Transportation.—There has been no railway building since 1910, in which year the mileage was I,I00. In 1934 the mileage was 1,016. The chief railways are two main lines which run north and south along the western and eastern borders, and four lines which cross the State in a general east and west direction. To cross from west to east at other places is impossible by rail, and there is some difficulty in getting from the south-west cor ner to points along the Connecticut river toward the north-east. The lack of railway facilities has been overcome to an agreeable extent since 1923 by the establishment of motor-bus lines on many of the main highways, and to villages not on the railway lines. There were 1,029m. of road in the State highway system in 1934, of which 1,019m. was surfaced. Expenditures on the State high way in 1934, including Federal aid, amounted to $5,905,000.
A canal connects the head of Lake Champlain with the Hudson river so that through Lake Champlain and its outlet, the Richelieu river, there is an uninterrupted waterway from the St. Lawrence river to New York city harbour, a waterway that is open for navi gation at least seven months each year. On Lake Champlain there are steamship lines which regularly serve the chief towns of the lake. A bridge across Lake Champlain, connecting Crown Point, N.Y., with Chimney Point, Vt., was opened on Aug. 26, 1929.
History.—The first white man to visit the region now known as Vermont, so far as the records show, was Samuel Champlain, "Father of New France." Joining an Algonquin war party, on a foray into the Iroquois country, July 4, 1609, he entered the lake which he named Lake Champlain. For well nigh a century and a half the Champlain valley was French territory. The increase of the Iroquois compelled the French in Canada to erect a chain of forts to command the approach by way of Lake Champlain and its outlet, the Richelieu river, the great trunk line highway from the valley of the St. Lawrence river to southern New England and the Hudson valley. As the English settlements in Massachusetts and adjacent colonies grew stronger, the Indians gradually withdrew into Canada, and, sullen and revengeful, were ready to join the French in raids upon the English settlements.
The first permanent English settlement was a blockhouse erected in 1724, in the town of Brattleboro, and known as Ft. Dummer. Later in the same year a group of Dutch squatters settled in the town of Pownal, in the south-western corner of Vermont. But not until the British captured Canada, in 1760, did the tide of emigration flow into the State. Benning Went worth, royal governor of New Hampshire, assuming that the rather vague limits of his province, like those of Connecti cut and Massachusetts, extended westward to a line 20M. east of
the Hudson river, proceeded to make grants of land between the Connecticut river and Lake Champlain. From 1749 to 1764 he granted 131 townships and the region was commonly known as the New Hampshire Grants. Lieutenant-Governor Colden of New York challenged the right of the New Hampshire executive to grant these lands. For 14 years the ownership of the disputed region was debated and on July 20, 1764, an order of the king in council gave a decision in favour of New York. Thereupon the New York governors proceeded to grant lands in what is now the State of Vermont.
Following the close of the French and Indian War and prior to the outbreak of the American Revolution, several thousand per sons, largely from Connecticut and Massachusetts, had purchased lands in the New Hampshire Grants, had cleared farms, built houses and planted crops. In 1770 a test case was brought in the New York courts, in an ejectment suit, concerning property in the town of Shaf tsbury, and the court refused to consider the New Hampshire charter as evidence. Ethan Allen, in charge of the defence, returned to Bennington, where the town voted to protect its rights by force if necessary. A military organization was formed, which came to be known as the Green Mountain Boys, Ethan Allen being its commander. In eastern Vermont New York authority was recognized, and no attempt was made to dispossess settlers, but in western Vermont New York authority was success fully defied. New Hampshire titles were defended.
With the Revolution the Green Mountain Boys, commanded by Ethan Allen, with some aid from Connecticut and Massachusetts, on May 1 o, 1775, captured the fortress of Ticon deroga, on Lake Champlain. The capture was the first aggressive act on the part of the Americans in the Revolutionary War. Ver monters participated in the invasion of Canada in the autumn of '775, and Ethan Allen was captured by the British in an unsuc cessful attempt to take Montreal.
A rudimentary form of government was maintained through committees of safety. Conventions were held in 1776 looking toward statehood, Ira Allen being active in behalf of a separate government. On Jan. 16, 1777, a declaration of independence was adopted and the name New Connecticut was given the new State. This name was soon abandoned, as it had been used elsewhere, and the name Vermont was substituted. In July 1777, a State Consti tution was drafted in a convention held at Windsor. This was the first Constitution adopted by an American State to forbid slavery and to establish manhood suffrage. The new State government was set up in March 1778, with Thomas Chittenden as governor.