178 



VERMONT. 



Plattsburg, and Whitehall. On the 

 11th of September, 1814, a naval bat- 

 tle was fought upon its waters between 

 the American fleet, under Commodore 

 McDonough, and the British fleet un- 

 der Commodore Downie, in which the 

 Americans obtained a complete victo- 

 ry. The lake is navigated by about 

 400 vessels of all kinds, including sev- 

 eral steamboats. Iminense timber 

 rafts, containing liouses for lodging the 

 crews, are often seen floating down the 

 lake toward the canal, on their way to 

 Albany and the towns on the Hudson. 



Lake Memphremagog lies partly in 

 Canada, and partly in the north of this 

 Timber Raft on Lake Champlain. State ; it is 35 miles long and 3 broad ; 



its outlet is the river St. Francis, which flows into the St. Lawrence. The land around this 

 lake is level and fertile. 



A remarkable eruption of one of the small lakes of this State took place in 1810. Long 

 Lake, a beautiful sheet of water, a mile and a half in length, and three fourths of a mile in 

 width, was situated in the town of Glover in the north part of the State, and communicated by a 

 small stream with lake Champlain. About 200 rods from Long Lake, was a smaller lake on a 

 much lower level, the outlet of which was Barton River, flowing in an opposite direction into 

 Lake Memphremagog. The land separating these lakes was a steep declivity. The water 

 being low at the mills on Barton River, during the summer of 1810, it was thought advisable to 

 obtain a new supply by letting out a portion of the water of Long Lake into the lake beneath, 

 by means of a trench down the intervening declivity. Accordingly, on the 6th of June, the 

 people of the neighborhood assembled with their tools, and began the work of cutting the 

 trench, when on a sudden the lake burst its borders, and poured with its whole mass down the 

 descent, rushing v/ith inconceivable velocity in an immense column, three quarters of a mile 

 wide, and 80 feet in depth, across the country 15 miles into Lake Memphremagog. This 

 furious torrent tore up in its course, rocks, hills, and forests, sweeping away houses, mills, 

 cattle, &c. roaring like thunder, and shaking the earth like a mighty earthquake. The inhabit- 

 ants of Barton hearing the roar, looked up towards the lake, and beheld the torrent coming 

 down upon them, bearing a whole forest upon its top. The cattle for many miles round, ran 

 bellowing to their homes, and all the neighborhood were tlirown into the greatest terror. No 

 lives were lost, but a vast amount of damage was occasioned by the inundation. 



5. Islands. There are three considerable islands in Lake Champlain, called Morth and 

 South Hero and La JMotte. North Hero contains 6,200 acres, and has a good soil. South 

 Hero has above 9,000 acres of good land. The basis of these islands is limestone, abounding in 

 some parts with shells. 



6. Climate. The climate of Vermont is cold and changeable, but the air is pure and 

 healthy, except on the shores of the lake, where fevers sometimes prevail. The extremes of 

 temperature are about 100 degrees above, and 27 below the zero of Fahrenheit. Winter be 

 gins about the first of December, although frosts appear as early as the first of September. 

 From the first setting in, to the breaking up of the winter, there is scarcely any thaw. The 

 winter continues till April. Snow-storms are frequent, yet little snow falls at a t!me ; they 

 come from all points of the compass except the East, and are generally over in a few hours. 

 The cold is here more steady and uniform than in the other New England States. On the 

 mountains, the snow falls commonly 3 or 4 feet deep, and lies till the end of April. On the 

 low grounds, it is from 1 to 2| feet in depth, and continues till about the 20th of March. The 

 severest cold never kills the young trees, and the chiHing easterly winds of spring seldom reach 

 so far inland as to be felt here ; west of the Green Mountains they are totally unknown. 



Wheat, barley, pease, and flax, are sown about the 20th of April, and frosts disappear by 

 the middle of May. Apple-trees put forth leaves about the 5th of May, and blossom by the 

 15th. Maize is planted between the 10th and 20th of May. Hay is cut by the 10th of July ; 

 barley and rye are reaped the last of July ; flax in the early part of August ; wheat in the mid- 



