Runaway Pond

Runaway Pond
Location Glover, Orleans County, Vermont, USA
Basin countries United States
Max. length 1.5 miles (2.4 km)
Max. width 0.5 miles (0.8 km)+
Average depth 100 feet (30 m)+
Surface elevation 1,289 ft (393 m)

Runaway Pond was a lake on the site of the former Long Pond in Glover, Vermont. Located 5 miles (8.0 km) south of what is today the central village of Glover, [1] it is now a marsh.

Contents

Hydrology

An engineer estimated that the pond must have contained 1,988,000,000 US gallons (7.53×109 l; 1.655×109 imp gal) of water.[2]

It was about 1.5 miles (2.4 km) long, 0.5 miles (0.80 km) wide, and averaged from 80 to 100 feet (24 to 30 m) deep and 150 feet (46 m) deep in the center.[1]

History

On June 6, 1810 it was a dry summer and the Barton River, which supplied the power for grist mills in Glover and northward, was running very low. At the request of Arron Wilson, the local Glover gristmill owner, 60 men and boys attempted to create a new north outlet from Long Pond to the Barton River, but instead, they unintentionally caused the banks of the pond to give way. This resulted in a flood throughout the Barton River Valley.[3]

The valley drops 600 feet (180 m) from Runaway Pond to Orleans for an average of about 40 feet (12 m) per 1 mile (1.6 km).[4] The water ran out of the pond in 1 hour and 15 minutes, but the mud ran out for hours. The water reached Lake Memphremagog in 4 hours and reportedly raised the level there 1 foot (0.3 m).

The initial surge took trees and huge boulders with it, building up a logjam, stopping the flood temporarily until the water pressure behind the jam backed up, causing another breakthrough. This scenario kept recurring in the flood's progress down to Barton.[2]

The results of the flood can still be seen today at Clark Pond, just north of the Runaway Pond site, and elsewhere in the Barton River valley.

One of the laborers, Spencer Chamberlain, ran ahead of the flood just in time to save Arron Wilson's wife, working at the mill. In fact, no lives were lost. This act is commemorated each year on Glover Day (the last Saturday of July) by a 5.5 miles (8.9 km) road race following the path of the flood.

The wayward pond was thereafter called "Runaway Pond."

On June 4,5 and 6, 2010, the Glover Historical Society sponsored a celebration of this event.

Footnotes

  1. ^ a b Starr, Tena (2 June 2010). "Book review:Run Chamberlain Run! Who really ran?". Barton, Vermont: the Chronicle. pp. 1B. 
  2. ^ a b Boisvert, Jacques (July 2003). Long Pond Lost!. The Kingdom Historical. 
  3. ^ An account of this incident appears, among other places, in an article in the June 1, 1810 issue of the journal American Register, or General Repository of History, Politics & Science, pp. 160–161.
  4. ^ http://www.anr.state.vt.us/dec//waterq/planning/docs/pl_basin17.assessment_report.pdf retrieved August 9, 2007

External links