An Historical Examination of Changes at the Huntington Gorge

An Historical Examination of Changes at the Huntington Gorge

By Nicholas Bewley

For centuries, water has dripped down the seams of the Green Mountains, rolling over its ridges and terraces to rest in the surrounding river systems. During its descent down these precipices, water has picked up tiny pieces of the Vermont landscape, slowly carving its face into the physical features of the terrain. Water’s undeniably morphogenic abilities sculpt the landscape; one only needs to look around to realize its ability to shape the natural environment.

At one point in Earth’s geologic timeline, the Green Mountains towered over the landscape, averaging elevations of fifteen-to-twenty thousand feet. Water has proven the weakness of such seemingly immovable entities, eroding these rigid behemoths to their present size of roughly four thousand feet.[1] Similarly, the rivers and lakes of Vermont have twisted their way through the countryside, forging the boundaries of human settlement.

The Huntington Gorge provides an intriguing example of the way in which water can sculpt the landscape. Adorned with elegant, arching rock windows, frightening cliff-faces, and breath-taking waterfalls, the Gorge appears as if fashioned by a divine chisel, perfectly sculpted to flaunt the beauty of nature. Upon first witnessing the site, one is bombarded by a cacophony of emotions; trepidation and awe assail the viewer simultaneously. The lone soul, while admiring, the graceful beauty of the environment, must acknowledge water’s ability to wreak havoc. If an admirer slipped from one of the Gorge’s towering precipices into the water below, their chances of survival would be slim. At the site, the Huntington River is funneled down a waterfall, forcing the water to converge into a tiny gap, ultimately resulting in the intense rapids that prove to be a swimmer’s nightmare. The deaths at the Gorge in the recent past exemplify the brute strength that water can exert.

The mechanisms of destruction lay in reach of this natural resource; ironically, water also serves a chief nutritive function, sustaining all life on Earth. Vermont’s native settlers recognized its nurturing capability: the Abenaki Indians lived primarily on rivers or lakes.[2] Bodies of water provided the first settlers with life’s necessities: water satiated their thirst and food was available in the form of fish and water-aided agriculture. It should come without surprise that a large number of Vermont’s Native American settlements were situated in conjunction with bodies of water, for these natural features provided the native peoples with the stability upon which to build civilization.

Early settlers utilized the Huntington River for the aforementioned purposes. The National Park Service notes that the area encompasses “a significant number and diversity of known prehistoric sites.”[3] While the Gorge itself has yet to yield any archaeological remains, one can infer that the indigenous populations utilized it as a fishery. Below the rigid waterfalls of the site lies a deep pool, the perfect spot for larger fish to prey on their smaller brethren who lack the strength to compete with the strong currents of the rapids and are, consequentially, swept over the falls. The Abenakis, most likely, utilized this spot, attempting to catch the bigger fish that stalk this pool. Additionally, the northern bank of the pool is flat, a fact that facilitates the fishing capability of the area. Although this undermined the Abenaki relationship with the Huntington Gorge itself is undetermined, it can be assumed that they utilized it to sustain their lifestyle.

The scarcity of Abenaki artifacts in the Huntington Gorge area, however, lends insight into the culture within which these peoples operated. Native Americans, including the Missisquoi Abenaki of Vermont, emphasized the human connection with the natural world, finding deep spiritual links with the creatures and objects of the land around them.

The religious beliefs held by Native Americans encouraged a way of life that revolved around utilizing nature’s resources to derive sustenance, not excess. These peoples practiced animism, a religious system that saw divinity in the objects of nature. In the Abenaki myth “Gluscabi and the Wind Eagle,” Gluscabi goes in search of the cause of wind. He walks across the Earth until he finally comes upon the source of wind, the Wind Eagle. The Wind Eagle assumes human characteristics, speaking to Gluscabi in succinct, clear dialect. Another character in the story, Gluscabi’s woodchuck grandmother, also acts like a human, speaking and reasoning in a human manner.[4] The animistic religious beliefs of the Native Americans, by presenting animals with human characteristics, encouraged a deep relationship with the natural world.

