St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1888-10-18
LAST OF THE VERMONT PONDS.

LAST OF THE VERMONT PONDS.
In very readable and interesting
article in recent number of the
Christian Advocate, Rev. T. p. Frost
of this place writes of Farlee pond,
the last of the Vermont ponds as he
terms it. The people of the Green
Mountain state complain that the
streams are becoming smaller, he says,
but as a partial compensation the
ponds are expanding to the dignity of
lakes, picturesque in name at least,
and he forcsees the time in the not dis
tant future when hOmely "Fairlee
pond" will be known as Lake Discov-
cry, with the Glen Falls house at Ar
lists Point, the Pavilion in the grove,
ETC., etc. This little body Ofswater has
historic and traditional associations of
no little interest. The region was first
explored by white men in 1854, and be-
gan to be settled in l76l. The strong
est settlement was in Newbury. The
traveller still sees in that town, near
the great "ox- bow" of the Connecticut,
an old-fashiOned farmhouse display
ing over the door the legend: "Built
by T. j. in August, l775." The shores
of the pond do not boast "lover's
leap but four hundred feet precipice
offers reasonably deadly opportunity
for one. Tradition stoutly affirms that
the first steamboat ever launched in
American waters rests in the sands at
the bottom of the pond. The writer
inclines to the opinion that this as
sumption of tradition is not altogether
grOundless, and makes the following
tested and which will be of interest
to the general reader:-
At the beginning of the century one
Captain Samuel Morey owned a large
tract of land contiguous to the pond,
and for several years conducted an ex-
tensive business in pine lumber. Re-
mains of roads, slides, canals, and
bridges of his construction are still to
be seen in the vicinity. Much of his
time was spent in the seclusiOn of a
little shop, located near the outlet of
the pond, expel imenting with hot air
and steam, and inventing machines for
utilizing their forces. He did construct
boat to be propelled by steam, and
one Sunday, in or about the year 1907 I,
with the aid of lad by the name of
Mann, placed it in the Connecticut
river, and successfully steamed up
stream. The voyage was made during
the hours of public worship, not for the
purpose of breaking the Sabbath, but
i'm order that the trial-trip of his novel
craft might be concealed from the eyes
of his neighbors. He claimed for him
self the honor of constructing the first
steamboat. One gentleman, a member
of the Morey family, has Investigated
this claim with considerable pains, and
is said to have reached the conclusion
that the boats of Fulton and Morey
appeared at about the same date, with
the probability that Captain MOrey
was slightly ahead.
Soon after the success of Fulton's in
ventiOn had been heralded through the
country, Morey's boat disappeared.
| Thus far we are able to trace what ap-
pear to be facts but from this point
tradition alone speaks. Some say the
erratic Morey sunk his boat through
chagrin that coveted hOnors had been
snatcbed from him, while others de
clare that the hero of the Hudson sent
men to put the rival craft out of sight
All traditions agree that the original
boat lies somewhere at the bottom o
the pond, and it is related that a com
pany of fishermen, at time of low
water several years ago saw it partly
| buried i'm the sand