Lamoille newsdealer. [volume] (Hyde Park, Vt.) 1860-1877, 1863-05-07

hOdl w VIZ liShNSVuo OOdlus anu maui /
two hearty meals-dinner and supper.
The best in the house was upon the table.
For the benefit of Keeler's boarders, l !
give the bill of fare IN full: fifty cent
tea, molasses, wild crab apple sauce,
bread, and ham. Our breakfast was better
still, as it embraced all these and potatoes
beside, Balmy sleep quickly restored our
tired nature, when We retired to our
luxurious couch, consisting of a few arti
cles of soft nature, spread out to miti
gate the hardness of the oak floor. Next
morning we went on on our way rejoicing.
Wherefore rejoice? do you ask because,
a little further on we find the village of
Wingville, and a nice well-kept hotel, at
which to stop in future
Our route now lay North, down lonely
ravines between sandstone cliffs. Soon
we crossed Blue River, a small rivulet, be-
side which We're numerous great heaps of
shining dark gravel which proved to be
the refuse worked from lead ore, that is
brought to the brook in great quantities
from the adjacent bluffs. This refuse is
all made up of fragments of a rich ore of
zinc called by the miners "black- Jack, "
and is so plenty as to be worthless where
coal is scarce. We pass acres Of ground
covered with "mineral holes,' and the
earth dug therefrom, and meet teams
LOADED down with mineral or galena
Mining is very profitable now, and is car
ricd on with great activity, for every hun
dred pounds of lead ore brings $500,
whereas in times of peace it was only
worth from $3.50 to $3.50. 1t is with
great satisfaction that we have conteln-
plated the cords of pure lead piled at the
railroad stations, and the Galena quay
To be sure this amount of "rebel food is
now in pigs" but we devoutly hope that
it may soon be in traitors hearts,
At noon we passed through the village
Of Highland, Iowa Co., which, like all
(other towns in mining region, is busy
and prosperous place. The inhabitants
are nearly all German or Irish. There
are two churches, and an old dilapidatcd
Catholic church, aud fine new stone one
of the same creed We pass through
rich and well settled farming and mining
country, till at dark we descend long
ravine toward the Wisconsin River. Here
many Of the round, old bluffs on either
hand are being burned over, and the long
creeping narrow line Of flame running
down the dark hillside is most beauti-
; full sight. The prairie grass burns like
) tinder, with a slow moving line of fire
foot wide before and behind which all is
blackness, and locks as if bolt Of chain
lightning had fallen from the sky, and
lay, bright as the sun, upon the ground.
A slight effort Of Imagination almost made
me think the surface of the bluff was
cracked open few inches, revealing the
intense fires Of Dantes Inferno, till al
most began to listen for the walls of his
fabled victims We soon came toiling out
upon the vast sand prairie that forms the
Wisconsin River intervale (or ''bottom') }
which is two or three miles wide, and
nearly as long as the river. Here lies the
little town Of Avoco, our present destina-
ton, upon the Milwaukee and P. du @. K.
: R., where we spent the time until Mon
day, at the pleasant and hospitable home
of Mr.. Vail, with whom lay our business.
How often while there, did Tom Moores
sweet lines-"Thc meeting of the waters"
rise to mind (while we gazed admiringly
on the fair faces Of the young ladies' es-
pecially the last stanza--"Sweet Vale of
Avoca how calm could | rest, &c."-
(This observation is not calculated for
the latitude Of Avoco.) III
AS to our long and tedious drive Of 30
: miles homeward, our losing our way twice,
our ride in the rain. our losing ourselves
and team among the cattlepaths upon a
high wooded ridge just at dark, and turn
: ing back to spend the night at the log
cabin of an honest old Welshman, on the
left fork of the Blue River---of our thank
fulness that we did not take the right
Lc L I.-..llsl 1870 Al,