Native American veneration of nature explains the patterns of land use encompassed by these people. The esteem in which they held the natural world encouraged a subsistent lifestyle; the society reaped nature’s harvest only to facilitate its survival. The people unified themselves with the features of the natural world. Native American culture’s emphasis on human unity with nature explains the difficulty encountered by modern archaeologists who studied the Huntington Gorge; the indigenous population’s association with the Gorge proves difficult to determine, for their cultural values encouraged them to leave as scarce a trace as possible upon the natural world. Additionally, many of the implements of Abenaki culture, including the wooden handles of their tools and weapons, biodegrade at an alarming rate. The values maintained by Abenaki peoples, when viewed in conjunction with the apparatuses of their civilization, explain the lack of evidence of Abenaki involvement in the Huntington Gorge.

The arrival of Europeans on the North American continent signaled a monumental environmental clash. While native peoples revered nature, seeking connection with the various facets of their environment, Europeans saw themselves as a distinct entity, fully removed from nature. They were constantly at war with the elements, seeking to gain dominion over the hostile features of the natural world. The distinctions between these cultures allowed for the unbridled use of natural resources. By removing themselves from nature, they severed any compassionate bonds with their environment.

European economic ideology exacerbated their views of nature. Mercantilism, transplanted from Europe to the New World, buttressed colonial consumption of natural resources by endorsing the accumulation of personal wealth. Peoples’ wealth and fortunes were built upon producing and processing natural resources for sale in the marketplace. The mercantilist system encouraged humans to maximize the resources of the natural world in a quest to accumulate wealth.

In addition to natural commodities such as wheat and timber, the market of the mercantilist system included soil. Land became a commodity, subject to ownership by a single person for the perpetuation of individual desire. The European concept of land ownership led, ultimately to the fragmentation of the Vermont landscape. If one looks at an aerial image of the Gorge and its surrounding areas, one notices the neat, organized land parcels that accompanied the commodification of land in the colonial age. The “Beer’s Atlas” is riddled with a patchwork grid denoting the initial property partition of the town of Richmond, the location of the Huntington Gorge. In the 1700’s, when the borders separating the various properties were first determined, the Huntington Gorge saw no drastic change from earlier eras.

Huntington Gorge experienced its first major changes concurrent to the proliferation of various types of mills in the mid-to-late eighteenth century. On June 7, 1806, John Preston purchased the land encompassing the Gorge from then-owner John Hallock for $88.04.[5] Shortly thereafter, Preston built Richmond’s first gristmill on the rim of the rock structure, accompanied by a sawmill somewhat later. [6] The Preston gristmill utilized an overshot waterwheel, a mechanism that funnels water over the wheel, causing the waterwheel to turn.[7] The rotating waterwheel, in turn, is connected to a system of belts, pulleys, and gears that powers the machinery used to grind wheat into flour.[8]

To insure a steady flow of water to the mill, Preston may have built a dam.[9] A millpond above accompanied the dam, serving to further insure the likelihood of water flow.[10] These structures were integral to the proper function of early mill sites, for milling occurred with the wheat harvest at summer’s end. The natural characteristics of this season are not the most conducive to mill activity: water levels are low during this time of the year, since the snowmelts have already made their way through the Huntington River. Therefore, to insure mill operations, “every mill site had a dam above it and a mill pond.”[11] With the establishment of these crucial elements of the mill site, John Preston conducted his operations successfully, providing a crucial service to his community.

Providing the necessary implements for this rural culture, the grist and sawmills of the early nineteenth century supplied the lifeblood of Vermont’s towns. Wheat was an integral crop to the peoples of this time-period, and the ability to process it into a practical form, flour, was central to the survival of a community.[12] Sawmills, as well, played a vital role in rural Vermont, providing a town’s inhabitants with a commodity, lumber, with which they could construct their monuments of civilization: buildings.

