Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1903-10-22

Before the opening of the Champlain
canal. in 1923. the trade in IRON
manufactured the west side of the
| lake, and lumber, from this side, was
| confined largely to Canada as transpor-
tation from Whitehall to Troy was made
| by teams. The ferry" had its share of
| lumber shipments, and great RATS of
| logs were frequently wind bound in the
| bay. Rafts were frequently made up in
the cove at the mouth of the Thorp brook
as the 'greenbush' country was covered
with an immense growth of pine and
other valuable timber. The first boat
| through the Champlain canal was from
vermont. the Cleaner" owned by St
Adams parties, loaded with wheat and
! potash. There were several ashcries in
TINS town, potash was almost legal ten
der and was an important item of ferry
shipments.
For a long time there was more or less
trahs-shipment of produce at Whitehall.
regular canal boats not being built to
stand the lake winds and waves but
! dealers in butter and cheese, particular
| ~ protested against the damage to goods
| by over-handlinE and delay, and in 1871
/ the Merchants Line" was established,
using boats built for both lake and canal,
and so rugged that the masts and sails
could be removed and replaced in White
| hall. or as before described. Large guam
! titles of butter and cheese came from
! Charlotte and several eastern towns, al
/ ways famous dairy sections; ana nearly
every pound of it was shipped at tho
/ ferry During the best days of this
lire as high as 80 boats were thus en-
ployed.
Tho horse boat continued for many
! years to cover herself with glory and also
proved wealth producer to her owners,
but finally fell victim to the infirmities
of age and one day when loaded with
cattle from the Essex side, she gave such
/ unmistakable evidences Of collapse be-
! for reaching shore, that the horses were
/ taken out of their merry go round, tho
deck sides knocked off, and horses and
cattle unceremoniously plunged into the
lake. The old horse boat was floated over
TO tho sand beach. on the south side Of
the bay, where for many moons the NOR
maids sported in the water-logged cabin.
! Anticipating some such event the owners
had provided n small steamboat christcn-
Cd the Bouquet" and two days after
the shipwreck she made her first trip on
the ferry" route. But during all these
years other agencies had been at work,
other avenues of trade and commerce
had come into competition. The whistle
of the first locomotive of the Rutland
and Burlington railroad. about 1919, sig
nailed the commencement of the end of
| certain kinds of lake traffic. The COM
pletion of the Vermont Central. about
1854, opened still another way to Boston.
and quantities of business that had for
merly gone to Troy Albany and New
York went elsewhere. Railroads running
into northern New York from this sec
ton and into central New York from
the south stopped travelling by stage and
private conveyance. Gradually. but sure
ly, the business of the ferry" grew less
and less. Human ingenuity or enterprise
were powerlcss to prevent il. Railroad
transportation acted like tonic on
humanity and everybody was all at once
in hurry. Merchants could hardly wait
for the old ways Of obtaining goods, for
customers pushed them to expedition. and
the public is inclined to be inexora bic
Citizens of Charlotte who witnessed
from tho ferry tho passage of the first
steamboat on Lake Champlain, the Yer
mont" in 1906 saw the second steamboat
in the world. tho first being the Clare
mont. built by Fulton on the Hudson
The Vermont" was built like a large
cana boat only longer and wider, quite
in contrast with her namesake Of to-day.
The eternal fitness of things calls for the
continuation OF that name long a
stea mboat is run on Lake Champlain.
Her machinery rude of course, the
applica ton of steam power having to be
learned by experience and many of the
sail boats on the lake could proba bly,
have out-speeded her. but it was new
era in the worlds history and Vermont
was in the van.
The charter for a ferry between Char
lotto and Essex was granted to Charles
Mcneil of the former and r. II. Ross
of the latter in October. 1921. These
were the horse boat days. but in 1897 they
built the steamboat washington" in
tending it for the ferry business She was
too expensive for the work and sold
in 1897 probably being replaced by horse
power aga in until 1S4S when tho Bouquet
was built
This paper is not intended for a history
of navigation on the lake or an approXi
nation thereto Others have done that
work. In noint of fact II is doubtless
presumption to characterize it as his
torical at all Eut how are those who
come after us to know what has hap
pened here and there along the avenues
of life unless some one takes time 10
make record Tho present owner of
"McNeil's" has reason to congratulate
herself upon her acquisition. No finer
spot can be found along the shores Of
I AXE Champlain. From the bluff head
land Of her western lawn she looks out
upon water highway traverscd by the
fleets and armies of England and France
when these two great nations were in a
death grapple for the ownership of a con-
tinent. Past her door. at later dav.
swept the feet of England in pursuit Of
her rebellious sons-the same fleet that
shortly after struck her flag in Platts-
burgh bay never again to cast the shadow
of her ownership on these waters. Past
her door. for nearly n century, marched
the crowded ranks of trade and com
merce. But the departure of the old
has not lessened the beauties of the new
The same eternal hills mirror themselves
in the waters of this magnificent lake.
Sunrise and sunset paint the same glor-
Gus tnts on sky and cloud.
CbarlOtte VI Oct 6