Orleans High School - Sword Yearbook (Orleans, VT)

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20 O. H. S.. SENIOR ANNUAL The Riches of Vermont SALUTATORY ADDRESS Vermont is a state rich in many ways. But how many of us realize just how rich it is? First of all, it is well known the world over for its maple products. Few city dwellers have ever seen a large sugar orchard with every tree filling one to four buckets. Neither have they seen the sap being boiled down in large evaporators and drawn off as golden syrup. Millions, however, have tasted Vermont’s maple syrup, sugar, candy or maple cream, all of which are far superior to any substitute found anywhere. Only those who have tapped trees realize the work involved each spring when five to five thousand sugar maples are tapped. Of course, there is also the job of washing buckets and keeping a roaring fire under the rapidly boiling sap. In many of the large sugar orchards a pipe line is connected from the trees directly to the sugar house. Other methods of gathering sap are with a tank on a sled drawn by oxen, horses or a tractor. An older method, seldom employed now, is carrying the easy-to-spill liquid on a shoulder yoke. All the hard work and long hours are soon forgotten when a whole family or neighborhood sits down to eat that typical Vermont dish, Sugar on Snow,” com- plemented by puffy raised doughnuts and crisp pickles. No doubt our most important money-making industry is dairy products, which bring up a discussion of farming. Walter Hard, the co-author of This is Vermont,” said, Farming in Vermont is a way of life.” Soon several indignant farmers and farm organizations pounced on him. They declared that Farming was merely a matter of putting so many pounds of food into one end of a cow at a certain cost and taking so many pounds of milk out of the other end of the cow at a certain price.” The work would show a definite profit or loss. The bulk of Vermont dairies are small farms run by one to three men. Most milk is sent to some nearby milk plant and ends up in a city milk market. A large per cent of these farmers grow most of their own vegetables, some fruit, and raise hens and turkeys as sidelines. The rest of this milk, not used in liquid form, is made into powdered, skim and sweetened condensed milk as well as cheese, butter and ice cream. In 1940 a small cheese business grew up in Healdville. Its cheeses are sent to famous restaurants where they are used for special occasions. A cheese factory in Londonderry, Vermont closed during the war but has recently reopened. Three years ago the Kraft Company opened a factory in South Troy, where Kraft’s Cheddar Cheese is produced. Many farmers’ wives, who happen to have a surplus of sour milk, make it into cottage cheese, or Dutch cheese as it is sometimes called. Butter and ice cream are manufactured by United Farmers of New England, Equities, Inc., H. P. Hood and Sons and Bordens, as well as other creameries. Poultry raising and egg production are considered profitable businesses. Many turkeys are raised here each year. Later they find their way to Thanksgiving feast tables. Long hours and careful attention to detail are needed to raise poultry. Eggs are a very salable product around large cities. Tourist resorts the year round have become a large source of Vermont income. People come to our state to ski, travel, view our scenery, occasionally to visit some distant relatives or just to relax and have a wonderful time.