Mill activity, in the early days of the mill culture, was spatially limited, confined to servicing the immediate community. Local farmers would bring their wheat to the mill, where the workers would process their small, individual orders. The farmers would then sell the processed commodity to local citizens. The Preston Mill on the Huntington Gorge, therefore, effectively integrated the natural resources from the surrounding farms, providing a quick, efficient means of processing some of the region’s locally produced natural commodities.

The function of the earliest mills complemented the pre-industrial rural communities of North America perfectly. While this period was characterized by the mercantilist inspired desire to acquire personal wealth, its scale had not risen beyond the local scope. When compared with later periods, the human impact on natural resources proved relatively small, for the technologies utilized by these people had not proceeded past an introductory level.

With the onset of the Market Revolution and, later, the Industrial Revolution in the United States, the function of mills drastically changed. No longer was the activity of the mill confined to its surrounding area; industrialization allowed mill owners access to regional and national markets. Richmond experienced the drastic changes that accompanied capitalist transformation. When the Vermont Central Railroad was completed in 1849 a station was built in downtown Richmond.[13] Immediately, the farmers of Richmond were thrown into direct competition with the wheat farmers of the Midwest. In the battle for market share, the farmers of Richmond were defeated by the sheer volume of Midwestern farmers, forcing the Vermonters to quit the cultivation of wheat for other enterprises: “In 1870, there was a reported production of 1,971 bushels of wheat in the town [of Richmond]. From that time on, wheat production dropped steadily until in 1934, there was no wheat production in the town.”[14] Richmond’s grain industry, after being tossed into a national market, was crippled by the severe competition that existed therein.

The decline of Richmond’s grain industry resulted in a shift in the nature of the Huntington Gorge mill site. The Preston Mill encountered severe economic difficulty with the change in the structure of the Vermont economy; the operation was no longer viable, for the mill was not processing an economically sustainable amount of wheat due to the agricultural shift that was taking place in the Richmond countryside. Mired by the economic difficulty posed by the new Vermont economy, John Preston sold his mill site and his entire manufacturing infrastructure to Urana Robinson on March 23, 1867.[15]

The Robinsons quickly transformed the function of the mill, establishing an operation that could compete in the expanded economic sphere of the Industrial Revolution. They maintained the gristmill for use in small-scale wheat grinding, but the focus of their operation was the spoke factory and cider mill situated therein. Their business was viable in the expanded marketplace, producing 1,400,000 spokes and 400 barrels of cider per year.[16] The Robinsons took advantage of Richmond’s direct line of railroad between Montreal and Boston, utilizing its ability to transport their products to outside markets.[17] By employing the implements of industrialization, the S. & R. J. Robinson Grist and Cider Mill prospered economically, maintaining control of the Gorge site for over thirty years.

In 1902, the Richmond Light and Power Company obtained ownership of the mill site previously operated by the Robinsons, shifting the function of the Huntington Gorge mill site once again.[18] Rather than focusing on the production of tangible commodities like their predecessors, the Richmond Light and Power Company concentrated on the production of hydroelectric power for the surrounding town.

Advancements in industry boosted the mechanical capacity of mills; the Richmond Light and Power Company seized upon these developments gladly, integrating a slew of machinery into their mill operation:

[The mill] is equipped with a Victor turbine, with a 44-foot head of water. The electrical equipment consists of a 100 K.W. generator, General Electric compensated type, with an up-to-date marble switchboard. This plant generates 150 horsepower, and has an auxiliary steam plant that is ready at a moment’s notice to generate much more.[19]

The aforementioned mill house, lay upon the North Bank, right below the end of the Huntington River Gorge.

The expanse of mechanization of the Richmond Light and Power Company’s Huntington Gorge site gives the viewer a deep glimpse into the dominant ideology of land use during this age. The natural flow of water along the Huntington River has been completely disrupted, diverted from its intrinsic path and funneled into the man-made power site to serve human consumptive needs. The doctrine of industrialization, supported by the European-American notions of land use, nature, and capitalism overwhelmed American thought by the end of the Gilded Age. The entrepreneurs of the era viewed nature as a vehicle for maximizing individual wealth.

