The Brattleboro reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1907-1912, 1908-12-18

err. as distinguished from the tide-brack
ish hudson, and retraced his course 10
look further Tor the hole through the
continent.
His discovery OF the important stream
through lands which his employers, the
states general OF the United Neither
lands, hoped to control was communi'
Gated to them, and through them came
to the map makers. just how soon
these, in street phrase, were 'on to IL,
we do not know; but the first public
proof OF their knowledge Is, curiously,
double, two maps, published mdepend'
entity in the same r-l63O-containing
the river. One is the "Novum Belgium
and Virginia OF Jan de Laet, giving the
northeast American coast to Nova SEQ
| tia. The other, far more strlHngly, Is
the world map, in hemispheres OF Hen
dirk Hondit or Hondlus, in which the
Connecticut appears as firmly drawn and
correctly placed as in DE Laets small
section. Very few world maps OF today
give it place at all.
But Just whittier its upward course
tended was not well known for many
years, and its exact source was not de.
termined for more than 200. Not TIL
1916 was it fully traced on any map or
known to any save few
In the series OF interesting maps ON
exhibition at the library, the unfolding
of knowledge concerning 1T can be foi-
lowed step by step, with occasional gro
tesque guesses on blunders. Some OF
these maps were epoch makers IN their
day, referred to in all discourses Tor
many years as authorities, and even used
by great governments as deciding evl.
dence in international quarrels. Of
course new names would be added to
these old maps with successive editions,
but the ancient plates still did duty.
In the exhibit there il, for example, the
great atlas of Jan Blaeu, published about
l64O. There is the famous Montanus
map of 1871, made to illustrate the work
on the New and Unknown World las its
Dutch title means). There is the Mitch.
ell map of l,vJ, still an authority, half
century later, for international claims;
Our country is represented by Samue!
its position for a quarter century or so,
with new items added, and there are va
rlous others.
For many years after our independence,
the exact source of the river remained
lesser mystery, akin to that of the Nile.
Pioneers and trappers doubtless knew it,
but appear to have kept the knowledge
to themselves. The immediate cause of
proclamation was the appointment OF
commissioners in pursuance OF the treaty
of Client in 1914 (shortly after the Hart
ford convention) to determine the north.
eastern boundary between the United
States and the British possessions, a mat
ter finally not settled till the much-exe-
Grated Ashburton treaty of 1912. The |
plotted the Canadian lines, and
made known that one brook, helping to |
form the undisputed Connecticut, rose in
a lake 51a by 2M miles in size, in extreme
northern New Hampshire. This they |
named Connecticut lake. One P. CARR
gan was the first to place this on map
in lSl6-a map OF New Hampshire. He
must have been close to the fountain of
before it had leaked much, for
a gazetteer of New Hampshire published
the very next year knows nothing of it,
and it is not mentioned in print until
one of 1928 A reproduction of this map
with few changes, made a few years
later, is shown at the Watkinson.-New
Haven Palladium.