VERMONT, one of the United States of America. It lies between the river Connecticut and the long tapering basin of Lake Champlain; stretching from 42° 44' to 45° north lat., a distance of nearly 160 miles, and from 71° 30' to 73° 20' west long., with a breadth expanding pretty regularly from forty-five miles in the south to ninety in the north. It has an area of 10,200 square miles.

The most striking natural feature of this tract is the mountainous range called the Green Mountains, which traverse the state from north to south, and, passing into Massachusetts, there take the name of the Hoosic Mountains. In the centre of the state this ridge is divided into two, of which the one called the Height of Land runs north-east to Canada, and the other, taking a north-westerly direction, sinks down in the northern part of the state. The Green Mountains, from whose verdure this state derives its name, are from ten to fifteen miles wide, and are much intersected by valleys; they are watered by numerous springs and brooks, and are covered with evergreen trees and shrubs nearly to their summits. There are many good farms among the mountains, and much of the land upon them is suitable for grazing. The highest points are Mansfield Mountain, rising to 4280 feet; Camel’s Rump, 4190 feet, both in the north-western ridge; and Killington Peak, further south, 3675 feet in height. Ascutney, a detached elevation near Windsor, rises to the height of 3320 feet above the level of the sea.

The Connecticut forms the eastern boundary of the state. Oniou river passes through Montpellier, the capital, into Lake Champlain at Burlington. Otter creek is a principal branch of Oniou river. Lamoile and Missique are considerable streams north of the Oniou. In the Green Mountains rise many smaller rivers, which at once beautify the country by the picturesque scenery of their banks, and promote its manufactures by the mills which they turn in their course. Those which run towards the east are tributaries to the Connecticut, and those whose course is towards the west discharge their waters into Lake Champlain.

Lake Champlain, between the west shore of this state and New York, is a beautiful sheet of water, 128 miles long, and from one to twenty wide. It discharges at its northern extremity by the river Sorel into the St. Lawrence, and contains upwards of sixty islands, of which Motte, and North and South Hero, are of considerable size. Besides the rivers which flow into it from the Green Mountains, it receives the Chazy, Saranac, Sable, Bouquet, and Wood rivers, from New York, on the western shore. The Champlain canal connects it with Hudson river and the New York and Erie canal. Lying extremely convenient to facilitate the commerce of the state both with New York and Montreal. It is navigated by a number of steam-boats and lake vessels. Memphremagog is a considerable lake, twenty-five miles long and three broad, lying partly in Vermont and partly in Canada, receiving a number of streams from this state, and communicating by the St. Francis with the St. Lawrence.

The prevailing rocks belong to the stratified primary group, embracing mica and talcose slates, gneiss, primary limestone, argillite, &c. On the western border there is a narrow strip of transition limestone. These rocks afford good building materials, and marble is quarried and carried out of the state. The magnetic oxide of iron abounds at Somerset, and the brown hematite, associated [7:21:604]with oxide of manganese, occurs at Bennington, Pittsford, and Manleton. Pyrites, or sulphuret of iron, is found in Strafford and Shrewsbury; and about three million pounds of copperas, of the value of 70,000 to 75,000 dollars, are made here annually.

Vermont was originally covered with a dense forest, a large part of which still remains, although considerable encroachments have been made on it in clearing land for cultivation, and in felling trees for timber. The mountains produce hemlock, spruce, and fir; the lower grounds, various species of oak, pine, maple, elm, hickory, beech, birch, ash, buttonwood or sycamore, and lime or basswood, and the cedar grows in wet places. Ginseng, sarsaparilla, sassafras, snakeroot, lobelias, &c., are also among the products of the forest. Maple-sugar is made in large quantities for domestic use and exportation, and pot and pearl ashes, and lumber, are also exported.

Vermont is divided into fourteen counties, which are subdivided into townships. There are no large towns in the state, but Vergennes has the name of a city.

Population in 1830.
[table]

Vermont is not a slave-holding state. The number of newspapers published in this state in 1839 was thirty-one.

The senate established in 1836 consists of thirty members, each county being entitled to at least one, and the rest apportioned according to population; and the House of Representatives is composed of one member from each town.