The author of “Richmond: A Prosperous Town,” agrees with the industrial ideals, repeatedly lauding the Richmond Light and Power Company for its Huntington Gorge operation: “Under the careful management of Mr. R. E. Jones, [the Power Company] is being brought to a high state of efficiency.”[20] Efficiency, the driving force of the capitalist system, is a virtue to this author, for it provides the highest profit margins by allowing for the least amount of wasted time and labor. The author continues: “They take advantage of a forty-four foot fall in the river, which gives an abundant power for turning the waste of water into that mighty engine of commerce, electricity.”[21] “Waste of water” is a profound, striking phrase, lending insight into the point-of-view of the writer and his contemporaries. The resources of nature, if left untouched, would be squandered; nature’s purpose, from this point-of-view, is to serve the ends of the human race. To conclude his/ her analysis of the Richmond Power Company, the author offers a vision of grandeur for the town’s future:

Before this [the establishment of the power plant], even, the town was growing steadily, but with these unlimited resources there is practically no limit to what can be done in the way of substantial expansion in an industrial way.[22]

From the industrial point-of-view, the Huntington River provides an endless source of electricity, flowing water, the natural resource that provides the power, shall forever exist at the Huntington Gorge. This 1904 document illustrates the ideology of industrialization, a viewpoint that had a significant impact on the land use of the Huntington Gorge. By providing Americans with the technology that allowed them to utilize natural resources at the level of mass production, the Industrial Revolution set fire to the pre-existing notions of the human relationship with nature inherent in Euro-American culture. This fueled the large-scale landscape alteration that occurred in this period at spots such as the Huntington Gorge.

An interesting characteristic of the Richmond Power Company’s site at the Gorge is the covered bridge that spans the chasm of the Gorge. Betty Preston attested that her mother used to walk her family’s cows across the bridge in the summertime, crossing from the Northern side of the Gorge (Dugway Road) onto the fertile grazing lands of the Southern side.[23] While the covered bridge served no function for the industrial interests of the Richmond Light and Power Company, it does illustrate the drive towards the maximization of natural resources that was characteristic of the age of industrialism.

The immediate surroundings of the Gorge, however, were not the only facets of Vermont’s landscape that were altered to suit the needs of the Richmond Light and Power Company. Landscape alteration was also taking place about a mile away from the Power Company’s Huntington Gorge site at Gillett Pond. Along with the rights to the Gorge’s mill sites, the company purchased the water rights to parts of Gillett Pond from Henry W. Bates in their deed dated August 19, 1902.[24]

The Green Mountain Power Company produced a diagram in 1960, documenting the dam that was built by the Richmond Light and Power Company on the end of the northwestern arm of Gillett Pond.[25] The dam was built as “protection against low water,” giving the company “a fine reservoir in which to store water for use in a time of need.”[26] Observers may note the tunnel that was built under the road to facilitate the movement of water. This man-made structure is a further example of the Richmond Light and Power Company’s alteration of landscapes outside of their immediate scope. The Gillett Pond dam and its surrounding structures illustrate the industrialization age’s ability to enact environmental change far from the source of production.

The Richmond Light and Power Company’s electrical enterprise at the Huntington Gorge site, despite its coherence with the ideals of industrialism, failed to generate profit. On August 8, 1917, the Burlington Savings Bank foreclosed on their loan to the Power Company, noting that the “business was not being managed in a proper way;” its operations were being conducted at a “great loss to the corporation.”[27] The Powers Electric Company obtained the property, managing it for a short span of five years before selling it to the Green Mountain Power Corporation in 1923.[28]

