The Bennington evening banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 19??-1961, 1911-07-05
Vermont Waking Up.

Vermont Waking Up.
The most ambitious project of the
Green Mountain Club, which was Or
ganized last year by Mr.. James p.
Taylor of Saxton's River, is trail
over and through the mountains from
the Massachusetts to the Canadian
line. If the Green Mountain trail
could be laid in an air line its length
would be 1853 miles, but to take In the
most notable hills of the range and
wind through valleys whose beauties
ought not to be missed the distance
trayersed would be nearly 200 miles.
A beginning on the interior part of
the chain has already been made, and
by the end of the summer there will
be thirty miles OF trail in the rugged
Cancels Hump and Mount Mansfield
country from Johnson to Bolton
Mountain. This part of the path will
pass through Smuggler's Notch, be-
tween Mount Mansfield and Sterling
Mountain, which for wild scenery is
perhaps excelled in New England
only by the Dixfeld Notch.
The trail work of the Green Noun
tain Club will be done by sections
formed up and down the range. 1t is
estimated that the cost will be only
five dollars a mile. To bring II
within such thrifty bounds will be
largely labor of love, but the new
born enthusiasm in Vermont for
opening the Green Mountains and
making their recesses known to ma
ture lovers is no passing fancy. Sec
tons to explore the hills and cut oat
trails are springing up in many local.
ties, and the reproach that Vermont
ers do not know their own highlands
except in the literature of the Revolu-
tionary period will soon be of the
past. Without doubt that Right Hon.
James Bryce, the British Ambassa-
dor, had a share in the inspiration of
the movement that Is to bring the
lGreen Mountains to the attention of
the guild of walkers and climbers,
for speaking Of the New England
mountains and the Champlain Valley
at the tercentenary celebration at
burlington on July 8, 1909. he said:
ITO spare the woods whenever
they are an element of beauty, to
lprevent unsightly buildings from de.
stroying some exquisite prospect, TO
keep open the mountains and allow
no one to debar pedestrians from
climbing to their tops and wandering
along their slopes, as men are most
unfortunately debarred, for the sake
of what is called sport, in some parts
, OF Europe, these are some of the
means by which this noble pleasure
ground, the most delightful region OF
eastern America, can be preserved
for the enjoyment of your nation, re
tanning some OF that romantic charm
and wild simplicity which 1t had
when Champlain's canoe first Glove
the silent waters OF your lake"
AS Mr.. Louis j. Paris says in an
article in the Vermonter, the Greer
Mountains have not had their praises
sung by any descriptive writer
There is quite White Mountain bi
photography, of whcih the fine book by
Thomas Starr King is the classic. II
is true that the White Hills in their
number and conformation are grand
er than the Green Mountains; never
theless, the latter have their i'm
posing peaks and rough wildernesses
and there is nothing in the White
Mountains, in the opinion OF the dis
terminating, more comprehensive, va
ried and finer than the view from the
crags of Mount Mansfield in northern
Vermont. For the neglect OF the
Green Mountains the Vermonters
| thn,,,calVAc hlapan Tim nh IA
doned hotel near the summit Of Kill
lington Is a melancholy reminder OF {
failure to interest them In their OWL
enchanted land. What is even worse
the carriage road built up the noun
tain for many long miles at the cost
of enormous labor has become impasi
able and is rapidly reverting to ma
ture. But the example of the new
Green Mountain Club promises tC
arouse Vermonters from indifference
to their greatest treasure. II to the
enthusiasm of the trail makers II
added the effort to capitalize thil
treasure and derive an abundant rev
enue from II, the Sncon Mountainl
will not long want for a singer o
their beauties. The Green Mountain
Club, by the way, has other activities
than blazing trails. II proposes L
build camps and shelter huts and is
sue maps and guide books. Its yea
Is proved by winter ascents OF tn
Burlington section on snowshoes.
There Is genuine conservation
movement in Vermont, thanks to tn
I gift of the summit of Cancels Hum
by Colonel Joseph Battell and to tn
conveyance of large tract on Ascut
ney by Allen w. Evarts Of New Yorl
and others to the Ascutney Mountai
Association to be held perpetually a
park for the people. II should b
the aim of the Green Mountain Gu
to bring about the reservation Of tn
| Killington and Mansfield groups an
some of the great hills In souther
Vermont like Stratton. The RESUME
ton Of the work OF the United State
| Geological Survey in Vermont is ais
very desirable and the club, we ar
glad TO see, is using its influence wit
the Legislature to obtain an appropr
alton for the purpose. South of Ru
land the country has been CAREFUL
mapped and the vershlre section
completed. but the rest OF the Stat
| is a blank because the Legislator
i has been too niggardly to cooperat
with the Federal Government In a
enterprise which after all il pecu