The Pickens sentinel. [volume] (Pickens, S.C.) 1871-1903, 1884-02-07
Deserted Farms In Vermont.
IRntland CNE \ Hnrnld

liSuploiNi W ~ q.
Vermont fairs show better butter and
cheese, better cattle and sheep, than
they did forty years ago, but the farm
ers' teams do not stand for as good
horse stock as they did then; thero are
lever farms we suspect in Vermont;
there are as many deserted farms and
decaycd towns i'll southern Vermont
to-day as there ever were in our his
tory; at least that is the testimony
givon us by very intelligent farm.
bred lawyer who has recently person
ally listed the towns that touch either
side of the Green mountains, from tho
Massachusetts line to Addison county.
In Stratton, whoro Webster, in 18i0,
addressed the great Wing mass meet
ing, the farm house where Webster
spont the night is ruin and the farm
deserted. In the woodland YOU meet
the ruins of the old four-foot stone
wall in Somerset you find in the forest
stone walls and tho remains of an old
highway; the decaying abutments of q
former bridge across tho stream arc all
that remain of the civilization that was
once represented by church, q grist
mill and country store.
The woodland has so encroached
upon these deserted farms that our
friend is confident thoro is moro wood
land to-day in the mountain towns of
Vermont than there has been at any
time during the last forty years. In
the old counties of Bennington, Wind
nam, Windsor, and Rutland our in
tormant found, he assures us, plenty Of
evidence OF deserted farms and decay
ing towns along either side of tho
mountain range, and these deserted
1arms are not being reoccupied by any
returning wanderer, although most Of
those towns arc places of much natural
| beauty and attractiveness. Among
these towns arc Readsboro, Somerset,
Searsburg, Sunderland, Wnrdsboro,
jamaica. Peru, Lanagrovc, Weston,
plymouth, Shaftsbury, Windhall, and
several mountain towns in Rutland
touching tho mountains on either side
have been permanently deserted.
The future Of Vermont, if she is &c
increase henceforth largely in wealth
and population, lies in manufactures
not enlarged agriculture, and this is
true, not only of Vermont, but of all
New England. If the railroads would
only give manufacturers fair chance
| w Ai'S, ohSy "ouiI luCEC;tSo una multi
ply. The growth of Rutland, of Bel
! lows Falls and of tho other fel"ces in
Vermont that SHOW 1"iBe increase in
wealth OK population, is due to tho
development and growth of manufac-
lures. There is water power enough
wasted in Vermont that, if utilized in
manufactures, would add fourth tc
our population and wealth in twenty
years. But, until the railroaGs stop
rubbing out the manufacturer with
their exorbitant freights, the streams
will be vexed by no new water-whccls.
nor the sky dimmed by any new and
strange smokes.
We presume that deserted farms aro
not SO common in the northern half of
Vermont as in tho southern part, but
an excellent lawyer of Chittenden
county, who has very largo f,rmcr
aequain tunce, informs us that hope
lessly mortgaged farms in his county
and section of the state are very COM
mon, and the number of such mort
gagged farms is something of a clue to
the severity of the average farmers
fight for competence in Vermont.