Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1881-04-13
Mount Lincoln.

very rainy day, so that Mad river was nearly full
banks. remember 1t from an incident that oc-
CURED at the time. went to the upper side of
the farm to secure the fence, and getting thor
oughly wet, thought could not be any more wet
by swimming down to the house, hundred rods,
1t passed some six or seven rods in front Of it,
This accomplished. The rain continued through
the night, closing with thunder shower in the
moging at seven or eight or o'clock A fearful
rumbling, with cracking noise, was heard by
people living in Warren, Waitsfeld and Fayston
People living on waitsfeld common at the time,
eight miles distant, were frightened, as the rum
bling Jared the house so that dishes ratified on
the shelves short time Others living nearer
said 1t was fearfully loud, and thought 1t was a
cloud broke. My brother and went to Mill
brook bridge to see how the brook was, as we
supposed it would be high When within twenty
rods Of 1t we noticed strong smell OF BIRCH ever
green, hemlock, ETC., and the water thick with
mud bark and other floodwood. The stencil was
hardly endurable. My brother said there was
great slide on the mountain Soon we heard that
a great slide had occurred, thought by some to be
the greatest slide in the world. The first COM
pany, OF a dozen or more, went up the fourth OF
July, one week after the slide, and reported the
length from the top to the turn, two hundred rods
and from turn to lower end, two hundred and
eighty rods greatest width at turn, twenty -four
rods below the turn, some narrower; the space
cleared twenty acres. There was jam of naked
timber piled up at the lower end, fifteen or twenty
feet deep for a long distance. Not limb of less
than five or six inches in diameter remained upon
it, and not piece OF bark on the whole jam, so
parfo,t1y thay md brui ,ad I
to see it. with large company, the 18th of July
following up the south branch Of Mill brook A
comrade said he should go straight for the noun
tain, and started off, wandering all day without
finding the slide. We all returned at three o clock,
and while taking lunch at the foot of the slide our
deserted comrade came to us, while the company
had seen "the sights" The slide commenced
within twenty rods Of the summit, and took the
soil, large rocks, and trees clean to the solid rock
The width increased quite fast for some rods then
retained the same for thirty rods, where it came
near stopping Then it falls off, and being some
thing like forty-five degrees descent gains in
width regularly till it comes to the turn or arm of
the mountain with such unexampled fury as to
take all the timber from the side of the arm, to
the height OF seventy-fve feet from the brook
II seemed 10 REBOUND TO the mountain side Just
at this point there is a mdding- ed balsam tree
standing little to the left OF the main current
and up on high rock, so the surgng mass parted
and went down on each side There was an island
al the Turn, Of q sua,tei OF an acre, that
did not slide with the rest, the ground being so
hard and rocky 1t could not be carried About
seventy rods from the top of the slide is a large
spring of cold water sufficient to fill a three
quarter inch pipe. 1t IL the last we find this side
the summit There are two other slides near
this, each about fifty rods in length The old one
occurred about 1912, half mile south OF the mar
rows, on the long slide, and the new one, which
occurred in 1870 lies some fifteen north OF the
long one, and begins near the summit The
slides are in the town OF Warren, where grand
view OF them can be seen to all of the east part of
OF Warren, Waitsfeld and South Fayston From
the summit there is fine view of Lake Cham
plain and its valley. We saw the college at Bur-
lington, and as far north and south as the eve
could reach. Ny second visit was made June 3,
1876, in company with three others. Taking a
similar route as before, we noticed the difference
time had made in the appearance OF the slide. for
the brush had grown up, and the peeled logs that
were so bright and nice had decayed and fallen
away very much in nineteen years. We followed
the long slide up to the narrows, and then took
the new one, which we found sleeper than the
other. When at the top, we found a large round
stone, about the size of forward wagon wheel,
which we set rolling down the mountain When
it had gone few rods. 1t leaped to the height of
twenty feet then again thirty feet, and the third
jump was nearly fifty feet, landing in the woods
below the slide, more than fifty rods 1t was
sport for the boys We soon took a position
where we could see a long section Of the lake. and
see different boats sailing thereon. We spent our
time in seeing rare sights. The lake was beauti-
full. The clouds would form around the Adron-
dacks, and swing out over it, causing the lights
and shades to be variegated in splendor. As the
day advanced, the clouds increased till between
three and four o'clock, the cloud left the lake and
came over the mountain dragging heavily, and
raining as 1t was passing At four O. clock the sun
shone under the cloud, and as we stood on the
east side Of the mout, there was beautiful rain
bow circle. The bottom Of the circle was as per-
feet as the top 1t seemed like panorama. We
could each OF us see all four OF our shadows,
and every one his own circle. When the cloud
had all passed over and all packed on the east
side OF the mountain, it lay in great pillars over
the whole valley and east mountain In two
hours the valley was all clear. We went north to
the highest point, where we could see Burlington
To better advantage, and where we all climbed
trees to take parting look at the scenery. The
thick boughs on the spruce, formed seat like
mat. At six O'Clock we started homeward, feel
ing well paid for our task
W. T. STopDARD, Waitsfeld, VT