Burlington free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1827-1865, 1851-07-04

The following, which we clip from the
Montpelier Freeman will doubtless interest our
town readers nnd may be new to most of hem.
"Whe standing on College Hill, few
weeks since, noting the commercial advantages
and unriyalled beauty Of location enjoyed BY
That queen Of country villages. our thoughts at
once reverted to the interesting. but little
known incidents attending the first selection Of
Of its site by Ira Allen, the sagacious pioneer
in looking out all the most eligible piuccs ior
settlement in this part IF Vermont.
About the year 1773, this energetic younr
man, having explored nearly all the lands IN
Bennington, Rutland nnd Addison Counties,
pushed his way through the wilderness alont-
the Lake norhward, TIL he reached the limits
of burlington. which bad been chartered with
out muCh If any exploration, about ten vears
before and made to embrace much more terri
tory than il now does. Here pitching his camp
on the Lake shore to serve for his head quar-
ters. he proceeded to exp ore tins and the nor
thcrly sact ms Of the Lake country. After
having thus, hy personal examination. formed
his opinion Of the relative Advantages of all
the different localities ON. or near the lake. for
settlement, he finally fixed on the present sito
VI llIc NitiOC W burlington 1OT an eXtCDSlv1
purchase. wishing to secure the rich meadow,
on Onion River 70; himself. and all the land,
round the head Of the Bay for his brother. He.
man Allen, who wns then merchant in Alba
ny, we think, but who had authorized Ira to Sc
lect and purchase for him such location in
/ Vermont as gave the best promise OF bee ,minp
some day, the commercial emporium of thu.
new State. Having marked the track he wish
ed to secure, he broke no MS camp, and pro-
ccedcd to Massachusetts, sourht out the pros
prictors and purchased, for nine pounds sterljnr
the whole tract he had selected, containing.
probab Y, between two and three square miles.
tie then returned 10 his residence IN Benninv-
ton County. but carefully kept his motives for
the purchase to Inns II. Sometime afier this
asceralnng that York surveyor was locating
the Onion River meadows, he enlisted his bro.
ther-n-aw, Capt. Remember Baker, and one
of his own brothers, with a few assistants, and
proceeded TO burlington, drove of the Yok
Intruders, and rcsuVeyed his purchase in COM
pany with his brothers. who rallied INN hard On
his folly IN purchasing anything but the mead.
ows, asking him what he ever expected 10 do
with that barren plain Of >tuntcd oaks and pins
lying on they Bay lle however, rave no on
planatons, and leaving them to W .tch ths
Workers, took an exploring tour up Onion RN-
cr, TO Bolton and " atccbury. " hen he re,ur.
ned he found, to his grca, vcxatlon, that his
brothers had sold to land speculator. who had
been along in his absence, his whole purchase,
except the meadows, for eleven pounds think
ing they had done him great service in gc,.
ting him so well ont of what they called fool
lsh bargain. lie then told them for the first
time, hls object in selecting the SPOT, which he
predicted would become one OF the most beau
tfnl villages, as well as the largest commercial
town in Vermont, ard at once declared his dc,
termination of getting it back, wat ever it
might cost him. And, in pursuance with this
resolution, he followed the purchaser to Mass
achuse,ts, and after some trouble, succeeded
in re-purchssng he flvortc tract, for which,
however he htd to give sixteen ponds
Such, as we learn from the private rape-s
left by Ira Allen, to which VIC have had access
was the origin oi the yl'sc OF Burlington