Runaway Pond - Glover, Vermont
Posted by: 
Vermontish
N 44° 38.224 W 072° 12.651
18T E 721212 N 4946419
Fortunately, nobody was killed
Waymark Code: WMCCG6
Location: Vermont, United States
Date Posted: 08/22/2011
Views: 77
1810 was a dry summer and the Barton River, which supplied the power for grist mills in Glover and northward, was running very low.
On June 10, at the request of Arron Wilson, owner of the local gristmill, 60 men and boys attempted to create a new northern outlet from Long Pond to the river. Instead, they unintentionally caused the banks of the pond to give way, resulting in a flood which rushed through the Barton River Valley.
The pond was 1.5 miles long, .5 mile wide, and 150 feet deep. Hydrologists estimate almost 2 billion gallons of water were released.
The initial surge took trees and huge boulders with it, building up a logjam, stopping the flood temporarily until the pressure behind the jam built up, causing another breakthrough. This scenario kept repeating in the flood's progress down to the village of Barton. One of the laborers, Spencer Chamberlain, ran ahead of the flood just in time to save Arron Wilson's wife, who was working at the mill. In fact, no lives were lost, with the exception of a few sheep, cows and horses.
The results of the flood can still be seen today at Clark's Pond, just north of this site, and elsewhere in the Barton River valley.
The event is commemorated each year on Glover Day (last Saturday in July) with a 5.5 miles road race following the path of the flood.