in some of the western
towns, we are not acquainted with any equal extent of country,
which furnishes a more abundant supply of water power than the
eastern and northern parts of the County. Otter Creek is one of
the largest rivers in the State. It enters the County from the south
in Leicester, through a part of which it passes, and is in part the
boundary between that town and Whiting ; runs between the towns
of Salisbury and Cornwall ; through the west part of JMiddlebury,
between the towns of New Haven and "Weybridge, and the towns of
Waltham and Panton, and through Vergennes into Ferrisburgh,
where it empties into Lako Champlain. There are few rivers, of no
larger size, which afford, in the same distance, so much safe water
power. From the head of the falls inMiddlebury, to the foot of
the falls in Vergennes, there is a descent of about three hundred
feet, in a distance of about thirteen miles, divided into six or seven
falls convenient for mills. In some of these, the water has a per-
pendicular descent, in others it falls over precipitous rocks, and in
some the fall is sufficient to allow the use of the water several times.
Mills on none of them are endangered by sudden and violent fresh-
ets. For twenty-five miles above the falls of Middlebury, the banks
are low, and very extensive level flats adjoin them through the whole
3
14 HISTORY OF ADDISON COUNTY.
distance. In a violent rush of ^Yaters from the mountains, from
melting snows or heavy rains, the water in the creek, instead of
rushing in a swollen current down its channel, rises