Rutland weekly herald. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1859-1877, 1870-08-04
From Boston journal. |
A Trip to- Burlington. Montreal
and Toronto.

We leave Boston for the lakes on bright
June morning, and pass by the Rutland
route through the embryo cities of Fitch
burg, Keene and Rutland, where many
stately structures are now rising, and other
indications are given of thrift and progress.
As we pass on from Rutland to Lake
Champlain, immense piles of monumental
marble, destined for the far west, line the
iron way, and as we run along the lake
shore we see it studded with sloops, barges
and steamers, laden with lumber, marble,
coal and iron.
Lake Champlain presents elements for
a vast commerce with the West, which give
a decided advantage over the Hudson
river. It's marble finds market at the
West. and its marble Quarries are now
worked with improved mechanism, and
make large returns.
The Vermont Central and the railways
below Rutland are lined with slate quar-
ries. now -avt~.,-:--ely --,-~.h Od, anu On me
western shore of the lake nearly half a
million tons of choice iron oar are annually
mined, and most of it sent westward to
Cleaveland and Pittsburg to mix with the
oars of Michigan and Pennsylvania. At
present the course Of this freight on its
way to the West is circuitous. 1t deceuds
the Richelieu river toward Quebec, and
then after making detour of hundred
miles through many locks, ascends the
st. Lawrence to Ontario, and then climbs
the Niagara by narrow locks to the level
of Lake Erie. This detour will be pre-
vented by the ship canal soon to be open
ed, with but two locks between St. Johns,
at the outlet of Champlain, to the mouth
of the Ottawa on Lake st. Louis, nine
miles above Montreal, and ffty-nine feet
above it's level.
The completion of this canal will save
at least dollar ton on the transit of the
coal, iron. slate and marble which it is ex-
pected will soon grow from one to two
millions of tons. The three last articles
will serve to give return freight to the
| large steamers which will come down laden
| with breadstuffs and provisions from the
West, while the canal boats from Albany,
which return comparatively empty will
bring the coal.
The new ship canal which takes its
| name from the ancient village of Caughna-
waga, opposite the mouth of the Ottawa,
famous for its Canadian boat song of
Grow, Brothers Row, for the Rapids are
Near" possesses other advantages. When
the canal is finished propeller can run
down from Lake Erie and deliver its
freight at Burlington in three days IRON
Lake Erie, while the same freight, if snip
ped at Buffalo, would be on the average
thirteen days in reaching Albany. Thus
freight from Lake Erie via Burlington
may be delivered via Boston in Liverpool
before the same freight by Erie cana! can
be shipped from New York.
Arriving in Burlington at FIVE P. NJ,
we find the sparkling village which lined
the street from the shore to the college
twenty years since, fast expanding into a
commercial mart with ten thousand in
habitants. Its citizens, like those of Salt
Lake City, heve adopted generous size
for their lots, and most of their houses are
EMPOWERED in trees on huge lots, nearly
all commanding fine views of the beautiful
Lake and bay in front of their city, COM
bining the charmes of the country with
the commercial facilities Of q growing city.
The towns of Vermont, receiving no aid,
made great sacrifice to establish their rail
ways, and thus drew heavily upon their
active capital, but now the railways bring
them recompense, and when the ship
canal becomes their feeder and they are
thus connected with the forests of Canada
and the granaries of the Mississippi valley
and the railways to the Pacific, they must
become prolific sources of revenue.
i Along the shores of the bay commodious
docks have been inclosed or scooped out
from the level land on the beach, in which
fships, barques and propellers discharge
their cargoes and here at least fifty millions
of feet of pine plank from the forests of the
Ottawa are piled up twenty feet high to
season. Here, too, are large piles of coal
: and oar for the supply of the city and re-
turn passages to the ST. Lawrence.
We visited vast structure erected by
Messrs. Barnes & Skillings, who ship
Canadian lumber to Boston, in which saws
are in constant motion, night and dav, to
meet urgent orders. Here plank are saw
ed into boards of various sizes, smoothed
and planed, and in some cases tongued
and grooved. All the saws are driven by
steam, and the sawdust and shavings suffice
to make the requisite steam, while the
surplus pumps the water for the city and
\ drives several factories.
i By an ingenious device the shavings
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