Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1872-02-16

A RUNAWAY PoND-An East Hardwick (Vt,)
letter to tie Portland Press revives the follow
ing bit Of curious local history
Long Pond or. as it is now better known as
" Runaway Pond, Is situsted partly in Glover
and partly in Greensboro This pond was one
and half miles long snd half mile wide. and
formerly discharged its waters souiherly in La-
moille river. On the 6h day Of June, 1910,
about fifty persons went TO this pond for the pur-
pose Of opening an outlet to the north into Bar
ton River, that the mills Of that stream might
receive an occasional supply Of water. A small
channel vas excsvated, and the water commenc-
ed running in a northernly direction. 1t hsp-
pened that the northern barrier Of the pond con-
sisted entirely Of quicksand, except an encrust-
ing Of clay next 10 the water. The sand was
Immediately removed by the current sud large
channel formed. and the crust Of clay WAS ines
pabe of sustaining the mass Of water and broke
so that the whole pond Immediately took north
erly course and in fifteen minutes time the bot
tom OF the pond was bare 1t was discharged
so suddenly that the country below was instant
ly inundsted
The deluge advanced in a wall of waters sixty
or seventy feet high and twenty rods wide, lev
cling forests snG hills and filing up valleys,
sweeping of mills, houses and barns, fences and
cattle as il passed, Tor distance Of teu miles,
snd barely giving the inhabitants notice to es-
cape. A rock supposed to weigh one hundred
tons Was removed half 2 mile frcm it's bed. The
waters moved so rapidly that they reached Lake
Memphremsgog. twenty y-seven miles distant, in
about six hours from the time they left the pond
The dry bed Of the pond remains portion is
a cultivsted field, and today there are many
stacks Of hay there. For the last forty year.
the stage rosd from Montpelier 10 Barton has
passed through this '' Dry Pond and many
tourists visitit great curiosity.
VERMONT NOT A PURITAN SrArE-The Lor-
don Times speaks Of Vermont as &c aPuritsn
State" Historically, this is m error Of fact.
There was not a single inhsbitsnt in the terri
tory called Vermont, for hundred years after
the settlement Of Massachusetts, by the Puri-
tsns Vermont was disputed territory, and
the fret settlers came into it TO escape the Jurs-
diciion Of the New England colonies. They
came up the west bank of the Connecticut river,
and up the valley Of the Deerfeld river, just
north Of the Massachusetts, line. A large num-
Der Of the early immigrants were runaway debt
ors from Massachusetts,, Connecticut and Rhode
Island.
IL va, not until about I760 that Gov. Benning
Wentworth, Of New Hampshire, began to grant
townships in Vermont. He issued the patent for
Bennington, and it was named in his honor.
Indeed, prior to 1850, there was not probably IN
the State, more than one thousand inhabitants
The State was Puritan in the sense only OF
being settled mostly from the New England cole
nies. The fret constitution Of the State was the
most liberal and Democratic Of any established
in the world, up to the time Of IFS adoption All
men were regarded ty the law as free and equal
in political rights and privileges. No religious
test was ever established. There was never .
slave in the State.
Vermont was never a colony, and never =
Puritan State. Its people have. however, much
Of the religious spirit Of the puritan. Troy
Whig.