76 



GAZETTEER OF VERMONT. 



Part III. 



GRAND ISLE. 



the Baptist church about two years. Ju- 

 ly 7, l«iy, Elder John R. Dodge was or- 

 dained over the Baptist church, and was 

 dismissed Sept. Si6, 1822. The Congre- 

 gationalists have a meeting house, erect- 

 ed in 1792, and the Baptists, one, built 

 in 1814. The township is watered prin- 

 cipally by Saxton's River, which is form- 

 ed here hy the union of several branches. 

 A branch of William's river runs through 

 the north part nearly parallel to the north 

 line. These streams afford several very 

 good mill privileges. The township is 

 considerably uneven, and it abounds in a 

 great variety of minerals About two 

 miles south from the Congregational 

 meetinghouse is an immense quantity of 

 excellent steatite, or soap stone, wliich is 

 quarried to a great extent. Large blocks 

 of it are removed from the ledge by saws, 

 wedges, and bars, and transported about 

 a mile to a mill, whose machinery is mov- 

 ed by water, where it is sawn. It is then 

 manufactured into aqueducts, pumps, 

 jambs, ovens, mantle pieces, stoves, &c. 

 The blocks sawn and bored for the aque- 

 ducts are two or three feet long, and three 

 or four inches square. They are sold at 

 the manufactory, completely prepared to 

 be put down, at the astonishing low price 

 of $1,00 per rod. They are found to be 

 much more durable and less liable to get 

 out of repair than wood, and impart no 

 unpleasant taste to the water. In con- 

 nexion with the steatite are found fine 

 green laminated talc, chlorite, potstone 

 and crystals of actynolite, and bitter spar. 

 The potstone is of a greenish gray color, 

 and is less frangible than the steatite. 

 The crystals of actynolite are large, and 

 of a light green color. Those of bitter 

 spar are of different sizes, presenting 

 rhomboidal surfaces, and are embedded in 

 the steatite. They are usually perfect, 

 but not transparent. Their color is a 

 light gray, and their lustre more pearly 

 than that of calcareous spar. Their struc- 

 ture is distinctly laminated, and they dis- 

 solve without effervescence in diluted ni- 

 tric acid. Cyanite, or sappare, is found 

 about one mile southwest t>om the meet- 

 ing house, on the farm of a Mr.Spaulding. 

 It is of a light blue color, and is in com- 

 pressed hexagonal prisms in mica slate 

 and in massive garnet. There is another 

 locality of it about one mile east from the 

 centre of the township, where it is embed- 

 ded in quartz Garnets abound both in 

 talcose and mica slate, and hornblende is 

 very common. Also the sulphuret of iron 

 in small brown cubes, plumose mica on 

 mica slate, limpid quartz in transparent 

 crystals, greasy and milky quartz, schorl 

 and precious serpentine. The schorl is 



three miles west from the meeting house, 

 in quartz and mica slate. It is in triangu- 

 lar prisms, bevelled at their lateral edges, 

 and striated longitudinally, having triedral 

 terminations. The serpentine is all in 

 one mass, of 30 or 40 tons weight, lying 

 on the western declivity of a small hill, 

 and in full view from the meeting house. 

 Its interior is of a uniform dark green col- 

 or. It is hard to break, and its fracture 

 splintery. There are two small villages; 

 one at the centre and the other at the 

 junction of the two branches which form 

 Saxton's river. There are 2 grist, 6 saw 

 and 3 fulling mills, 3 carding machines, 

 and 3 stores. Statistics of 1S40. — Horses, 

 273; cattle, 1,728; sheep, 10,114 ; swine, 

 1,166; wheat, bush. 1,38G; barley, 146; 

 outs, 5,229 ; rye, 1,238 ; buckwheat, 618; 

 Ind. corn, 4,859 ; potatoes, 31,646; hay, 

 tons, 3,363 ; sugar, lbs. 16,185 ; wool, 

 20,164. Population, 1,326. 



Granky, a township in Essex county, 

 situated in lat. 44^ 35' and long. 5" 9', 

 contains 36 square miles. It lies 47 miles 

 northeast from Montpelier, and is bound- 

 ed northeast by Ferdinand and Maidstone, 

 southeast by Guildhall, southwest by Vic- 

 tory, and northwest by East Haven. 

 Chartered October 10, 1761. A consid- 

 erable settlement had been formed in this 

 town previously to the year 1800, and the 

 numbers continued to increase with con- 

 siderable rapidity till after the year 1810. 

 But when the cold seasons commenced 

 tlie people began to abandon their settle- 

 ments, and continued to leave the town 

 till 1816, when there wei-e only three 

 families left, and the town lost its organi- 

 zation. After this period the numbers 

 began to increase, and the town was re- 

 organized in December, 1821. A branch 

 of Paul's stream, one of the head branches 

 of Moose river, and some other small 

 streams rise in this town. Statistics of 

 1840.— Horses, 29; cattle, 122; sheep, 

 257 ; swine, 63; wheat, bu. 191 ; barley, 

 78 ; oats, 378 ; rye, 27 ; buck wheat, 94 ; 

 In. corn, 14; potatoes, 3, 680 ; hay,tons,257; 

 sugar, lbs. 1,925; wool, 325. Popu. 105. 

 Grand Isle, a post town in Grand Isle 

 county, is in lat. 44° 43' and long. 3° 42' 

 and has the lake on all sides, except the 

 south, where it is bounded by South He- 

 ro. It lies 50 miles northwest from Mont- 

 pelier, and 18 from Burlington. It was 

 granted, in connexion with South Hero, 

 October 27, 1779. Tlie settlement of the 

 township was commenced about the year 

 1783, by Alexander Gordon, William Ha- 

 zen and Lamberton Allen, emigrants from 

 New-Hampshire, and the southern parts of 

 this state. For some years after the set- 

 tlement commenced, many circumstances 



