The Saguenay is sometimes called the River of Death, on account of its sombre waters and the deep gorge through which it sluggishly moves. Its depth is also remarkable, ranging from 100 to 1000 feet, and along its course are several pretty falls, where the stream suddenly contracts, and rapids where it expands and the occasional shoals appear. The country about Quebec is pleasingly diversified, and abounding with forests and lakes is a very paradise for hunters and fishers, as well as affording views worthy of the artist’s best efforts. Some ten miles above the city, and forming an outlet for Lake Megantic, on the south side of the St. Lawrence, is Chaudiere, or Boiling River, an impetuous, but noble stream, whose erratic course is interrupted by Chaudiere Falls, where the river takes a plunge over a precipice 125 feet high and 350 feet wide. Having expended its vigor in this violent exercise, the river flows on thenceforth in a subdued and gentle manner, in remarkable contrast with the character which it displays above the falls.
Other famous falls in the vicinity of Quebec are those of the Scuzzie, near North Bend, and St. Anne Falls, on the north shore of the St. Lawrence, twenty miles below the city, where the river St. Anne, a small confluent of that stream, breaks over a brink one hundred feet high, and pours through crevices worn in the Laurentian rocks in a succession of cascades of great beauty. While the scenery of Southern Canada is very charming, it is the boundary outposts of very much more magnificent landscapes towards the south, and it was towards the mountainous districts of Vermont and New Hampshire that our artist bent his way after concluding a tour of the vicinity of Quebec. The journey was, therefore, by way of the Grand Trunk and Vermont Central Railroad into the heart of Green Mountains. This route took our photographer by the Enosburgh Falls, St. Albans and Essex Junction, from which latter place a detour was made down the famous Winooski River to embalm some of the remarkable scenery along that stream. Its source is in the spurs of Green Mountains, whence it flows northwestwardly, cleaving the range near its junction with Waterbury River, and then speeds through a chasm until it empties into Lake Champlain. This wild gorge is particularly wonderful some four or five miles from the lake, the walls rising at places fully one hundred feet and exhibiting the same cleavage and jagged precipices that distinguish Ausable Chasm, on the opposite side of the lake. At the town of Winooski, the river flows over a dam two hundred feet wide and twenty-five feet high, but before the dam was constructed, to afford power for several mills, the river here was a long stretch of cascades and cataracts, a condition which is still continued below the falls and to its place of outlet. From Essex Junction the Vermont Central follows the Winooski to Montpelier, passing the beautiful town of Waterbury, which is the pass of Green Mountains and the center of some of the finest scenery in the State. From Waterbury it is only ten miles by stage to Mount Mansfield, which is the loftiest peak in the range (4,389 feet), and from the summit of which a splendid view is had of lovely valleys, gushing streams and battalions of graceful mountains. In this same vicinity, checkered by many mountain streams, are Peacock Falls, Bingham Falls, Moss-Glen Falls, Morrisville Falls, and others of lesser note but equal beauty. At the base of Mansfield Peak is a stage station, called Stowe, from which the crown of the mountain is plainly observable, exhibiting the distinct features of a giant, whose forehead, nose and chin are formed by two rents in the summit, making the proportions, as well as the outlines, so perfect that visitors are quick to discover the likeness even before a guide calls attention to it. Camel’s Hump is another mountain, five miles from Waterbury, the second highest in the range (4,000 feet), but its surface is so broken that no wagon-road has as yet been made to the summit, but a horse may be ridden to the top, and the ascent, accomplished at whatever expense of effort, is well repaid by the magnitude and magnificence of the scenery thus brought into view. Balton Falls are within five miles of the Hump, and are a shrine of beauty to which hundreds of summer visitors pay the tribute of admiration.
CLARENDON GORGE, VERMONT.
WINOOSKI RIVER, NEAR MIDDLESEX, VERMONT.
From Montpelier the Vermont Central turns south, following a tributary of the Winooski to Roxbury, thence it strikes the valley of White River, down which it continues to the Connecticut River; but this latter region is more subdued than the section just described. The scenery, while not so grand and mountainous, possesses a beauty to excite the fancy of a poet and day-dreamer, for the views are of gentle meandering streams roaming through woods where fairies might love to dwell, singing their lonesome lullabies to the deep coverts that bend low along the shores. Dainty waterfalls, murmuring rapids, sylvan shades, distinguish the way of many brooks that roll out of mountain springs and run down to the sea, giving drink to the farmers’ herds, trundling old water-mills, and doing many kind offices on the way.
Another branch of the Vermont Central runs due south from Essex Junction and Burlington, on the shore of Lake Champlain, and passes through many thriving villages, such as New Haven, Middlebury, Brandon and Rutland. At this latter point, which is on a considerable stream called Otter Creek, some very charming scenery occurs, not entirely confined to the creek, which, however, is a stream almost as remarkable as the Winooski. At a place called Clarendon Gorge the creek flows through a chasm some thirty feet deep and so narrow that when the foliage of the banks is heaviest the stream is almost entirely hidden by the overlacing branches of opposite trees. Here the stream makes a sharp turn, and in doing so has cut deeply into the rock-shore against which it strikes, and formed a deep pool in which fish fairly swarm, and hence at all seasons the angler here may find the choicest sport. The Green Mountain Range is within five miles of Rutland, and several outlying peaks are much nearer, such as Paco, Killington, Shrewsbury and Bald Peaks, which are of sufficient altitude to give the summit-observer a good view of Lake George and the Adirondacks. The road continues southwest from Rutland through a pass in the Green Mountains at Healdville and joins the more eastern section at Bellows Falls, on the Connecticut River.
A RURAL SCENE IN VERMONT.