and 

 has among other things a woollen factory, 

 for the manufacture of broadcloths, built 

 of stone, 100 feet by 50, and 5 stories 

 high. It employs 7.5 hands, and makes 

 daily about 140 yards. FroctorsviUe has 

 a factory for making cassimeres, which 

 employs' 3.5 hands, and makes about 130 

 yards per day. The building is of brick, 

 75 by 42 feet, and 5 stories high. The 

 post-office at Duttonsville bears the name 

 of the town ; that at Proctorsville the 

 name of the village. One mile north- 

 west from Proctorsville are extensive 

 quarries of serpentine, near which, on 

 Black river is a mill, 100 feet by 40, with 

 10 or 12 gangs of saws, and other ma- 

 chinery for polishing, are now in operation. 

 The serpentine receives a high polish 

 and is considered equal in beauty and su- 

 perior in quality to the Egyptian marble, as 

 it possesses the rare qualities of being un- 

 affected by heat or acids. It makes tne 

 most excellent and elegant fire-jambs,and 

 centre and pier tables, and quantities have 



been sent to Boston and New York 

 markets, and found a ready sale. There 

 are in town 3 meeting houses, one free, 

 one Baptist, and one Methodist house. 

 The latter was built in Proctorsville in 

 1S41. There are 8 saw, 2 grist and 2 

 fulling mills, 5 stores, 3 taverns, ifec. — 

 Statistics o/ 1840.— Horses, 265; cattle, 

 1,716; sheep, 7,124 ; swine, 5i)J ; wheat, 

 bu. 1,101; barley, 57: oats, 7,996; rye, 

 1,798 ; buck wheat, 246 ; In. corn, 3,750 ; 

 potatoes, 30,680 ; hay, tons, 3,620 ; sugar, 

 lbs. 7,545; wool, 14,279. Population, 

 1,427. 



Champlain Lake. A general account 

 of this lake and of its name in the lan- 

 guages of the aborigines, has been given 

 in part first, page 5. We had intended to 

 insert in this place a long extract from the 

 journal of Champlain in which he gives 

 a minute account of his discovering and 

 naming the lake in 1609, and of the bat- 

 tle in which he was engaged with the 

 Indians, but our limits do not permit us 

 to carry out our design. In his journal 

 Champlain calls the outlet of lake Cham- 

 plain the river des Iroqvois, and writers- 

 wlio succeeded him not only continued to 

 apply this name to the outlet of the lake 

 but to the lake itself Hence some liave 

 supposed that Iroquois was the name giv- 

 en to the lake by the Indians. But it 

 seems most probable that the application 

 of this name to the river and lake origina- 

 ted with the French. The great thorough- 

 fare between the St. Lawrence and the 

 powerful nations of the Iroquois on the 

 Mohawk being through this river and 

 lake, they designated them as the river 

 and lake of the Iroquois, or the river and 

 lake leading to the Iroquois. The name, 

 Corlear which the Indians at a later pe- 

 riod often applied to this lake, was the 

 name of a Dutchman, who was instru- 

 mental in saving a war party of Canada 

 Indians from being destroyed by the Mo- 

 hawks, at Schenectady, in 1665. In to- 

 ken of gratitude for this service the In- 

 dians afterwards applied the name Corlear 

 to every thing excellent in New York, 

 and, among others, to this lake. Lake 

 Champlain commences at Whitehall, 

 at the junction of Wood creek with 

 East bay. A mile or two north of this it 

 receives the waters of South bay, which 

 projects to the southwest. From White- 

 hall to the south part of Orwell, the aver- 

 age width of the lake is about half a mile. 

 At Sholes landing, about one mile south 

 of Mount Independence, the lake is not 

 more than 40 rods wide, and between 

 Mount Independence and Ticonderoga, 

 only SO rods. The widest place, in the 

 lake against Orwell, is about two miles, 



