Editing Grand Isle County, Vermont (section)

==History==
Grand Isle County is one of several Vermont counties created from land ceded by the state of [[New York (state)|New York]] on January 15, 1777, when Vermont declared itself to be a distinct state from New York.<ref>Slade, William, Jr., comp. ''Vermont State Papers: Being a collection of Records and Documents Connected with the Assumption and Establishment of Government by the People of Vermont, Together with the Journal of the Council of Safety, the First Constitution, the Early Journals of the General Assembly, and the Laws from the Year 1779 to 1786, Inclusive.'' Middlebury, 1823. pp. 70–73.</ref><ref>Van Zandt, Franklin K. ''Boundaries of the United States and the Several States.'' Geological Survey Professional Paper 909. Washington, DC; Government Printing Office, 1976. The Standard Compilation for its subject. P. 64.</ref><ref>Williamson, Chilton. ''Vermont in Quandary: 1763–1825.'' Growth of Vermont series, Number 4.Montperler: Vermont Historical Series, 1949. PP. 82–84; map facing 95, 100–102, 112–113.</ref> The land was originally contested by [[Massachusetts]], [[New Hampshire]], [[New France]] and [[New Netherland]], but it remained undelineated until July 20, 1764, when [[George III of the United Kingdom|King George III]] established the boundary between New Hampshire and New York along the west bank of the [[Connecticut River]], north of Massachusetts and south of the parallel of [[45th parallel north|45 degrees north latitude]]. New York assigned the land gained to [[Albany County, New York|Albany County]].<ref>Slade, William, Jr., comp. ''Vermont State Papers: Being a collection of Records and Documents Connected with the Assumption and Establishment of Government by the People of Vermont, Together with the Journal of the Council of Safety, the First Constitution, the Early Journals of the General Assembly, and the Laws from the Year 1779 to 1786, Inclusive.'' Middlebury, 1823. pp. 13–19.</ref><ref>Van Zandt, Franklin K. ''Boundaries of the United States and the Several States.'' Geological Survey Professional Paper 909. Washington, DC; Government Printing Office, 1976. The Standard Compilation for its subject. P. 63.</ref> On March 12, 1772, Albany County was partitioned to create [[Charlotte County, Province of New York|Charlotte County]],<ref>New York Colonial Laws, Chapter 1534; Section 5; Paragraph 321)</ref> and this situation persisted until Vermont's independence from New York and Britain, which, however, did not end the contest.

On September 3, 1783, as a result of the signing of the [[Treaty of Paris (1783)|Treaty of Paris]], the Revolutionary War ended with Great Britain recognizing the independence of the United States. Vermont's border with Quebec was established at [[45th parallel north|45 degrees north latitude]],<ref>Van Zandt, Franklin K. ''Boundaries of the United States and the Several States.'' Geological Survey Professional Paper 909. Washington, DC; Government Printing Office, 1976. The Standard Compilation for its subject. P. 12.</ref><ref>Parry, Clive, ed. ''[[Consolidated Treaty Series]].'' 231 Volumes. [[Dobbs Ferry, New York|Dobbs Ferry]], [[New York City|New York]]; Oceana Publications, 1969–1981. Volume 48; pp. 481; 487; 491–492.</ref> which explains why this county has no dry-land connection to the rest of the United States.

Massachusetts did not formally withdraw its claim to the region, first made in 1629, until December 16, 1786.<ref>Van Zandt, Franklin K. ''Boundaries of the United States and the Several States.'' Geological Survey Professional Paper 909. Washington, DC; Government Printing Office, 1976. The Standard Compilation for its subject. P. 75.</ref> New York, still not satisfied with the relinquishment of its land to Vermont, asked the U.S. Congress to arbitrate the matter. Congress ruled against New York on March 7, 1788.<ref>New York Laws, 1788, 11th Session, Chapter 63, pp. 746–747.</ref>

Subsequently, when Vermont petitioned for statehood, Congress ordered a joint commission to settle the border between New York and Vermont. This commission ruled before Vermont's admission, which took place on March 4, 1791, but a small change they permitted has never been acted upon.<ref>''United States. Statutes at Large of the United States of America'', 1789–1873. volume 1, Chapter 7 (1791); Page 191.</ref><ref>Slade, William, Jr., comp. ''Vermont State Papers: Being a collection of Records and Documents Connected with the Assumption and Establishment of Government by the People of Vermont, Together with the Journal of the Council of Safety, the First Constitution, the Early Journals of the General Assembly, and the Laws from the Year 1779 to 1786, Inclusive.'' Middlebury, 1823. P. 193.</ref><ref>Thorne, Kathryn Ford, Compiler & Long, John H., Editor: ''New York Atlas of Historical County Boundaries''; The Newbury Library; 1993.</ref> Grand Isle County was created in 1802 from parts of Franklin and Chittenden Counties.<ref name="Aldrich"/>

In the late 19th century the [[Rutland Railroad]] ran service from northern New York State by the Canada–U.S. border, along the west side of Vermont to Rutland, Vermont, and south to Chatham, New York. From 1899 a series of causeways provided continuous train service north–south through the Lake Champlain islands, making a direct connection to Burlington. The last service from [[Alburgh (town), Vermont|Alburgh]] was in 1948.<ref>"Rutland Railroad" http://www.r2parks.net/RUT.html</ref>