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O. H. S. SENIOR ANNUAL 19 Within and around Fort Dummer grew up a settlement which was called Brattleboro. This has been called the first permanent settlement in Vermont, though it is posssible that the town of Vernon, which was then a part of Northfield, Massachusetts, was settled previous to this time. In Brattleboro was born John Sargent, who was probably the first white child born in the state of Vermont. The settlements in Southeastern Vermont did not increase rapidly. There was land to the south, on both sides of the Connecticut River to be settled, but the Indians were so savage and warlike that it was not safe for the few settlers to go away from the town which was already settled. After the French and Indian War it was possible for them to make settlements on the Eastern side of the state. Colonel Jacob Bayley established a settlement which he called Newbury. The first settlement by the English in Western Vermont was in March of 1761. It was when Captain Samuel Robinson of Hardwick, Massachusetts, founded Ben- nington. Arlington was settled in the year 1763; Manchester was settled in 1764 by some people who came from New York. After Champlain fought the Iroquois with firearms and gunpowder, the white settlers, as they came into the region, were subject to frequent and terrible attacks from their savage foes. In an effort to protect so far as possible the French interests, Fort Saint Anne was built on Isle la Motte, one of the large islands on the western shore of Lake Champlain in 1664. There wasn’t any settlement in the Champlain Valley, other than military outposts, until in 1730, a few families came from Canada to locate at Chimney Point where they built a crude fort. The following year they built a more serviceable fort across the narrow lake, on what was latter called Crown Point. They named it Fort Saint Frederic. Carillon, later Ticonderoga, was fortified in 1755. While the French had been moving from the north, the English had come from the south and in 1724, a settlement and a fort were established at Fort Dummer. Other forts and stock- ades were built in the years following, and numerous Indian raids and massacres caused terror and suffering to the settlers. Of a number of settlements during these years, the only one to become permanent was that at Fort Dummer. There were land troubles going on about the time that Arlington and Man- chester were settled. What is now Vermont was claimed by both the state of New Hampshire and also by the state of New York. The governor of New Hampshire at that time had made grants of land of one hundred and thirty-eight townships west of the Connecticut River, when the King of England decided that the eastern boundary of New York, north of Massachusetts, would be the west bank of the Connecticut River. The governor of New York then began to grant land that New Hampshire had already sold to other people, therefore making the settlers on the lots pay for their land again or give it up. There was also trouble between New Hampshire and the state of Massachusetts over the boundary of Vermont. New Hampshire claimed that Massachusetts was placing its state line too far north and was taking in territory that rightfully belonging to her. Those overlapping claims caused much confusion for about ten years, when, in 1740, the King of England ended this dispute by giving New Hampshire even more than she demanded. This took from Massachusetts twenty- eight new townships, between the Merrimac and Connecticut Rivers, besides a large amount of vacant lands. Vermont was the first independent Republic on the American continent. Thus we can see the remarkable degree of initiative shown by these early pioneers in settling the state. Finally after much hard work they petitioned the Union for admission. In 1791 this admission was granted, and we were the fourteenth state to enter the Union. Yvette Mason

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O. H. S. SENIOR ANNUAL 21 First, perhaps, we should mention the Lakes such as Champlain, Memphre- magog, Willoughby, Seymour, Fairlee and Bomaseen. Doctor William Howell said as he looked at the Bay of Naples, The most beautiful view in the world except one; a Lake Champlain sunset as seen from Burlington.” Lake Memphremagog was called the Lake of Beautiful Waters” by the Indians. Steady steamer service is maintained between Newport and various Canadian points during the summer. Lake Willoughby nearby is said to perhaps resemble Swiss scenery more closely than any other scenic Vermont spot. To get back to the tourists, boarding houses and tourist homes are growing in number each year. Many city dwellers, particularly New Yorkers, enjoy the fresh vegetables, fruits and milk, along with spacious lawns and tree-shaded homes. Hotels and cabins absorb a great deal of business and money each year. Ski resorts are excellent money-makers. Great numbers of people enjoy a week-end in the country skiing and eating delicious home-cooked food. Some hosts say skiers are easier to care for than any other group of tourists or sports enthusiasts despite their wet clothes, snow laden boots, sticky wax and boisterous laughter. This past winter, Vermonters have lost millions of dollars due to the lack of snow. However, there is always another year and the true Vermonter never gives up the fight. In our state alone there are some forty places which have runs, jumps, ski tows and lodges. Next we might turn to the Vermont foot path, known as the Long Trail. This path is two hundred sixty miles long and extends the entire length of the Green Mountains. There are fifty cabins along the trail which starts on the Massachu- setts border and ends on the Canadian border. We all know that hunting and fishing are great sports here in our state. Such animals as deer, bear, fox, partridge, rabbit and wild-cat are hunted extensively. Beaver, muskrat, foxes, skunks, raccoon and mink are trapped. Salmon, trout, perch, bass, bullpout and other varieties of fish are caught in the abundant streams. I dare say there are many members of this audience who rather be out fishing instead of listening to my talk. How often do we think of our state’s specialties? The Arlington Memorial and the pillars which support the United States Supreme Court are fashioned from Vermont marble. Granite for monuments, talc for tires, paper, and powder, asbestos for insulation and minute amounts of gold and silver have been success- fully mined here. Think of the colleges, libraries, schools, summer camps, museums and scenery of Vermont and the natural resources it has. Think of the sturdy, kind-hearted people who live here—in the Green Mountain state. Would you want to live elsewhere? William Grant said, Here the hills are the greenest, the air purest, the waters clearest, the skies brightest, the women fairest, and the men bravest; and where better can one live, than among these things?” Esther Coffey SCHOLASTIC STANDINGS (upper third of the class) Yvette Mason 89.85 Era Lou Barney 86.48 Esther Coffey 89.72 Marilyn Wright 86.29 Ronald Bowman 89.03 Forrest Emerson 86.11 Frederick Alexander 88.00 Albert Long 85.11 Brenda Schoppe 87.00