Rutland weekly herald. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1859-1877, 1871-12-21
Excursion to Port Henry.

es an intimate business connection be-
tween Rutland and Port Henry, Ticon-
deroga and other places west OF Lake
| Chsmplsiu, giving the inhabitants OF that
region, for the first time in winter, means
of access to and communication with "the
rest of mankind" having been completed
and opened to the travelling public, an
excursion to Port Henry was projected,
early in the week, by some of our bust
ness men, with the double object of visit
ing our new neighbors, and at the same
time enjoying pleasant trip over the
new road.
The excursion was appointed for We'd
nesdsy, and in the afternoon of that day
twenty ladies and gentlemen were found
courageous enough to brave the high
wind and binding snow, which then pre-
vailed, and the 3.45 train north found
them in a special car, kindly placed at
their disposal by Supt. Burdett of the
Rutland Division of the Vermont Central
Railroad, and off for Port Henry. AS it
is not our purpose to describe the events
of the trip-we having discovered Neao-
man. who had not been many Weeks at
the business, acting as rythmetical re-
porter, and to whom we will leave the
task-it is sufficient to say that we passed
rapidly over the Rutland road to Leicester
Junction thence by the Addison, to I'll
conderoga, and over the Whitehall and
Plattsburg to Port Henry-all of these
roads being under the management of the
Vermont Central-and arrived there at
about eight o'clock in the evening. Ar
irving at Port Henry, the party We're
conveyed to the Port Henry House, kept
by mine host G. B. Pc ,se, where, notwith-
standing the train had been an hour late,
we found a most excellent hot supper
awaiting us, and to which the most ample
justice was done.
After supper a visit was made to the
Bay State Iron Company's blast furnace.
which was in "full blsst," and the party
had the pleasure of witnessing the process
of converting the ore into "pig." As our
readers are more or less familiar with the
process, we forbear a description.
They manufacture about seventy tons
of pig iron per day, consuming in the OPP
Grafton one hundred tons each of iron ere
and coal. Their pig" is shipped, by the
company, to Boston, and has heretofore
been carried to Burlington by boat, and
thence by rail. The completion of the
Addison r ,ilroad opens to them a short
err, cheaper and more direct line of trans
portation, the iron going direct from the
furnace to Boston by rail, without break
ing bulk, saving distance in transporter
tion of over sixty miles, and, of course, q
corresponding saving in expense.
Upon our return to the hotel. we found
a number of the citizens of Port Henry
assembled in the dining hall. which was
cleared for actian, accompanied by Joyce's
Quadrille Band, and when, with excel
lent music and the "mszy dance" we
whied away the time until nee Sn,q'
hours Of morning.
Thursday morning, by the courtesy of
Messrs Witberbee, Sherman 81 Co. ex-
tended through William F. Cooker, ESQ.,
a former resident of Rutland, we visited
the celebrated iron mines of Port Henry.
Mr.. S. L. Morrison, the gentlemanly
superintendent Of the Lake Chsmplain
and Moriah railroad, kindly placed at our
disposal, for the trip, the directors car of
-
panied by Mr.. and Mrs. Morrison, and |
Mr. Pesse and daughter, we commenced |
the ascent of the mountain to the mines, |
twelve hundred feet high and seven miles
distant. drawn by a powerful engine
weighing thirty.four tons.
This railroad is a wonderful triumph .
of engineering skill, being Surface"
road. with an uneven grade, sometimes
ascending two hundred feet to the mile
In order to overcome the ascent it is ne
oeessry to curve around the hills in all
directions, aud in three instances doubl-
ing back on ~ Over this road we were
drawn or pushed to the mines, and all
fastened to obtain the first look into the
ore beds of Messrs, Witberbee, Sherman
& o., and of the Port Henry Iron Ore
Company.
Seven gentlemen aud two ladies of the
party. accompanied by the gentlemanly
and the ladies say modest superinten-
dent Of the mines, Mr.. Rowe, stepped into
a car and descended the mines distance,
almost perpendicular, of one hundred and
eighty feet. From the place where we
landed, nothing, excepting the roof of
stone, can be seen but iron, iron. From
this point, "headiugs" are made, extend
ing hundreds sof feet in every direction,
and there seems practically no limit to
the ore. While in the pit we had the
pleasure of listening to the defamation
caused by the firing of blasts. As one
blast after another was discharged, and
the more than thunder would echo and
re-eoho through the deep cavernsSof the
rock, dying away in the distance, but to
commence again, the effect was swfully
grand and sublime, aud to us indescrib-
able.
Some idea of the extent of the mining
operations carried on here, may be OBJ
tanned from the fact that the Lake Cham
plain and Moriah Railroad Company are
delivering, daily, on the docks at Port I
Henry, one thousand tons of ore, where it I
'ells for five dollars ton, or five thous-
md dollars per day. The miners will,
Zach day, on an average, remove three
:ons of ore, and their pay for this work. I
With sixty cents per ton paid to Railroad
Company for transportation, constitutes
he principal items of expense, leaving @
arge margin for profits. To these profits /,
nay be added another item. The actual h
'ost of transportation is but twenty cents y
! ton, and as the mines and railroad are a