The Middlebury register. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1850-1882, 1857-04-08

Vergennes.

Mr.. EDITOR Il am just retained
from my first visit to Vergenncs, and
judge it not amiss to give you the first
impressions Of stranger.
And first, the country between Middle.
bury and Vergennss took me BY sur.
prise. Tho soil looks to me to be fer.
tile and capable Of high degree Of cul.
tivation. Ifso, 1 cannot account for the
neglect which showed itself every mile
along the valley of the Otter Creek. I
had expected to see but one succession
of white farm houses, capacious barns,
anG expensive orchards, with villages but
three or four miles apart. l did not
find it so, and I am haunted with tho
idea that the climate must be uufavora-
BILE to agriculture, or terribly unhealthy.
l left the train at greater distance
from the City than liked. Some sorrow
was loose when tho road was located, and
change would be better both for the
road and the place. One cannot be in.
jured without iujuriug the other.
A plank walk extends from the sta.
ton to The town, but it looks as if con.
atructed expressly to aid 10 tho enforce.
ment Of the Temperance law, for not on.
ly did the track slope side.wise in high
place, but there was no rail on the lower
side, so that q man with brick in his
hat might as we'll hope to cross the
bridge Of Mohammed.
BY the way, why havo you so little
plank road in Middlebury2 Are the
,, authorities all interested in the sale of
ipdia-rubber or medicine Or. is there
something reptilian in the nature of the
Mlddleburghers that demands an abun.
dance Of good, deep, perennial mud. To
mo it seems. that two thousand dollars
Invested in plank, would in ten years re-.
lieve the treasury by occasioning an in.
crease Of taxable property.
But to return to Vergenncs The
City and Middlebury are natural allies.
Any thing that will build up tbs ono will
benefit the other Thsre is your lake
port, and your water power will never
come to its full value until Vergennes
sends its daily barge to Now York City.
Some may be 30 blind As 10 think tina.
the taking up Of the track to Vergeppes
landing, though injurious to Vergcnnes,
Middlebury aud Brandon, had benefited
Burlington and tho Railroad. suppose
| it has indeed benefited Burlington, for
unfortunately it is so situated that its in.
terests are adverse to tho prosperity OF
Vergennes. But it has injur ed the Rail
road. Manufacturing interests demand
cheap freight for heavy slow goods. A
construction at the m outh of Otter Crock
will be felt halfway to its source. Mid.
dlebury will never be what it ought to
be till Vergennes become. the creates.
place in Vermont, as it must ultimately
become.
The question becomes interesting then,
why Vergennes has not grown I saw
only old houses and ruins not rebuilt
but some signs Of incipient activity An
inveterats cause must be sought for the
atrophy, aud I can think of none more
probable than defective morality in
olden timc. 1t is mere conjecture Of
mine, for enquired in vain for any
cause whatever. But it looks like the
place where I would have expected to
find Aourishiug distillery 10 ancient
time, and where, unlike garden flowers
run Wild" drinkers might yet be found.
Consequent on this hypothetical cause
l place another,-the want of public
spirit. speak not of an intriguing
grasping, undermining spirit that fears
to see anything thrive that is not its
own, but q liberal outlay on ones own
without the prospect of an immediate
pecuniary return. That monstrous gul.
ly where I saw two teams mired as l
left the place, ought to have had bridge
thirty feet high in it for the last six,y
years. A good plank road of easy grade
ought to extend down to the landing.
Then there should be stors.houses there
capable of shutting out the weather and
thieves. The exposed condition of some
hundreds of barrels of -four there, showed
me that neither tho larder nor the NOR
ais Of the inhabitants could be at the
lowest ebb. Lastly. there ought to be
a welLstooted ooal-yard there, which
would supply the Otter Valley with An.
shr acite more cheaply, surely and quick
ly than any other place.
do not think the manufactures Of
Vergennes we're ever in better coudi.