The Rutland daily globe. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1873-1877, 1875-05-15
Runaway Pond "A Frontier Story


the south part of Glover broke its barriers.
and rushed with tremendous violence
through an almost unbroken forest to Mem
phremagog Lake, a distance of twenty
miles. This pond was near mile in length.
and, with no measurement but the eve,
should say little less than half mile in
breadth, and fifty or more feet deep. Its
outlet was at the south end. bestowing its
tribute TO Lamoile river 1t was enclosed
BY rocky shore except at the north end.
which the event proved to be hill of sand,
laid in horizontal strata, and covered oil
the water side by crust of few inches
thickness, formed by the cohesion of the
particles of sand, perfectly impervious to
water, and being supported by the bank of
rather loose sand, had resisted the pressure
of the water up TO this time. How, or when
this crust was formed, must be left for some
geologist to tell us. This body of water
had been frequented from the first settle
ment, by men from the adjacent towns, for
the purposes of fishing, it being well stocked
with trout, both of the common species and
the larger kind found in all our lakes, us
ually called lunge in this region. The
main camping-ground was at the north end
where, by survey of the eye. it was man
ifest that small amount of labor in dig
ging would let the water run in a northern
direction. Animated with the novelty of
this idea, and thinking it might benefit
certain grist-mill IN Glover, which had a
short supply of water, and that it would
be but a small sin to cheat the Lamoille
river, as il had a plentiful supply of water
from other sources, about forty men, mostly
from the towns of Glover, Sheffield and
Wheelock agreed to meet on a certain day,
and try the experiment.
They met on the day appointed, armed
with the necessary tools, and as many of
them as could find room to work on the
ditch began and some six or eight who re-
NAMED, went out upon the pond on a raft,
to try to fish. After digging the ditch
little below the level of the water in the
pond, they broke notch in the crust and
started the water, but instead of running
as they had expected, it settled into the
sand, and very soon the sand began to set
tie, and while the men stood watching the
operation. so large cavity was made, that
they could see ten feet under the water in
the pond, which was held by the crust only.
Suddenly the crust broke, and tremendous
rush of water swept the land away by rods,
the men running for their lives Those
on the raft found themselves drawn violent
ly towards certain destruction, and worked
as men will work for their lives, and by
good fortune they reached SO near the land
that they sprang to it, just at the moment
their raft was going into the terrible vor-
tex. Very soon the whole hill had given
way, and the whole pond was rushing
through en- maSSe, tearing up wide space
of forest by the roots, and tumbling great
and every way, bei6fe ilss nnd!g si sidewise'
The men fled to the high grolnt6f 81 Oil e
side, and viewed with shuddering amaze
ment the fearful effects of their morning s
work. In the party was a man named SOL
ONION +, Dorr, who was in the employ of
the man who owned the grist-mill in Glover,
and had charge of the mill. Ho had been
notified that man living at distance was
coming to mill on that day, with a horse
load Of grain, and wished him to be at
home; and when he was starting for the
pond that. morning, he had loft directions
for the man to grind his own grist, and felt
sure that he would be in the mill when the
hood reached IL, and would be lost unless
rescued by him as the mill stood below a
high fall in narrow channel, between high
banks, person in the mill could not see
in the direction of the danger, and the noise
of the mill would prevent his hearing it.
Being thus assured, Mr.. Dorr started, and
ran at his utmost speed through the woods,
got ahead of the flood, and being stimulated
by the noble incentive of saving the life of
his neighbor, he taxed his powers to the ut
most, and did not flag in the race of some
four miles, but gained the mill, drove down
the bank by the shortest way, and with a
motion and whisper, for he could not
speak loud, started the man, when they
both scrambled up to place of safety, Just
in time to see the moving battery of trees
and water strike the mill on the roof and
put 1t out of sight. So complete was the
destruction, that it is said that the mill
stones have never been seen since. OPP
posite Barton village, where the land was
free from rock, wide space of the forest
was carried away with the earth below all
the roots, leaving an extensive field as per-
fectly smooth as brick yard, which / think
was used as a parade ground for one or
two regimental musters. At the head of
the falls, little north of the village, where
the hills on each side of the river approach
near each other, the passage was clogged
by a great mass of whole trees, thickened
with brush and mud, forming quite a COM
pact dam, which was estimated by those
who saw it, to have been thirty feet high
When this dam broke, the great mass of
trees and water rushed down the rocky
channel with tremendous power; large
boulders were moved from their resting
places and tumbled down the channel many
rods. Below the falls, where the level land
between the hills began to grow wider, and
the volume of the flood to expand, its vio-
lence began to abate and when il had pass
ed the falls OF Barton Landing, it had so
wide space to spread over, that it lost the
power of tearing up trees, and rolled on
with a front of about six feet of real mud,
over all the intervale land, to the lake.
mn.
besides the one at the mill above mentioned
but 10 life was lost. had sister, after
wards Mrs. Proctor, mother of Col Redtield
Proctor of Rutland, then stopping at DIR.
Redfelds, in Coventry, on visit to Mrs.
Redfeld, an elder sister. She had that day
ridden to Crownington alone on horseback.
The road she travelled passed distance Of
half mile over low land bordering Bar
ton river, which terminated near the doc
tors house in bridge made OF legs, four
feet high and more than thirty rods long,
over marshy part Of the way. While
passing over this piece Of road on her re-
turn in the afternoon, she heard loud
roaring, which she supposed to be wind,
indicating shower near at hand, and, hur-
rying home, made the report that the wind
blew terribly when she was in the low land.
The doctor SAID there was no wind, and
soon going to the door, saw the long bridge
afloat and torn to pieces, and the half mile
of road covered with deep mud
Several men visited the bed of the pond
on the day after its departure, and found
In one part of the bottom, small space
covered with thin mud, in which were many
large fish yet alive, but il was very difficult
to reach them and but few were saved.
Along the course of the deluge, there was
a strong stencil for several weeks from the
dead fish left by the way.
The unfortunate man at the mill had lost
his grain and his horse. He had escaped
from the mill on the opposite side of the
flood from his home, and was obliged to
wait till next day, when he went home,
sorrowing for his great loss not seeming
| to reckon in offset that his life had been