Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1893-06-30
THE SPECIAL Town MEETING.

The special town meeting, called TO see
if the town as such would do ANYTHING
about blasting out and removing OBJ
structiOns from the bed of the river be-
tween the railroad bridge and
the "OXbow" bridge, was held in
the town hall on Tuesday afternoon,
with very small attendance. Modera-
tor Wilds not being present, Town Clerk
Brooks called the meeting to order few
minutes after O'Clock, and Mr.. Joseph
Battell was then chosen moderator pro
TEN.
p. B. Cloyes stated that what was
wanted was permission to blow out
rocks in the creek from the railroad
bridge up to the "whirlpool' and said
that the town would not be asked to pay
cent, but that the expense would be
borne by the people especially interested.
Some money had already been subscrib-
ed and enough could be raised if the
town would give its sanction to having
the work done.
G. G. Peck wanted to know what right
the town had to give any one power to
blow out the rocks, and w. ii. Rliss made
other inquiries in the same direction.
A. Z. Tupper thought that the matter
could easily be disposed of and intro
duced this resolution:
NeSOtCed, Inat the town OF MlddleDury with
out prejudice to the rights OF other perst ms,
corporations or copartners, hereby give our
assent to and authorize p. B. Cloyes, Colum.
bus Smith, DR.. Bond and others interested to
lower the bed of outer creek in the village OF
Mtddlebury at the head OF the rapids above
the bridge not exceeding - feet.
Mr.. Peck moved TO amend the resOlu
tion by authorizing the employment of
an engineer to investigate the matter and
see what should be done. Mr.. Bliss
stated, at some length, that the town
had no business to have anything to do
with the matter and might get into
trouble If ii did. He moved to lay the
first article of the warning on the table,
and, after some further discussion, the
motion was lost by vote of Is to II.
Mr.. Cloyes introduced a substitute res
olItion of the same general tenor as Mr..
Tupper's, which he subsequently with
drew In favor of the Upper resolutions,
Mr.. Peck having previously withdrawn
his amendment. Discussion of the mat
ter was then continued, Mr.. Bliss, Mr..
Tupper and Mr.. Cloyes doing the talk
Ing. Mr.. Bliss argued at length against
the passage of the resolution. He said
that 1t was dangerous resolution and
that the town had no more right to
authorize or give its permission to any
one to blow out rocks in the river than
1t had to authorize some one to build a
railroad across the lake in New York.
Parties up the stream or the mill owners
below might be damniied by the blast
ing and the town might thus find that it
had got into pretty scrape.
Mr.. Tupper thought no harm could be
done by the passage of the resolution
and withdrew the word "authorize"
from it. He agreed with Mr.. Bliss on
the law of the matter, but thought the
resolution ought to be passed so as to
show the people interested that the town
had no objection to their doing the blast
ing at their own expense and their own
risk If they chose to do so. The vote
was then taken aud the resolution was
lost-20 to 10.
This closing the business for which the
meeting had been called, it adjourned at
3 o'clock.