In their deal with Powers Electric, Green Mountain Power inherited the industrial infrastructure from the preceding electric companies: the contract included “all meters, transformers, electric wires, poles and arms, electrical supplies, [and] machinery and tools” that were used in the previous operations.[29] Other aspects of built environment were transferred to Green Mountain Power, as well. The aforementioned dam at Gillett Pond, constructed by the Richmond Light and Power Company, remained at the site for many years afterwards. The earlier dam built by John Preston also seems to have weathered the years of industrialization. By the time Green Mountain Power Corporation obtained control of the Gorge, the surrounding areas had become littered with multiple accessory structures that were designed to aid the productive capacity of the area. The era of the Green Mountain Power Corporation was one in which humans continued to modify the natural features of the Gorge. During their control over the dam, a small canal appeared, which aided the plant’s operation by relieving excess water pressure.

Green Mountain Power Corporation’s use of the Huntington Gorge took place during an era characterized by two complementary, yet competing ideologies: conservation and preservation. Arising from the nineteenth-century phenomena of industrialization and urbanization, these movements emphasized a concern for natural environments. A consciousness arose as people began to recognize the harsh negative impacts of industrialization. Events such as the Dust Bowl convinced some people that the world could not supply the unlimited amount of natural resources that the Industrial Age promised; humans, in search of short-term profits, could seriously damage their natural environment, crippling the land’s long-term productive capacity. These two twentieth-century social movements represented an attempt to check the scope and impact of industrialization.

While uniting in a common struggle against industrialization, the ideologies of conservation and preservation arrived at a serious point of contention. Remarkably, it seems that one of the main conflicts between indigenous population’s philosophy and that of the European settlers had made a recurrence: man’s place in nature was, once again, a point of analysis. Preservationists believed, much like the Abenakis before them, in a natural connection between man and his surrounding environment. As such, man should show his surroundings ultimate reverence, extracting a minimal amount of natural resources from the environment. On the other hand, the conservationists viewed humankind as a superior entity, towering above its surroundings on a pedestal. Humans should take control of their environment, using it to insure happiness. While nature, according to the Conservation ideology, existed to serve human ends, it was not to be exploited. Rather, humans should practice an efficient use of natural resources, thereby insuring that such resources would exist in the future. Both of these ideologies gathered large support bases in their tread; as such, the conflicts resulting from their philosophical differences were resolved in different ways throughout American landscapes.

The ideology of conservation persevered at the Huntington Gorge site in the beginning of the twentieth century; Green Mountain Power Corporation utilized the Gorge and its surrounding environment for its productive capacity, maintaining the industrial infrastructure of the companies that preceded them and contributing their own pieces of built environment to the site. However, the Huntington Gorge would not continue to be used for productive ends for much longer.

In 1955, the Green Mountain Power Corporation sold the Huntington Gorge to the Mount Mansfield Girl Scout Council, bequeathing the site to the Girl Scouts for the scant sum of ten dollars.[30] It seems that, by this point in time, legislation had arisen to restrict the industrial function of the Huntington Gorge. Five years later, when the Girl Scout Council transferred the Gorge to John F. Shearer, the deed stipulated, “The grantee, [and] his heirs and assigns, shall not allow any commercial venture upon the premises.”[31] The Gorge’s productive capacity remained the same; a change in ideology, however, had persuaded the people of the Richmond area to reform their land use patterns. No longer was the desire to utilize the Gorge for consumptive reasons the primary goal; rather, it seems that people strove to maintain its aesthetic beauty.

Human traffic at the Gorge increased after 1950, as people began to recognize the area’s inherent majesty. People came from the city, diving from the majestic cliffs to wade in the clear waters of the river. Along with the increase in human traffic, however, came an increase in deaths at the area, for the waters of the Gorge have treacherous currents at certain times of the year.

There has been a drastic increase in deaths at the Gorge since 1950. The deaths themselves demonstrate the increased human respect and reverence for nature that the area experienced after the 1950’s, for the fatalities would not have occurred if there were no visitors at the site seeking to soak up the natural splendor of the place. The fact that there are no documented deaths prior to 1950, however, truly illustrates the point, for it proves that the area did not receive many visitors prior to this time period.

