Lamoille newsdealer. [volume] (Hyde Park, Vt.) 1860-1877, 1870-01-18
and in las time have visited many of tn,

and in las time have visited many Of the
places Of interest.
From all that one hears of Ticondero-
ga, of is splendid water privilege formed
by the outlet Of Lake George, which,
with a distance of three miles and de-
scent of 220 feet, empties into Lake Cham
plain; Of its mineral resources, and of
its splendid natural scenery, he naturally
expects to sec a handsome and thriving
village but the reality is quite different,
The village or Falls" as it is called, is
a struggling, poorly situated place, with
few handsome dwellings, and seems to be
in a condition which the word.dead wcll
expresses. Comparatively little advantage
is taken of its magnificent water power,
which is said to have hardly its equal in.
the world, There are in the whole length
of the stream but two woolen factories,
two sawmills, a forndry, and graphite
mill, where it is said that hundred wa
tcr-whcels might be run day and night
throughout the year. There are num-
Der of merchants in the place some of
whom do a good business. If the char
actcr of town is to be judged by its
places of worship, Ticonderoga must stand
low. Until now there has been four
churches in the place, and SO far as re-
CARDS the cxtcIiors | think Hyde Park
would be ashamed of any one Of them,
But there are signs Of improvement
The Methodists are now completing q
small bat neat building, and the Baptsts
are thoroughly rcnoyating their church,
and are finishing off the inside in handsome
style. There is also an academy, which is
well attended. .
We visited the graphite mines short
time since. There is mountain about
three miles northwest Of the " Falls, "
called Dead Hill, which is filed with the
veins of this useful mineral A New
York company carry on the business OF
manufacturing it, The graphite is mined
by following the veins which arc some
times Of large extent. We, provided
with 4 talIow dip" to light our uncertain
footsteps, were taken deep into the bow
els oil the earth, it seemed to us, to view
the process of mining. There are many
shafts Of great extent in the mountain,
and we ramblcd through number OF
them, barking our shins now and then on
blocks of graphite which our DIM lights
had not revealed to US, startled by the
loud runbling sound Of blasts discharged
i distant shafts, suggestive Of earthquakes,
and listening to cheerful stories by our
guide Of unfortunate miners who had lost
life or limb by premature blasts in the
! different shafts we we're in. We admired
the fine Ethiopian hue Of the miners
couutehanccs; tut We would have done
well to keep our admiration to ourseIf,
for as we could not resist our mincralogi-
cal zeal to handle the curious looking
specimens we came across, and as we
were nightly troubled with cold in the
head, we found on emerging into the
light of day, that our nasal prominence
had assumed hue decidedly unlike that
which Nasby ascribcs TO the nose of the
model Democrat. The graphite is car
ried by teams to the mill at the Falls" "
Here it is ground up and the pure graph
ite is separated by curious machinery
from the waste Of viii ii there is very
large percentage, consisting chiefly OF
quartz, mica aud feldspar. About 275
tons are annually barreled up and shipI od
off. 1t is applied to many purposes, a'
lead pencils, stove polish, lubricator, cru
cibles, etc., aud it is said that the compa-
ny derive large profit from the bus
ness.
The natural scenery of this pIace haa
not disappointed us A largeplain of 20
square miles, bounded on the east by Lake
Champain) and on every other side ~
rugged mountains, makes up the bestpau
OF the town, The plain is very fertile
and the view in summer time must be sur
passingly beautiful. AS we sit at car
window we can see to the southwest tEc
mountains that enclose Lake George, and
farther TO the east the frowning hight OF
Mt. Defiance looks down npon the sur
i ~ n II L.. 81