144 



GAZETTEER OF VERMONT. 



Part III. 



POULTNEY RIVER. 



ing machine, and several other huildings. 

 There are two pleasant villages in Poult- 

 ney, called East Poultney and West Poult- 

 ney. East PouUticij conla.\ns three houses 

 for public worship, 3 stores, 1 grist and 2 

 saw mills, 1 iron foundry with machine 

 shops, 10 or 12 meclianics, 1 tannery, 2 

 taverns, and about GU dwelling houses. 

 West Poultney contains a stone chapel, 

 the Troy Conference Academy, a bank, 

 3 stores, 1 tavern, an extensive iron foun- 

 dry, 52 dwelling houses and 812 inhabi- 

 tants. Tlie academy was projected at a 

 meeting of the citizens, January 14, 1^34 ; 

 •adopted by the Troy Conference of the 

 Methodist Episcopal church September 3 ; 

 chartered by the legislature of Vermont 

 Oct. 2.5, and went into operation Sept. 1, 

 1836. The principal building is of brick, 

 112 feet hy 36, witb 4 principal stories, an 

 attic and basement, and a rear (»0 by 32 

 feet. The school is conducted by 4 male 

 and 2 female teachers. (Sec part second, 

 pages 180 and 184. J There are in town 

 15 school districts, 2 grain, 6 saw and sev- 

 eral fulling mills, ,5 stores, 4 taverns, and 

 3 tanneries. Statistics 0/1840. — Horses, 

 363 ; cattle, 2,098 ; sheep, 1 3,69G ; swine, 

 1,013; wheat, bus. 1,613; barley, 38; 

 oats, 10,748 ; rye, 3,804 ; buckwheat, 

 1,283; Indian corn, 22,082; potatoes, 28,- 

 724 ; ha}% tons, 5,013 ; sugar, lbs. 10,765; 

 Avool, 34,946. Population, 1,880. 



Poultney River, rises in Tinmouth 

 and runs a westerly course through Mid- 

 dletown and Poultney. On arriving at 

 the west line of Poultney, it begins to 

 form the boundary between Vermont and 

 New-York, and, running between Fair- 

 Haven and West-Haven, on the nortii, 

 and Hampton, N. Y., on the south, falls 

 into the head of East ba}', which is an 

 arm of lake Champlain. From Fair-Ha- 

 ven it receives ("^asllcton river, and from 

 West-Haven, Hubbardton river. The 

 whole lengtii of Poultney river is about 

 2-5 miles, and it affords a number of ex- 

 cellent mill seats. ' A remarkable change 

 took place in this stream, in 1783. A lit- 

 tle above its junction with East bay, a 

 ridge of land crosses in a northerly direc- 

 tion. The river running a northwesterly 

 course, on meeting the ridge, turned 

 suddenly towards tlie northeast, and, af- 

 ter keeping that course about lialf a mile, 

 turned westerly, rushing down a steep 

 ledge of rocks, and forming a number of 

 fine mill privileges. The river had, for 

 some j'ears, been observed to be making 

 encroachments upon the ridge at the 

 place, where it turned to the northeast; 

 and in May, 1783, during a violent fresh- 

 et, the river broke through the ridge, and, 

 mectinrr with no rocks, it cut a channel 



100 feet deep lowering the bed of the riv- 

 er for some distance above, and carrying 

 immense quantities of earth into East bay. 

 The bay, which was before navigable for 

 vessels of 40 tons burden, was so com- 

 pletely filled, for several n7iles,tliat a canoe 

 could with difiiculty pass at low water, 

 and the navigation was much obstructed 

 at Fiddler's Elbow, a narrow place in the 

 lake near South bay. The obstructions 

 have since been mostly removed by the 

 force of the current. A company was 

 incorporated for the purpose of improving 

 the navigation of these waters.' 



PowNAL, a post town in the southwest 

 corner of Bennington county and south- 

 west corner of the state, is in lat. 42" 47' 

 and long. 3° 54' and is bounded north by 

 Bennington, east by Stamford, south by 

 Williamstown, Mass., and west by Hoo- 

 sic, N. Y. It lies 56 miles southwester- 

 ly from Rutland and 30 west from Brat- 

 tleboro'. It was chartered Jan. 8, 1760, 

 and contains about 25,000 acres. The set- 

 tlement of this township, under the New 

 Hampshire charter, was commenced in 

 the spring of 1762, there being at that 

 time 4 or .5 Dutch families within the lim- 

 its of the township, claiming under the 

 " Hoosic Patent," granted by the govern- 

 ment of New York. Among the early 

 settlers of tlie town were the families of 

 Wright, Gardner, Morgan, Dunham, No- 

 l)le. Card, Curtis, Watson, and Seelye, 

 but tiie precise time when they severally 

 came into the town is not ascertained. In. 

 1791 it was the third in Bennington coun- 

 ty, and the fifth in the state, in point of 

 I)opulation, containing at that time 1,746 

 inhabitants. The religious denominations 

 are Baptists, Methodists, and Protestant 

 Methodists The surface of the township 

 is considerably uneven, but the soil is gen- 

 erally good, and produces plentiful crops. 

 It is well adapted to the production of 

 grain and grass, and here are kept some 

 of the finest dairies in the state. The 

 principal stream is Hoosic river, which is 

 formed here and passes off in a northwest- 

 erly direction into the township of Hoo- 

 sic, N. Y. Along this stream are some 

 rich and beautiful tracts of intervale, and 

 on it are several valuable stands for mills. 

 Some of the head branches of Walloom- 

 scoik river rise in the northeastern part 

 of this township, and pass off into Ben- 

 nington. The town is divided into 13 

 school districts, and contains a meeting- 

 house, situated near the centre, 2 stores, 

 2 taverns, 2 grist and 5 saw mills, mechan- 

 ics' shops, &c. Statistics of 1840. — Hor- 

 ses, 313; cattle, 1,468; sheep, 9,.540 ; 

 swine, 1,169; wheat, bus. 1,075; barley, 

 150; oats, 20,891 ; rye, 4,057; buck- 