Deaths at the Gorge skyrocketed in the late sixties and early seventies. In the beginning of 1960, only one person had died at the Gorge. By 1977, thirteen people had perished at the site. The massive increase in deaths at the Gorge further illustrates the continued increase in human traffic experienced by the site. People, influenced by the growing popularity and acceptance of the Modern Environmental Movement, inherited its values, seeking to enjoy the splendor of natural areas such as the Gorge.

The Modern Environmental Movement was the prevailing force driving the Gorge’s increased popularity. When considering the deaths at the Gorge, one must note that all of the people who died at the Gorge during the period illustrated “were from outside Richmond.”[32] Richmond’s local, rural inhabitants were not those who died at the site; instead, people were traveling to the area from Burlington to enjoy the Gorge’s beauty. Among the dead, six were students at either the University of Vermont or Saint Michael’s College.

The Modern Environmental Movement gains much of its support from people of middle-class suburban status. These people, many argue, seek to restore connection with their natural surroundings in revolt against the boring rigidity of suburban lifestyle. They find their outlet in the hinterlands surrounding the suburbs, traveling out into the countryside to experience nature. The Modern Environmental Movement, therefore, has had a great impact on the Gorge, forcing people out into its midst with the desire to connect with nature.

The ideology of preservation has functioned within the Modern Environmental Movement of the late twentieth century to enact significant landscape alteration at the Gorge; industrial production was prohibited at the site as people began to desire connection with this natural landmark in the 1950’s. However, the tenets of Preservation have not constituted the only force impacting the land use of the Huntington Gorge. In 1976, a drilling and blasting company was hired by then-owner William Skelton to dynamite one of the site’s most deadly underwater ledges, destroying “an underwater chute whose outlet was too narrow to let a body pass.”[33] Elements of Conservation ideology manifest themselves in this act, for human needs take precedence over nature’s perfection. The recent history of the Huntington Gorge illustrates the coexistence of earlier ideologies within the Modern Environmental Movement. Conservation and Preservation remain significant forces, contending for dominance in today’s era.

The Huntington Gorge was created thousands of years ago, carved out of the solid ground by the potent hydrological forces of the Huntington River. It weathered centuries of native involvement, maintaining its natural features throughout their occupation of the area. With the introduction of European ideology, however, the face of the Gorge was altered drastically, as the land was forced to meet the productive ends encouraged by the market economy. Remnants of the Industrial Age haunt the Gorge today, forcing one to recognize the power of these views and their ability to alter the landscape. The Industrial Age has certainly left its fingerprint upon this natural landmark.

While industrialization was a significant force shaping the Gorge’s natural features, the ideologies that have followed it also have left their imprints upon this piece of landscape. The destruction of an underwater ledge in 1976 is an important example of a recent alteration of the Huntington Gorge.

Recent landscape alterations differ greatly from those of the colonial and industrial ages. While the Industrial Age sought to reap profit from the waterfalls of the Huntington Gorge, the blasting and signs instituted during the age of the Modern Environmental Movement seek to educate and protect the Gorge’s visitors, allowing them to enjoy the aesthetic beauty of the site safely. The Huntington Gorge has lasted through a variety of ideological changes, each of which have contributed their own patterns of land use to the site. Examining the ways that these ideologies have influenced peoples’ views of the land and the drastic changes that have resulted illustrates the fleeting nature of truth. While today people see themselves as enlightened members of the contemporary environmental movement, seeking to preserve nature for the future, upcoming generations might scoff at our patterns of land use, just as we scorn the environmental destruction incurred by the profit-driven earlier eras.

Work Cited

Books

Albers, Jan. Hands on the Land: A History of the Vermont Landscape. MIT Press, London. 2000.

Rann, W.S. ed., History of Chittenden County, Vermont, D. Mason and Company, Syracuse 1886.

Websites

“Rivers and Trails: Vermont Segment,” National Park Service Online 28 January 2004 http://www.nps.gov/ncrc/programs/rtca/nri/states/vt.html.

“Gluscabi and the Wind Eagle,” Metareligion Online http://meta-religion.com/World_Religions/Ancient_Religions/North_America/Gluscabi_and_the_wind.htm.

Journals and Records

Dorney, Jane, “Proposed Text for the Official State Historic Marker at the Huntington Gorge,” September 1994: 16.

Ellingson, Barbara. “Vermont Central Railroad Records: 1849-1880,” Vermont Historical Society Online 1997. http://www.vermonthistory.org/arccat/finaid/vtcentrl.htm.

Hasely, “History of the Renseelaerville Grist Mill,” Upper Hudson Library System Online 1996, http://www.uhls.org/niche/RvGristHist.htm.

“Richmond: A Prosperous Town,” Expansion: Vermont Industrial Magazine Vol. 1, No. 7, 15, March 1904: 11.

Richmond Land Records, Volumes 2, 10, 14, 18, 23, 24.

Interviews

Dorney, Jane. Interview, 1 May 2004.

Preston, Betty. Interview, 5 May 2004.

[1] Jan Albers, Hands on the Land: A History of the Vermont Landscape (London: MIT Press, 2000) 23.

[3] “Rivers and Trails: Vermont Segments,” National Park Service Online 28 January 2004, Accessed 6 May 2004 from <http://www.nps.gov/ncrc/programs/rtca/nri/states/vt.html>.

[4] “Gluscabi and the Wind Eagle,” Metareligion Online Accessed 6 May 2004 from

<http://www.meta-religion.com/World_Religions/Ancient_religions/

North_america/gluscabi_and_the_wind.htm>.

[6] Jane Dorney, “Proposed Text for the Official State Historic Marker at the Huntington Gorge,” September 1994: 16.

[7] Jane Dorney, Phone Interview, 1 May 2004.

[8] Janet Long Haseley, “History of the Rensselaerville Grist Mill,” Upper Hudson Library System Online 1996, Accessed 6 May 2004 from <http://www.uhls.org/niche/RvGristHist.htm>.

[10] One notices the millpond. It is located in lot 40 and depicted as a small swirl above the “S” in “S. Robinson.”

[11] Jane Dorney, Phone Interview, 1 May 2004.

[13] Barbara Ellingson, “Vermont Central Railroad Records: 1849-1880,” Vermont Historical Society Library Online 1997, Accessed 7 May 2004 from

<http://www.vermonthistory.org/arccat/findaid/vtcentrl.htm>.

[16] W.S. Rann, ed., History of Chittenden County, Vermont (Syracuse: D. Mason And Company, 1886) 662.

[17] “Richmond: A Prosperous Town,” Expansion: Vermont Industrial Magazine Vol. 1, No. 7, 15 March 1904: 11.

[18] Richmond Land Records, Vol. 14, p. 222-30.

[19] “Richmond: A Prosperous Town,” Expansion: Vermont Industrial Magazine Vol. 1, No. 7, 15 March 1904: 12.

[20] “Richmond: A Prosperous Town,” Expansion: Vermont Industrial Magazine Vol. 1, No. 7, 15 March 1904: 12.

[23] Betty Preston, Phone Interview, 5 May 2004.

[25] The Green Mountain Power Corporation inherited these structures when it purchased the Gorge from the Richmond Power Company.

[26] “Richmond: A Prosperous Town,” Expansion: Vermont Industrial Magazine Vol. 1, No. 7, 15 March 1904: 12.

[32] Jane Dorney, “Proposed Text for the Official State Historic Marker at the Huntington Gorge,” September 1994: 7.

[33] Patrick McCarthy, “Huntington Gorge: An Assessment of its Significance as a Natural Area,” UVM Field Naturalist Program, 1990; Jane Dorney, “Proposed Text for the Official State Historic Marker at the Huntington Gorge,” September 1994: 8.